The five forces of technology adoption

Abstract

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the models derived from TAM, dominate user acceptance of technology theory. This research uses a web-based questionnaire directed towards legal professionals solicited using the social media site LinkedIn. The research included open-ended questions, within a quantitative survey instrument and received 154 usable responses. In TAM3, Venkatesh and Bala organize the theoretical framework of preceding factors of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use into four categories. The findings reinforced the existence of the Venkatesh and Bala factors that affect technology adoption but reveal additional multi-dimensional factors related to the context of legal technology. It is proposed that analyzing the Five Forces of Technology Adoption: (1) Individual, (2) Social, (3) System, (4) Facilitating Conditions, and (5) Context, could extend our understanding of technology acceptance. In summary, the paper offers a novel interpretation, characterizing five forces of technology adoption - an analogy to Porter’s model.