Expectancy Theory and Behavioral Intentions to Use Computer Applications

A theoretically sound model linking antecedents of an organizationally new software implementation to behavioral intentions to use this software is presented and empirically tested. The organization is a university in the United States and the users are primarily faculty. The antecedents of previous computer experience, ease of system use, and administrator support for the software are linked to behavioral intentions to use the software through self-efficacy and outcome expectancy/usefulness and then attitudes toward the software. The software context examined is an implementation of Digital Measures that is used to develop a repository of faculty activities and to generate a variety of faculty-oriented reports. The empirical study used 154 responses by faculty. The model was estimated using structural equations modeling. The results found that ease of system use impacts both self-efficacy and outcome expectancy/usefulness, which both then impact attitudes towards Digital Measures, which in turn influences behavioral intentions to use Digital Measures. Discussion and conclusion sections are also presented.