Hajar Ghadami Hossein Abadi; Mitra Pashootanizadeh; Mozafar cheshmaeh Sohrabi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The e-book is one of the features that new technologies have brought us. This kind of book makes accessing information easier. In recent years, this new format of books has been expanded with the growth of information and communication tools and technologies, the expansion ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: The e-book is one of the features that new technologies have brought us. This kind of book makes accessing information easier. In recent years, this new format of books has been expanded with the growth of information and communication tools and technologies, the expansion of educational and virtual learning environments, the possibility of access to electronic tools by a wide range of social strata, and the speed of access to information.Books always are one of the main tools in education, so a group that can make use of e-books and its capabilities due to their age and educational conditions are teenage students. in spite of all e-book's various and unique capabilities, like other technologies, in some cases has been welcomed and in other ones hasn't gotten so much attention but what factors cause this low attention in this subject should be considered. So various models and patterns in the field of technology acceptance have been presented. In this regard One of the most complete models is the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3), which by solving problems and completing the previous two models of Technology Acceptance Model (namely TAM and TAM 2) and adding factors related to ease of use, can help identify the factors influencing the acceptance of different technologies. For this reason, the main purpose of this study is to determine the factors that affect the acceptance of e-books by 1st-period high school students of Isfahan city based on the constructive factors of the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3). In order to achieve this goal according to the main research model and based on the relationships between the variables, 15 hypotheses have been definedMethodology: This research is descriptive research and was performed using surveys and correlation analysis. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire consists of three sections, including accompanying letters, general questions, and specialized questions. The general questions included 7 close-ended questions about the demographic characteristics of the sample members and the specialized questions included the topics related to the model of this research (Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3)) in 49 items in the form of 14 components. The answers were arranged in a Likert scale comprising five options (strongly agree to strongly disagree). Visual modes (face mode emojis) along with writing were used so that teenagers could evaluate their answers better. Four members of the faculty of Knowledge and Information Science (KIS) confirmed the validity of this questionnaire. Alpha-Cronbach was used to measure reliability. The Cronbach's alpha value for the research questionnaire was gotten about 0.8. SPSS23 and Amos22 software were used to analyze the results and score the questionnaires. The participants were 460 1st-period high school students from the of Isfahan city, who were randomly selected by randomized cluster sampling.Findings: Path Analysis of the research data showed that all the determined paths in the conceptual research model, except the direct effect of the "result demonstrability" on the "perceived usefulness", are significant and the model has an acceptable overall fit. The mediator variable, "experience", could only affect the relationship between "subjective norms" and "intention to use ". This means that the more experience that a teenager has about the use of technology, the greater impact on their intention to use e-books. None of the voluntariness and experience mediating variables could have an effect on other relationships of the model.Discussion: Many developed countries have accepted e-books as an inseparable format form the libraries, schools, colleges, and many centers. So, they are taking advantage of them. The results of this study, which was performed based on a group of teenagers and students with the TAM3 model, showed that with clear and precise steps, many of activities and investments can be coordinated to use this technology as much as possible also introduce in society as a positive cultural behavior.The results of the study showed that all the 8 first hypotheses have been confirmed except a part of the third hypothesis (the effect of the "result demonstrability" on the "perceived usefulness"). The confirmation of the 7th and 8th hypothesis revealed that more attention to factors of "perceived usefulness" and "perceived ease of use" will increase in "intention to use"."Perceived ease of use" impacted by 5 various variables such as "subjective norms". "Subjective norms" is one of a few variables that has a direct impact on "intention to use" and also increase "perceived ease of use" with itself. Also, "subjective norms" impact positively on "image", one of the five variables related to "perceived ease of use". The Two mediating variables in this model (voluntariness and experience), only the experience variable (in the sense of the degree a person knows how to use a computer) was able to affect only one relationship (Hypothesis 14). Therefore, it can be concluded the more "experience" a person has in using a computer, the more it will help to strengthen the "subjective norms" and "intention to use" relationship. This experience can be enhanced by making computers available in school, library, home or any cultural, scientific/educational place and also by holding various educational classes related to its use. Finally, it suggested that other researchers study the acceptance of other library technologies on youth group using this model and even other models proposed in this field, and evaluate the conditions for providing technology-based information services. Because the information societies in the world are moving towards more and more use of technologies, the more appropriate conditions can be provided for the acceptance of new information technologies and a more accurate understanding of it, the more consciously we can take steps and pay for these services.
