Adults Learning to Use the Internet

Adults Learning to Use the Internet: A Longitudinal Study of Attitudes and Other Factors Associated with Intended Internet Use Jane E. Klobas The University of Western Australia

Laurel A. Clyde The University of Iceland This longitudinal study, carried out between November 1993 and 1998, investigated the reasons that adult learners in Iceland gave for wanting to learn about the Internet, and their attitudes to it. Data were collected through a short open-ended electronic mail survey delivered to participants in Internet training courses held in Iceland over a threeyear period. The authors describe the three stages in the research: identification of elements of an analytical framework; testing of a behavioral intention model of Internet use based on the theory of planned behavior; and use of the model to identify attitudes to the Internet, social influences on Internet use, perceived control of Internet use, and changes in these factors as the Internet became more widely known. They observed that learners’ intended uses of the Internet became more specific between 1994 and 1996. While the influence of the media and the general community increased in this period, attitudes remained relatively stable. Participants found the Internet interesting and useful, with positive advantages over other media. They were positively disposed toward it as a source of information. For some, use was constrained by perceptions that they needed to have more knowledge or understanding in order to use the Internet better. The Internet is both a communication tool (through electronic mail and other communication services) and a source of information. Mention of the Internet in the press has increased rapidly, and more electronic mail messages than letters are now sent throughout the world (Meredith, 1996). At the time of writing this article (1998) most people have heard of the Internet, although commercial availability of the Internet dates back only to 1994 (Information Society ComDirect all correspondence to: Jane K. Klobas, Senior Lecturer in Information Management, The Graduate School of Management, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6907, Australia . Library & Information Science Research, Volume 22, Number 1, pages 5–34. Copyright © 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 0740-8188 5

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mission, 1998; Jósepsdóttir; 1995). Is increasing discussion of the Internet in the media reflected in changing attitudes towards the Internet; and have attitudes to the Internet changed as it has become more readily available to the general population? This article addresses these questions by describing research which studied changes in attitudes to the Internet over time. Most research on cognitive factors associated with information resource use has focused on perceptions, typically perceived information quality, perceived accessibility, and perceived ease of use (e.g., Allen, 1977; Auster & Choo, 1993; Culnan, 1985; Davis, 1989). This article, instead, focuses on attitudes. The term attitude refers to a person’s disposition (either favorable or unfavorable) toward an object or event, while perception refers to the way a person sees or interprets characteristics of the object or event. For example, the statement, “The Internet contains a lot of information” reflects a perception of the Internet. While it is possible to tell from this statement that the person who made it has the impression that the Internet contains a lot of information, the statement provides no information about the person’s attitude to the Internet. On the other hand, the statement, “The Internet is interesting” expresses an attitude to the Internet. While it is possible to determine from this statement that the person who made it has a positive attitude to the Internet, the statement provides no information about specific Internet characteristics which make it interesting. This research emphasizes attitudes rather than perceptions because it is concerned with an emerging communication medium (the Internet) which was not widely known or available to members of the general community when the research began. While it is often not possible for people to express perceptions of the characteristics of an information resource without first having used the resource, it is possible to express attitudes or opinions about it (Klobas, 1997a). A focus on attitudes therefore enables researchers to study the responses of nonusers and novices, as well as those with some experience. A focus on attitudes does not mean that perceptions are irrelevant. Attitudes and perceptions are related. Attitudes reflect beliefs or perceptions about the object of the behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), and perceptions can be influenced by attitudes (Fleming & Levie, 1993). The effect of a belief or perception on an attitude depends on a person’s evaluation of and commitment to the belief. Thus, the attitude, “The Internet is good” may be founded on a series of beliefs and perceptions, each of which is evaluated separately. Underlying beliefs and perceptions for this attitude might include: “The Internet contains a lot of information” (perception), “A lot of information is good” (evaluation); and “The Internet is the future” (belief), “This is good” (evaluation). Where an attitude reflects several underlying beliefs and perceptions, those to which the person is most highly committed (the most salient beliefs) will have a stronger influence on the attitude than others. Figure 1 illustrates these relationships. The research described in this article examines changes in attitudes to the Internet in the three years following introduction of the first readily available Internet service to members of the public in Iceland. Iceland was an early adopter

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FIGURE 1 Representation of the Relationship between Perceptions, Beliefs, and Attitudes

of the Internet for commercial and professional purposes, and has had one of the highest penetrations of Internet use in the world since 1994 (Iceland Review, 1996; Morgunblaðið, 1998). In November 1993, it was widely reported in the Icelandic media that, from the end of the month, the Icelandic government would provide all Icelanders with free access to the Internet. This announcement focused the attention of the public on the Internet (even though “free access to all” did not accurately reflect the government’s plans). Less than one week later, the first Internet “continuing education” course for professionals was held in Iceland. Changes in attitudes to the Internet among continuing education course attendees and other adult learners in Iceland may therefore provide a good indication of how attitudes to the Internet are changing as the Internet becomes more familiar and more widely used. When the research commenced, there was no obvious framework for analysis of attitudes or other responses to the Internet. Other researchers faced with a similar problem called for use of grounded theory to analyze Internet use (Bruce, 1995). In this project, the researchers therefore had two aims: (1) to identify or to develop an appropriate framework for analysis of attitudes to the Internet; and (2) to identify how attitudes to the Internet were changing over time. To meet these aims, the research was conducted in three stages. The basic el-

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ements of an analytical framework were identified during the first stage of the research. During the second stage, an analytical framework based on the elements identified in the first stage was tested and refined. In the final stage of the research, attitudes to the Internet were analyzed within the framework developed in stage 2. Although the analytical framework and methods varied throughout the stages of the research, the method of data collection remained the same. Data collection for the study will, therefore, be discussed below before the methods and outcomes of each stage of the research.

DATA COLLECTION The research is based on responses to an electronic mail message sent to participants in “Introduction to the Internet” courses held in Iceland between November 1993 and October 1996. The courses included continuing education courses for professionals in a range of fields and first courses in the Internet for business, teacher education, and library science students at Icelandic colleges and universities. Students enter university in Iceland at age 21 or older. All participants in the study were therefore adults, most with work experience. English was not the first language of any of the trainees. However, it is accepted as a language of instruction at the institutions where the courses were held, and so the courses were conducted in English and the data collected in English. Each course (whether a one-day continuing education course or a for-credit course in a degree program) followed a similar structure for the first three hours. The first hour of the course was an introduction to the Internet, including a brief demonstration of sources of information on the Internet. Until mid1994, this demonstration focused on gopher, then the prevailing technology for delivery of information through the Internet. Subsequent demonstrations used World Wide Web (WWW) browsers to demonstrate the information delivery capability of the Internet. The second hour of the course was an introduction to Internet electronic mail. This introduction also included a demonstration in which participants were shown an e-mail message and its components (addressee, subject line, date, and contents). The trainer responded to a message during the demonstration, to show how the reply function worked, but did not suggest a format for messages or responses. The e-mail software used in the first courses, in 1994, was the Unix-based “elm”; Windows-based software was introduced in April 1994, and Eudora was used in most subsequent courses, although, depending on laboratory conditions, there were occasional variations. Following the introduction to e-mail, students participated in a one-hour workshop based on exercises published in the course manual (Clyde, 1998). The e-mail workshop consisted of four exercises. The first exercise was to read a message, the second to reply to a message, the third to send a new message, and the fourth to forward a message. Although the trainer “talked through” the exercises in the course manual at the beginning of the workshop,

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students completed the exercises at their own pace. Completion of all exercises was voluntary, and participants were not assessed on their performance. The data used in the present research were gathered from responses to the second exercise. To complete the second exercise, trainees were required to open a message that needed a reply and respond to it. Among the three or four messages in participants’ mailboxes was an e-mail message which included a request for information about the participants’ experience with the Internet and reasons for wanting to learn how to use it (see Figure 2). To meet both its training and research purposes, the message was designed to be readily understood by trainees whose first language was not English, to be in a form which motivated trainees to reply, and to elicit responses that would provide information about attitudes to the Internet. Understandability was achieved through simple sentence structure and use of common English language words. Motivation to reply was achieved by asking participants to participate in a real-world project that could be advanced by their answers to questions relating to the topic of their course. Although they were given information and directions about using the e-mail software, both in the lecture and in the manual, participants were given no direction on how to answer the text of the message. If a participant asked, “How do I answer these questions?,” the trainer, Clyde, responded, “This is your message; you do it your way.” Her response, therefore, consciously avoided influencing message content or format. Because the participants were asked specifically to provide information for research into reasons for Internet use (“Will you help me with my research?”), they were fully aware that their responses would be used in research. There was no reason to believe that knowledge of the research purpose would bias or re-

FIGURE 2 The E-mail Request for Information

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strain participants’ answers. On the other hand, use of a real question, the answers to which would be used for a clearly-stated purpose, may have provided additional motivation to course participants to complete the exercise (Clyde & Klobas, forthcoming). In fact, of the 621 participants who received messages during the courses held between November 5, 1993 and October 28, 1996, 449 replied giving a response rate of 72.4%. All but 8 (1.8%) of the 449 replies addressed the questions and were expressed sufficiently well in English for the researchers to read and analyze the answers. As little was known about attitudes to the Internet when the research commenced, the questions were based on the form of question recommended by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) for identification of attitudes and elicitation of salient beliefs about human behaviors. A message trialed in the first course (November 1993) asked trainees two questions: “How did you first hear about the Internet?,” and “If you have not used the Internet before, what would bring you to use it?” or “If you have used the Internet before, what would bring you to use it more?” Although this form of question had been used successfully in face-to-face interviews with Australian English speakers (Klobas, 1994), it proved unsatisfactory for the Icelandic e-mail respondents, many of whom chose to write a short letter about the Internet rather than to answer the questions. The final questions more directly addressed attendance at the training course, and generated consistently relevant answers throughout this study and a subsequent study in Namibia in 1997 (Klobas & Clyde, 1998). The two questions posed in the message used in training courses from 1994 to 1996 were “Have you used the Internet before? If so, how many times?” and “Why do you want to learn about the Internet?” Analysis of attitudes to the Internet is based primarily on answers to the second question. Although the object of this question is not the Internet itself, but learning about the Internet, most respondents made remarks about the Internet in response to it. A typical response was “I think the Internet gives you a marvelous opportunity to travel around the world in seeking information and communicating” (female librarian, attendee at continuing education course for librarians, Reykjavik, March 3, 1994).

STAGE 1: IDENTIFICATION OF ANALYTICAL ELEMENTS Responses received from participants in the first 13 months’ courses (a total of 209 responses between November 1993 and December 1994) were used to identify and to classify common concerns among the participants. The classes that emerged from this analysis were expected to provide the basic elements of a framework for analysis of attitude change over time, although at this stage it was not known if attitudes would, in fact, emerge as common response classes. The data were analyzed by a research assistant with knowledge of both the Internet and textual analysis. She was familiar with the perceptual models used in information resource use studies (e.g., Allen, 1977; Auster & Choo, 1993),

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but was not aware that the researchers expected attitudes rather than perceptions to emerge as primary response classes in this study. The research assistant worked with NUD*IST software, which was designed for analysis of textual data in the absence of an established theoretical framework. All references to the Internet (including past, present and future use, and attitudinal, perceptual, and other responses) were coded. Messages that contained more than one reference to the Internet were included in each relevant category. An average of 1.7 categories was assigned to each response message. The analysis produced a simple hierarchical classification scheme which summarized data about the respondents and their attitudes (see Figure 3). In Figure 3, the tree produced by NUD*IST has been augmented by adding the number and percentage of responses in each major response category: past use of Internet tools, anticipated applications of the Internet, and attitudes to the Internet. Because the analysis was based on keyword indexing of message content supplemented by minimal manual indexing, the numbers and proportions in each group are estimates only. Since this stage of the research was more concerned with identification of a framework for analysis than with identifying attitudes, these “rough” calculations were satisfactory. This initial analysis had several methodological outcomes—for the question used in the survey, the analytical framework, and the analytical tools. Before describing their joint effect on the next stage of the project, each outcome is discussed below. The e-mail survey enabled collection of the information sought from each respondent. Even if they had not used the Internet before, most participants were able to express expectations of how they might use it, or to express attitudes to the Internet itself, in response to the questions used from the beginning of 1994. The classification scheme which emerged from the data analysis demonstrated that responses were predominantly attitudinal rather than perceptual. Yet, although the scheme was valuable for initial exploration of the responses, it was too simplistic to provide a good understanding of attitudes to the Internet. While it was possible to distinguish between anticipated future uses of the Internet and attitudes to the Internet, the hierarchical tree did not permit examination of relationships between intended uses and attitudes, or patterns within the intended uses and attitudes themselves. It did, however, have three common elements with an established social psychological model of human behavior, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985, 1988): intended behavior (intended Internet use), attitudes to outcomes of the behavior (attitudes to outcomes of use, such as interesting and useful), and perceived control of the behavior (perceived control of use, specifically hard or difficult). These common elements suggested that a model of Internet use based on the TPB would provide a suitable framework for analysis of attitudes to the Internet. Because the TPB is an established model, it was expected to also have the advantage of being sufficiently robust to support analysis of changes over time.

FIGURE 3 Classification of Responses Received November 1993 to December 1999

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The TPB (see Figure 4) is a general model of voluntary human behavior. It has been used to explain a range of behaviors from use of contraceptives to participation in sport and recreation (e.g., Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Driver, 1992; Kim & Hunter, 1993). In this model, behavior reflects intentions to perform the behavior. Behavioral intentions reflect a person’s attitudes to the outcomes of the behavior, normative or perceived social influences on the behavior (subjective norms) and the extent to which the person perceives that he or she can control their performance of the behavior (perceived behavioral control). To the extent that perceived behavioral control reflects actual obstacles to the behavior, it also has a direct affect on the behavior; for example, if a person perceives that he or she does not have access to the correct technology for Internet use and this is in fact true, perceived lack of access correctly indicates that the person does not have the resources to transform any intended use into actual use. Although there were no coded references in this preliminary analysis to subjective norms for use, there appeared to be sufficient commonality to adopt the TPB as the basic framework for further analysis. The third methodological outcome of this stage of the research was recognition that NUD*IST (at least in the version available at the time, version 3.0) was not a suitable tool for more in-depth analysis. It was a poor tool for identifying relationships (other than hierarchical relationships) between concepts, for comparison of responses over time or between different groups of participants, and for inspection of the actual words used by participants in their responses. Together, these three outcomes led to stage 2 of the research. The research would continue, based on the e-mail survey form used from the beginning of 1994, but with different analytical tools and using the TPB as the basic analytical framework. While training and data collection continued, the first year’s data was re-analyzed. This re-analysis is described in the following section. FIGURE 4 The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991)

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STAGE 2: TEST OF THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR FRAMEWORK To test the suitability of the TPB as an analytical framework, the authors reanalyzed 128 responses from courses conducted between March and October 1994 by coding the elements of the responses into categories which reflected the elements of the TPB. The primary elements or classes were: intended use of the Internet; attitudes to outcomes of Internet use; subjective norms for Internet use; and perceived control of Internet use. Remarks about the course itself were recorded in a separate category, as were remarks about use of the Internet prior to course attendance. There was no attempt to anticipate specific remarks or types of remark in each category; instead these specifics were permitted to emerge from the responses as they were coded. Differences between participants’ expression of attitudes and influences on behavior and the theoretical forms proposed by the TPB were also noted. The authors worked together to code the data for this analysis. Coding for each response was determined by discussion and agreement, with continuous reference to prior decisions. This approach enabled application of both theoretical and applied perspectives to the data during coding, and provided ongoing monitoring to ensure consistency in classification decisions. Table 1 provides a summary of the classification scheme which emerged from the analysis. The scheme reflected the TPB. Respondents’ intentions to use the Internet were recorded in two sub-categories: explicit statements of intention to use or not to use the Internet in the future; and stated tasks or activities for which the respondent expected to use the Internet. Attitudes to outcomes of Internet use were also recorded in two subcategories: instrumental attitudes (references to the usefulness of the Internet or to ways in which in might be used) were separated from affective attitudes (references to how the respondent felt about Internet use). (A similar distinction has been made in explanations of recreational behaviors [Ajzen & Driver, 1992].) The scheme also enabled coding of references to people who exerted a social or normative influence on use, to respondents’ perceptions of their ability to control use, and to the course itself. Remarks concerning past use were recorded in three subcategories: reported level of Internet experience prior to attending the course; the tasks or activities for which the respondent reported having used the Internet; and the tools the respondent reported having used prior to attending the course. Although the structural framework of the TPB was retained, the concept subjective norms for use was replaced during coding with the broader concept social influences on use. This was done because participants did not express their perceptions of social influences on use directly as subjective norms (e.g., in a form such as “Using the Internet will help me to meet my supervisor’s expectations”); rather, they mentioned individuals, or institutions such as the media, who expected them to use the Internet, or who had in some other way influenced them to use the Internet or to learn to use the Internet. The theory of

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TABLE 1 Classification Scheme for Stage 2 Analysis Remarks Concerning Internet Use in the Futurea Intention to use the Internet A. Explicit statement of intention to use the Internet in the future 1. Explicitly no 2. Explicitly yes B. Intended future use—task or activity 1. to improve knowledge 2. to get information 3. to communicate with other people 4. has possibilities, but not sure of specific uses 5. for specific job-related tasks 6. to search library catalogues Attitudes to outcomes of Internet use A. Instrumental attitudes 1. Useful, helpful, handy 2. Important to be aware of 3. Important to use 4. Internet has advantages over other media/tools/information sources B. Affective attitudes 1. Enjoyable 2. Fun 3. Interesting 4. Good 5. Exciting 6. Looking forward to using the Internet 7. Computer-based information retrieval/the Internet is “the future” Social influences on Internet use 1. Employer 2. Trainer Perceived control of Internet use 1. hard 2. need a computer on my desk 3. not very difficult 4. need access to a computer 5. I plan to take (unspecified) action to remove barriers or reduce efforts Remarks Concerning the Course 1. Attending to satisfy curiosity about the Internet 2. Course is very interesting 3. Happy to be attending the course 4. Pleased with course 5. Expects to ask a lot of questions (continued)

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TABLE 1 (Continued) Remarks Concerning Past Use Experience—level of Internet experience 1. New user 2. Novice—1 or 2 previous uses 3. Familiar 4. Expert—frequent or long-term user Used for—tasks for which the Internet has been used 1. Searched library catalogs 2. Searched library catalogs for inter-library loans 3. To access databases Tools—Internet tools used prior to course attendance 1. e-mail (electronic mail) 2. ftp (file transfer, using ftp file transfer protocol) 3. telnet (remote access to another computer) 4. gopher (to locate and access information and files held on another computer) 5. irc (for online conversation using irc, Internet relay chat) 6. WWW (for information retrieval and other activities using the World Wide Web) 7. listserv (for participation in or management of an email-based discussion)

Note:

aBased

on theory of planned behavior.

reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), from which the theory of planned behavior was derived, has been criticized for the narrowness of the concept of subjective norm (Miniard & Cohen, 1981), so there is theoretical as well as observational support for substitution of subjective norm by the extended concept of social influence (Klobas, 1997b, Chapter 6). This analysis confirmed that a framework based on the TPB could be used to aggregate responses into meaningful classes. Furthermore, the TPB provided an understanding of how the classes may be related to one another. The classes FIGURE 5 Behavioral Intention Model of Internet Use

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and the relationships between them were therefore combined into a behavioral intention model of Internet use (see Figure 5). In common with other behavioral intention models, behavior (Internet use) is influenced primarily by intentions (intended Internet use). Intended Internet use is influenced by attitudes to outcomes of use, social influences on use, and perceived control of use. This behavioral intention model of Internet use also incorporates the relationships between beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes introduced earlier in the paper and illustrated in Figure 1: attitudes arise from evaluated beliefs and perceptions.

STAGE 3: LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES TO THE INTERNET In the final stage of the research, attitudes to the Internet expressed throughout the study period were examined using the behavioral intention model of Internet use (Figure 5) as the guiding analytical framework. All codeable responses received from Icelandic trainees between the first course in March 1994 and the last course in October 1996 were included in the analysis, a total of 423 responses. Because the aim of this analysis was to identify not only attitudes to Internet use, but how those attitudes may have changed as the Internet became better known in the community over time, the responses were grouped by the five academic teaching periods during which the courses were held: February to June 1994; September to December 1994; February to April 1995; September to November 1995; and October 1996. Table 2 summarizes the number of participants in courses held during each of these periods. Basic demographic data about each respondent was recorded to control for differences between males and females, field of work, prior Internet use, center of course attendance, and nature of course (voluntary continuing education course or part of a compulsory for-degree course). The electronic mail and English language competency demonstrated by each respondent were recorded in case these characteristics affected the remarks expressed, and the length and the manner of response were also recorded. TABLE 2 Courses and Respondents, Grouped for Analysis of Change over Time

Course No.

Dates

n

%

2 to 9 10 to 17 18 to 25 26 to 30 31

Feb–June 1994 Sept–Dec 1994 Feb–Apr 1995 Sept–Nov 1995 Oct 1995

81 120 87 99 36

19.1 28.4 20.6 23.4 8.5

Total

423

100

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The responses were coded for this analysis by a research officer who had not been involved in either the training or the earlier stages of the research. The research officer was a librarian with a Master of Business Administration who was experienced in information retrieval and classification. Before coding, she received training in the concepts underlying the behavioral intention model of Internet use which provided the framework for analysis. A coding sheet was designed to permit coding of the object of each statement made in a response (course or the behavior of course attendance, the Internet or the behavior of Internet use); elements of the behavioral intention model of Internet use; and the demographic and descriptive data listed above. In addition, the sheet enabled statements that were clearly non-evaluative beliefs or perceptions to be recorded separately from attitudes. Table 3 lists the principal elements in the coding sheet. Coding of the first course was done by the research officer in conjunction with the first author, who also reviewed coding of another course before coding continued. Once coding was completed, the coded data sheets were read into

TABLE 3 Key Elements of Coding Sheet for Longitudinal Analysis Respondent ID Course location Course date Course type (voluntary continuing education or compulsory for-degree course) Sex Field of work Response length Response manner (letter, response only, response with greeting) Mail competency (from blank response to well-formatted response) English competency (from incomprehensible to without significant error) Prior Internet use • Experience (new user, novice, experienced, expert) • Applications • Tools Intended Internet use • Applications • Tools • Yes, but form not specified Learning to use the Internet • Response to the course • Reasons for learning to use the Internet Attitudes to Internet use Perceptions of and beliefs about the Internet Social influences on Internet use Perceived control of Internet use

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the statistical software package, SPSS. SPSS was used to produce counts of the number of cases in each category, cross-tabulations to identify relationships between classes in the model, and lists of cases with certain characteristics so that they could reviewed for confirmatory and illustrative quotes. After producing summary statistics by category, the researchers undertook two checks for coding reliability. They used the computer files of responses to track uses of key concepts and keywords such as “useful,” “interesting,” “possibilities,” and “future” which appeared to recur in several contexts; and they read through the printed responses several times, each time concentrating on cases in a single category. These checks highlighted three aspects of the coding that required resolution: the relationship between some statements about learning to use the Internet and attitudes to the Internet; the relationship between statements of perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes; and the possibility and value of distinguishing between attitudes to the Internet and attitudes to the behavior of Internet use. Each of these dilemmas, and the ways in which they were resolved, are discussed below before the results of the analysis. Responses which referred to the course or course attendance fell into three categories: responses to the course itself (“the course is interesting”); reasons for course attendance that were not related to the Internet or Internet use (“course attendance is compulsory”); and reasons for course attendance that reflected attitudes to the Internet or perceived control of Internet use. For example, the statement, “it is important to know about the Internet” is a reason for learning to use the Internet which also implies a positive attitude to the Internet: it is worth knowing about it. Responses of this kind were, therefore, recorded both as reasons for learning to use the Internet and as indirectly expressed attitudes to the Internet or its use. Similarly, the statement “I am at this course to learn how to use the Internet better” implies that the respondent feels some deficiency in his or her current knowledge or skills. This statement is a reason for learning to use the Internet that reflects the respondent’s perceived control of Internet use, specifically a perception that he or she needs more knowledge or skill to use it better. Responses of this kind were, therefore, recorded both as reasons for learning to use the Internet and as indirectly expressed perceived control of Internet use. It was difficult to distinguish between some perceptions of Internet quality and positive attitudes to the Internet as a source of information. Few participants expressed unambiguously non-evaluative perceptions of the kind that could be classified as perceptions or beliefs rather than attitudes. For example, the statement, “the Internet contains information from around the world” was classified as a perception, while “I am looking forward to getting information from worldwide” was classified as an attitude. While this distinction appears unambiguous from the statements taken in isolation from their context, when the statements were read in the context of the full message it became clear that the participants were clearly expressing the same sentiments; while one expressed the sentiment in terms of an evaluated perception, the other expressed

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it more directly as an attitude. The apparently unevaluated perception was framed in a positive context within the message, and therefore, the message as a whole conveyed a positive attitude to the information in the Internet. On the other hand, the attitude was not separate from the perception which gave rise to it: the Internet contains information from around the world. For analysis, evaluated perceptions of Internet information quality were coded both as perceptions and as positive attitudes to the information in the Internet. Similarly, positive attitudes to specific information quality characteristics were also coded as perceptions of information quality. The third analytical dilemma concerned the object of some attitudinal remarks. While some remarks clearly reflected attitudes to Internet use (“it is interesting to use the Internet”), others appeared to be attitudes to the Internet itself (“the Internet is interesting”), and the object of others (“it’s interesting”) was ambiguous. An attempt to re-code the responses, distinguishing between two objects, the Internet and Internet use, was not successful because, even when taken in the context of the complete response, the object of the majority of responses was ambiguous. For the final analysis, attitudes to the Internet and Internet use were, therefore, classified together. The results presented below describe and examine over time responses in the following categories: reasons for learning to use the Internet; attitudes to the Internet and Internet use; perceptions associated with attitudes; social influences on Internet use; and perceived control of Internet use. Before presenting these results, the respondents, their responses, their prior Internet use, and their intended Internet use, are summarized.

The Respondents Responses were received from courses held in three centers. Just over 60% of responses (260, 61.5%) came from participants in courses held in Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. One-third of the responses (149, 35.2%) were received from participants in Akureyri in the north of Iceland, and the remaining responses (14, 3.3%) were from the small number of courses held at Bifröst in the west of Iceland. The proportions of participants in each center roughly reflect the distribution of the population in Iceland where a little over half of the country’s population of 270,000 lives in the Reykjavik area. Just over half the respondents in this analysis had voluntarily enrolled in continuing education courses (224, 53%), while the remainder (199, 47%) were undergraduate students completing the training as a requirement of their degree program. The largest group of respondents (178, 42.1%) comprised continuing education students in Reykjavik. The participants came from a variety of fields. Just over half were in the fields of education (118, 27.9%) or library and information science (97, 22.9%). The majority of participants from these fields were students enrolled in undergraduate degrees

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(84 or 71.2% of those in education, and 82 or 84.5% of those in library and information science). The other participants (208, 49.2%) came from a range of business and professional fields, including journalists, lawyers, health professionals, and research scientists. Most of these participants attended continuing education courses, although a small number (33) took their course as part of a business degree. In the Icelandic naming system, males and females are distinguished by their patronymic. Participants were not required to identify themselves on their responses. Nonetheless, 45.2% (191) of the respondents could be identified from their names as males and 31% (131) as females. Men and women are likely to be equally represented in the sample, given the professional profile of participants and the pattern of responses.

Overview of Responses The shortest message received was a blank response mailed successfully to the return address. The longest message contained 310 words. The average response length was 49 words. The e-mail competency reflected in responses, response style, and level of English language skill demonstrated in the responses varied, but not greatly. A small group (27, 6.4%) demonstrated or wrote of difficulties in sending e-mail or in basic editing. The remaining 93.6% (396) sent a legible reply on their first attempt. Just over half the responses (215, 53.2%) included greetings or other information which was not directly related to the questions; the majority of these responses were in letter or formal note form, matching the tone of the initial request for information though a little more formal in structure. A typical response is reproduced in Figure 6.

FIGURE 6 Representative Response, Illustrating Form, Tone, and Length

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Pre-Course Internet Use Most participants (256, 60.5%) had never used the Internet before attending the course. Another sizeable group (85, 20.1%) had used the Internet once or twice before. There was a small group of frequent or long-term expert users (31, 7.3%), and the other participants (50, 11.8%) had some experience but were neither frequent nor long-term users. Seventy-six (45.8%) of the participants who had used the Internet before described how they had used it. Most of these participants (54, 71%) described the tools they had used, and 44 (57.8%) described the applications to which they had put the Internet. (Twenty-four participants, 31.6%, described both tools and applications.) Most prior users (49, 11.6% of all respondents) had used Internet-based electronic mail. (Because participants were not asked how they had used the Internet in the past, this number is likely to be an underestimate of the proportion of course attendees with past e-mail experience.) The most common prior use was for social communication (21, 38.9% of those who mentioned prior use and 5% of all participants). Other uses included business communication (7, 13%), finding information (7, 13%) and as part of an education program or course (11, 20.4%). Intended Internet Use Nearly two-thirds of the participants (273, 64.5%) mentioned how they intended to use the Internet in the future (see Table 4). They described their in-

TABLE 4 Intended Internet Use

n Applications To get information, to learn To communicate with other people For specific work-related purposes For study For recreation To be able to discuss the Internet Tools e-mail usenet gopher www other

264 142 103 78 30 6 6 33 16 9 7 3 5

Percent of Respondents Who Mentioned Intended Use (n ⫽ 273) 96.7 52.0 37.7 28.6 11.0 2.2 2.2 12.1 5.9 3.3 2.6 1.1 1.8

Percent of All Respondents (n ⫽ 423) 62.4 33.6 24.3 18.4 7.1 1.4 1.4 7.8 3.8 2.1 1.7 0.7 1.2

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tentions in terms of the applications for which they would use the Internet (e.g., information gathering and communication) rather than the tools they intended to use (e.g., WWW, e-mail, and ftp). Most participants intended to use the Internet to gather information (142, 33.6% of respondents) or to communicate with other people (103, 24.3%). Many of these respondents (55) intended to use the Internet both to get information and to communicate with others. A reasonably high proportion of respondents (78, 28.6%, 18.4% of all respondents) specified ways in which they would use the Internet at work, including to establish an Internet presence for their organization, and as a replacement for other media such as telephone and facsimile. Other common intended uses included for study (30 participants), for recreation (6), and for discussion about the Internet with others (6). Although few participants had used the Internet to gather information in the past, a higher proportion of participants described intended uses in terms of gaining information than in terms of communication. Many participants (190, 69.6% of those who described intended use and 44.9% of the total) mentioned not only the way in which they intended to use the Internet, but also the domain of use. Most of these participants (151, 79.5%) mentioned a business or professional domain, while approximately one in five mentioned personal uses (36, 18.9%) or planned to use the Internet for study for degree purposes (43, 18.7%). More than half of those who mentioned personal uses also mentioned business uses (19, 52.8%) and a substantial proportion of those who intended to use the Internet for study also mentioned business uses (18, 42.9%). The majority of participants who intended using the Internet for study purposes were taking the course as part of a degree. Equal proportions of continuing education and for-degree participants described intended business and personal uses. Students who took the Internet course as part of their degree studies were less specific about intended uses than continuing education course participants. While most continuing education students (61.4%) described specific intended uses, a smaller proportion of for-degree students were specific (38.6%). A twoby-two chi-square analysis of specific and non-specific responses for continuing education students (89 specific, 52 non-specific) and for-degree students (56 specific, 73 non-specific) showed that this difference was statistically significant, with chi-square (1, 263) ⫽ 10.53, p ⬍ .05. Many for-degree students were taking the Internet course because it was part of their degree program. Continuing education students, on the other hand, had consciously decided to learn more about Internet use and many came to the course with clear intended uses in mind. A typical statement from a continuing education student was received from an Akureyri participant on April 25, 1995. This participant had used the Internet once before: I use a lot of information concerning international commodities markets in my daily work and it is too grand and too expensive for me to

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subscribe to something like Reuter or Knight-Ridder for such intermittent search for information. Electronic mail software was the most common tool mentioned by participants who remarked on intended use of Internet tools (16 participants, 48.5% of the 33 who mentioned tools). Other common tools, mentioned particularly by users in earlier courses, were Usenet (9, 22.5%) and gopher (7, 17.5%). Mention of Internet tools declined during the survey period; participants in later courses did not refer to tools for access to news and information on the Internet but to the function of information access. Reasons for Learning to Use the Internet Just over 40% of respondents (181, 42.8%) commented on the course or learning to use the Internet. Of these respondents, 155 (36.6% of all respondents) gave reasons for learning to use the Internet. Table 5 summarizes these reasons. Most participants who gave reasons for learning to use the Internet (95, 61.3%) said that they were attending the course to increase their knowledge or

TABLE 5 Reasons for Learning to Use the Internet

To increase knowledge/ understanding of the Internet It is important to know about the Internet Course is compulsory To explore the possibilities of the Internet To get more out of the Internet, to use it better I don’t want to be left behind To learn to use the Internet You need to learn the Internet before you can use it Learning to use the Internet will encourage me to use it Influenced by family and friends Influenced by employer Everybody should know about the Internet Total

Times Mentioned

Percent of Reasons (n ⫽ 172)

Percent of Respondents (n ⫽ 155)

Percent of All (n ⫽ 423)

95

55.2

61.3

22.5

17 15

9.9 8.7

11.0 9.7

4.0 3.5

10

5.8

6.5

2.4

8 5 5

4.7 2.9 2.9

5.2 3.2 3.2

1.9 1.2 1.2

5

2.9

3.2

1.2

4 4 2

2.3 2.3 1.2

2.6 2.6 1.3

0.9 0.9 0.5

2

1.2

1.3

172

100.0

100.0

0.5 —

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understanding of the Internet. Seventeen participants (11%) said they were attending the course because they believed it was important to know about the Internet, and several others (10, 6.5%) said that they were curious about the Internet or that they wanted to explore its possibilities. These responses were equally distributed among continuing education and for-degree participants. Fifteen participants (9.7% of those who gave reasons for learning to use the Internet, and 3.5% of the total) noted that they were attending the course because it was compulsory or because their instructor or employer required it. Of these participants, 13 were taking the Internet training course as part of their degree program. This last group is particularly interesting because it is such a small fraction (6.5%) of the 199 participants for whom the course was in fact a requirement. Some reasons for learning to use the Internet became more prominent during the study period, while others became less prominent. During 1994, participants proposed reasons which suggested that they were unfamiliar with the Internet: a desire to explore the possibilities of the Internet, a sense that it is necessary to learn to use the Internet before using it, and even (for those for whom it was relevant) acknowledgement that course attendance was compulsory. As the year progressed, the Internet became more widely available to businesses and members of the public, the interface to the Internet became more accessible through Internet browsers such as Netscape, the Internet became more widely discussed in the media, and other reasons for learning to use the Internet began to surface. In particular, there was a marked increase in the relative proportion of participants who noted that it was important to know about the Internet, and from some participants, a sense that learning about the Internet would prevent them from being “left behind.” Views of the Internet A total of 300 of respondents (70.9%) made remarks about the Internet. Most of these respondents (255, 85%) expressed attitudes to the Internet or Internet use, a substantial proportion (136, 45.3%) made statements which could be interpreted as reflections of perceived control of Internet use, and a smaller group mentioned social influences on use (29.7%). Few participants expressed uncertainty or negative attitudes about the Internet and its use, even though the survey question permitted both positive and negative attitudes to be expressed. Table 6 summarizes responses to the Internet, which are discussed in more detail in the following sections. Very few significant differences between groups of participants were observed. Any observed differences over time or between groups are described with the appropriate responses. Attitudes to the Internet and Internet Use. Two hundred and fifty respondents (60.3% of all participants in the study) expressed attitudes to the Internet or to Internet use. Attitudes were expressed in two ways: directly, as remarks

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TABLE 6 Views of the Internet

n

Percent in Set*

Percent of All (n ⫽ 423)

E E E E E I E E

73 54 44 34 33 32 29 29

28.6 21.2 17.3 13.3 12.9 12.5 11.4 11.4

17.3 12.8 10.4 8.0 7.8 7.6 6.9 6.9

I, E E I E

26 15 14 13

10.2 5.9 5.5 5.1

6.1 3.5 3.3 3.1

E E E

8 6 3 255

3.1 2.4 1.2

1.9 1.4 0.7 60.3

E E E E E E E

40 22 11 4 3 2 15 89

44.9 24.7 12.4 4.5 3.4 2.2 16.9

9.5 5.2 2.6 0.9 0.7 0.5 3.5 21.0

Implicit (I) or Explicit (E) Attitudes Interesting Useful The future, the modern world (positive) Enjoyable, fun Relative advantage over other media Something worth knowing about Important, necessary, essential Provides many choices, possibilities Positive attitude to the information accessible from the Internet Brings people closer together Something worth using Looking forward to using it The Internet is good for recreation, hobbies It is good to use it Opens window/door to the world Total Social Influences on Internet Use “Everybody”, the media Family and friends Profession Instructors, teachers Clients Others Not specified (it is expected of me) Total

(continued)

about the Internet or Internet use; and indirectly, through reasons for learning to use the Internet. The Internet (or Internet use) is interesting (73, 28.6% of those who expressed an attitude to the Internet or its use), useful (54, 21.2%), and enjoyable or fun (34, 13.3%). It was seen (positively) to be the way of the modern world or the future (44, 17.3%); to offer advantages over other communication media (faster, easier to use, more convenient, and less expensive: 33, 12.9%); to be something worth knowing about (32, 12.5%); to be important or essential (29, 11.4%); and to offer many possibilities (29, 11.4%). Some respondents expressed several attitudes, for example:

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TABLE 6 (Continued)

Perceived Control of Internet Use Need/want to increase my knowledge/understanding I don’t know how to use it I should be able to get more out of it, to use it better I will use it because I now have access/ the facilities I don’t have the right equipment I need encouragement to use it The Internet is chaotic The Internet is a mystery to me I’m afraid of computers I find it difficult to use the Internet Other Total

n

Percent in Set*

Percent of All (n ⫽ 423)

I I

103 10

75.7 7.4

24.3 2.4

I

8

5.9

1.9

7 5 4 4 3 3 2 7 136

5.1 3.7 2.9 2.9 2.2 2.2 1.5 5.1

1.7 1.2 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.5 1.7 32.2

Implicit (I) or Explicit (E)

E E I E E E E E

Note: *Set is Attitudes (n ⫽ 255), Social influences (n ⫽ 89), or Perceived control (n ⫽ 136), as appropriate.

The Internet interests me and I think it can be useful and fun if I learn to use it. (continuing education participant, Reykjavik university faculty, October 2, 1994) Participants’ expectations that Internet use would be interesting appeared to grow steadily during the study period (from 14.6% of reasons given during the first half of 1994 to 41% of reasons given during the second half of 1995); At the same time, there was a corresponding decrease in statements that the Internet was useful, from 41.7% in the first half of 1994 to 13.1% in the second half of 1995. This does not mean that there was less recognition of the value of the Internet. The participants’ emphasis on applications of the Internet in their descriptions of intended use shows that they expected it to be useful, whether or not they specifically stated that it would be. By 1995, perhaps participants in the highly Internet-aware community of Iceland no longer needed to think generally of the usefulness of the Internet, but rather they thought specifically about the uses to which they could put the Internet in their working and personal lives. Perceptions Associated with Attitudes. Just over 10% of participants who expressed attitudes to the Internet (26, 10.5%) mentioned their perceptions of

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the information it contains. These perceptions reflected many aspects of Internet information quality, including the quantity of information in the Internet, the breadth of sources, and the unique nature of some of the information. No remarks about perceived information quality were made in isolation from attitudes to the Internet, as illustrated by these two examples: • •

The Internet seems to be an ocean of information . . . that’s interesting (continuing education participant, Reykjavik, May 6, 1994); and I found it very interesting to be able to get information from all over the world (library and information science student, Reykjavik, September 13, 1994)

Social Influences on Internet Use. Eighty-nine participants (21.0%) commented on social influences on use. The strongest of these influences was a sense that “everybody,” including the print and broadcast media, is using or talking about the Internet (40 participants, 44.9% of those who mentioned social influences). Other influences included family and friends (22, 24.7%), and several participants (particularly library and information science students) felt that Internet use was required in their profession or field (11, 12.4%). Social influences were frequently combined with positive attitudes to outcomes, as they were for this respondent: I think it is helpful to use it to find information. And everybody is using it and talking about it so you have to know something about because if you don’t know anything about it you can’t talk about it with people. (teacher education student, Akureyri, October 25, 1996)

Perceived Control of Internet Use. Perceived control of Internet use was expressed both directly as remarks about the Internet use, and indirectly through reasons for learning to use the Internet. A total of 136 respondents (32.2%) made remarks that were interpreted as reflecting perceived control of Internet use. Most of these remarks were expressed positively, in the form of reasons for learning to use the Internet. By far, the most common expression of perceived control was the implied need or desire to increase knowledge and understanding of the Internet (103 participants, 24.3% all respondents). The most common directly expressed control beliefs concerned access to the right equipment or facilities for Internet use (12 participants, 2.9% of all respondents). A small number of participants thought the Internet chaotic (4) or “a mystery” (3). Only two thought that it would be difficult to use the Internet, while three admitted that they were afraid of computers. Few of these participants had entirely negative attitudes to the Internet. For example, one continuing education participant (Reykjavik, February 25, 1995) described the Internet as “organised chaos,” but added “the very idea of Internet appeals tremendously to me.”

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Relationships between Elements of the Framework Figure 7 shows how elements of the framework were related. The figure shows the number of participants who made remarks in each of the linked classes. Attitudes, social influences, and perceived control of use were all associated with intended use, as suggested by the behavioral intention model of Internet use. For this group of trainees, the attitudes most strongly associated with intended Internet use were: the opinion that the Internet is useful (43 participants), the perceived relative advantage of the Internet over other media (31), and a positive attitude to the information perceived to be accessible from the Internet (23). The aspect of control most strongly associated with intended use was the need to increase knowledge or understanding of the Internet to be able to use it better (54 respondents). Social influences were strongly associated with perceptions of Internet quality and with attitudes to the Internet, but only weakly associated with perceived control. Social influences were most strongly associated with interest in the Internet (21 respondents), but also with the opinion that the Internet is useful (13). The media and perceptions that the community as a whole expected participants to use the Internet particularly influenced interest in the Internet. Together, these observations indicate that the participants intended to use the Internet for the information it contains, and because it is useful and it provides advantages over other communication media. They were most strongly influenced to use the Internet by the media, general expectations in the community, and family and friends. The attitudes most strongly influenced by these sources were opinions that the Internet (or its use) is interesting and useful. Participants’ use may be constrained by a perceived lack of knowledge of the Internet and how to use it. FIGURE 7 Relationships between Elements of the Behavioral Intention Model of Internet Use for Internet Trainees

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Attitudes associated with intended Internet use varied with differences in intended application of the Internet (see Table 7). The most frequently cited attitudes among participants who intended to use the Internet as a source of information were that it is useful and interesting, and that it has advantages over other media. Participants who intended to use the Internet for communication held similar attitudes to the Internet, but, in addition, noted that the Internet brings people closer together; this group also more frequently cited the social influence of family and friends. Participants whose intended use of the Internet was non-specific (predominantly those who were taking the Internet course as part of a degree program) also found the Internet interesting and useful, but few of these participants cited perceived relative advantage or social influences; instead they were more inclined to express general attitudes, particularly that the Internet is “the future” (positive) and that using the Internet is “fun.”

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The observations made in this study confirm the value of the method and analytical framework that were developed and used in this research. They also suggest some new methodological developments and research questions, which are discussed in this section. The behavioral intention model of Internet use permitted analysis of textual statements about the Internet in a manner that that was more analytically rigorous than mere classification. It allowed retention of much of the richness of the participants’ responses while bringing greater clarity to their concerns. It was possible to track potential changes in attitudes and concerns over time and to search for differences among different groups of users. Although the model provided a sound basis for analysis, there remain some questions about influences on Internet use, and in particular, about the nature of social influences. Social influences on user behavior have been studied little in library and information science, but there is a rich body of research on social influences on con-

TABLE 7 Ranking of Factors Associated with Intended Use

Intended Use Rank

To Get Info

n

To Communicate

n

Not specified

n

1 2 3 4 5

Useful Interesting Relative advantage Brings people closer Contains a lot of info

25 21 18 9 9

Relative advantage Useful Interesting Brings people closer Social influence of friends and family

22 15 15 11 10

Interesting Useful Is the future Fun Social influence of friends and family

19 16 12 11 8

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sumer behavior and use of communication media (e.g., Fulk, Schmitz, & Steinfield, 1990). Further cross-disciplinary research on social influences on information resource use may contributing substantially to understanding of influences on Internet use. Participants in this study, regardless of familiarity with the Internet, were able to express attitudes to it. It seems that trainees needed very little exposure to the Internet to form a clear opinion of what it is and how it can be used. Longitudinal research which examines Internet awareness, learning, and use by specific individuals would provide further insight into when attitudes to the Internet are formed, and how they might change as an individual becomes increasingly familiar with the Internet. Participants’ concerns and influences were surprisingly stable throughout the study period. It is not clear if this stability reflects only the current time (the mid- to late-1990s) when “the Internet” can be thought of as a single communication system whose many uses can be summarized in a single training course. Trainees’ expectations may become more specific over time as “the Internet” comes to refer to little more than the physical and digital connections between computers and networks and its applications become more diverse. Research that monitors people’s views of as it changes will both provide a historical study of human response to a significant change in communication infrastructure, and provide practical data for use by trainers and educators as they strive to improve information literacy in the emerging communications environment. Long-term and widespread research into attitudes to the Internet may be constrained by the intensive nature of the analytical techniques used in this study. The open-ended questions on which the analyses were based were remarkably simple, yet they yielded considerable information about attitudes and beliefs. On the other hand, the richness of the responses meant that they were time-consuming and complex to analyze. Once salient issues common to most respondents have been identified through techniques such as text analysis, it should, however, be possible to develop a survey form to measure attitudes and beliefs for future research (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). The salient issues associated with Internet use identified in this study will be used in the authors’ future studies of the relationship between the way people think of the Internet, the way they use it, and ways to design courses to recognize these differences. The authors are currently developing survey instruments based on the present research to use in these studies.

CONCLUSION The research described in this article aimed both to identify a framework for analysis of attitudes and other responses to the Internet, and to study changes in attitudes to the Internet as it becomes more widely known and adopted in a community. The behavioral intention model of Internet use, based on Ajzen’s

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(1985, 1988) theory of planned behavior, provided an effective framework for this task. Overall, participants’ responses reflected a positive view of the Internet as something trainees expected to use for normal human communication and information gathering, with both work-related and personal benefits. These trainees had accepted the Internet as part of “the future” and were looking forward to using it rather than concentrating on barriers to use. Attitudes emerged from this research as strong influences on intended Internet use, but other factors were also relevant. Social influences and perceived control of use both affect intended Internet use. Perceived Internet characteristics (such as perceived information quality) were not significant factors in the present research, although the behavioral intention model of Internet use, and the small amount of relevant data available from this study, show that perceived characteristics affect intended use by contributing to attitude formation. This study has been a first attempt to identify those factors that characterize human response to the Internet. It has shown that Internet use can be characterized, like other voluntary human behaviors, as being influenced by attitudes to the outcomes of the behavior, social influences, and human perceptions of control over the behavior. At least for early and middle period adopters in a developed country, the Internet has seemed interesting and useful from its first tentative appearance, even before it developed as a medium for commercial services and transactions. As the Internet develops and grows, and as people’s use of it develops and grows, we might expect these characteristics to remain constant. The challenge is to develop individual services and information resources (commercial or not-for-profit) to which people respond with positive attitudes and strong perceptions of control.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Joanne Simpson and Clare Wilde who acted as research assistants for this project. The Graduate School of Management at the University of Western Australia and IMI-Fabi provided accommodation and travel assistance for the authors during various stages of the project. Particular thanks go to colleagues at Bocconi University and to Patrizia Zuppini and Corrado Fabi for their hospitality during the final phases of this project. The research would not have been possible without the participation of the Internet trainees.

REFERENCES Ajzen, Icek. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Action control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11–39). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.

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Ajzen, Icek. (1988). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press. Ajzen, Icek. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211. Ajzen, Icek, & Driver, B. L. (1992). Application of the theory of planned behavior to leisure choice. Journal of Leisure Research, 24, 207–224. Ajzen, Icek, & Fishbein, Martin. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. New York: Springer. Allen, Thomas J. (1977). Managing the flow of technology: Technology transfer and the dissemination of technological information within the R&D organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Auster, Ethel, & Choo, Chun Wei. (1993). Environmental scanning by CEOs in two Canadian industries. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 44, 194–203. Bruce, Harry. (1995). A methodology for researching AARNet use. Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 26, 76–85. Clyde, Laurel A. (1998). Introduction to the Internet: Course manual. Perth, Australia: NetWeaver. Clyde, Laurel A., & Klobas, Jane E. (forthcoming). The use of researcher reflection in a longitudinal study of new Internet users: A content analysis of email messages. Culnan, Mary J. (1985). The dimensions of perceived accessibility to information: Implications for the delivery of information systems and services. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 36, 302–308. Davis, Fred D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13, 319–340. Fishbein, Martin, & Ajzen, Icek. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Fleming, Malcolm L., & Levie, W. Howard. (1993). Instructional message design: Principles from the behavioral and cognitive sciences (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Fulk, Janet, Schmitz, Joseph, & Steinfield, Charles. (1990). A social influence model of technology use. In J. Fulk & C. Steinfield (Eds.), Organizations and Communication Technology (pp. 117–140). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Iceland Review. (1996). Almost a quarter of Icelanders with internet access. Iceland Review. Available: http://www.centrum.is/icerev/daily/1996/5jan96. html. Information Society Commission. (1998). New research highlights people’s hopes and concerns for the information society. Available: http://www. infosocomm.ie/press12.htm. Jósepsdóttir, Ída Margrét. (1995). Uppl y´singahraðbrautin - Internetið á Íslenkum bókasöfnum / Information highway - The Internet in Icelandic libraries. BA Project, Library and Information Science Program, University of Iceland, Reykjavik.

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Kim, Min-Sun, & Hunter, John E. (1993). Relationships among attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behavior: A meta-analysis of past research, part 2. Communication Research, 20, 331–364. Klobas, Jane E. (1994). Networked information resources: Electronic opportunities for users and librarians. Information Technology and People, 7(3), 4–17. Klobas, Jane E. (1997a). User response to a WWW browser-based interface to library information resources: Results of the second CygNET user survey. The Graduate School of Management Discussion Papers Series; 1997-11. Nedlands, Australia: The Graduate School of Management, The University of Western Australia. Klobas, Jane E. (1997b). A behavioural intention model of networked information resource use. Unpublished PhD thesis. Perth, Australia: The University of Western Australia. Klobas, Jane E., & Clyde, Laurel A. (1998). Learning to use the Internet in a developing country: Validation of a user model. Libri, 48, 163–175. Meredith, Helen. (1996). E-mail messages total 95 billion. The Australian Financial Review, (November 28), 2. Morgunblaðið. (1998). 43,5% á aldreinum 16-40 ára á Netinu, p. 2. Miniard, Paul. W., & Cohen, Joel B. (1981). An examination of the FishbeinAjzen behavioral intentions model’s concepts and measures. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17, 309–339.