Toward the adoption of digital assistive technology: Factors affecting older people's initial trust formation

In recent decades, Europe has experienced a major societal challenge-the aging of the human population. The Finnish government has responded to this challenge by focusing on individually tailored services that enable older adults to live independently and comfortably at home for longer with the help of digital assistive technology. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study on how initial trust is formed with regard technology adoption by older people. Four bases of trust (personality, cognitive, calculative, and institutional) underpin the theoretical framework of the study. A qualitative research approach was adopted, utilizing individual and focus group interviews with older people living independently in urban and rural areas of South Finland. The findings derived from thematic analysis offer new insights into the complex and multidimensional process of older people's initial trust formation, which is affected by an interplay of 12 identified factors shaping the four bases of trust and four supplementary factors. These findings lead to propositions for future research.