Extending The Technology Acceptance Model: Policy Acceptance Model (PAM)

Many have studied the process of acceptance and adoption of new ideas and technologies as they are introduced into society. While several models have been used to assess various influencing factors, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is one that is most widely accepted. This model examines people’s acceptance of new technologies based on variables that directly correlate to how the end user views the product. This paper introduces the Policy Acceptance Model (PAM), an expansion of TAM, which is designed for the analysis and evaluation of acceptance of new policy implementation. PAM includes the traditional constructs of TAM and adds the variables of age and ethnicity. The model is experimentally assessed using a survey of people’s attitudes toward the upcoming health care reform from 72 survey respondents. The aim is that the theory behind this model can be used as a framework that will be applicable to studies looking at the introduction of any new or modified policies.