Although older adults’ adoption rates of smartphones have continued to increase in recent years, health-related apps are not widely accepted by older adults. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to explore older adults’ adoption behavior of mobile health (mHealth) apps in the U.S. Specifically, this study applied protection motivation theory (PMT; Rogers, 1975) as the theoretical base to explain older adults’ adoption process of health apps to understand the influences of threat and coping appraisals on older adults’ adoption behavior of health apps. In addition, the current study incorporated the technology readiness theory (Parasuraman, 2000) to understand the influences of older adults’ positive and negative technological readiness (TR) on their PMT components. Data were collected from older adults (n = 600; 60% female) aged over 55 in the U.S. using online survey questionnaires. The data analysis was conducted using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest the impact of coping appraisals on older adults’ attitudes toward mHealth apps and their (continuance) intention to use mHealth apps. Especially among PMT’s four appraisal components, response efficacy was the most critical underlying mechanism driving mHealth app-related attitude and behavioral intention. In addition, older adults’ beliefs about using mHealth apps (i.e., TR) significantly influenced their coping appraisal processes, while positive TR was more critical in forecasting their coping appraisals. The results suggest a need to classify older consumers into different segments based on their TR to develop differentiated marketing strategies. The findings also suggest that marketers understand various protective motivation components concerning the use of mHealth apps among older adults.

Self Service Technology (SST) refers to technological interfaces that enable customers to produce a service independently, without service employees’ direct involvement. Because of the recent technological evolution and rising labor cost, most companies in the retail and service industries tend to use more technology-based SST options. In this study, we tried to investigate the effects of technology readiness and consumer readiness on SST service quality, attitude toward using SST, and intention to use SST in franchise fast food restaurants. The study results showed a significant and positive influence on all six dimensions of SST service quality. This research found that consumer readiness has a stronger and statistically more significant influence on all of SST service quality’s six constructs than does TR. Within a setting in which a customer is using SST, consumer readiness is a concept that is composed of the following: customer’s own role clarity, ability to utilize SST, and self-efficacy about using SST. Shim & Han (2012) confirmed that Consumer Readiness is a strong variable that effects motivation to use SST. This research presents academic significance in that it verified that consumer readiness is a major leading variable that influences perceived SST service quality. This research confirmed the moderating effects of consumer traits (self-consciousness, need for interaction, technology anxiety) and situational factors (perceived crowding, perceived waiting time) within the relationship between SST service quality and attitudes and intentions toward using SST. Study results showed that all variables have moderating effects. Ease of SST use was shown to have a strong influence on developing attitudes and intentions toward using SST in people with high levels of technology anxiety. For people with low levels of technology anxiety, ease or difficulty of SST use did not affect their attitude toward using SST. The expectation of increased enjoyment through SST use had an impact on developing attitudes and intentions toward using SST. This implies that expectation of increased enjoyment does not affect the development of intention toward using SST for people with high technology anxiety, as their technology anxiety is greater than such expectation. In contrast, this expectation of increased enjoyment greatly affects the development of attitude toward using SST for people with low technology anxiety. As a result, when introducing SST, firms need to design the system to appeal to people with high technology anxiety. Results also revealed that innovativeness does not have statistically significant influences on enjoyment or convenience. Because our results confirmed that technology readiness is an important leading variable of SST service quality, our research supported the works of Lin & Hsieh (2006) and Zeithaml et al. (2002). Managerial implications and limitations of the study were also discussed.

The objective of this paper is to propose a method of how to perform risk assessment in the early stage of defense research and development for the acquisition of weapon systems. An advanced method for risk assessment and its associated objective functions are developed first based on the concept of systems engineering. The developed method is then applied to carry out the analysis of alternatives in the trade-off environments. As a case study, the multi-purpose training ship is considered, where it is performed using the notions of technology readiness levels, degrees of difficulty, and technology need values to facilitate design space visualization and decision maker interaction. It is noted that decision makers can benefit from our approach as an improved risk assessment method in the context of multi-criteria decision making.

Malaysian secondary school teachers' readiness to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) is considered a critical skill in terms of national goals for schools that will prepare students to compete in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. The study investigated 303 teachers' ICT readiness in terms of their basic ICT knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards ICT. Data were collected via the Teachers' ICT Readiness instrument which consisted of an ICT knowledge test, an ICT skills test, and attitude towards ICT questionnaire. The results indicated that the majority of teachers had a moderate level of basic ICT knowledge and skills. A majority of the teachers too had a positive attitude towards ICT. Discussion and recommendations focus on the need to capitalize on the positive attitudes to turn these into action, increasing readiness to use ICT.

This study aimed to analyze evidence of the effect of perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, and perceived security on the citizen’s intention to use e-Filing with information technology readiness as an intervening variable. This study used primary data collected from Civil Servants Taxpayers, Indonesian National Armed Forces, and State Police of the Republic of Indonesia in Semarang City. One hundred fifty questionnaires were distributed, and 126 were processed and analyzed. The multiple linear regression and path analysis were employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that perceived ease-of-use and perceived security had a positive effect on the use of e-Filing, while perceived usefulness has no effect on the use of e-Filing. In addition, readiness of information technology did not mediate the relationships among the perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, and perceived security on the use of e-Filing. This study implies that Directorate General of Taxes, as a provider of e-Filing services, may improve the quality of e-Filing, especially in terms of ease and security. It is because, based on the results of this study, both aspects have been empirically proven to be able to increase intention to use e-Filing in reporting the annual notification letter.

Purpose – There are common factors both in Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model and Technology Paradox Theory which can be put together and made in one unified model. The unified model can provide the following merits. First, the unified model is simple but contains factors of the models. Second, the unified model can clarify the process of technology acceptance of common consumers. Third, the unified model can provide the opportunities to analyze the negative sides of new technology, thus find ways to improve the level of acceptance by general consumers. Research design, data, and methodology – The 450 questionnaires were handed out to people around Seoul and 421 were collected. Except insincere and wrong-marked ones, 402 were used to analyze. SPSS program was used to analyze. Factor analysis, regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results – By analyzing sub-factors of both models and binding the common factors in one category, we accomplish one model. And we tested the model by empirical method. The results show that the results from the unified model are almost same as the results from the two models. In other words, the unified model works. Conclusions – Explaining one state of affair by two different method is in some sense distracting attention. By devising a new model including factors of both models, we can explain the affair more straightforward and efficiently. At first the technology acceptance model was devised to explain the technology users in an organization and the following tests and revised models were for the similar purposes. However, as on-lone activities including contracts have been expanded and become important, consumers as the technology uses have emerged as first factor to consider. In accordance models to explain this situation has been suggested. The model suggested in this research is one of the models but it has the following merits. That is, it is simple but has strong explanation power, it can clarify the process of technology acceptance of common consumers by containing negative sides of consumer conception, and thus, it can provide the opportunities to analyze the negative sides of new technology, also find ways to improve the level of acceptance by general consumers.