An empirical investigation of smartphone technology acceptance among Universiti Utara Malaysia students

This study investigated smartphone technology acceptance among Universiti Utara Malaysian (UUM) students by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The rapid diffusion of computer technology into smartphone increases smartphone penetration among Universiti Utara Malaysia students. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) as independent variables, and Attitude (ATT) and Behavioural intention (BI) as dependent variables on Smartphone Technology Acceptance among Universiti Utara Malaysia students. In addition, in this research Gender was used as a moderator to test the relationship between Attitude (ATT) and Behavioural intention (BI). In order to collect data a total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to (UUM) final year and postgraduate students in three colleges COB, CAS and COLGIS. The hypothesis results showed that there was a significant relationship among the four variables except Gender. This was because Gender failed to moderate in explaining the relationship between Attitude (ATT) and Behavioural intention (BI). On the other hand the statistical result showed that there was partial mediation effect of Perceived Usefulness (PU) on the relationship between Perceived Ease (PEU) of Use and Attitude (ATT) on Smartphone Technology Acceptance among Universiti Utara Malaysian students. Furthermore the researcher found that there was a significant relationship between both the dependent variables - Attitude (ATT) and Behavioural intention (BI) on smartphone technology acceptance among UUM students. The overall finding showed that technology advancement and breakthrough design of smartphone technology are the key factors that attract Universiti Utara Malaysia students to accept smartphone technology. On the other hand, usefulness and ease of use of the smartphone technology play important roles in influencing (UUM) students to have the intention to use smartphone technology in accomplishing their personal tasks. This is because the usefulness of smartphone technology with promising results makes (UUM) students rely heavily on this device