A model of user adoption of interface agents for email notification

This study presents and empirically validates a model that describes user adoption behavior towards email notification interface agents from the end-user perspective. In addition to the original Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs, the model included perceived enjoyment, computer playfulness, and personal innovativeness in the domain of IT. Data were collected from 75 actual email interface agent users, the model was tested by employing PLS (Partial Least Squares) techniques, and several conclusions were offered. First, current email interface agent users are highly innovative individuals who perceive the technology as very enjoyable, useful, and easy to use. Second, in contrast to prior expectations, no direct effect of personal innovativeness on perceived usefulness of interface agents was found. This suggests that more innovative people do not necessarily perceive this technology more useful than less innovative ones. Third, the degree of personal innovativeness had a strong positive direct effect on the extent of perceived ease of use of email interface agents. This finding supports much of the prior research on the role of personal innovativeness in user technology perceptions. At the same time, with regards to the link between perceptions of enjoyment with an email interface agent and perceptions of its usefulness, no relationship was found. Fourth, user perceptions of enjoyment with an email interface agent were found to be the key influencing factor of future behavioral usage intentions towards an agent. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.