The impact of developer responsiveness on perceptions of usefulness and ease of use

Abstract

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) suggests that the perceived usefulness (PU) and the perceived ease of use (PEOU) of an information system (IS) are major determinants of its use. Previous research has demonstrated the validity of this model across a wide variety of IS types. However, prior research has not identified antecedents of PU and there has been only limited research on the antecedents of PEOU. Consequently, research has provided little guidance to IS managers on methods to increase use by augmenting PU and PEOU.Viewing IS development as an instance of Social Exchange Theory (SET), this study proposes that IS managers can influence both the PU and the PEOU of an IS through a constructive social exchange with the user. One means of building and maintaining a constructive social exchange is through developer responsiveness. The results of this study, examining the adoption of an expert system, indeed support this notion. Specifically, developer responsiveness strongly influenced both PU and PEOU, but only indirectly affected actual behavior --- IS use --- in accordance with the predictions of SET. An extension of TAM based on SET is presented and the implications of this extended model are discussed from both a managerial and theoretical perspective.