Do I really have to? User acceptance of mandated technology

Extensive research supports the notion that usefulness and ease of use are primary drivers of user intentions to adopt new technology. However, this research has been conducted primarily in environments in which adoption was voluntary. When technology use is mandated, as it is in many organizations, we expect that the underlying relationships of traditional technology acceptance models will be different. In this paper, we discuss our current understanding of technology acceptance, as well as the notion of mandated use. We then discuss a field study conducted in the banking industry to examine technology acceptance models in a mandated use environment. The results indicate that there are, in fact, differences in the underlying relationships of technology acceptance models in this mandatory use situation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for research and practice.