Oh UTAUT - A Bit Too Broad For Me

 

Hello Fellow Night Owls,

Sorry for the late post on this one - lots of travel this week [and no Wi-Fi on the plane - just turbulence and spilt coffee, ha!]

Perhaps it’s just me, but I have always been skeptical of comprehensive frameworks that explain the totality of human behavior towards a particular subject: in this case, technology acceptance and usage. While the UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003) does merge theories aligned with motivation, technology acceptance, diffusion of innovation, and sociology, I find its broadness relegates its utility to academic insight and framing observations.

In this space, I fail to reconcile Take-On #4 with the UTAUT determinate Performance Expectancy and the notion of job performance. Rhetorically, isn’t job performance measured by Return on Investment (ROI)? Isn’t Performance Expectancy just the desire for an anticipated efficiency? In my mind, a person would not undertake an occupational activity unless there was a positive ROI – at least in financial decision-making, Performance Expectancy seems akin to achieving positive Net Present Value (NPV).

Separately, I find the accessibility and inclusiveness aside intriguing. While I do not contest the importance of leveraging technology to improve SPED and accommodation, I wonder if there are different expectations for profit versus non-profit, public versus private approaches when addressing this requirement. Since Kayla is likely publicly funded, I presume she would need to incorporate DEI moreso than private industry alternatives. Observing this, I wonder if UTAUT will be modified to reflect increasing technology usage from DEI legislation and regulation, rather than an individual or organizational willingness to move towards a more caring society.

Thoughts? 

Hoot.  

References:

Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478.