A Research Agenda toward Assessing Perceived Affective Quality of IT

Most IT evaluation and usage studies emphasize cognition or high-order affective reactions that come from more deliberate cognitive processing. A primitive concept, perceived affective quality (PAQ) of IT, has not yet attracted much attention. PAQ refers to an individual’s perception of IT’s ability to change his/her affective state. IS and psychology literature shows that PAQ has significant impacts on higher-order affect, cognition, and behaviors. Thus understanding the nature and measurement of PAQ is of great importance. However, there is no PAQ instrument specifically designed for IT. This study intends to develop and validate such an instrument based on literature review and surveys. This scale will provide researchers with a useful tool to identify favorable affective quality of IT. It will also help IT managers and designers to provide better products and enhance profits.