Understanding Information Technology Preadoption and Postadoption: An Integrated Process Model

Much of the prior information technology (IT) research has done to explain users´ acceptance of initial IT. The first time adoption does not mean the IT continued use, so recent research has focused on IT postadoption behavior or continuance. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is recognized as an important theoretical model to interpret initial IT adoption behavior. Expectation confirmation theory (ECT) from the marketing literature is currently introduced to explain the IT postadoption behavior. However, IT adoption should be regarded as a process model rather than a static model at two separate time points. This paper examines and compares two models in explaining IT preadoption and postadoption stage, then suggests an integrated process model derived from them. The proposed process model was empirically tested in the context of Chinese students. The objective of the paper is to suggest future research directions for explaining IT adoption.