Social usage of instant messaging by individuals outside the workplace in Kuwait A structural equation model

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1 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at ITP 34 Received 15 March 2006 Revised 18 July 2007 Accepted 3 January 2008 Social usage of instant messaging by individuals outside the workplace in Kuwait A structural equation model Kamel Rouibah College of Business Administration, Kuwait University, Safat, Kuwait Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study factors that affect adults acceptance of instant messaging (IM) for social and entertainment purposes in an Arab country Design/methodology/approach An expanded version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to test the impact of four factors (subjective norms, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived enjoyment) and a new construct, curiosity about other people, on the level of IM usage by 191 adults in Kuwait. Survey questions from prior studies were adopted and customized, and the model analyzing using Structural Equation Model with LISREL. Findings IM usage is a different type of technology usage than work-related forms of ICT since it is employed for social and recreational usage. Unlike prior studies that employed TAM in a work-related setting, perceived usefulness was not a significant antecedent of usage; however, perceived enjoyment, social norms, curiosity about other people, and perceived ease of use were all important antecedents of IM usage. Research limitations/implications This study focused on IM usage outside the workplace for social purposes and was restricted to adults within one country (Kuwait). Additional studies across Arab countries are encouraged as well as comparatives studies about IM usage for different contexts (work-related use of IM from home and IM usage in the workplace). Practical implications This study is useful for researchers willing to highlight the factors that motivate users ICT adoption outside the workplace and for social purposes. It also has implications for managers and software vendors seeking to enhance the adoption of communication-oriented forms of ICT in the Arab world Originality/value The study highlights motives of ICT usage among Arab adults, which has not been widely studied. It also describes Arab culture and shows how certain aspects of culture affect ICT usage. Keywords Communication, Electronic data interchange, Communication technologies, Motivation (psychology), Kuwait Paper type Research paper Information Technology & People Vol. 21 No. 1, 2008 pp q Emerald Group Publishing Limited DOI / Introduction The acceptance of new information and communication technologies (ICT) by the intended users persists as an important issue for researchers and practitioners. Most existing studies focus on work-related applications such as and personal productivity software, due to their wide acceptance and long history (Davis, 1989; This research was funded by Kuwait University, Research Grant IQ 01/05. The author acknowledges the Research Administration for its support.

2 Kettinger and Grover, 1997; Chen et al., 2004; Rau et al., 2006; Huang et al., 2007; Lancaster and Yen, 2007). Far less attention has been devoted to newer types of ICT applications, such as instant messaging, noted henceforth as IM. However, with the advent of the internet and communication technologies, interest in IM is increasing rapidly (Isaacs et al., 2002; Huang and Yen, 2003; McClea et al., 2004; Chen et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2004; De Vos et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005; Rouibah and Ould-Ali, 2005; Li et al., 2005; Huang et al., 2007; Lancaster and Yen, 2007) (see Table I). IM helps millions of people around the globe to easily communicate with friends, colleagues, and strangers to exchange information in real-time. In addition, it lets the IM users know whether other individuals are online or disconnected and, therefore, is becoming an alternative to telephone communication for millions of internet users. IM may be supported by different technical protocols, such as Chat programs (e.g. ICQ and IRC), proprietary programs (e.g. AOL, Yahoo, and MSN), and text messaging via mobile phone. The number of IM users is increasing, and its adoption has expanded to include employees within organizations. According to ComScore Networks (Comscore, 2006), a leader in digital media measurement, 82 million people, or 49 per cent of the European online population, used IM applications to communicate online in February In comparison, 69 million people in North America (just 37 per cent of the online population), and 64 per cent of the online population in Latin America during the same timeframe. With the widespread use of IM by individuals, a recent focus of IS researchers is explaining the factors underlying IM adoption and acceptance (Table I). Analysis of previous studies of IM adoption reveals three observations. First, over the last five past years, the number of dedicated studies of IM has greatly increased in both scholarly conferences (De Vos et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2004, Shen and Gallivan, 2006), as well as in scientific journals (Table I). Second, while there is increased interest in IM, there are few studies of IM published in the leading, international IS journals. For example, the leading, scholarly IS journals have not yet published studies of IM usage (see Chen et al., 2004; Li et al for exceptions). Third, past studies have focused on IM both in the workplace and outside the workplace for social purposes (Table I). We also observe a lack of studies that focused solely on social usage of IM in an international context (Kraut et al., 1998). With the increasing role of social influences on IM use, Shen and Gallivan (2006) suggest conducting further research in this perspective. The adoption of ICT (including IM) remains complex and elusive, yet an extremely important phenomenon, and many studies have empirically examined its determinants. Adoption of IT/ICT has been extensively studied across academic disciplines from psychology to communications to IS. The theory of reasoned action is a general social theory that models behavior as influenced by individual perceptions of attitude and subjective norms, defined as a normative belief about what others expect an individual to do. In contrast, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), frequently employed by IS scholars, is a model specific to IT adoption that focuses on two discrete beliefs: perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) (Davis, 1989). Recently, Venkatesh and Davis (2000) integrated the construct of subjective norms into the TAM model to yield an updated TAM 2 model. A critical review of TAM (Legris et al., 2003) recently argued that there is a need to include other constructs in order to gain a broader view and a better explanation of ICT adoption. Specifically, these authors argued that factors related to human and social Social usage of instant messaging 35

3 ITP 36 Table I. Past studies on IM usage Type of behavior (usage versus intention) Study authors Objectives Journal Sample Actual and continuous usage Communications of the ACM Observation and interviews with 25 managers and employees users 30 students at one US university Type of use Isaacs et al. (2002) Describe usage of an IM system Hubbub Nicholson (2002) Investigate why students use IM Internet and Higher Education 500 college students N.A Human Systems Management Compare usefulness of IM among young users for social and work perspective. Identify factors that are important to the usefulness of IM Huang and Yen (2003) 5,600 men and women worldwide Actual usage Whitty (2003) Determine whether men and women flirt online using IM and how such cyber-flirting compares to face-to-face flirting 265 adolescent users Actual usage Applied Develop-Mental Psychology Gross (2004) Social activities of online adolescent on the internet CAIS 558 US students Intention to use Chen et al. (2004) Compare intention and future use of IM with in the work/coursework) Actual usage PACIS conference 300 students at one university in Singapore Lin et al. (2004) Test and validate the motivational factors of using IM in Singapore based on a variation of TAM Actual usage HICSS conference 104 employees in a Dutch knowledge organization De Vos et al. (2004) Investigate the motivational factors behind IM adoption in the workplace from four months before to three months after Actual usage 437 students from colleges in Taiwan Journal of Information Technology Theory and Wang et al. (2005) Proposed a modified version TAM for IM (MSN, Yahoo messenger and ICQ) 273 students in two US universities Intention to use Applications Journal of Association for Information Systems Li et al. (2005) Determinant of IM intention to use (based on TAM) including two social psychology concepts: attachment motivation, and relationship commitment (continued)

4 Type of behavior (usage versus intention) Study authors Objectives Journal Sample Type of use Interviews with 19 employees from four organizations Computers in Human Behavior Investigation of IM usage in workplace (why and type of use) Cameron and Webster (2005) 44 virtual teams in the USA Attitude about use Computer Standards & Interface Huang et al. (2007) Compare the use of IM versus as the communication tool to facilitate group problem-solving tasks for geographically dispersed teams Attitude about use 1,060 adolescents between 12 and 17 years Computers in Human Behavior Peter et al. (2007) Characteristics of individual adolescents who occasionally used webcams and a microphone during IM for social use Telematics and Informatics 532 college students in Hong Kong Actual usage Leung (2007) IM use and its impact on interpersonal mediated communication (social use), among teenagers and college students Computers & Education 176 students in Taiwan Attitude about use Rau et al. (2006) Impacts of using a combination of mobile and Internet communication technology (SMS, and IM) in the education Actual usage Journal of Social Psychology 150 US students in a psychology course Simon (2006) Compare task performance and satisfaction among three communication media: Face-to-face, 545 US college students Perception about actual usage Information Management & Computer Security IM and video conferencing They investigate and compared the students perceptions of instant messaging and by a sample of college students based on mass richness theory Lancaster and Yen (2007) Social usage of instant messaging 37 Table I.

5 ITP 38 change processes should be incorporated into TAM. In recent years, IS researchers have urged that traditional models of IT adoption be expanded to include factors such as intrinsic motivation or enjoyment to help explain IT adoption and usage (Igbaria et al., 1996; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Heijden, 2004). Others suggest that researchers should also account for the influence of perceived user resources (Mathieson et al., 2001) which has recently been used to analyze IT adoption in developing countries (Musa et al., 2005). Communication scholars have also utilized models based on the uses and gratifications perspective. Research into the antecedents of IM adoption, such as ICQ (Leung, 2001) and SMS (Leung, 2007), suggests a variety of user motives, such as interest in socializing and entertainment. In line with this claim, we include an individual trait (in this case, curiosity about other people) as an important addition to the TAM model. Past studies have also shown that national culture influences IT adoption and use (Straub et al., 2001; Gallivan and Srite, 2005) and individual behaviors of individuals are culture bound (McCoy et al., 2007). Therefore, the applicability of IT adoption findings derived in western cultures (such as North America) to non-western cultures (e.g. Arab countries) is questionable especially because TAM was developed to explain IT adoption in the workplace, and may not apply to social technologies such as IM. For example, Anandarajan et al. (2000) argued that TAM may not extend to collective societies (such as Nigeria), since it was developed in an individual-oriented, western culture. Others have also argued that some technologies designed for users in developed countries may not fit the context of Arab countries (Hill et al., 1998). In addition, communication-related forms of ICT (such as IM), may differ from traditional IT because these technologies require collective efforts and interdependence between two or more users. The benefits of using communication technologies cannot be achieved by one individual alone if his or her communication partners fail to use the technology. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the factors which motivate individuals in an Arab country to use IM: Why do Arab adults use IM and how is it used? The current study seeks to identify factors that influence IM adoption in an Arab country, since there is a shortage of IT adoption studies set in the Arab world. It is worth mentioning that less than 1 per cent of the 236 articles published in the ten-year period between 1990 and 1999 in a prestigious international journal focused on users in Arab countries in the Middle East (Dedoussis, 2004; Robertson et al., 2001). Kuwait is the focus of this study because it is one of few Arab countries that has achieved relatively high levels of IT usage. For example, PC penetration was 24 per cent in 2007 (ranked third after Saudi Arabia and United Emirates Arab), and internet penetration is 28 per cent, (ranked second after UAE). In addition, the per capita GDP is the second highest (e21577) after Qatar, and was ranked third among Arab countries in term of overall ICT usage after UAE and Qatar (World Development Indicators, 2007). In this study, the impact of three antecedent variables (subjective norms, curiosity about other people, and perceived usefulness) on IM usage is examined. Using structural equation modeling, the relative influences of these three antecedents on IM usage is analyzed, both in terms of their direct effects on IM use, and also, as mediated by the two additional constructs (perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment). To achieve these objectives, this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes characteristics of the Arab culture, the state of ICT usage in the Arab world, and prior IT adoption studies. Section 3 introduces the research model. Section 4 describes the

6 research methodology. Sections 5 and 6 present the results and discussions sections, respectively. The last section concludes the study and points to relevant implications for both practice and research. 2. Research background 2.1. Arab culture and its impact on ICT acceptance Arab countries are similar in terms of religion, customs, values, history, and language. This section summaries the available literature to offer four observations about Arab culture. When referring to Arab culture, some generalizations are inevitable as the Arab world is extensive: it spans from the west coast of Africa through the northern part of Africa to the Persian Gulf and from Sudan to the Middle East. We agree with the view that Arab countries are, by and large, culturally homogeneous (Ali, 2005; Dedoussis, 2004; Weir, 2000) Arab culture is a highly social and family-oriented society influenced by Islam. Arab culture is influenced by Islam which governs the customs and daily life of Arab people. Arab culture also emphasizes politeness and modesty prohibiting social contact between men and women before marriage; therefore, overt discussion of love and sexual matters, as well as social contact (including conversation) between unrelated men and women are publicly discouraged. The availability of new ICTs (including IM) may challenge these traditional barriers. This may explain why Hill et al. (1998) found that religious values tend to reinforce resistance to IT transfer among Arab people, particularly among individuals who associate ICT with foreign influences on the Arab social structure, such us encouraging communication between unrelated men and women. Moreover, the emphasis on politeness in Arab societies means that direct criticism is not favorably viewed. In addition to the important influence of Islam, the countries comprising the Arab region differ culturally from western nations, specifically, in terms of being a high-context, collectivist and masculine-oriented society (Hofstede, 1980; Zakaria and Stanton, 2003). Arab countries are high context cultures, which means that indirect and implicit coding of spoken messages enables people to save face and display courtesy in conversations. Arab countries are high in collect-ivism, where social norms are valued, and individual decisions should comply with what is best for the group. Arab adults are expected to behave in ways that comply with the established norms governing daily life. Arab culture is a masculine-oriented, in terms of Hofstede s (1980) notion of masculinity-femininity, where men dominate in most settings. However such dominance varies from Arab country to another. For example, in Saudi Arabia gender-segregation is strictly enforced by social norms where all communication between men and women is prohibited except among related members within household settings. Other characteristics of Arab culture include a strong emphasis on leisure activities, low desire for responsibility, and high preference for face-to-face social interactions. Therefore, it can be expected that such cultural norms and expectations will affect individuals adoption behavior with regard to ICT, which will be used mainly for socializing. In addition, among younger adults, ICT usage may serve as a possible mechanism to bypass or overcome established social norms prohibiting social contact between unrelated men and women and to satisfy their curiosity about members of the opposite sex. Social usage of instant messaging 39

7 ITP Less knowledge is available about IT/ICT in the Arab region. There is a paucity of knowledge about what factors influence ICT acceptance and use in the Arab world. Table II summarizes the available studies on adoption and use of a range of ITs mostly in work contexts, including PCs, the internet, internet-based training, e-commerce, and e-banking. Of these, few studies have focused on communication-related ICTs in Arab countries. Two studies showed that the usage of ICT has positive and negative effects on peoples behavior (Al-Saggaf, 2004; Rouibah and Ould-Ali, 2005). In addition, these studies revealed contradictory results since the specific forms of ICT in use both reinforced and undermined established social norms in the two studies, respectively. Although studies of ICT adoption and use in Arab countries are beginning to emerge, just a few have used established theories, such as TAM (Rose and Straub, 1998; Kamel and Assem, 2003). Those that have used TAM have applied it to study IT usage in workplace settings; however, its application to social settings in the Arab world has not been established. It is certainly possible that TAM may not apply to Arab users or may produce different results in the context of a type of ICT usage primarily for socializing such as IM. In addition, many studies have shown that cultural beliefs and norms play a significant role in ICT adoption in the Arab region (Hill et al., 1998; Loch et al., 2003). Hill et al.(1998) found that culture beliefs and technological culturation (i.e. cultural exposure and the experiences that individuals have with technology originally developed in other countries) affect IT transference to Arab countries. These factors have an influence on the ease with which new forms of ICT can be transferred from western cultures to the Arab world. Loch et al. (2003) found that social norms (in terms of the amount of time spent using the internet and other types of IT) explained 47 per cent of the variance in Egyptian adults internet usage. In demonstrating the effect of national culture and cultural values on IT adoption, Loch et al. (2003) called for additional research to shed light on factors relating to other types of ICT (beyond the internet itself), as well as in other Arab countries, in addition to Egypt. Loch et al. (2003, p.56) concluded that: While the technology of focus in this study is the Internet, one might expect that social norm will influence the acceptance of other technological innovations...consideration of additional technologies and different and/or larger geographical representation would serve to build a more generalizable set of insights for international technology transference. In summary, since ICT adoption is culture bound, the application of TAM (a model originally developed in the USA to explain ICT usage in work settings) to a different cultural context and for a different purpose (i.e. socializing) cannot be automatically assumed. This study aims to show that adults use of IM for socializing is a different type of technology and has different antecedents than ICT used in work-related settings. We extend the well-known TAM model to a specific user population in the Arab world (Kuwaiti adults), and to a specific technology use context (voluntary usage of IM for recreational and entertainment purposes) Other IT/ICT related literature In building our conceptual model to explain IM usage, we reviewed dozens of studies on technology adoption. Our literature review showed that these studies could be categorized into two dimensions: the type of used technology (whether a communication-oriented ICT or other, non-communication IT)[1] and the type of

8 Type of behavior (usage versus intention) Culture beliefs and technological culturation influence on how IT is viewed and utilized Current usage System usage and user satisfaction Attitudes of managers about major trends in IS/IT for long range planning Belief in term of culture and attitude in term of technological culturation (travel for business, for pleasure, contact with family members, read of foreign technology journals) affect IT transfer to Arab world Attitude toward frustration with download delay across two different cultures (continued) Social usage of instant messaging 41 Study country Objectives Technology Sample General PC Students and business people living from five Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia) as well as those living in USA Hill et al. (1998) Exploratory study to identify factors that encourage or inhibit IT transfer into the Arab world Based on 1-3 focus group interview (focus group, pilot phase and field study) 274 users from 5 Arab countries: 121 (Jordan), 45 (Egypt), 28 (Saudi Arabia), 35 (Lebanon), and 45 (Sudan) IT in general (PC, mainframe, fax machine and ) Test and validate TAM application in five middle east countries Rose and Straub (1998) 120 managers from 22 branches bank (11 public and 11 private) in Egypt Explore the Relationship between user satisfaction and system usage in Egyptian banks System effectiveness in banking sector in Egypt Khalil and Elkordy (1999) IS in general 62 IS/IT managers from private and public organizations Alshawaf (2001) Explore IS managers perception about 25 issues related to IS/IT management in Kuwait 274 knowledge workers: 121 (Jordan), 45 (Egypt), 28 (Saudi Arabia), 35 (Lebanon), 45 (Sudan) IT adoption in general System adoption and development of planning information system Straub et al. (2001) Develop and test a cultural influence model for technology transfer to Arab world Internet 595 users: 210 (USA), 105 (Egypt), 110 (Finland), and 170 (PERU) Rose et al. (2003) Comparison of Internet usage and download time across four countries: USA, Finland, Peru and Egypt Table II. Summary of selected past Arab research on IS adoption

9 ITP 42 Table II. Type of behavior (usage versus intention) Study country Objectives Technology Sample 85 users (44 males and 41 female) Current usage of e-training Online training system Effectiveness and applicability of Internet-based training in providing training for organizations as well as types of Internet in Egypt Ibrahim and Kamel (2003) N.A Barriers and opportunities for ecommerce in the Arab world Information systems and ecommerce Aladwani (2003) Key internet characteristics and e-commerce issues in Arab countries Internet 145 users in Kuwait Current usage Motivational factors of Internet usage in Kuwait Hassan and Al-Shawaf (2003) Internet 90 Arab business professional Current usage Loch et al. (2003) Role of social norms in the diffusion of Internet in Egypt Intention to use E-banking 103 users(64 male and 39 female from five leading banks in Egypt Role of trust on e-banking in Egypt based on TAM Kamel and Assem (2003) Attitude toward e-banking acceptance including internal (i.e. managerial) and external (i.e. cultural) factors enabling or inhibiting the successful adoption Problems of e-banking in Oman Online banking Semi structured interviews with 28 IS executives and managers from IT department in the eight banks in Oman Khalfan and Alshawaf (2004) Current usage and satisfaction PC 11,190 computer users in 56 Public and private organizations Al-Gahtani (2004) Impact of individual, technological and organizational factors on PC usage and satisfaction There is a positive relationship between organization culture and IS adoption 262 users in 15 government and public organizations in Libya s oil and banking sectors Information systems Impact of organizational culture innovation on the adoption of IS/IT in Libya Twati and Gammack (2006) Intention to use and current usage PC 722 knowledge workers in Saudi Arabia Validation of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology Al-Gahtani et al. (2007) Current usage Newsgroups Interview with ten users based on IM in the Arab world Al-Saggaf (2004) Factors affecting online and offline communication usage in Saudi Arabia Current usage Instant messaging 211 undergraduate students at Kuwait university Descriptive study about instant messaging adoption in Kuwait Rouibah and Ould-Ali (2005)

10 usage (workplace vs. social use) (see Table III). According to Table III, most prior studies focused on IT or ICT adoption in the workplace. Among the nine studies listed in the top, left quadrant in Table III, eight of these studies (all except Peters et al., 2004) used TAM or a variation on TAM within a work-related context with employees or university students. Among the 17 studies for ICT in the workplace (which corresponds to the top, right quadrant in Table III), seven studies used TAM (Davis, 1989; Rose and Straub, 1998; Lewis et al., 2003; Yi and Hwang, 2003; De Vos et al., 2004; Heijden, 2004; Yi et al., 2006). What is readily apparent in Table III is the paucity of studies conducted in non-work-related settings technologies whether of ICT or IT usage. This corresponds to the bottom, left quadrant of Table III, in where there is just one study. Among the 21 studies of ICT or IT adoption for social use, eight studies used TAM as their conceptual model (Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Moon and Kim, 2001; Wang et al., 2005; Lin et al., 2004; Nysveen et al., 2005, Meso et al., 2005; Li et al., 2005; Cheong and Park, 2005). Since they are especially relevant to the context of our study, we review the past studies focused on ICT usage (including IM, , and mobile phones) either for social uses or in work settings. Whitty (2003) conducted an online survey of 5,600 men and women worldwide to determine whether they flirt online using IM and how such cyber-flirting compares to face-to-face flirting. Despite the lack of non-verbal cues to convey sexual attraction, she found that participants found cyber flirting to be just as Social usage of instant messaging 43 Non-communication (IT) Communication (ICT) For work PCs (Igbaria et al., 1996; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Rose and Straub, 1998) Spreadsheets (Al-Gahtani and King, 1999; Al-Gahtani, 2004) Word processing (Davis et al., 1989), Computer resource center (Taylor and Todd, 1995) Office systems (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000) PDAs (Yi et al., 2006) Internet (Lewis et al., 2003; Heijden, 2004; McCoy et al., 2007) Blackboard educational software (Yi and Hwang, 2003) Telecommuting (Peters et al., 2004). For social usage (outside workplace) PCs in households (Venkatesh and Brown, 2001) Internet (Atkinson and Kydd, 1997; Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Moon and Kim, 2001; Hassan and Al-Shawaf, 2003; Loch et al., 2003) (Davis, 1989; Kettinger and Grover, 1997; Rose and Straub, 1998; Chen et al., 2004; Huang et al., 2007) IM (Isaacs et al., 2002; Huang and Yen, 2003; Chen et al., 2004; De Vos et al., 2004; Cameron and Webster, 2005; Huang et al., 2007) Video telephone (Kraut et al. 1998) (Kettinger and Grover, 1997; Chen et al., 2004) IM on PC (Isaacs et al., 2002; Leung, 2001; Huang and Yen, 2003; Chen et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2004; Rouibah and Ould-Ali, 2005; Li et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2005) Text messaging on mobile phones (Nysveen et al., 2005; Leung, 2007) Mobile phones (Hung et al., 2003; Meso et al., 2005; Cheong and Park, 2005) Table III. Classification of small selected literature review

11 ITP 44 effective and easier than traditional (offline) flirting. She concluded that a lack of social presence is no impediment to cyber flirting. Loch et al. (2003) studied the role of subjective norms on internet usage among 90 Arab business professionals, concluding that it was the most critical determinant of internet usage. Chen et al. (2004) compared intention to use IM and among 458 users based on media richness theory and the construct of social presence. Results revealed that IM users found IM more enjoyable, easier to use, and better than for social interaction. Chen s study revealed that three factors (perceived enjoyment, ease of use and social interaction) increased users intention to use and IM. They also found IM users employed IM for both social reasons and for work purposes (including school work), although social usage was higher. Meso et al. (2005) studied factors affecting intention to use mobile phones by 200 users in Nigeria and Kenya, based on an expanded TAM model that included perceived user resources (Mathieson et al., 2001). They found that PEOU and PU had no effect on the level of phone use, while other factors such as perceived user resources were more important. Nysveen et al. (2005) investigated the antecedents of intention to use IM-based mobile services using TAM for 375 Norwegians users, concluding that perceived enjoyment and social norms were a key antecedent addition to traditional TAM factors, such as PU and PEOU. Wang et al. (2005) proposed a combination of conventional TAM constructs plus network externalities to study IM use for socializing among 437 Taiwanese students, concluding that PU exerts stronger effect than PEOU. They also found that technology utility and network externalities (the number of other IM users) are key determinant of PU. Lin et al. (2004) investigated IM use among 300 students in Singapore concluding that social norms and PEOU, social norms but not PU were key antecedents of IM use. Several other studies explored how and why individuals use IM. For example, Li et al. (2005) identified two perceived benefits of studying IM: (1) studies of IM helps researchers to understand the role of ICT for building and/or maintaining interpersonal relationships; and (2) such studies highlight the value of social communications among users. While IM is widespread, and its benefits are well recognized, Li et al. (2005) argue that its entertainment value has not been fully explored. They call for further studies to explore this issue particularly the role of perceived enjoyment as an antecedent of adoption and usage. Leung (2007) studied the motives of college students for using IM, concluding that students use it mostly for entertainment (i.e. to seek enjoyment) and for affection and socialization (giving encouragement, sending goodnight messages to loved ones). Lancaster and Yen (2007) compared students perceptions of IM and by 545 US students, concluding that IM has many advantages over including the ability to convey emotions and to building relationship. They also noted that users are more likely to use symbols with IM, rather than with . Students report both technologies to be easy to use, but they show a preference for IM s greater ease of use. Despite its perceived benefits, the set of studies reviewed above indicate that IM is the preferred form of communication for personal and social relationships, but not for other uses (e.g. work or schoolwork). With regard to the classification scheme, the current study focused on the IM usage for social and recreational purposes (which corresponds to the lower, right quadrant in

12 Table III). A decade ago, Kraut et al. (1998) noted that the value of ICT for social purposes has been insufficiently studied and its importance underestimated. The distribution of studies in Table III suggests that this is still the case today. Our study differs from the prior studies in several ways. First, with regard to IT adoption, our study is conducted in an Arab country (specifically Kuwait), where there has been little research on ICT adoption, compared to an abundance of studies in western nations. In fact, in a recent summary of 20 published studies of IT adoption based on TAM (Legris et al., 2003), reported no studies situated in the Arab region[2]. Second, our study focuses on actual usage of IM, rather than just behavioral intention to adopt or use IM[3]. Third, our study focuses on IM use for socializing outside the workplace, similar to other recent studies (Nicholson, 2002; Huang and Yen, 2003; Gross, 2004; Li et al., 2005; Peter et al., 2007). Thus, our study contrasts with most prior studies of IM adoption, which occurred in work-related settings (De Vos et al., 2004; Huang and Yen, 2003; Primeaux and Flint, 2004; Cameron and Webster, 2005; Huang et al., 2007; Leung, 2007; Shen and Gallivan, 2006). Fourth, our study focuses IM usage among working adults, as opposed to college students (Nicholson, 2002; Huang and Yen, 2003; Chen et al., 2004; Gross, 2004; Li et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2005; Rau et al., 2006; Peter et al., 2007; Leung, 2007). Finally, while prior IM studies mainly focused on social usage, many were not grounded in established theories (e.g. TAM), although there are some exceptions, where the researchers grounded their study in variations of TAM (De Vos et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005; Li et al., 2005; Nysveen et al., 2005). In summary, adoption of various forms of ICT is influenced by a multitude of factors including perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), subjective norms (SN), and perceived enjoyment (PE). These constructs are used below to create a modified TAM model. The TAM model was selected as our baseline model, because it is parsimonious, and well-known among IS researchers (Legris et al., 2003). Social usage of instant messaging Conceptual model and hypotheses development The research model examined in this study is illustrated in Figure 1. As shown, the endogenous variable actual IM usage is directly and indirectly influenced by five antecedent constructs. Actual IT usage has been widely used in prior studies as an indicator of ICT acceptance (Igbaria et al., 1996; Atkinson and Kydd, 1997; Rose and Straub, 1998; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Yi and Hwang, 2003; Hung et al., 2003; De Vos et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2004; Meso et al., 2005). We did not include attitude as a separate construct in our model, because it was omitted from most variants of TAM (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000). The network of relationships illustrated in Figure 1 and the theoretical underpinning for each hypothesis is discussed in the following sections Antecedent factors TAM posits that external variables act as stimuli on technology acceptance. Over the last two decades, several external factors have been identified for TAM and variations on it. Rather than focusing on the contributions and limitations of TAM and other TAM-based models, we simply cite these existing constructs and include them as variables in our study. Interested readers who lack familiarity with TAM and its widespread use in the IS literature are referred to recent review papers (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000; Legris et al., 2003; McCoy et al., 2007).

13 ITP 46 Figure 1. The research model Subjective norms. Social influences play an important role in the Arab region. Taylor and Todd s (1995) study considered social influences equivalent to subjective norm. Subjective norm is a normative belief that people attribute relevance to what others (e.g. family members and friends) expect them to do, as well as their motivation to comply with those beliefs. Bearden et al. (1986) split social influences into two types: (1) information influence (which occurs when individuals accept information as evidence of reality); and (2) normative influence (which occurs when individuals conforms to the expectation of others). With regard to this distinction, subjective norm refers to the normative influence. Many studies have shown that subjective norm has a direct, positive effect on actual IT usage (Igbaria et al., 1996; Kraut et al., 1998; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Straub et al., 2001). With regard to studies of IM adoption, De Vos et al.(2004) found that social contact influences in the workplace is positively related to the intensity of IM usage, while Lin et al. (2004) found social norms indirectly influenced the level of IM use for social purposes. In a collectivist culture such as the Arab region, individuals will adopt IM because of the perception that other people close to them also use it and expect them to do so. For example, if other important persons in one s social network use IM to socialize with friends, then in a collectivist culture, such factors will be critical in shaping individual IM adoption. Past studies offer support for such a view. For example, Loch et al. (2003) found that subjective norms directly affect internet usage among Egypt ICT users, and they called for further research to try to generalize the importance of this construct on other type of ICT use. Since subjective norms play a critical role in collectivist cultures, including the Arab region, we expect that it will have a strong effect on IM usage. In fact, we anticipate that, in an Arab country, subjective norms will exert an even stronger effect on ICT usage than PU. This claim contradicts the findings from prior

14 studies conducted in individualistic cultures (such as the USA) where PU (and other instrumental behaviors) lead people to adopt ICT primarily to derive benefits such as greater efficiency (Davis et al., 1989; Atkinson and Kydd, 1997; Moon and Kim, 2001; Yi et al., 2006). The role of subjective norms has also been examined in studies conducted in collectivist cultures. For example, in Africa, Anandarajan et al. (2000) found subjective norms exerted the strongest direct effect on the level of PC usage at work, while Hung et al. (2003) found similar results for adoption of wide area protocols (WAP), a form of ICT for social use, in Taiwan. Thus: H1. Subjective norms will directly affect individuals amount of IM usage. We argue that the stronger the perceived subjective norm to use IM, the greater will be the perceived enjoyment derived from IM use. The rationale behind this is the fact that since the Arab culture is high in collectivism (i.e. where individuals are expected to comply with the group), then individuals who perceive their friends as using IM will see themselves as having fun collectively. Thus: H2. Subjective norms will directly affect perceived enjoyment. Social usage of instant messaging Curiosity about other people Research indicates that individuals who experienced immediate pleasure from using IT and who perceived any activity involving IT as inherently enjoyable, apart from any anticipated performance benefit, are likely to use it more extensively than others (Webster et al., 1993). We integrate the construct of curiosity about people into our model, noting its frequent mention in previous studies (Malone, 1981; Trevino and Webster, 1992; Webster et al., 1993; Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000). Malone (1981) reviews several intrinsic motivation theories and suggests that challenge, fantasy, and curiosity are components of intrinsically motivating computer-based instruction. However, he sees curiosity as the most important feature of intrinsic motivation: One of the most important features of an intrinsically motivating environment is the degree to which individuals can continue to arouse and then satisfy their curiosity. Malone defined curiosity as:... the extent the experience arouses an individual s sensory and cognitive curiosity. We apply and extend this construct for the context of IM usage, arguing that individuals may use IM, not because of the extrinsic benefits they can achieve, but in order to satisfy their curiosity about other individuals with whom IM facilitates communication. Some possible examples may include cyber flirting (Whitty, 2003), which is defined as interacting with unrelated members of the opposite sex (with whom social contact is normally restricted), as well as chatting with people from other cities, countries, and cultures. Curiosity about others is related to computer playfulness and perceived enjoyment since each one has its origin in the theory of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), however, each is a distinct construct. The general notion of flow is too broad and ill-defined to serve as a research construct, due to the varied ways it has been operationalized, tested, and applied (Webster and Martocchio, 1992; Webster et al., 1993). Curiosity is a specific construct, grounded in flow theory, which differs from computer playfulness (Webster

15 ITP 48 and Martocchio, 1992), since the latter is defined as the degree of spontaneity in microcomputer interaction. Curiosity and computer playfulness, however, share one property: both are considered traits which are system- and context-independent. A trait represents a characteristic of the individual, which is generally stable, but can change over time. Curiosity also differs from perceived enjoyment (Heijden, 2004), since curiosity is a trait, while perceived enjoyment is a state (see Webster et al., 1993). Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) examined one type of curiosity with technology which they labeled cognitive absorption, defined as a state of deep involvement with software. Their empirical study of nearly 300 US college students found that cognitive absorption exerted a significant direct influence on PU, PEOU and indirectly on intention to use internet browsers, as mediated by PEOU and PU. In their study, curiosity with technology was a sub-dimension of cognitive absorption, which exerted the second largest influence on usage behavior, after perceived enjoyment. Assuming all other things being equal, users will perceive a given IT as more useful if it stimulates curiosity for its users. Moon and Kim (2001) also identified a link between playfulness and curiosity, since they defined playfulness as consisting of three parts: concentration, curiosity and enjoyment. In their study, they found that perceived playfulness had a significant impact on intention to use the internet. We extend this argument to suggest that curiosity about other people may also be an important antecedent of ICT usage. Previous IS studies (Yager et al., 1997) have shown that the level of a person s computer playfulness may change over time. As stated earlier, Arab culture is highly on masculinity, compared to western cultures, and it features a high level of segregation between unrelated men and women. IM is a form of ICT that enables synchronous communication and offers a sense of social presence among users. We posit two novel hypotheses in the IS literature regarding the linkage between curiosity about other people (especially members of the opposite sex) will regard IM as more enjoyable. We also advocate that people with high levels of curiosity about other people will report IM as being easy to use, compared to those with less curiosity about others. H3. Curiosity about other people will directly affect individuals perceived enjoyment of IM. H4. Curiosity about other people will directly affect individuals beliefs about PEOU of IM Mediating variables TAM assumes that beliefs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) are always the primary determinants of behavior Perceived usefulness (PU). PU is a form of extrinsic motivation which refers to the prospective adopter s belief that applying a system will be beneficial. There is extensive empirical evidence accumulated over a decade that examined the effect of PU in the workplace and found a positive effect on current usage both outside the Arab region (Davis et al., 1989; Davis, 1989; Igbaria et al., 1996; Atkinson and Kydd, 1997; Al-Gahtani and King, 1999) as well as among Arab users (Rose and Straub, 1998; Al-Gahtani, 2004). This is also valid with IM in the workplace where De Vos et al. (2004) found that IM users primarily reported that IM improves the way they reach others and can be reached themselves. However, since the current study focuses on IM

16 use for social and recreational purposes, we argue that users will not use IM primarily due to of its PU (e.g. to improve performance productivity), but rather for other motives such as due to perceived enjoyment and social norms. As we argued above, the latter are both important constructs in collectivist cultures. We believe these objectives will have a stronger effect on IM usage than will PU. In fact, we posit the absence of a direct path between PU and IM usage a claim that is supported by previous studies of IM usage (Lin et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005), and adoption of mobile phones in Africa (Meso et al., 2005). Thus: H5. PU will not affect individuals levels of actual IM usage Perceived ease of use (PEOU). PEOU is considered a second type of extrinsic motivation, which refers to the degree to which the prospective adopter expects the technology adoption to be free of effort during use. This construct reflects the fact that there may be potential difficulties for individuals in learning to use a new technology, since low PEOU may be a barrier to adoption of IT. There is extensive empirical evidence accumulated over several decades that examined the effect of PEOU on usage intention and actual ICT usage. Results showed a positive effect of PEOU on actual IT usage both in western countries (Davis, 1989; Igbaria et al., 1996; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Hung et al., 2003) and also in the Arab region (Rose and Straub, 1998; Al-Gahtani, 2004). Other studies that focused on IM usage specifically found PEOU to be directly related to IM usage (Lin et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2005). Lancaster and Yen (2007) revealed that IM is easy to use so much so that respondents reported a preference for using IM over . An innovation that is easy to use, can considerably reduce the time and effort that a user needs to invest in its adoption, thus: H8. PEOU will directly affect individuals actual level of IM usage. With regard to a possible relationship between PEOU and perceived enjoyment, the literature review indicates two possible relationships, which differ in the direction of causality: some studies argue that enjoyment leads to PEOU (Venkatesh, 2000; Yi and Hwang, 2003), while others argue that PEOU influences enjoyment (Igbaria et al., 1996; Al-Gahtani and King, 1999; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Moon and Kim, 2001; Heijden, 2004; Nysveen et al., 2005; Li et al., 2005). The first stream posits that the level of perceived enjoyment increases over time as users gain more experience with the technology. We subscribe to the latter view (that PEOU influences perceived enjoyment). The rationale behind this is that the more a user perceives the technology as easy to use, the more he will enjoy using it, and thus, the more likely he will spend time using the technology. Thus: H6. PEOU is positively related to perceived enjoyment Perceived enjoyment (PE). Perceived enjoyment is a type of intrinsic psychological motivation (Davis et al., 1989). Enjoyment of an activity is a function of the individual s perception of how much fun he or she is having when performing the activity (Atkinson and Kydd, 1997). Therefore, PE is a state that can change over time. PE refers to the extent to which using a given ICT is perceived to be personally enjoyable in its own right aside from any instrumental benefits to be derived from using the technology (i.e. perceived usefulness). Other IS researchers have suggested including intrinsic motivation to explain IT adoption and usage (Igbaria et al., 1996; Social usage of instant messaging 49

17 ITP 50 Al-Gahtani and King, 1999; Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Venkatesh, 2000; Anandarajan et al., 2000; Yi and Hwang, 2003; Heijden, 2004). IM provides individuals with a new channel to socialize. Through its use, they may feel that they are having fun and enjoying challenging activities. Moreover, they can affiliate with others in pro-social relationships. They may be inherently motivated to feel connected to others. Therefore, if an individual perceives the use of IM as enjoyable, he or she is more likely to spend more time and use it on a frequently basis. With regard to IM usage, research has found a positive relationship between PE and intention to use IM for socializing (Chen et al., 2004; Li et al., 2005). In a study of cell phone-based IM usage in Hong Long, Leung (2007) found that usage is primarily driven by entertainment (seek enjoyment, stimulation, and fun). Several past studies in the Arab region highlight the impact of enjoyment on technology acceptance. Hassan and Al-Shawaf (2003) found a positive correlation between perceived enjoyment and internet use while Rouibah and Ould-Ali (2005) find a similar effect between PE and the level of IM use. Due to the fact that there is a certain level of hedonic component in IM, that is self-fulfilling, given leisure activities and personal enjoyment (Heijden, 2004), the expected effect of enjoyment will be high on IM use. Thus, we posit that perceived enjoyment will directly affect the level of IM use. Thus: H7. Perceived enjoyment will directly affect individuals level of IM usage. 4. Methodology and data collection 4.1. Sample and procedure of data collection Data collection for this study targeted adults working full-time in the state of Kuwait. Respondents were selected randomly from different organizations. The survey was administered via a letter sent to respondents. Prior to survey distribution, participants were contacted by phone and to ascertain their willingness to participate in the survey. Those who indicated a willingness to participate were sent a survey package via a contact person. Prior to survey distribution, and in order to improve the validity and reliability of the research instrument at acceptable levels, pre-testing was conducted based on personal interviews with 75 students and two academic professionals. Following modifications, the survey was sent to 300 Kuwaiti adults, of which 191 were returned, yielding a response rate of 63 per cent. The questionnaire included many items to measure beliefs about IM and levels of actual IM usage. All items were worded to refer to IM in general terms, rather than mentioning a particular IM program (e.g., ICQ). The questionnaire began with a description of the objectives of the study, and included items related to demographic characteristics of respondents Measures Most constructs in the research model were measured with the items adapted from prior research. All measures were translated into Arabic by the author, then back-translated into English by an independent translator, and verified by an independent native speaker. Subjective norm was measured by three items, with two items adapted from Taylor and Todd (1995) ( My family suggests that I use IM (SN1); My friends encourage me to use IM (SN2); and one new item was created to fit the context of the study ( The traditions influence me to use IM (SN3).