The Technology Acceptance Model

This SpringerBrief surveys the research built around the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) over roughly three decades, from its introduction up to the present, and points toward open questions for future work. TAM comes from information systems research and aims to explain, forecast and help improve whether people adopt and accept information technology. According to the authors' review, TAM has become a leading framework in its field and a dependable basis for evaluating many kinds of technology rollouts. Its two central constructs, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, are described as the main causal links between a technology's design features and whether it is adopted and used.

The opening chapter, "Once upon a TAM," looks at the difficulty of anticipating user acceptance. Later chapters trace how behavioural intention models multiplied and were consolidated, which factors shape behavioural intention, and how moderators enter the picture. A systematic review follows, combining a meta-review of earlier reviews, a meta-analysis, and a narrative account of the key studies that shaped TAM research. The final chapter, "Where do we go now?", closes the book.

The book also offers practical principles for researchers who are new to TAM, explaining how to test whether the model holds for a specific technology. It is written for readers, researchers and practitioners, particularly those entering the field.