Innovation diffusion of wearable mobile computing: Pervasive computing perspective

Abstract

Wearable technology has become mainstream in this information age, it is needed to understand how the potential users of this emerging technology gain value from the innovation of the technology, consequently increasing users’ diffusion. Extant literature on the acceptance of mobile computing has been developing such as in mobile banking services and in healthcare service, however, the study of users’ acceptance about the emergence of wearable mobile computing is still at the early stages. This paper examines the development of a conceptual framework to understand the technology adoption factors for wearable mobile computing utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) and related factors on mobility and pervasive computing. Data of 272 respondents were collected using quantitative approach of survey based questionnaires conducted in Malaysia. The findings of this research revealed the factors of mobility (MOB), personalization (PN) and perceived enjoyment (PE) achieved the highest average score by respondents, followed by perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU), observability (OBS), facilitating condition (FC) and social influence (SI). As wearable technology is perceived to be pervasive, mobility (MOB) and perceived enjoyment (PE) contribute the dominant factor for usage acceptance, while Perceived Usefulness (PU) from established model TAM, still plays an important factors in predicting innovation adoption of wearable mobile computing.