Predicting Internet usage in two emerging economies using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM)

This study employed an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict Internet usage in two developing countries (Chile and United Arab Emirates (UAE)). In addition to investigating the impacts of perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), and perceived Internet content (PIC) on students' usage of the Internet, it analyzed the direct impacts of external variables such as gender, educational back-ground, income level, self-reported measure of computer knowledge, Internet cost, and Internet availability on Internet usage and their moderating role in the relationship between PEOU, PU, and PIC and Internet usage. To test the hypothesized relationships, we extended the research model that was developed by [1] was extended by adding more factors to it. To validate the research model, data was collected from 169 students from Chile and 194 students from United Arab Emirates (UAE). The results showed that only PU was a significant predictor of Internet usage for both Emirates and Chilean samples. Additionally, while gender significantly impacted Emirates students' usage of Internet, self-reported knowledge about computers significantly impacted Chilean students' usage of the Internet. Income level was the only significant moderator for both countries. PU affected usage of the Internet more positively for students with high income level than it did for those students with low income. Discussion of the practical implications of these results is included was addressed.