Preprototype Perceived Usefulness of a Municipal Wireless Network: Sources of Variation among Prospective Users

Recent research indicates that Perceived Usefulness of IT (PU) is a significant and stable predictor of long-term IT acceptance when PU is measured at the preprototype stage, i.e. before a working prototype of the IT has been tested or used by prospective users. This finding has important consequences for the development of a Municipal Wireless Network (MWN) because it suggests that the future likelihood of acceptance of an MWN can be estimated early, before too many limited or precious resources have been expended towards building it, and when there may still be considerable flexibility to modify key aspects related to it. Of particular interest then, to both IS (Information Systems) researchers and practitioners is the issue of why different prospective users contemplating the same MWN come to different conclusions regarding PU, even before they have tested or used it. To address this issue, this research develops a model for the determinants of preprototype PU in the context of a proposed Municipal Wireless Network.