1. ¹Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
2. ²IAMSR, Åbo Akademi, Turku, Finland
3. ³University of Twente Technology, Enschede, The Netherlands

Correspondence: H Bouwman, P.O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 15 2787168; E-mail: w.a.g.a.bouwman@tudelft.nl, URL: http://www.harrybouwman.nl

Abstract

This study examines the role and explanatory value of context-, task- and information-related characteristics vis-a-vis individual characteristics in relation with respect to the adoption of mobile technologies and applications. We combine insights from adoption and acceptance literature with media choice and task-technology fit theories. These insights are applied to a case in which police officers use mobile communication tools and information technologies. Officers were asked which mobile applications they preferred to use in specific situations (contexts) and for specific tasks. In a structural equation model focusing exclusively on individual TAM-related characteristics, such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, as well as on a generic media fit concept, the explanatory value of these concepts turns out to be high. We extend our study, based on Ajzen and Madden (1986) by arguing that, in addition to personal characteristics, contextual characteristics, in combination with task-related characteristics, play an important role in people's preferences for specific technologies. Conjoint analysis focusing on contextual and task-related characteristics yields relevant insights. When context-related and individual characteristics are combined into a single hierarchical linear model, the significance of the concepts used in TAM turns out to be low, while context-related issues stand out. On the basis of our research, we conclude that TAM models are too generic to fully explain people's intention to use mobile technologies. Future research should aim at developing models that take contextual and task-related factors into account when studying mobile applications.