Do Perceptions Fully Mediate the Impacts of Individual Differences on Technology Use?

IS researchers have long posited that perceptions fully mediate the influence of individual differences on technology use. However, anecdotal studies suggest that individual difference may have a direct effect on technology use. In this study, we aimed at exploring whether perceptions fully mediate the impacts of individual differences on technology use and whether individual differences influence two dimensions of technology use, i.e. frequency of use and hours of use, in the same way. Individual differences include personal traits, demographic variables, and situational variables. As demographic variables, age and gender are identified as variables of research of interest in our study. PLS was used to test our research model. Results show that individual difference may directly influence technology use and that individual difference variables influence frequency and amount of technology use in same ways, at least for the two variables we examined in our study, i.e. gender and age.