Communication professors Dr. Magsamen-Conrad and Dr. Dowd, and graduate students Shrinkhala Upadhyaya and Claire Youngnyo Joa, have their research paper, Bridging the Divide: Using UTAUT to predict multigenerational tablet adoption practices, accepted in the refereed journal Computers in Human Behavior (impact factor 2.273; 5-year impact factor 3.047).

Their paper examined the “Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology” (UTAUT) in the context of tablet devices across multiple generations. They tested the four UTAUT determinants, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions, to determine their contributions for predicting behavioral intention to use tablets with age, gender, and user experience as moderators. 899 respondents aged 19-99 completed the survey. They found consistent generational differences in UTAUT determinants, most frequently between the oldest and youngest generations. Effort expectancy and facilitating conditions were the only determinants that positively predicted tablet use intentions after controlling for age, gender, and tablet use. They also discuss the implications of ageism and gender discrimination of technology adoption. Finally, they argue that their findings can be extended to create effective training programs for the teaching, learning, and adoption of new technologies in a variety of organizational settings. Keywords: UTAUT, technology, adoption, age, training, gender

Full text is available here: http://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/smc_pub/37/

Magsamen-Conrad, K., Upadhyaya, S., Youngnyo Joa, C., &
Dowd, J. (in press). Bridging the Divide: Using UTAUT to predict multigenerational tablet adoption practices. Computers in Human Behavior.