The Technology Acceptance Model and two variations of the Theory of Planned Behavior were compared to assess which model best helps to understand usage of information technology. The models were compared using student data collected from 786 potential users of a computer resource center. Behavior data was based on monitoring 3,780 visits to the resource center over a 12-week period. Weighted least squares estimation revealed that all three models performed well in terms of fit and were roughly equivalent in terms of their ability to explain behavior. Decomposing the belief structures in the Theory of Planned Behavior provided a moderate increase in the explanation of behavioral intention. Overall, the results indicate that the decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior provides a fuller understanding of behavioral intention by focusing on the factors that are likely to influence systems use through the application of both design and implementation strategies.

Understanding Information Technology Usage: A Test of Competing Models

http://socialfamily535.pbworks.com/f/slavin1996%5B1%5D.pdf

Research on cooperative learning and achievement: What we know, what we need to know.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews existing research and thought on the role of group interaction in task-oriented groups, and provides suggestion that part of the difficulty in understanding the relationship between group interaction and group effectiveness has to do with the nature of existing methodological and conceptual tools. It proposes an alternative framework for research on group effectiveness. The major functions group interaction serves in enhancing and depressing group effectiveness have been explored in the chapter and a set of strategies for influencing group interaction and group performance by alteration of “input” factors has been proposed within the new framework. The chapter presents an argument for a return to action-oriented research as a way to improve simultaneously the understanding of the determinants of group effectiveness and the capability to change and improve it. Implications for research and for action have been drawn and explored.

Group tasks, group interaction process, and group performance effectiveness: A review and proposed integration

Experiments exploring the effects of group discussion on attitudes, jury decisions, ethical decisions, judgments, person perceptions, negotiations, and risk taking (other than the choice-dilemmas task) are generally consistent with a \"group polarization\" hypothesis, derived from the risky-shift literature. Recent attempts to explain the phenomenon fall mostly into one of three theoretical approaches: (a) group decision rules, especially majority rule (which is contradicted by available data), (b) interpersonal comparisons (for which there is mixed support), and (c) informational influence (for which there is strong support). A conceptual scheme is presented which integrates the latter two viewpoints and suggests how attitudes develop in a social context.

V. H. Vroom

Papers

Industry social psychology.