Demographic and
motivation variables
associated with Internet
usage activities
Thompson S.H. Teo
The author
Thompson S.H. Teo is an Associate Professor in the Faculty
of Business Administration at the National University of
Singapore, Singapore.
Keywords
Internet, User studies, Singapore, Consumer behaviour
Abstract
Examines demographic variables (gender, age, educational
level) and motivation variables (perceived ease of use,
perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness) associated with
Internet usage activities (defined in terms of messaging,
browsing, downloading and purchasing). A total of 1,370
usable responses were obtained using a Web page survey.
Results showed that males are more likely to engage in
downloading and purchasing activities while females are
more likely to engage in messaging activities. Younger users
engage in messaging and downloading activities to a
greater extent than older users. Perceived usefulness is
associated with the four activities, while perceived ease of
use and perceived enjoyment are associated with messaging, browsing and downloading activities.
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Introduction
In Singapore, the Internet was first available to
academics of the National University of
Singapore in 1990. Technet was subsequently
set up in January 1992 to make the Internet
available to the rest of the research and
development community in Singapore. The
first Internet access service provider (IASP),
Singnet, was launched in July 1994 to enable
the general public and businesses to tap into the
vast array of information resources on the
Internet.
In September 1995, Technet was privatized
and renamed as Pacific Internet. It became the
second IASP in Singapore. To encourage more
users to subscribe to its services, it embarked on
an aggressive marketing campaign which
resulted in greater publicity regarding the
Internet, lower rates for subscribers (due to
price war between the two IASPs) and rapid
growth in the number of subscribers.
The third IASP, Cyberway, was launched in
March 1996. It facilitated further growth in the
number of Internet users in Singapore. An
estimated 32 percent of the population are
Internet users (including dial-up subscribers,
commercial users, schools, cybercafes, etc.)
(Emanuel, 1999) (or more than one million out
of a population of about four million by
December 2000), and this represents a
substantial growth from the 52,000 users in
early 1995 (Tan and Teo, 1999).
With the continued rapid growth of the
Internet, it is vital to understand the
demographic and motivation factors that are
associated with Internet usage. Most research
focuses on Europe or the USA rather than on
non-western countries. Singapore is an ideal
country in Asia to examine the Internet
phenomenon since it is reputed to have one of
the highest densities of Internet users in the
world and is generally recognized as one of the
world leaders in electronic commerce (Vogel
and Gricar, 1998). For example, in a report on
the readiness for business-to-business electronic
commerce in Asia, Goldman Sachs awarded
gold medals to Australia and Singapore, while
The author would like to thank Raye Lai for his
assistance in data collection.
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Thompson S.H. Teo
Hong Kong and South Korea were given silver
medals (Toh, 2000).
Similarly, in a Deutsche Bank research
report, Singapore’s e-commerce volume was
expected to surge to US$2.1 billion in 2000,
nearly a fourfold increase from US$600 million
in 1999. In fact, by 2005, Singapore may be
able to rival the USA as an IT-dominated
economy (Chuang, 2000). Furthermore, the
Internet plays an important role in Singapore’s
IT2000 plan which aims to make information
easily accessible to all citizens at home or at
work (National Computer Board, 1992).
Past research has investigated a wide variety
of factors influencing computer adoption and
usage such as demographic characteristics
(Brancheau and Wetherbe, 1990; Thong,
1999), perceived ease of use, perceived
usefulness (Davis et al., 1989; Gefen and
Straub, 2000), and perceived enjoyment or fun
(Igbaria et al., 1994). In contrast, research in
the context of factors influencing Internet usage
is relatively limited.
Researchers examining the Internet
phenomenon have examined a wide range of
issues such as demographics and growth
(Hoffman et al., 1996; Pitkow and Kehoe,
1996), strategic and commercial uses
(Cockburn and Wilson, 1996; Farhoomand,
2000), use in various functional areas (Quelch
and Klein, 1996; Upton and McAfee, 1996),
adoption and diffusion (Soh et al., 1997; Teo et
al., 1997-98), and gender differences (Teo and
Lim, 1997; 2000).
In one of the few studies on factors
influencing Internet usage, Atkinson and Kydd
(1997) examined individual characteristics
associated with WWW use. The results
suggested that both intrinsic (defined as
perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment)
and extrinsic (defined as perceived usefulness)
factors affect WWW use differentially for
entertainment and for course work purposes.
Our study extends Atkinson and Kydd’s work
by examining demographic and motivation
variables associated with Internet usage
(defined in terms of four generic activities of
messaging, browsing, downloading and
purchasing). The results will facilitate further
understanding of factors associated with
Internet usage, thereby enabling researchers,
practitioners and policy makers to better design
appropriate strategies to promote Internet
adoption and usage. Furthermore, the
generalizability of previous results on factors
associated with computer adoption and usage
can be examined in the context of the Internet.
Research model and hypotheses
Figure 1 shows the research model which seeks
to examine how demographic variables (gender,
age, educational level), intrinsic motivation
variables (perceived ease of use, perceived
enjoyment) and extrinsic motivation variables
(perceived usefulness) are associated with
Internet usage activities (messaging, browsing,
downloading and purchasing). Note that in this
study, we are examining the direct associations
of demographic variables with usage activities
rather than its indirect associations via
motivation variables. The reason is that
previous research has commonly focused on the
indirect associations of demographic variables
with usage and less so on its direct associations.
Another reason is that previous studies have
commonly found that Internet users tend to
possess certain demographic characteristics
(e.g. predominance of males, highly educated
users) and we would like to examine the direct
relationships between such characteristics and
usage activities.
Note that in deriving support for the various
hypotheses, we will discuss how demographic
and motivation variables are associated with
Internet usage activities in general rather than
Figure 1 Research model
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Thompson S.H. Teo
specific to each of the four generic activities (i.e.
messaging, browsing, downloading,
purchasing). This is done to minimize
repetition as the arguments for the hypotheses
are likely to be similar for each of the four
activities. Furthermore, since research on
factors associated with Internet usage is
relatively sparse, we will derive our support for
the various hypotheses from past research on
computer adoption and usage. In other words,
we are making the assumption that prior studies
on computer adoption and usage can perhaps
be extrapolated to Internet usage.
Demographic variables
Gender
Several studies have examined gender issues in
computer anxiety and attitudes, and their
results can perhaps be extended to the context
of the Internet. For example, Qureshi and
Hoppel (1995) found that there are some
gender differences in how students feel about
computers. Similarly, Harrison and Rainer
(1992) found some relationship between gender
and level of computer skills, with males more
likely to have better computer skills. Elder et al.
(1987) found that females are more likely to
experience technostress (physical and
emotional burnout caused by inability to adapt
to new technology) in using PCs compared to
males. Some studies have found that females
reported greater computer anxiety than males
(Igbaria and Chakrabarti, 1990; Gilroy and
Desai, 1986) while others found no gender
differences (Parasuraman and Igbaria, 1990;
Howard and Smith, 1986).
In the context of the Internet, studies have
generally shown that users are predominantly
males and that men took to the Internet faster
than women (Straits Times, 1996). Based on
these findings, coupled with past research on
computer predispositions which have generally
shown that males are more interested in
learning about computers than females
(Qureshi and Hoppel, 1995; Wilder et al.,
1985), we can, by extension to the Internet,
postulate that males are more interested in the
Internet than females. Consequently, we may
expect that males are more likely to use the
Internet for various activities compared to
females. It follows that:
H1: Males are more likely to use the Internet
for the following activities:
a. messaging;
b. browsing;
c. downloading;
d. purchasing;
when compared to females.
Age
In a study on the use of computers in
government finance organizations, Elder et al.
(1987) found that older workers are more likely
to experience technostress compared to
younger workers. Similarly, Harrison and
Rainer (1992) examined individual differences
on skill in end-user computing and found that
age is negatively correlated with skill level.
Zeffane and Cheek’s (1993) study of computer
usage in an Australian telecommunications
organization found that age is negatively
correlated with computer usage.
In the context of the Internet, studies have
shown that users tend to be young adults (Straits
Times, 1996). Taken together with previous
findings of the relationship between age and
computer usage, we can hypothesize that:
H2: Age is negatively related to usage of the
Internet in terms of the following
activities:
a. messaging;
b. browsing;
c. downloading;
d. purchasing.
Educational level
There is a limited amount of research that
examines the relationship between educational
level and computer usage. In most cases,
educational level is not among the main
constructs and is usually measured as part of
demographic characteristics or as a control
variable in data analysis (e.g. Igbaria et al.,
1995). Furthermore, researchers commonly
relate educational level to usage indirectly via
computer anxiety.
For example, in a study of the determinants
of user acceptance of microcomputer
technology, Igbaria (1993) found that
educational level has a significant negative
effect on computer anxiety and a significant
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Thompson S.H. Teo
positive effect on perceived usefulness.
Computer anxiety was found to have a strong
negative effect on perceived usefulness and
behavioral intentions while perceived usefulness
was found to have positive effects on attitudes,
behavioral intentions and user acceptance.
Taken together, these results imply that higher
educational level is likely to have a positive
relationship with usage. Furthermore, higher
educational level may result in greater
knowledge about computers, thereby
facilitating Internet usage. This notion is
supported by Brancheau and Wetherbe (1990)
who found that early adopters of spreadsheet
software are likely to be more highly educated
than late adopters. It follows that:
H3: Education level is positively related to
usage of the Internet in terms of the
following activities:
a. messaging;
b. browsing;
c. downloading;
d. purchasing.
Motivation variables
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation refers to the performance
of an activity for no apparent reinforcement
other than the process of performing the activity
per se. Both perceived ease of use and perceived
enjoyment are forms of intrinsic motivation
factors (Atkinson and Kydd, 1997).
Perceived ease of use
Perceived ease of use refers to the degree to
which the user expects the use of the system to
be user friendly. Since effort is a finite resource
that a person may allocate to various activities
(Radner and Rothschild, 1975), it implies that
all else being equal, an application perceived to
be easier to use than another is more likely to be
accepted by users. Past research has generally
confirmed that perceived ease of use can
influence computer usage directly (Davis, 1986;
1989).
In general, if a system is easy to use, it
requires less effort on the part of users, thereby
increasing the likelihood of adoption and usage.
Conversely, systems that are complex or
difficult to use are less likely to be adopted since
it requires significant effort and interest on the
part of the user. In the context of the Internet,
the easy to use browsers have largely been
responsible for the rapid growth in the number
of Internet users. Hence, perceived ease of use
is likely to be positively related to the four
generic Internet activities. It follows that:
H4: Perceived ease of use is positively related
to usage of the Internet in terms of the
following activities:
a. messaging;
b. browsing;
c. downloading;
d. purchasing.
Perceived enjoyment
Perceived enjoyment may be defined as the
extent to which the activity of using the
computer is perceived to be enjoyable in its own
right, apart from any performance
consequences that may be anticipated (Carroll
and Thomas, 1988; Deci, 1971; Malone,
1981a). Hence, individuals who experience
immediate pleasure and joy from using the
computer per se will be more likely to use it
more extensively than others. This notion is
supported by Triandis (1971, 1980) who
posited that affect – ‘‘the feeling of joy, elation,
pleasure or depression, disgust, displeasure and
hate associated by an individual with a
particular act’’ – has an impact on behavior.
Furthermore, research on the role of enjoyment
in workplace computing (Webster, 1989;
Webster and Martocchio, 1992) and computer
games (Holbrook et al., 1984; Malone, 1981a,
1981b) have suggested the importance of
enjoyment on usage intentions and behaviors.
In a similar vein, Davis et al. (1992) found that
perceived enjoyment has significant effects on
intention to use a word processing program.
By extending these results to the context of
the Internet, we can therefore postulate that
perceived enjoyment will have a positive effect
on usage activities such as messaging, browsing,
downloading and purchasing. It follows that:
H5: Perceived enjoyment is positively related
to usage of the Internet in terms of the
following activities:
a. messaging;
b. browsing;
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c. downloading;
d. purchasing.
Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance
of an activity because it is perceived to be
instrumental in achieving valued outcomes that
are distinct from the activity itself. In other
words, extrinsic motivation influences behavior
due to the reinforcement values of the
outcomes. Hence, perceived usefulness is a
form of extrinsic motivation factor (Atkinson
and Kydd, 1997).
Perceived usefulness
Previous research has found that perceived
usefulness has a strong and consistent
relationship with computer usage. For example,
Davis (1989) found that perceived usefulness
was significantly correlated with both selfreported current usage and self-predicted future
usage. Similarly, Igbaria et al. (1995) found that
perceived usefulness has strong direct effects on
system usage dimensions. Igbaria et al. (1994)
and Adams et al. (1992) also confirmed that
perceived usefulness is positively related to
system usage. A plausible reason is that
individuals will use computers only if they
perceive that such usage will help them to
achieve the desired task performance.
Similarly, in the context of the Internet, we
can postulate positive relationships between
perceived usefulness and the four generic
Internet activities. It follows that:
H6: Perceived usefulness is positively related
to usage of the Internet in terms of the
following activities:
a. messaging;
b. browsing;
c. downloading;
d. purchasing.
Method
Sample and procedures
An extensive literature review as well as
interviews were carried out with 16 Internet
users (divided into four focus groups with four
users each). The aim was to understand the
various uses of the Internet. As Internet usage
activties are generally uncomplicated and
similar across different groups, we felt that the
sample of 16 users was sufficient. Based on
these interviews, four generic Internet usage
activities were identified:
(1) Messaging (e-mailing, using discussion
groups, Internet relay chat, etc.).
(2) Browsing (surfing the Internet).
(3) Downloading (copying files from the
Internet such as images, shareware, etc.).
(4) Purchasing (ordering products through the
Internet).
The questionnaire was designed as Web pages
on the World Wide Web (WWW). Javascript
programming was used to check for missing
responses and prompt users to answer them.
Pretesting of the questionnaire was conducted
in three phases with three Internet users in each
phase. Pretesting with three users in each phase
was deemed sufficient as the items measuring
various constructs were derived from past
research where psychometric properties had
been established. Amendments were made at
the end of each phase based on feedback from
respondents. At the end of the third phase, no
major comments were received from the
respondents and the questionnaire was deemed
ready for posting on the WWW.
Several measures were taken to increase the
response rate. First, the length of the
questionnaire is about three and a half pages,
thereby enabling respondents to take only about
five to ten minutes to fill up the survey. Second,
S$2 phonecards were offered as incentives to the
first 100 respondents. This was later increased to
150 $2 phonecards due to the overwhelming
response. Third, respondents were promised an
executive summary of the results. This may
further motivate participation as respondents
may be interested in the results of the survey.
Fourth, the Web site for the survey was
publicized in the local newspaper (Straits
Times), Computerworld as well as 11 major local
newsgroups, namely, sg.announce, sg.general,
sg.marketplace, sg.cyberway.announce,
sg.pacnet.announce, sg.pacnet.help,
sg.singnet.announce, sg.singnet.marketplace,
sg.singnet.test, sg.singnet.help, and
nus.announce. These newsgroups were chosen
because of their wide reach and tolerance of
such advertising messages. The call for
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Thompson S.H. Teo
participation was also made in another
newsgroup, namely, soc.culture.singapore
because of its popularity with Singaporeans who
used it to discuss local issues. Fifth, hyperlinks
were established on Singnet’s ‘‘What’s New’’
page and the National University of Singapore
WWW homepage. These sites have high traffic
flow and help to further publicize the Web site
location.
Since users may participate due to any one of
the publicity media, it was not possible for us to
determine which of the above measures
generated the most responses. The survey
lasted about two months. Winners of
phonecards were contacted by e-mail for their
home addresses and phonecards were duly
mailed out to them.
A total of 1,378 responses were received, of
which six were rejected due to incomplete
responses. Another two were rejected since
respondents were not local Internet users.
Hence, a total of 1,370 responses were used for
data analysis.
Table I summarizes the demographic profile
of respondents.
Of the 1,370 responses, 89 percent were males.
Hence, there appear to be a dominance of male
Internet users in Singapore. This is consistent
with the findings by Singapore Polytechnic and
the Batey Research Center which found that
men took to the Internet faster than women
(Straits Times, 1996). Furthermore, previous
research on computer predispositions generally
found that males are more likely to be interested
in learning about computers (and by extension,
the Internet) compared to females (Qureshi and
Hoppel, 1995; Wilder et al., 1985).
The majority of respondents fall in the 16-30
years old age group, thereby implying that most
Internet users in Singapore are teenagers or
young adults. More than 55 percent of
respondents have at least a diploma or
bachelor’s degree. This is consistent with
previous surveys conducted in America which
found that Internet users tend to be college
educated (cyberatlas @ http://
www.cyberatlas.com/; GVU @ http://
www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/). Similarly, previous
research conducted in Singapore also found
that Internet users are relatively young and
generally well educated (Straits Times, 1996).
Table I Demographic profile
Demographic profile
Gender
Male
Female
Age (years)
11-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
> 40
Missing data
Highest education level
Primary
Secondary
Pre-university/junior college
Polytechnic/diploma
Bachelor degree
Master degree
Doctorate degree
Others
Missing
Number
Percentage
1,219
151
89.0
11.0
31
276
515
260
131
92
64
1
2.3
20.1
37.6
19.0
9.6
6.7
4.7
0.1
37
192
365
315
320
89
22
28
2
2.7
14.0
26.6
23.0
23.4
6.5
1.6
2.0
0.1
Instrument
The instrument gathered information about the
demographic characteristics of respondents,
and the research constructs (see Appendix),
namely perceived usefulness, perceived ease of
use, perceived enjoyment and the four
dimensions of Internet usage. The demographic
characteristics were measured in terms of
gender, age and highest educational level.
The items used to measure perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use were
adapted from Davis (1989) and Igbaria et al.
(1995). Individuals were asked to indicate their
agreement or disagreement with several
statements using a five-point Likert-type scale
ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5)
strongly agree. Cronbach alphas of 0.89 and
0.87 were obtained for perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use respectively.
Seven different pairs on the seven-point
semantic differential scale adapted from Igbaria
et al. (1995) were used to measure perceived
enjoyment. Individuals were asked to rate the
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Thompson S.H. Teo
items according to how they feel about the
Internet. The items are, using the Internet is:
fun-frustrating, pleasant-unpleasant, negativepositive, pleasurable-painful, exciting-dull,
foolish-wise and enjoyable-unenjoyable. This
scale had a Cronbach alpha of 0.90.
Internet usage was measured in terms of
frequency of usage and daily usage (DeLone,
1988; Igbaria et al., 1995; Thompson et al.,
1991) for each of the four generic activities
(messaging, browsing, downloading,
purchasing). Frequency of Internet usage (for
each of the four activities) was measured on a
six-point scale ranging from (1) never/almost
never to (6) several times a day. Daily Internet
usage was measured by the amount of time
spent daily on the Internet (for each of the four
activities). A six-point scale ranging from (1)
never/almost never to (6) more than three hours
per day was used to measure daily Internet
usage.
As commonly done in past research, the
average scores for frequency of usage and daily
usage were computed in terms of the four
activities. The scales had the following
Cronbach alpha values: messaging (0.70),
browsing (0.65), downloading (0.71) and
purchasing (0.80). Since the Cronbach alpha
values for all the research constructs are
generally above or close to 0.70 as stipulated by
Nunnally (1978), the constructs are deemed to
exhibit adequate reliability.
Construct validity
Factor analysis with varimax rotation was
performed to ascertain that perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived
enjoyment are distinct constructs. The results
confirmed the existence of three factors with
eigenvalues greater than 1.0 that accounted for
67.5 percent of the total variance. The criteria
used to identify and interpret factors were: each
item should load 0.50 or greater on one factor
and 0.35 or below on the other two factors
(Igbaria et al., 1995). Table II shows that factor
1 (with four items) measures perceived ease of
use. Similarly, factor 2 (with seven items) and
factor 3 (with five items) measure perceived
enjoyment and perceived usefulness
respectively. These results therefore confirm
Table II Factor analysis
Items
Ease1
Ease2
Ease3
Ease4
Enjoy1
Enjoy2
Enjoy3
Enjoy4
Enjoy5
Enjoy6
Enjoy7
Useful1
Useful2
Useful3
Useful4
Useful5
Eigenvalue
Cumulative percentage of
variance
Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3
0.13
0.16
0.14
0.17
0.82
0.83
0.68
0.84
0.77
0.63
0.83
0.09
0.11
0.09
0.08
0.15
5.94
0.10
0.21
0.18
0.17
0.02
0.05
0.11
0.05
0.14
0.29
0.07
0.87
0.86
0.81
0.87
0.62
2.90
0.84
0.79
0.82
0.84
0.12
0.19
0.13
0.13
0.11
0.02
0.12
0.13
0.10
0.16
0.14
0.17
1.97
37.10
55.20
67.50
that each of these constructs are unidimensional
and factorially distinct and that all items used to
operationalize a particular construct loaded
onto a single factor.
Intercorrelation matrix
The intercorrelation matrix for the research
variables are shown in Table III.
Age and gender are negatively correlated
(r = –0.10), with males generally being older than
females. Age appears to be positively correlated
with educational level (r = 0.57), thereby
implying that older respondents tend to be better
educated than younger respondents. Males are
more likely to engage in browsing, downloading
and purchasing activities compared to females.
However, the correlation between gender and
messaging activities is not significant.
Age is negatively correlated with messaging (r
= –0.06) and downloading (r = –0.11) activities
and positively correlated with purchasing (r =
0.10) activities. This implies that younger
respondents tend to use the Internet more but
older respondents may have greater purchasing
power.
Perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and
perceived enjoyment are positively correlated with
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Table III Intercorrelation matrix
Constructs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
1
Gender (1 = male,2 = female)
Age
Educational level
Perceived ease of use
Perceived enjoyment
Perceived usefulness
Messaging
Browsing
Downloading
Purchasing
1.00
±0.10***
±0.01
±0.10***
±0.06*
±0.11***
0.03
±0.08**
±0.24***
±0.08**
2
3
1.00
0.57*** 1.00
±0.03
0.06
±0.06*
±0.01
0.09**
0.15***
±0.06*
0.03
±0.02
±0.05
±0.11*** -0.06*
0.10*** 0.09
4
5
6
7
8
1.00
0.34***
0.37***
0.22***
0.18***
0.23***
0.03
1.00
0.27***
0.24***
0.20***
0.22***
0.01
1.00
0.16***
0.24***
0.17***
0.14***
1.00
0.45***
0.36***
0.19***
1.00
0.61***
0.17***
9
1.00
0.23***
Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001
messaging, browsing and downloading activities.
However, in terms of purchasing activities, only
the correlation with perceived usefulness is
significant (r = 0.14). This implies that when
purchasing activities are carried out, it is due
more to perceived usefulness of the Internet in
facilitating such activities than perceived ease of
use or perceived enjoyment.
Hypotheses testing
Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test
the research hypotheses since it allows us to
examine the effects of various variables
separately. In step 1, we enter the demographic
variables to examine their effects on the
dependent variables (messaging, browsing,
downloading and purchasing). In step 2, we
enter the motivation variables to enable us to
examine any increase in explained variance over
that contributed by the demographic variables.
The results are shown in Table IV.
From Table IV, the demographic variables
contributed only 1 percent in the variation of
messaging and browsing activities, 7 percent for
downloading activities and 2 percent for
purchasing activities (as indicated by the adjusted
R2 values). In contrast, the motivation variables
generally contributed about 7 to 8 percent in the
variation of messaging, browsing and
downloading activities. The contribution to
purchasing activities is only 1 percent. One likely
reason is that purchasing activities are carried out
rather infrequently by respondents.
Females are more likely to engage in messaging
activities (< = 0.06) while males are more likely
to use the Internet for downloading (< = –0.21)
and purchasing (< = –0.07) activities. The
relationship between gender and browsing
activities is negative and significant in step 1 (<
= –0.07) but becomes insignificant in the
presence of motivation variables in step 2 (< = –
0.04). Hence, only hypotheses 1c and 1d are
supported.
Hypotheses 2a to 2d which postulate negative
relationships between age and the four generic
activities are partially supported since age is
negatively related to messaging (< = –0.08,
hypothesis 2a is supported) and downloading
(< = –0.11, hypothesis 2c is supported)
activities. The relationships between
educational level and the four generic activities
are not supported. In fact, educational level is
significantly related to browsing activities in the
negative direction (< = –0.09). Overall, it can
be seen that the relationships between
demographic variables and the four generic
activities are not uniform.
Perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment
and perceived usefulness have significant
positive relationships with messaging (< = 0.13,
0.08, 0.18), browsing (< = 0.08, 0.17, 0.14)
and downloading (< = 0.13, 0.06, 0.14)
activities. While the relationships between
intrinsic motivation variables and purchasing
activities are not significant, that for extrinsic
motivation variables is significant (< = 0.13).
Hence, H4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d
are supported.
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Thompson S.H. Teo
Table IV Hierarchical regression analyses
Research variables
Demographic variables
Gender
Age
Educational level
Intrinsic motivation
Perceived ease of use
Perceived enjoyment
Extrinsic motivation
Perceived usefulness
Adjusted R2
a. Messaging
Step 1
Step 2
b. Browsing
Step 1
Step 2
0.02
±0.10**
0.09**
±0.07**
0.02
±0.06
0.06*
±0.08*
0.04
±0.04
0.04
±0.09**
0.13***
0.08**
0.01
0.18***
0.09
c. Downloading
Step 1
Step 2
±0.25***
±0.13***
0.02
0.08**
0.17***
0.14***
0.08
0.01
±0.21***
±0.11***
±0.03
d. Purchasing
Step 1
Step 2
±0.08**
0.06
0.06
0.13***
0.06*
0.07
0.14***
0.13
±0.07*
0.06
0.04
±0.02
±0.03
0.02
0.13***
0.03
Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001
Discussion
The support for H1c and H1d indicates that males
use the Internet for downloading and purchasing
activities to a greater extent compared to females.
One likely reason is that since males are more
likely to be interested in learning and using PCs
compared to females (Qureshi and Hoppel, 1995;
Wilder et al., 1985), they are likely to be more
skilled in downloading and purchasing activities
on the Internet. Both males and females use the
Internet for browsing activities to a similar extent
as indicated by the non-significant result.
Interestingly, females use the Internet for
messaging activities to a significantly greater
extent than males. This is consistent with
previous research which found that females tend
to view computer-mediated communication more
favorably than males (Hiltz and Johnson, 1990;
Allen, 1995). One possible reason is that females
prefer to use the Internet to chat with people
compared to males who prefer to use it for other
activities (Straits Times, 1996).
The lack of support for H2b and H2d
indicates that respondents across a wide range
of ages engage in browsing and purchasing
activities. One likely reason is that browsing is a
basic common activity on the Internet while,
consistent with surveys done in America (e.g.
Paulson, 1997), purchasing is likely to be
carried out infrequently by respondents. In
contrast, the support for H2a and H2c indicates
that younger respondents are more likely to
engage in messaging and downloading activities
compared to older respondents. This is in line
with previous studies which found that age is
negatively correlated with skill level (e.g.
Harrison and Rainer, 1992). In other words,
younger respondents are likely to be more
proficient in carrying out messaging and
downloading activities on the Internet
compared to older respondents.
In terms of educational level, the lack of
support for H3a to H3d is unexpected as previous
research usually shows educational level being
positively related to usage of computers (e.g.
Igbaria et al., 1995). One plausible explanation is
that the Internet, with its easy to use browsers
make differences in educational level
unimportant. For example, it is relatively easy to
send and receive email (messaging), download
software or buy things online. Further, the
demographic profile of our respondents show that
about 97 percent have at least secondary school
education which is more than sufficient to be able
to use the Internet for messaging, downloading or
purchasing activities.
Interestingly, educational level is negatively
related to browsing activities. One possible
explanation is that a high percentage of our
respondents are students who may have more
time to engage in browsing activities compared to
older working adults. In other words, the young
may tend to be more engrossed with the Internet
compared to older working adults who have other
important family and work activities than
spending too much time browsing the Internet.
The support for H4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b and 5c
indicates that intrinsic motivation variables
(perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment)
are positively related to messaging, browsing and
downloading activities. One plausible reason is
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Thompson S.H. Teo
that user friendly browsers make the Internet easy
to use while the almost infinite pool of
entertainment and other information available
makes the Internet enjoyable to use. The lack of
support for H4d and H5d pertaining to
purchasing activities can be explained by the
relatively low level of purchasing activities carried
out by Internet users.
The results for extrinsic motivation variables
(perceived usefulness) show support for all the
four generic activities, i.e. H6a to H6d are
supported. An examination of the beta values in
Table IV show that, with the exception of
browsing activities, the beta values for perceived
usefulness are generally higher than for perceived
enjoyment. This is consistent with previous
research which found that perceived usefulness
plays a stronger role than perceived enjoyment in
computer usage (Igbaria et al., 1994; 1995). In
contrast, the high beta value of 0.17 for perceived
enjoyment in terms of browsing activities
indicates that browsing the Internet is generally
perceived to be an enjoyable activity.
The relatively high beta values for perceived
ease of use in terms of messaging (< = 0.13)
and downloading (< = 0.13) activities reflect
well on current browsers in enabling these
activities to be easily carried out.
In terms of purchasing activities, the
significant results for the effect of perceived
usefulness but not for perceived ease of use and
perceived enjoyment are consistent with Gefen
and Straub’s (2000) study of e-commerce
adoption, which found that perceived
usefulness affects intention to purchase while
perceived ease of use does not.
Limitations
There are three main limitations in this study.
First, the usage measures are self-reported since
objective use logs were not practical as users
may use the Internet anytime, anywhere, using
different computers and browsers for different
tasks. Although self-reported measures may not
be precise, previous research suggests that they
are appropriate as relative measures (Blair and
Burton, 1987). Hence, this limitation is not
serious.
Second, this study examines how
demographic and motivation variables are
associated with the four generic Internet
activities. It is important to realize that other
factors may also affect these activities e.g.
computer experience and anxiety (Igbaria,
1993), self-efficacy (Igbaria and Iivari, 1995),
computer skills, organizational support and
social pressure (Igbaria, 1994). Future research
can examine the effects of these factors on the
four generic Internet activities.
Third, the use of an online survey may result
in sample bias since people with certain
characteristics may be more likely to respond to
online surveys. This limits the generalizability
of the results as the set of users who respond
may not be a representative sample of the
population of Internet users. This is a common
limitation of all online surveys.
Conclusions
Results of this study suggest that males are
more likely to engage in downloading and
purchasing activities compared to females. In
addition, younger users tend to engage in
messaging and downloading activities to a
greater extent than older users. Surprisingly,
educational level seems to have little effect on
messaging, downloading and purchasing
activities probably because the Internet has
diffused widely to various sectors of the
population.
The finding that perceived usefulness is
significantly associated with the four generic
activities while perceived ease of use and
perceived enjoyment are associated with only
three generic activities (messaging, browsing
and downloading) confirmed previous research
which found that perceived usefulness plays a
more significant role (compared to perceived
ease of use or perceived enjoyment) in the usage
of computers. One explanation is that users are
unlikely to continue to use the Internet (after
the initial novelty wears out) if they do not find
the Internet to be useful. Hence, it is important
that Web page designers should ensure that
Web pages are useful to users by providing upto-date and relevant information. In fact, useful
content coupled with excellent e-service are
often associated with stickiness of the Web site
(Zemke and Connellan, 2000).
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Volume 11 . Number 2 . 2001 . 125±137
Thompson S.H. Teo
Another explanation which has some
empirical support from Grefen and Straub’s
(2000) work is that intrinsic motivation tends to
be associated with inquiry type usage activities
while extrinsic motivation tends to be
associated with both inquiry and purchasing
type usage activities. In other words, the varying
importance of intrinsic motivation variables
may be related to the nature of usage activities
as shown in our results.
The strong association between perceived
enjoyment and browsing activities indicates that
browsing the Internet is generally perceived to be
an enjoyable experience. One plausible reason is
the wide variety of information available coupled
with the interesting design of Web pages that
incorporate multimedia features. Internet users
are therefore able to easily search for and obtain
leisure and entertainment information quickly for
their enjoyment. Policy makers and Internet
access service providers (IASPs) seeking to
encourage more people to use the Internet can
highlight that browsing the Internet is not only a
useful activity but that it is also enjoyable as users
may find a wide variety of Web sites related to
their interest. They can also emphasize that the
Internet is easy to use for communication with
other people and for downloading leisure or
work-related information.
Overall, the results contribute to existing
literature by highlighting that different
demographic and motivation variables may
influence the four generic Internet activities
differently or to a different extent. The results
also generally confirm the generalizability of
previous research carried out in America since
perceived usefulness was found to be generally
more important than perceived ease of use or
perceived enjoyment in encouraging Internet
usage. Future research can survey respondents
from different countries and carry out crosscultural comparisons.
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Appendix: Questionnaire
Perceived ease of use
Please indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following statements.
Strongly
Strongly
disagree Disagree Neutral Agree agree
1. Learning to use the Internet would be easy for me.
1
2
3
4
5
2. I would find it easy to use the Internet to do what I want to do.
1
2
3
4
5
3. It would be easy for me to become skilful at using the Internet.
1
2
3
4
5
4. I would find the Internet easy to use.
1
2
3
4
5
Perceived usefulness
Please indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following statements.
Strongly
Strongly
disagree Disagree Neutral Agree agree
1. Using the Internet improves my work performance.
1
2
3
4
5
2. Using the Internet increases my work productivity.
1
2
3
4
5
3. I find the Internet useful for my work.
1
2
3
4
5
4. Using the Internet enhances my effectiveness in my work.
1
2
3
4
5
5. Using the Internet provides me with information that would lead to
1
2
3
4
5
better decisions.
Perceived enjoyment
Please rate the scales below according to how you
Using the Internet is:
Fun
1 2 3 4
Pleasant
1 2 3 4
Negative
1 2 3 4
Pleasurable
1 2 3 4
Exciting
1 2 3 4
Foolish
1 2 3 4
Enjoyable
1 2 3 4
feel about using the Internet.
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
6 7
6 7
6 7
6 7
6 7
6 7
6 7
Frustrating
Unpleasant
Positive
Painful
Dull
Wise
Unenjoyable
Messaging, browsing, downloading and purchasing activities
(1) Frequency of Internet usage
On the average, how frequently do you use the Internet for (a) messaging; (b) browsing; (c) downloading; and (d)
purchasing activities?
1. Never/almost never
4. A few times a week
2. Less than once a month
5. About once a day
3. A few times a month
6. Several times a day
(2) Daily Internet usage
On the average working day, how much time is spent on the Internet for (a) messaging; (b) browsing; (c) downloading;
and (d) purchasing activities?
1. Never/almost never
4. 1-2 hours
2. Less then 1/2 hour
5. 2-3 hours
3. From 1/2 hour to 1 hour
6. More than 3 hours
137