Cultural Influence on the Adoption of Social Networking Sites

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to understand user interaction behaviour on social networking sites (SNS), and to investigate cultural influence on acceptance and use behaviour. SNS are growing in importance, and the many advantages they offer to companies are on the increase. The model described in this paper has been defined on the basis of a technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine the adoption and use of SNS, by adding trust and perceived risk constructs. To analyse the culture as a moderating effect of the causal relationships proposed, we focus on two European countries, using a multi-group structural equation model (SEM). This study shows that extended TAM (ETAM) is appropriate for use in predicting the acceptance of voluntary-use technologies, and it focuses on social relationships. The cultural effects may moderate some theoretical relationships in the adoption process.