Does age determine willingness to participate in online communities?

Jae Eun Chung, Namkee Park, Hua Wang, Janet Fulk, Margaret McLaughlin (2010) “Age differences in perceptions of online community participation among non-users: An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model”, Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1674–1684

This study examined age differences in perceptions of online communities held by people who were not yet participating in these relatively new social spaces. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we investigated the factors that affect future intention to participate in online communities. Our results supported the proposition that perceived usefulness positively affects behavioral intention, yet it was determined that perceived ease of use was not a significant predictor of perceived usefulness. The study also discovered negative relationships between age and Internet self-efficacy and the perceived quality of online community websites. However, the moderating role of age was not found. The findings suggest that the relationships among perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention to participate in online communities do not change with age. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations were discussed.

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