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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Unisa Institutional Repository Article Information Development 27(1) 32–45 Thesuitability of the Unified Theory ªTheAuthor(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: of Acceptance and Use of Technology sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0266666910385375 (UTAUT)modelinopenaccess idv.sagepub.com adoption studies Frankwell W. Dulle Sokoine University of Agriculture M.K. Minishi-Majanja University of South Africa Abstract Technology acceptance models or theories are commonly used in studies aiming at predicting and explaining theindividual behaviours towardstheacceptanceandusageofnewtechnologies.Thispaperreportspartofthe findings from a doctoral research project which focused at analysing the acceptance and usage of open access within public universities in Tanzania. The study was guided by the Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Usage (UTAUT) model). The survey questionnaire targeted 544 respondents selected through stratified random sampling from a population of 1088 university researchers at six public universities in Tanzania. Aresponse rate of 73 percent was achieved and the binary logistic regression statistics of the Statistical Pack- age for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. The study findings suggest support for the application of the UTAUT model in studying the adoption of open access in a research environment. Among the findings, attitude, awareness, effort expectancy and performance expectancy were established as the key determinants for the researchers’ behavioural intentions of open access usage. Similarly, age, awareness, behavioural inten- tion, facilitating conditions and social influence were found to significantly affect researchers’ actual usage of openaccess. These factors should therefore be taken into account in the planning and implementation of open access projects. A further validation of the open access research model in similar research institutions in Tanzania and elsewhere is recommended. Keywords open access publishing, public universities, scholarly communication, technology acceptance models, Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Usage, UTAUT, Tanzania TheUTAUTmodelhasprovedsuitableinguidinganunderstandingofthefactorsthat contribute to the acceptance and usage of open access by researchers in Tanzania. Introduction [an] intermediary between theory and empirical data Atheory emanates from a systematic and formalized but such a difference is regarded not fundamental’’. expression of previous empirical generalizations and Based on such observations, a theory can be experimental testing. This is contrary to a model, which need not necessarily be derived from empirical generalizations and testing (Burch, 2003). According Corresponding author: Frankwell W. Dulle, Senior Librarian, Sokoine University of to Burch (2003:280), ‘‘some authors distinguish the- Agriculture, PO Box 3022, Morogoro, Tanzania ories and models by assigning the latter a role as Email: nzengamshe@yahoo.com Dulle and Minishi-Majanja: The suitability of the UTAUT model in open access adoption studies 33 considered to be emanating from a model that has (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Schaper and Pervan, 2007; undergone repeated tests and validation to support Wu, Tao and Yang, 2007). As a result of its accept- empirical generalizations. Nevertheless, the terms ability, the UTAUTmodelhasbeenappliedinseveral models and theories are in most cases used inter- studies investigating the general acceptance and usage changeably as a result of being closely related. The- of information and communication technologies ories or models are considered to play a critical role (ICTs) in different work environments (see for exam- in the research process including planning, data col- ple, Anderson and Schwager, 2004; Louho, Kallioja lection and explanation of the emerging findings. and Oittinen, 2006; Kripanont, 2007; Schaper and Supporting this view, Neuman (2006:77) observes Pervan, 2007; Al-Qeisi, 2009; Birth and Irvine, that ‘‘researchers who proceed without a theory or 2009; Tibenderana and Ogao, 2009; Suhendra, Her- model, rarely conduct top-quality research and fre- mana and Sugiharto, 2009; and Zhou, Lu, and Wang, quently find themselves in quandary’’ in reporting 2010). It should however be noted that the UTAUT their research findings. It is thus not surprising that model has rarely been applied in open access (OA) manyscholarsinvestmuchoftheirtimeindeveloping related studies, especially in a developing country and validating a variety of models and theories for environment like Tanzania. application in different research environments. Tech- OAis scholarly communication achieved through nology acceptance and use models and theories are openaccessrefereedelectronic journals (golden road) commonly used in many studies that investigate hin- and self-archiving in open access repositories (green drances to the acceptance and usage of technologies road) (Mann et al., 2008). The basic concept of OA for the purpose of promoting innovations adoption is the online availability of scientific literature to (Kripanont, 2007). According to Louho, Kallioja and readers at no charge and without any legal barrier Oittinen (2006: 15), ‘‘technology acceptance is about (Chan and Costa, 2005; Bailey, 2006; Mann et al., how people accept and adopt some technology to 2008). This study used the UTAUT model in studying use’’. factors contributing to the acceptance and usage of Anumberofmodels/theories designed to facilitate open access. In this context, open access publication the understanding of factors impacting the acceptance is regarded as a technology that provides scientists anduseoftechnologieshavebeendocumented.Some withatooltoreachtheirgoalsofdistributingresearch of the well known technology acceptance models and results and documenting their copyrights as well as theories include: Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA); accessing scholarly content from other scholars Motivational Model (MM); Theory of Planned Beha- (Mannetal., 2008). The findings reported in this arti- viour (TPB); Decomposed Theory of Planned Beha- cle are part of the doctoral study titled ‘An analysis of viour (DTPB); Technology Acceptance Model open access scholarly communication in Tanzanian (TAM); Technology Acceptance Model (TAM2); public universities’. The objectives of the main study Combined TAM and TPB (C-TAM-TPB); Model of were to: PC Utilization (MPCU); Social Cognitive Theory (SCT); Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and; the 1. investigate the general awareness and open Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technol- access usage ogy (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al, 2003; Kripanont, 2. find out factors affecting adoption of open access 2007;Wu,TaoandYang,2007;Ghobakhloo,Zulkifli 3. determine researchers’ and policy makers’ per- and Aziz, 2010; Jayasingh and Eze, 2010). Due to the ceptions on open access existence of several competing technology accep- 4. formulate and validate a research model of tech- tance theories and models as noted above, researchers nology acceptance regarding the acceptance and analyse and compare them in order to identify the usage of open access mostpromisingonesinrespectoftheabilitytopredict 5. suggest strategies to resolve the hindrances to and explain individual behaviour towards the accep- open access adoption. tance and usage of technology. Thus it has been acknowledged by various studies that the UTAUT This article emanates from the findings for the model contributes to better understanding about the fourth objective with respect to the formulation and drivers of behaviour of acceptance and use of new validation a research model of acceptance and use technologies than other similar theories and models of open access. This article attempts to exhibit the 34 Information Development 27(1) Attitude Performance expectancy Behavioural Use behaviour intention Effort expectancy Social Influence Internet self-efficacy Facilitating conditions Age Awareness Experience Gender Position Figure 1. Open access research model based on UTAUT. suitability of the UTAUT model in studying factors gender, voluntariness and experience) as having spe- contributing to the acceptance and usage of open cific moderating roles to indirectly and directly deter- access. mine technology usage behaviour. According to Serenko, Turel and Yol (2006), moderators are vari- Theresearch model ables that affect the strength or direction of relation- The Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and ships between independent and dependent variables. Use (UTAUT) model was adopted in the process of The theoretical basis for the UTAUT model con- formulating the research framework for this study. structs and moderators is well documented by several ThismodelwasdevelopedbyVenkateshandhisteam studies (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Kripanont, 2007; based upon the conceptual and empirical similarities Schaper and Pervan, 2007). among eight competing technology acceptance mod- The researchers formulated an open access els (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Kripanont, 2007). The research model comprised of six constructs and five eight technology acceptance and usage models that moderators, as illustrated in Figure 1, for guidance were used in formulating the UTAUT model include: of this study. The original UTAUT model was modi- TR, TAM, MM, TPB, C-TAM-TPB, MPCU, IDT, fied by adding two constructs (attitude and Internet and SCT (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Kripanont, 2007; self-efficacy) and two moderators (awareness and Schaper and Pervan, 2007). position). The effects of these additional constructs The choice of the UTAUT model for the current on the adoption of new technology including open study was motivated by its comprehensiveness and access have been established by other studies, as highexplanatory powerascomparedtoothertechnol- reported by Kripanont (2007), Mann et al. (2008) and ogy acceptance and use theories (Venkatesh et al., TibenderanaandOgao(2009).Thusforthisstudy,the 2003;Kripanont,2007;Hessetal.,2007;Schaperand key determinants of the researchers’ behavioural Pervan, 2007; Tibenderana and Ogao, 2009). The intention and usage of open access in Tanzanian pub- UTAUT model is comprised of two direct determi- lic universities were conceptualized as attitude, effort nants of usage behaviour (intention and facilitating expectancy, Internet self-efficacy, performance conditions) and three indirect determinants of tech- expectancy, social influence, and facilitating condi- nology usage (effort expectancy, performance expec- tions. Furthermore, age, awareness, gender, experi- tancy, and social influence) (Venkatesh et al., 2003). ence and position were conceived to have various In addition to the core constructs, the UTAUT model moderating effects on main constructs towards the developers also identified four moderators (age, acceptance and usage of open access. Voluntariness Dulle and Minishi-Majanja: The suitability of the UTAUT model in open access adoption studies 35 was dropped as a moderator in this respect because it 2006). The current study also conceptualized Internet is only relevant when technology usage is mandatory self-efficacy to affect individuals’ decisions towards (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Tibenderana and Ogao, behavioural intention and usage of open access by 2009), which is not the case in the current study. researchers. Attitude is an individual’s overall affective reac- Facilitating conditions are defined as the degree tion to using a system (Venkatesh et al., 2003). In this to which an individual believes that an organizational study, the attitude of researchers towards open access and technical infrastructure exists to support the use was conceptualized to affect both their intention and of a system (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Age and experi- usage behaviour of open access with its effect being ence were considered to play moderating roles on moderated by awareness. facilitating conditions towards usage of open access. Performance expectancy relates to how individu- Facilitating conditions have been established to als believe new technology will help them perform impact actual usage of technology rather than beha- their job better, and most of the previous technology vioural intention (Schaper and Pervan, 2004; Gar- acceptance studies have acknowledged the strength field, 2006). In addition to facilitating conditions of this factor in predicting behavioural intention and Internet self-efficacy, the current study also con- (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Louho, Kallioja and Oittinen, ceptualized behavioural intention to have a significant 2006). With respect to the current study, performance positive influence on usage of open access scholarly expectancy, moderated by gender, was assessed to communication. determine its effect on researchers’ adoption of open access. Effort expectancy is the degree of ease or diffi- Data collection and analysis procedures culty associated with the use of the system and is said The study adopted the survey as the main method for to significantly affect technology adoption during data gathering. Data was collected at six of the eight early stages but becomes non-significant over periods public universities in Tanzania, namely: Ardhi Uni- of extended and sustained usage (Venkatesh et al., versity (ARU); Muhimbili University of Health and 2003). Age, experience and gender were conceptua- Allied Sciences (MUHAS); Mzumbe University lized to moderate effort expectancy significance on (MU); Open University of Tanzania (OUT); Sokoine researchers’ behavioural use intention of open access. University of Agriculture (SUA); and the University Such moderators increase the effect of effort expec- of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The other two public uni- tancy towards researchers’ future usage of open versities did not meet the selection criteria. The cri- access. In other words, the impact of effort expec- teria for selecting such universities were their tancy in shaping researchers’ usage of open access existence as higher learning institutions for at least in future is reduced in the absence of those 10 years as well as evidence of postgraduate pro- moderators. grammes.Theabovecriteria ensured that the selected Social influence relates to how an individual is institutions had a comparatively well established affected by his/her peers or other leading researchers research infrastructure, generated more research out- and/orhis/herorganizationindecidingonopenaccess put and hence were more likely to benefit from open usage. This factor has been established to signifi- access initiatives. The study targeted public universi- cantly affect the adoption of technology in both vol- ties on the understanding that being publicly funded, untary and involuntary contexts (Venkatesh et al., they are obliged by social mandate to make their 2003; Schaper and Pervan, 2004 and 2007). This research findings available widely (e.g. through open study considered social influence moderated by age, access) to the user community (Comba and Vignoc- experience and gender to affect researchers’ beha- chi, 2005). vioural intention and usage of open access in scho- A self-administered questionnaire was distributed larly communication. to 544 respondents selected through stratified random Internet self-efficacy refers to what individuals sampling from a population of 1088 university believe they can do with technology skills they have researchers. The sample included researchers within already acquired (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Several the ranks of lecturers, senior lecturers, associate pro- studies have demonstrated that technology self- fessors and full professors from the main campuses efficacy plays a key role in the acceptance and usage of the six public universities in Tanzania. Through the of technology (Hsu, Chiu and Ju, 2004; Ifinedo, stratified random sampling the desired representation
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