A study of the impact of internal and external usability on knowledge transfer by the means of mobile technologies: Preliminary results

Abstract

In this paper, we raise a discussion on the results of an empirical study of the impact of internal and external usability on knowledge transfer by the means of mobile technologies. Firstly, based on an extensive literature review and analysis, we have identified both technology acceptance and usability models with their associated variables, along with their definitions. Secondly, having formulated inclusion (exclusion) criteria, we have selected 10 variables, namely perceived enjoyment, activities availability, system accessibility, cognitive load, performance expectancy, user autonomy, relative usability, learnability, memorability and facilitating conditions. In general, this set constitutes both upper-level internal and external usability variables. To collect data we have used the survey instrument, which in a pilot study was successfully submitted to 70 employees who declared themselves to be advanced users of mobile devices, applications and services. The results of the statistical analysis show that only external usability impacts the intention by employees to use mobile technologies for knowledge transfer. On the other hand, being an external variable, it also has an impact on internal usability, which means that the perceived usability of mobile applications directly depends on the perceived usability of mobile devices, in particular, the perceived performance of the installed operating system.