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E-reading Devices as a New Medium for Newspaper Reading

This research looks at how the Finnish newspaper readers accept e-reading technology and what benefits precede their intention to start using e-reading technology. The first part of the research focuses on the literature around the subject also presenting the theoretical approach of the research.

The theoretical framework is based on the Technology Acceptance Model TAM by Davis (1989) and modified with some newer findings from the field. After the literature based theory part the empirical part of the research will be discussed. The empirical part of the research is based on the results retrieved from a web questionnaire conducted in fall 2010. The sample group of the questionnaire was formed of Hufvudstadsbladet’s subscribers of which 4899 received the link to the questionnaire. Of them, 1084 people responded thus resulting in a response rate of 22, 1%. The objective of the questionnaire was to find out how the Finnish newspaper readers think of e-reading devices and their services and what they consider important regarding the benefits in them.

The findings of the study reveal that perceived enjoyment and usefulness of using an e-reading device correlate strongest with intention to use e-reading technology. Six different broader segments were revealed in the analysis that focus around the following appreciations; perceived usefulness, eco consciousness, social value, perceived enjoyment, perceived ease-of-use and diverse services. Derived from the segments four different user profiles regarding e-reading devices and their services were also identified. These profiles include useful services’ seekers, social value seekers, easy-to-use technology seekers and ecology seekers. The services that were rated highest by the respondents were the possibility to watch news videos, get more picture material, get more information by clicking key words of an article and saving interesting articles into an article bank.

The research provides a general view on how the Finnish newspaper readers view e-reading devices and their services and what benefits they appreciate the most. Preliminary guidelines for newspaper providers for planning the content for e-reading devices are created.

KEY WORDS: e-reading, technology acceptance, e-book / e-newspaper, digital reading, tablet computer