The Age-Divide in Private Internet Usage: A Quantitative Study of Technology Acceptance

In today’s information society internet usage and e-literacy become more and more important. However, inequalities in internet usage of different social groups become and stay observable. Here, especially elderly citizens, with an increasing share of population in western societies, are often included from benefits related to information technology and internet usage. One important aspect of local governments’ policy is to bridge this so-called digital divide. However, up to now a thorough understanding of potential factors influencing private internet usage is not provided by the literature. Hence, this paper aims at identifying important influencing factors in order to explain senior citizens’ private internet use. Thus, we develop a model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and digital divide research which is tested against comprehensive survey data (n=192). The combined model is able to explain more than 70% of the variation of private internet use. Major implications for future research and e-Inclusion practice are discussed.