Measuring confidence in internet use: The development of an internet self-efficacy scale

Abstract

With the Internet distinguished across so many environments today, the need to measure how individuals relate to the Internet has become an extremely important aspect of Human-Computer Interaction research. However, the measurement of users' confidence with using the Internet is a poorly researched topic. This concept of confidence with using the Internet is known as Internet self-efficacy, described as a person's belief in their personal capabilities to achieve specific goals with the Internet [1]. Only a small number of studies [2, 3] have actually attempted to measure Internet self-efficacy through the use of psychometric scales. Regrettably, these attempts have produced unsatisfactory means of measuring Internet self-efficacy. Such issues include the failure to follow methodologies for the measurement of self-efficacy, wording of statements representing constructs other than Internet self-efficacy, and references to computer rather than Internet related tasks. One of the aims of this research was to develop a statistically reliable scale which measures Internet self-efficacy. This paper focuses on outlining the development of the Internet Self-Efficacy Scale. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.