Title: Factors influencing user adoption of Web 2.0 applications

Authors: Yogesh K. Dwivedi; Boumediene Ramdani; Michael D. Williams; Amit Mitra; Janet Williams; Suraj Niranjan

Addresses: School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, UK ' Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK ' School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, UK ' Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK ' Faculty of Business and Society, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK ' School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Swansea, UK

Abstract: As social technologies have been extensively taken up by web users, we are still unclear about the factors influencing such a high rate of adoption. Although many studies have examined factors affecting consumer adoption of commercial web applications, such as e-banking, very few studies have examined factors influencing the adoption Web 2.0 applications. To fill this gap, this study aims to explore some of the factors influencing the adoption of Web 2.0 applications. Technology acceptance model has been employed for designing and conducting an online survey. The findings indicate that usefulness and ease-of-use are significant factors for predicting users' intentions to adopt Web 2.0 applications, which ultimately influence the actual usage of such applications.

Keywords: Web 2.0 applications; social technology; Web 2.0 adoption; TAM; technology acceptance model; user adoption; perceived usefulness; perceived ease-of-use; behavioural intention; social media; wikis; blogs; content sharing; social bookmarking; social networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2013.054817

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2013 Vol.7 No.1, pp.53 - 71

Published online: 30 Nov 2013 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article