The Impact of Moderating Factors on Behavioral Intention Towards Internet: a Transnational Perspective

Moderating factors are interacting terms used when the relationship between a dependent and independent variable is weak, inconsistent or nonexistent. They form an integral part of both the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and its extended version (UTAUT2). In this paper, we examine the direct impact of six moderating factors (age, gender, experience, complexity and education) on behavioral intention towards Internet which influence Internet use. The first three factors are used in both UTAUT frameworks to study technology use. Survey research methodology was employed in which data was collected from 368 respondents in Nigeria and The Gambia. Our findings suggest that only experience and complexity influence behavioral intention towards Internet in both countries. The impacts of age, gender, income and education however, vary significantly between these two countries. For instance, the respondents’ support of gender, income and education more strongly influences their behavior towards Internet in The Gambia than in Nigeria, while that of age is weaker. On the contrary, respondents’ support of age is stronger in Nigeria whereas that of gender, income and education are relatively weak compared to The Gambia. These statistics suggest that socio-demographic variables like age, gender, income and education influence behavioral intention towards Internet. However, the extent to which this is true varies significantly across national boundaries. Keywords-behavioral intention; Internet use; moderating factors; Nigeria; The Gambia