Effect of Personal Innovativeness, Attachment Motivation and Social Norms on the Acceptance of Camera Mobile Phones: An Empirical Study in an Arab Country

This study develops a model to assess the consumer acceptance of Camera Mobile Phone (CMP) technology for social interaction. While there has been considerable research on technology adoption in the workplace, far fewer studies have been done to understand the motives of technology acceptance for social use. To fill in this gap, this study develops a model that is based on the following theories: the technology acceptance model, the theory of reasoned action, the attachment motivation theory, innovation diffusion theory, and the theory of flow. The first research method used was a qualitative field study that identified variables that most drive CMP acceptance and build the research model using a sample of 83 consumers. The second method was a quantitative field study. Data was collected from a sample of 240 consumers in Kuwait and used to test the proposed model. The results reveal two types of use: “social use” and “use before shopping,” explaining 32.3% and 30% of the variance respectively. Most importantly, the study reveals that personal innovativeness, attachment motivation and social norms have an important effect on CMP acceptance. The implications of this study are highly important for both researchers and practitioners. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2785-7.ch007