Extending the TAM for Green IT: A normative perspective

It is indicated that personal norms, descriptive norms, and environmental beliefs as well as perceived usefulness can directly affect an individual's intention to use Green IT and imply that pro-environmentalism of Green IT is an important boundary condition for the validity of the TAM.

Abstract

Green IT, a future-oriented and pro-environmental information technology, is an emerging trend in IT. In Green IT acceptance, the norms of environmental responsibility are considered to be important factors along with economic factors such as perceived usefulness of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study proposes a technology acceptance model for Green IT by adding normative variables (descriptive, injunctive, and personal norms) to Davis's TAM and empirically analyzes the model. Our results indicate that personal norms, descriptive norms (a type of social norms), and environmental beliefs as well as perceived usefulness can directly affect an individual's intention to use Green IT. In addition, government regulations and environmental beliefs have significant effects on normative variables. These findings imply that pro-environmentalism of Green IT is an important boundary condition for the validity of the TAM.