The Acceptance and Use of Innovative Technology: Do Positive and Negative Feelings Matter?

This study examines the co-occurrence of positive and negative affective technology evaluations and the implications of each on technology use. Stimulus-Organism-Response Theory was used to construct the research model to explore the relationships between integral affect and a technology;s performance and outcome expectancies. The responses of 358 adult technology users regarding an innovative technology provide empirical support for the research model. The SEM results indicate that the evaluation of a technology's features result in both positive and negative affective responses that directly influence use intentions. While the co-occurrence of positive and negative emotion arises from the evaluation of technology usefulness, negative feelings tend to dominate technology performance evaluations. From a practical standpoint, understanding how users' affect-based processes relate with instrumental appraisals has implications for the management of user perceptions that would encourage technology adoption and use. Theoretically, this study provides support for the independence of positive and negative user affect suggesting that positive technology attributions may not arise at the expense of the negative.