eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Research Objectives and Methods: The key objective of this research was to give predictive information on what areas of human life and external influence affect technology trust. This objective was achieved first by theoretically discussing the foundations of technology trust and its antecedents and secondly by empirically assessing the relevance of the theoretical findings through partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Simultaneously, the relational importance of each antecedent and technology trust was observed. The secondary objective of this research was to propose a conceptual model that outlines the relation of technology trust, technology acceptance and technology-enabled performance. This conceptualization is presented in accordance with the theoretical framework of this research.

Summary of the Findings: It was discovered that the individual disposition to trust has the most significant impact on technology trust. This indicates that it is always a long-term commitment for organizations to begin the work to improve the level of technology trust among their employees. Minor effects were observed with the following antecedents: organizational encouragement, advantage to use, expectation of technology usability and perception of user skills. The importance of these four antecedents is that through them it is possible to propose more concrete activities for organizations to increase the level of technology trust also within a shorter timeframe. Finally, a conceptual model is presented in the theoretical framework of this research that is targeted to clarify the relation of specific trust-creation activities and technology-enabled task performance for carrying technology trust research forward in the future.