An Analysis of Electronic-Mail Usage.

Abstract Advances in information technology have set the pace for tremendous growth in the development of new computer-mediated channels of communication services and technologies. That these recent developments are fueled by technology might misleadingly suggest that the selection of a communication channel is largely based on technological criteria. Communication technologies require multiple users and cannot be used successfully by one person acting alone. Therefore, problems may arise when users fail to consider their self-efficacy and/or fail to consider social factors related to communication channel use. The main purpose of this study was to establish a better measure and model for use in predicting and explaining electronic-mail systems as an example of computer-mediated communication technologies (CMCT) usage and choice. The results indicated that all of the eight hypotheses showed significant correlation between criterion and predictor variates, supported by different canonical functions. The objective of the study was achieved by showing that the proposed research model can explain and predict the individual and combined effects of user self-efficacy, technological characteristics, and social-influence perspectives on CMCT usage and choice.

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