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AbstractThe perceived usefulness of information is an important construct for the design of management information systems. Yet an examination of existing measures of perceived usefulness shows that the instruments developed have not been validated nor has their reliability been verified. In this paper a new instrument for measuring two dimensions of perceived usefulness is developed. The results of an empirical study designed to test the reliability and construct validity of this instrument in a capital‐budgeting setting are presented.

ABSTRACTStudents' perceptions about the use of online learning tools have been shown to vary among studies. Their perceptions may have a profound impact on performance in the course and subsequent behavior toward continued use. This article presents a theoretical framework to identify three dimensions of perceived usefulness, namely, performance‐related outcome expectations, personal‐related outcome expectations, and intrinsic motivation. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), a new expanded model is proposed to capture more details about students' perceptions of an online learning tool. I also examine the relationships of these three dimensions with perceived ease of use, attitudes, and behavioral intentions to use in the context of online technologies used as an integral component of the course requirements. My findings demonstrate the utility of the expanded TAM to distinguish between the influences of the three proposed dimensions. Results also show that, within the context of this study setup, intrinsic motivation had the most influence on intentions and perceived ease of use of the learning tool had relatively little importance. Limitations and implications are offered.

I aimed to show how the sociotechnical fit model may be employed to understand users' perception of the usefulness of enterprise social networks (ESNs). Specifically, I examined the fit between organization, technology, and employee as a determinant of the perceived usefulness of ESNs.
Participants were 275 employees of JA Company who had previously used an ESN, and they completed measures of organizational factors, ESN characteristics, task characteristics, organization–technology fit, task–technology fit, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness. Results
of structural equation modeling showed that organization–technology fit differed based organizational support but not the technological characteristics of ESNs; task–technology fit was influenced by ESN technological features, task features, and organization–technology fit;
and there were significant relationships between organization–technology fit and perceived usefulness, between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, and between task–technology fit and perceived ease of use. The research findings contribute to understanding of the roles
of organization–technology–human fit constructs that drive people's perception of usefulness in the context of ESNs.

Although methodology use generally leads to fewer software defects and reductions in development time, the introduction of a formalized systems development methodology is often met with substantial resistance. Motivated by the purported benefits of methodology use, yet resistance to the introduction of a methodology, this study explains developer attitude toward using a formalized commercial methodology. An important variable for explaining attitude is perceived usefulness, defined as the degree to which using a methodology will enhance a developer's job performance. If, however, a benefit of using a methodology is different than increased job performance, then limiting the definition of perceived usefulness to beliefs surrounding job performance may provide an incomplete representation of what makes a methodology useful to developers. A methodology may be perceived as a rational process, used to achieve objectives such as increasing job performance or as a political process used to achieve objectives particular to one person or group. In order to determine what makes a methodology useful to developers, the perceived usefulness construct was expanded to include benefits of methodology use related toward achieving political objectives. In addition to broadening the perceived usefulness construct, this research also broke down perceived usefulness into its referent dimensions. Decomposing perceived usefulness provided a deeper understanding of what makes a methodology useful to developers and revealed the relative importance of each dimension of perceived usefulness. The study surveyed 120 developers. Partial least squares regression was used to test the antecedents of developer attitude as well as the hypothesized structure of perceived usefulness. Results indicate that developers will have more favorable attitudes toward methodologies they perceive as useful, easy to use, and consistent with the way they like to develop systems. Additionally, findings suggest that developers may find methodologies not only useful for achieving rational goals such as increasing system quality, raising productivity, and enhancing communication, but also useful for achieving political goals such as increasing career opportunities, showing others that professional development practices are being used, reducing anxiety, and defending against unreasonable user demands. ; Ph. D.

AbstractThis paper presents the results of a replication of construct measurement of perceived usefulness and ease of use. This replication extends the work of recent research which examined these constructs through structural equation modeling. This research uses a new data set for two different technologies in conducting the replication of the construct measurement. The results of the construct measurement for perceived usefulness and ease of use in this research are quite consistent with the results reported in recent research with minor variations. Perceived usefulness, and not ease of use, is a determinant of predicted future usage.

The increasing use of contraception methods worldwide has allowed couples to choose the number and spacing of their children. Despite impressive achievements, contraceptive use remains low while the need for contraception is high in some of the world's poorest and most populous places. Little is known about the factors contributing to the low utilisation of contraceptives in the Rorya district, particularly among married individuals where the prevalence of contraceptive use was only 28%. A qualitative design was used for six focus group discussions and six in-depth interviews conducted with married individuals to understand the perception of the use of contraceptives in the Rorya District. Respondents believe that contraception is important in reducing the number of pregnancies and improving health, as well as in limiting family size. Interviewees emphasised the need for more accessible outlets for contraceptives. Religious beliefs and myths about contraceptive side effects have been reported to influence contraceptive choice and use. Respondents are aware of the health benefits of contraception for themselves and their children. Limited access, Myth, and religious beliefs continue to influence contraceptive use. Strategies to improve contraceptive use should ensure the availability and accessibility of contraceptives and tailored BCC, especially in low uptake areas.

In the past years the impact of social media in students in Higher Education has been remarkably significant (Pew Research Center, 2010). In order to exploit the potential benefits of these tools on education, we carried out different experiments using wikis and private social networks. Although the results were positive, we decided to move towards a more open approach using tools not directly linked to educational purposes. This paper reports on an experience in the use of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) to develop competences needed by students for lifelong learning. PLE is a concept that refers to the set of tools, devices, connections and networks that we used to learn. Nowadays building a digital PLE is key to achieve the goals set by the European Union. The main objective of the paper is to analyse the influence of the approaches to learning of students in the reported effects of the PLE as well as in relevant aspects of the learning process. 245 students enrolled in a course on International Accounting participated in the experience of developing their own digital PLE. Some of the activities proposed used social networks, Twitter, blogs and wikis. The data were gathered though a web based questionnaire in two steps: 1) to obtain a priori self confidence measures regarding communication in academic tasks and web related tasks, and 2) to obtain a measure of the approaches to learning of the students and self confidence measures. According to students' opinion, the experience was deemed as positive. In order to check the relationships between the impact of the experience and the approach to learning of students, a cluster analysis was performed. Students were classified into two groups. The cluster #1 presents low scores on deep approach and higher scores on surface approach than students classified into cluster #2.Comparing the scores obtained in all the aspects of learning between the two groups, many differences arise. Students in the deep approach group indicated a significant higher impact in all measured aspects. Results suggest that certain type of students, more flexible and likely to manage information in their own, is able to use PLEs more effectively to learn than those who present a more pragmatic orientation focussed on passing the course. ; Paper developed in the framework of the Research Excellence Project P07-SEJ-02670, Junta de Andalucía. Previous version presented at the EFQUEL Innovation Forum EIF2012, Granada.

PurposeThis study investigates the effects of service modularity on the perceived usefulness (PU) of e-learning programs through the perceived ease of use (PEoU) and service customization.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modeling was used to test four hypotheses with survey data from 517 undergraduates in Turkey.FindingsResults show that service modularity affects the PU of e-learning programs through the PEoU. Service customization negatively moderates the effect of service modularity on the PEoU, but positively moderates the effect of the PEoU on the PU of e-learning programs.Practical implicationsThis study offers insights that support the decisions of policymakers and higher education institutions on how to design appealing e-learning programs cost-effectively.Social implicationsThis study reveals the determinants of the PU of e-learning, which could support the democratization of access to higher education in emerging countries where barriers to higher education are relatively greater than in developed countries.Originality/valueThe concept of service modularity is explored in the e-learning context from the students' perspective. This study shows that the standardized interfaces across course modules increase the PU of e-learning programs by improving the ease of use. It also shows, interestingly, that service customization, enabled by modularity, is not always appreciated by service consumers, because of the potential extra effort demanded in communicating their unique needs to service providers.

Smart community is an emerging form of community that provides various convenient services (smart community services (SCS)) through smart community platform to community residents. However, in practice, residents have limited SCS acceptance, which deserves to be further investigated in the literature. This study investigates the SCS adoption of residents by integrating technological belief factors (perceived usefulness and enjoyment), and social influence factor (affective community commitment). A survey of 191 residents identifies perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and affective community commitment as important determinants of SCS adoption. Affective community commitment weakens the effect of perceived enjoyment yet strengthen the effect of perceived usefulness on SCS adoption. Our study fills the research gap on smart community as well as enriches the IT acceptance literature. This study also offers practical recommendations that can aid practitioners in conducting smart community programs.