Shaping the user acceptance of wearable technology in elite team sports

The sports technology industry is expanding rapidly. The research and companies operating in the field are focusing on finding new innovative ways to measure and collect data to support athletes enhancing their performance. However, is that what the users are expecting from the new technology? Which are the factors affecting whether users are accepting of the system to use or not? To address this question, the most used theoretical model of user acceptance in the IS field, technology acceptance model (TAM), was examined in the team sports context. Even though, the theory is widely known, it has not been used in a team sports context. The case study made for an elite soccer team in Finland shows the technology acceptance model is a suitable way to present the user acceptance of team sports technology. Both major factors of the TAM, perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use have significant roles in the user acceptance in a sports context also. At the same time, the study highlights that the user acceptance of team sports technology is also influenced by the team’s motivations and goals. For that reason, social team level variables should be considered and added to the TAM model if it is used in a team sports context. The team’s norms, goals and motivations affect how one establishes the perceived usefulness for the system. On the other hand, these social variables also have a straight effect for the behavioral intention towards using the system. Nonetheless these theoretical contributions can also be beneficial for the business operators in the field. Team sports technology could be enhanced to better support the user’s social motives, for example by finding innovative ways in which to layout the data and by giving a better possibility for data comparison. In conclusion, the presented extension of the TAM can give a competitive edge for businesses to implement and design sports technologies that are more likely to be accepted by the end users