Acceptance of ICTs by older adults: A review of recent studies

Abstract

Objectives: Issues surrounding aging and information communication technologies (ICTs) are of critical importance. This study aims to identify the determinants of the acceptance of ICTs innovations by older adults, and discuss the research gap in the gerontechnology literature. Methods: Research articles were selected from four multi-disciplinary databases (SCOPUS, ProQuest, EBSCOHOST, Science Direct) from 2004 to 2015. Articles were filtered by “Older than 55”, “healthy”, “acceptance”, “ICTs”, etc. Finally, a total of 29 papers including qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method research are used in this study. Results: The majority of these studies indicated that older adults have a positive attitude towards using ICTs. The findings summarized ICTs-related technologies in five basic domains: Intelligent monitoring, Health care delivery, Online services, Social communication, and Internet & Computer. The review gathered and classified important acceptance factors into six themes: Perceived Benefits of Use, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavior Control, Perceived Usability, Affections, and Socio-demographic Mediators.