JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The rapid diffusion of technology applications may support older adult independence and improve the quality of their lives. Models for predicting older adult technology acceptance are sparse, based on broad questions related to general technology acceptance, and largely not grounded in theories of aging

Objective:

This study uses a mixed-method approach involving five technologies to comprehensively assess the causal relationships among factors that influence older adults’ willingness to adopt the technologies.

Methods:

One hundred and eighty-seven male and female adults 65-92 years of age participated in the study. Participants were given presentations on five different technologies spanning domains that included transportation, leisure, health, and new learning, and provided ratings of each technology on various measures hypothesized to influence adoption. They were also administered other instruments to collect data on their actual and self-assessed cognitive abilities, rates of discounting of the technologies with respect to willingness to invest time to attain higher skills on the technologies, general technology experience, and attitudes toward technology. We used the machine-learning technique of k-fold cross-validated regressions to select variables that predicted participants’ willingness to adopt the technologies.

Results:

Willingness to adopt the technologies was most impacted by three variables: perceived value of the technologies, perceived improvement in quality of life attainable from the technologies, and confidence in being able to use the technologies. These variables, in turn, were mostly facilitated or inhibited by the perceived effort required to learn to use the technologies, a positive attitude toward technology as reflected in the optimism component of the technology readiness scale, degree to which technologies were discounted, and perceived help needed to learn to use the technologies.

Conclusions:

Our findings demonstrate that participants’ willingness to adopt technologies is mainly determined by three perceptions of the technologies, which mediated many relationships with willingness to adopt. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design and marketing of technology products for older consumers.