Influence of Attitude, Subjective Norms and Personal Innovativeness on Intention to Use Open Access Journals: a case of Agricultural Research Institutes

This study assessed the influence of attitude and subjective norm (injunctive and descriptive) on the intention to use open access journals (OAJ); and how personal innovativeness in information technology affects intention to use open access journals among researchers in Tanzanian Agricultural Research Institutes. This study employed the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), and the data was collected from 121 researchers through a cross-section survey questionnaire. The findings from the study revealed that subjective norm is the strongest predictor of the intention to use OAJ, followed by personal innovativeness. Nonetheless, further analysis showed that attitude has no significant influence on the intention to use open access journals. This research contributes to knowledge on the factors that influence the intention to use OAJ by providing and empirical evidence of the drivers of the intention to use OAJ; and how personal innovativeness influences usage intention. This knowledge is essential in creating an impetus for systematic research on intention to use OAJ in order to address the dearth of empirical studies on open access journal in Tanzania