The Moderating Effect of Motivation to Comply and Perceived Critical Mass in Smartphones' Adoption

The testing of the technology acceptance model over the years has shown that its explanatory power is about 50%; which led researchers to revisit the model in an attempt to gain a better understanding of technology adoption. Some of the studies found social influence to be a key factor, but others have yielded mixed results. This article questions the assumption made in some previous studies that most people would comply with social influence. Using data collected from 210 smartphone users, we investigated the moderating effect of motivation to comply on the relationship between social influence, on the one hand, and perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use on the other hand. Also, based on the theory of critical mass, we investigated the moderating effect of the perceived critical mass on the relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on the one hand, and actual usage on the other hand. The results showed a significant moderating effect of both motivation to comply and perceived critical mass. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.