Age and computer self-efficacy in the use of digital technologies: An investigation of prototypes for public self-service terminals

Abstract

Previous research suggests that self-efficacy (SE), i.e. the belief 'in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments' (Bandura), plays an important role in the usage of self-service technologies especially for elder customers. Two experiments with different prototypes of ticket vending machines (TVM) were conducted. Participants were selected according to their age (half of the participants aged 55 or older) and levels of general computer self-efficacy (CSE). The first experiment shows that CSE contributes to both the user's performance and ratings of task-specific SE, while age affects the performance only. The second experiment indicates that using the novel TVM increases the user's task-specific SE except for elder users with low CSE - who faced critical problems in the more complex tasks. Results indicate that future research on digital inclusion should focus on elder users with low CSE. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.