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24W W W . I S M - J O U R N A L . C O M

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ACCEPTANCE OF

UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING

Monica J. Garfield

With portability similar to a spiral notebook, the tablet PC enables new ways of working. This

study investigates user acceptance of this new technology through interviews with employees

in four industries who participated in three-month trials.

N THE LAST DECADE, UBIQUITOUScomputing has moved from a futuristic

vision to a reality. As computing powercontinues to increase and hardware be-

comes more compact, computers have be-come part of our work and social life,

anywhere and anytime. Benefiting from thecombination of wireless connectivity and port-ability similar to that of a traditional spiral note-

book, the tablet PC is allowing people torethink how they do their work. The tablet PC

offers such features as lightweight portability,wireless connectivity, and, as the most impor-

tant factor differentiating it from notebook anddesktop computers, stylus input in addition tothe traditional keyboard. Obviously, the pur-

pose of these features is to allow users to per-form their jobs more effectively and efficiently.

However, relatively little prior empirical re-search exists on whether users perceive that

the technological benefits of the tablet PCmeet their business needs. Thus we are liftingthe lid and looking inside the black box of tab-

let PC use to attempt to better understand

what affects the acceptance and use of the tab-let PC in the corporate world.To gain rich insights into how these com-

puting devices are used in the corporate envi-ronment, we collected qualitative data atseveral corporate sites in a range of industries,

including medical, education, publishing, andretail. Each organization selected a group of in-

dividuals to use the tablet PC as their primarypersonal computing device for three months

or longer. Each study participant was trained

on how to use the device, and technical sup-

port was provided to the users throughout the

study. Participants shared their experiences

with us during semistructured interviews. The

interviews not only gave us the opportunity to

explore variables associated with technology

acceptance in previous research, but also en-

abled new findings to emerge. This article re-

ports the results of this research effort.

ISSUES THAT AFFECT THE USE

OF TABLET PCS

tablet PCs share many of the essential features

of a nomadic information environment (Lyytin-

en and Yoo, 2002). They are highly mobile and

benefit from a large-scale infrastructure to sup-

port diverse ways in which data can be pro-

cessed and transmitted. From the classroom to

the racetrack, tablet PCs have been found to be

highly valuable tools (Clarke, 2003; Colwell,

2004; Lowe, 2004). Yet it is unclear why they

are more readily adopted in some environ-

ments yet greeted with a cautious eye in others

(Clarke, 2003).To better understand the acceptance of the

tablet PC in the corporate environment and its

impact on users, we began by reviewing the

previous work in the area of technology accep-

tance. Although most of the research in this

area does not focus on highly mobile technolo-

gies, early lessons learned about technology ac-

ceptance ought to apply to the tablet PC.

However, it should be noted that users of the

tablet PC may engage in ubiquitous computing

I

MONICA J.

GARFIELD is an

assistant professor in

computer information

systems at Bentley

College

(cis.bentley.edu/mgarf

ield/). Her research

focuses on the use of IT

to enhance creativity

as well as the socio-

technical issues that

impact telemedicine

systems. Her work has

appeared in such

journals as

Information System

Research, MIS

Quarterly,

Communications of

the ACM, and Journal

of Management

Information Systems.

She is also the editor of

ISWorlds database

page

(http://www.magal.co

m/iswn/teaching/dat

abase/).

http://www.magal.com/iswn/teaching/database/http://www.magal.com/iswn/teaching/database/http://www.magal.com/iswn/teaching/database/http://www.magal.com/iswn/teaching/database/

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I N F O R M A T I O N S Y S T E M S M A N A G E M E N T

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more often than other technology users and,

thus, have a fundamental difference in the waythey interface with the technology (Dey, 2001;

Kim and Kim, 2003).By far, the most cited model for understand-

ing technology acceptance is the Technology

Acceptance Model (TAM), by Davis (1989) and

most recently revised as the Unified Theory of

Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

(Venkatesh et al., 2003). The basic concept un-

derlying this model is that individuals will form

various beliefs and attitudes regarding the tech-

nology; these will, in turn, have an impact on

their intentions to use the technology and, there-

fore, affect their actual use of the technology.When users are presented with a new tech-

nology, numerous factors influence their deci-

sions about when and how they would use it.

The UTAUT model can be used to understand

the factors that influence the acceptance of a

specific technology, such as the tablet PC. Spe-

cifically, the UTAUT model suggests that perfor-

mance expectancy, effort expectancy, and

social influence affect users behavioral inten-

tions to use the technology (i.e., how they

think they will use it), and facilitating condi-

tions will directly affect users actual behaviorwith the technology (see Table 1).

New technologies, such as the tablet PC,

create uncertainty in the minds of those who

adopt them. People form attitudes and inten-

tions toward trying to learn to use the new

technology prior to initiating efforts directed at

using them. Attitudes toward usage and inten-

tions to use may be ill formed or lacking in con-

viction or else may occur only after preliminary

attempts to learn to use the technology.

Organizations can use numerous methods

to attempt to influence employee attitudes. Forexample, providing users with formal training

before they actually use the system to accom-plish tasks would give them a chance to work

with the technology before they make up theirminds about how easy it is to use. Gaining ex-perience and knowing what to expect out of

the system will increase the likelihood that us-ers will have a positive attitude toward adopt-

ing it. With this study, our intent is to helporganizational decision makers understand bet-

ter the factors that affect the acceptance of aubiquitous computing technology such as the

tablet PC.

FIELD STUDY METHODS

To gain rich insights into how tablet PCs areused in the corporate environment, we con-

ducted a longitudinal, qualitative field studybased on interview data collected at each cor-

porate site. Employees from four companies infour different vertical markets (education, med-

ical, publishing, and retail) were given tabletPCs to use as their primary personal comput-

ing device for at least a three-month period.

Participation in the study was voluntary, as wasthe use of the tablet PC during the study (al-though highly recommended). Each study par-

ticipant was trained on how to use the tablet,and technical support was provided to the us-

ers throughout the study. All participants at allsites filled out a pretest questionnaire to pro-

vide a baseline on their perceptions of technol-ogy and the types of tasks they perform in the

workplace. Participants also shared their expe-riences with us during an exit interview. This

TABLE 1 Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

Performance

expectancy

The degree to which an individual believes that using the system will help him or

her to attain gains in job performance (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 447)

Includes items that relate to how useful the user perceives the technology to be,

what their outcome expectations are for using the technology, and how the

capabilities of the technology will help them in their job performance

Effor t expectancy How easy the system is to use

Includes the perceived ease of use and the experienced ease of useSocial influence How important the technology user thinks other people think the use of the

technology is

Includes the users belief about how the technology affects their image, how much

others believe they should use the technology, and how the technology fits with

the social norms of the workplace

Facilitating conditions The degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical

infrastructure exists to support use of the system (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p.

453)

Includes the accessibility of resources necessary to use a new technology, the

support and training necessary, and the technologys compatibility with existing

norms and values of the users

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research explored how the tablet PC is used in

four environments by examining user accep-

tance and use of the tablet.The same researcher conducted all of the

interviews. An interview script was written to

guide the initial interviews. The UTAUT model

guided the formation of the interview ques-

tionnaire to help us understand the more spe-

cific user behaviors that appeared to lead to

tablet PC acceptance and those behaviors that

emerged from the use of the tablet PC that ap-

peared to impact users (see Table 2 for the ini-

tial interview questions). The interview script

began with basic information about the partic-

ipants use of the tablet (frequency and manner

of use). These interviews followed a semistruc-

tured interview protocol, but they were also al-

lowed to take on a reflective tone. This gave usthe opportunity to not only explore those

paths that previous research led us to investi-

gate but also to engage in some exploratory

work to enable new findings to emerge. As

themes pertaining to the acceptance and use of

the tablet PC began to emerge from the inter-

views, the interview questions that followed

evolved and areas of interest were probed fur-

ther.

TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE FINDINGS

The findings for the four technology accep-tance constructs in the UTAUT model (see

Table 1) are described in detail below and sum-

marized in Table 3.

Performance Expectancy

Performance expectancy relates to how well

individuals believe the tablet PC helped them

perform their job. We found four primary ways

the tablet led to improved job performance.

First, the tablet allowed for improved informa-

tion exchange. Participants found that they

were able to send e-mails closer to the time

they received the information they needed to

exchange with an individual. This increased

TABLE 2 Interview Guide

How often did you use the tablet PC?

What did you think you would use the tablet PC

for?

What did you use the tablet PC for?

Did you change the way you did things?

Did the tablet PC help you to accomplish tasks

more quickly?Did it improve your job performance? In the past

month do you feel that you are performing your

job more efficiently?

Did it increase your productivity? Does i t seem to

take less time to perform tasks now than in the

recent past?

Did it enhance your effectiveness on the job?

Did it make it easier to do your job?

Was it useful in your job? Give me an example.

Did you find the tablet PC easy to learn to

operate?

Did you find it easy to get the tablet PC to do

what you wanted it to do?

Did you find that your interaction with the tablet

PC was clear and understandable?Did you find the tablet PC flexible to interact

with?

Do you feel it would be easy to become skillful in

using the tablet PC?

Did you find the tablet PC easy to use?

TABLE 3 Technology Acceptance Model Findings

UTAUT Constructs Factors Affecting tablet PC Acceptance

Performance expectancy Information exchange

Multi-tasking

In meetings

Outside of meetings

Organizing efforts

Displaying and analyzing visual data

Effort expectancy Technical features

Stylus

Keyboard

Battery life

Information accessibility

Social influence Perceptions of others

In meetings

Outside of meetings

Facilitating conditions Network infrastructure

Champion

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speed of interaction allowed for improved co-

ordination and a reduction in information de-

cay. For instance, some employees were able toe-mail an order when they were in their clients

office, and participants were able to send e-

mails to delegate projects, share information,

or request information while they were still atthe meeting.

Second, the tablet allowed workers tomulti-task. Participants in this study found thetablet was less obtrusive in meetings, and they

were more willing to bring it to meetings than

a laptop computer. Some participants found

that they could bring just the slate portion ofthe tablet and use the stylus to read e-mails

while participating in meetings. They felt less

offensive multi-tasking in this way than with

their laptops. However, it was noted by manythat they would only engage in such multi-task-

ing when they were only peripheral to the

meeting. One participant noted:

I mean if youre using Journal and its

laying right out there you can see

that somebody is taking notes. Its no

different than having a pad of paper.Thats okay. Theres no reason to flip it

up and put the screen to facing me and

away from you and suspicion begins.

[Education sector user]

Another participant said:

There was no way they could have their

computer up and be typing while talk-

ing to the patients because it would bevery distracting to the patients. So it is

basically would be the same as taking

a note. [Healthcare sector user]

Employees who perform much of their

work away from their desk found that they

could leverage their free time more productive-

ly. In the past, they needed to find a place to setup their laptop if they wanted to use it be-

tween meetings. With the tablet they found

they could more easily use it without any extra

arrangements and utilize their free time be-

tween appointments due to the fact that theyhad their tablet with them. As one person noted:

With a laptop youve got to open it up,

youve got to have the space; its just notconvenient. [Education sector user]

Third, the tablet helped individuals with

their organizing efforts. Some participants

mentioned that instead of jotting new ideas onPost-it Notes, they wrote them on journal pages

that they then categorized. By using the tablet

instead of pencil and paper or Post-it Notes,

participants reported improvement in organi-

zation of work-related materials, which led to

them being more efficient at their jobs (no

more lost notes, need for multiple folders, or

inaccessibility of information). For instance,

one person said:

Its a marvelous tool for helping me stay

organized and quite honestly ending the

day by five oclock because if you

dont have everything integrated in a

single platform, youre wasting a lot of

time. [Publishing sector user]

Participants also noted that the tablet was

ideal for displaying and analyzing visual data. In

the healthcare organization, the participants

found that the tablet was well suited for manip-

ulating and analyzing MRI brain scans. In the

past, they used regular desktop PCs, but they

found the stylus and the tablet allowed them to

more quickly and accurately identify the re-

gions of the brain they wanted to look at more

closely.

In our work with brain imaging, we

have found these tablets to be very use-

ful, [in the past] we would do it with

a mouse. The thing was it wasnt as easy.

Its much more intuitive just to do it

with your notepad there. The mouse on

a laptop is nowhere near accurate

enough to be able to make these, you

know, to be able to outline these re-

gions of interest. [Healthcare sector us-er]

The tablet also excelled in its ability to cap-

ture categorical data. Although some found tak-

ing lengthy notes (e.g., inpatient interviews)

was difficult with the tablet, they reported it

was ideal for filling out forms that focused on

categorical information. By using the tablet to

capture such data they could then save the in-

formation into a back-end database and analyze

it.

Effort Expectancy

Effort expectancy relates to how easy the par-

ticipants found the tablet PC to use. The overall

use of the tablet was not considered difficult.

However, most individuals discussed needing

to adjust to the use of the tablet. As with all

technologies, there is a learning curve associat-

ed with the use of the tablet. From a technical

perspective, using the stylus for handwriting

recognition was a challenge. The software was

articipants

in this studyfound the tablet

was less

obtrusive in

meetings, and

they were more

willing to bring

it to meetings

than a laptop

computer.

P

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a bit slow and cumbersome, and very few users

converted their handwritten notes (via stylus

entry) into text:

I dont see how the stylus could help

me, to tell you the truth. I spend a lot of

time typing, and I can just do it so much

faster. [Retail sector user]

if Im going to use the Journal, myhandwriting in a meeting, Im very

cryptic, and its almost a waste of time

to try to keep cryptic notes and try tofigure out what it is I said. [Education

sector user]

It was extremely difficult It takes a lit-

tle bit of training too on the stylus to getused to . I finally put the stylus away

and went and got the keyboard. [Retail

sector user]

There were also mixed reviews on the key-

board. Although many participants found ithard to adjust to, those who used the keyboard

frequently seemed to adjust to its size and felt

comfortable with it in a relatively short periodof time. A participant noted that:

The keyboard itself is a little bit small

and I find that I tend to mistype some-

times more than I do with other key-boards and I sometimes hit the wrong

button and I erase everything I just

wrote. [Publishing sector user]

Battery power was another issue raised; someparticipants felt that the battery life was suffi-

cient for their work whereas others needed a

longer battery life. This related to the duration

of time they would be away from a location inwhich they could plug in:

I have had issues with battery life. So if

I have to find a place to plug it in and I

know where Im going, I can bring itwith me, but if Im not sure, Ill typically

just bring pads. [Education sector user]

Other site-specific issues arose around connec-

tivity to the network and wireless connectivityto printers. However, these issues varied based

on the external communications environment

of each physical location in which the tablet

was used.Participants in this study also reported a

high level of ease of use with respect to the

ability to retrieve and consult documents thatthey would not have had access to prior to hav-

ing the tablet. Due to lack of access to the range

of information required to make decisions in our

highly complex world, employees tended to fo-

cus on the tasks that required lower cognition

when they were away from the office. Users re-

ported that having the tablet available to them

outside of work allowed them to confirm

hunches, verify facts, and jot down insights as

they occurred to them. When grappling with a

perplexing issue at work, it is often during

down time that one gains new insight. For in-stance, one participant expressed that in the

past she had mostly worked on e-mails and

went through snail mail over the weekend.

Now that she had a tablet PC, she found that

she was able to retrieve information that

helped her conceptualize complex decisions

she needed to consider in her job. She cited

that in the past she would not bring home a lap-

top due to the inconvenience; now she not

only brings her tablet home but she may read

various documents that pertain to larger issues

while at home:If I just want to sit there and study some

documents, its like reading the paper.

You know, Im willing to do that where

I never would have e-mailed all those

documents to myself and sat at the desk

on a Saturday. [Education sector user]

Participants noted that the accessibility of

the tablet allowed them to more effectively re-

act to the ah-ha moments that occur when

one is laying in bed, taking a shower, or engag-

ing in other domestic activities. This fundamen-

tally alters how one uses time away from thedesk and ones ability to start to leverage the

ubiquitous world of anytime, anyplace com-

puting:

It makes working on airplanes more

convenient because of the way the

screen is set up. You can actually do it.

But also, because of the stylus you can

do this fine work on airplanes and at

home much more easily. So it does

mean that I actually do this type of data

analysis on an airplane, which I never

would have done before. [Healthcaresector user]

Social Influence

Social influence relates to how an individual

perceives the use of the tablet will affect their

image or please their supervisor or co-workers.

Issues in this area varied by the work situation

in which the tablet was used. More specifically,

the impact of social influence related to whether

rom a

technicalperspective,

using the

stylus for

handwriting

recognition

was a

challenge.

F

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the individual was using it in a group setting

(i.e., a meeting) or in smaller settings.There is at least one social and behavioral

obstacle to the use of the tablet PC in meetings.

Many individuals felt that bringing the tablet tomeetings, although improving their own per-

sonal efficiency, led to potentially more costly

social outcomes. There was an issue related to

the perceptions others formed when one usedtheir tablet in meetings. tablet PC users wor-

ried that other participants in the meeting

would perceive they were not cognitively en-gaged in the meeting but were multi-tasking

during the meeting when they utilized their

tablet. This, in turn, can lead to the users dis-

comfort with how others perceived them. Fur-thermore, there was a sense among some users

that the presence of the tablet in meetings was

intimidating. This came from two distinct areas.First, some people felt others would perceive

the tablets presence as a way to show off in

terms of either their technological savvy ortheir personal worth to the organization. Oth-ers felt that it may inhibit discussion for fear of

the tablet recording the proceedings of the

meeting and, thus, reducing the control over

the information exchange within the meeting.However, in non-meeting situations users

found that the tablet both enhanced their im-age and helped them initiate conversations.

This finding was specific to the publishing in-

dustry. These participants found that the pres-

ence of the tablet led to an easy way to breakthe ice with new clients. They also found that

it gave potential customers a better impression

of the technical savvy of their organization.However, they were also concerned that these

same potential customers would perceive that

the cost of their product was higher than nec-

essary due to excessive overhead spending onitems such as the tablet PC:

Theyre always, like, wow, what is

that? It was actually questions aboutthe computer itself. It was a good ice-

breaker for sales calls, especially before

you know the person because theyre al-

ways kind of like impressed with it. AndI was kind of wondering if any of them

ever thought, you know, well that com-

puter must be expensive and you know,theres all this talk about textbooks are

expensive and why do they cost so

much. [Publishing sector user]

It has that implied wow, this personis a lot more techie and this company

represents itself; they have a bigger

investment in technology so I should go

with them. And I get a lot of adoptions I

think because, they trust that, we knowwhat were doing with technology.

[Publishing sector user]

Facilitating Conditions

We provided technical support both internally

and externally for all participants in this study.Whether the various organizations would pro-vide the same level of support for the ongoing

use of the tablet is unknown. It was clear that

network connectivity was the primary issue or-

ganizations would need to grapple with interms of supporting the ubiquitous use of the

tablet PC. Not only was network infrastructure

an issue, but the types of firewalls and security

measures utilized on a network, the use of datacompression, and the type of wireless connec-

tions available played a role in facilitating the

use of the tablet PC.Furthermore, it became very clear that

those research sites that had a strong champion

for the project did better. They were more like-

ly to invest the time to modify their work pro-cesses to leverage the features of the tablet PC

and to seek out ways to improve their work

performance through the utilization of the tab-

let. And the organizational culture was moreaccepting of new ways to communicate and

work.

BENEFITS AND DISADVANTAGES

OF THE TABLET PC

Obviously, behavioral intentions to use and ac-tual usage will increase only if the factors un-

covered in this study have been implemented

so that they have a positive impact on adop-

tion. For example, a network infrastructurewith high security standards may impede the

acceptance of a tablet PC because it makes it

more difficult for users to achieve their goals

when using the technology. Individuals andcompanies that value the benefits provided by

the tablet will accept the tablet more readily

than those who do not value these benefits.Companies also need to assess the potential

negative impact the tablet could have on the

company or individual users. For example, if a

company wants to increase the speed at whichit reacts to customer requests and process or-

ders, the mobility of the tablet enables field

representatives to increase their speed of infor-

mation exchange with other parts of the com-pany, thereby having a positive impact.

However, if a company is not very concerned

ompanies

also need toassess the

potential

negative

impact the

tablet could

have on the

company or

individual

users.

C

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about its speed of information exchange, tablet

PC mobility would not affect its acceptance.

Furthermore, if the company relies on having a

buffer of a few days between an item request

and the time the item is captured by a fulfill-

ment system, the use of the tablet could nega-

tively impact the company unless other

changes are also made.Table 4 summarizes the benefits and disad-

vantages of the factors affecting tablet PC ac-

ceptance.

SUPPORTING SUCCESSFUL TABLET

PC ADOPTION

Managers can take several actions to increase

the likelihood that their organization will be

able to leverage the power of tablet PCs and

successfully adopt them. First, technical issues

must be addressed to fully utilize the range of

capabilities that ubiquitous computing can

bring:

The network infrastructure needs to enable

ubiquitous computing. A highly mobile

stand-alone personal computing device

might be useful, but the true benefits of ubiq-uitous computing are realized only with con-

stant availability of network resources. Security of wireless communication is an

issue related to network infrastructure that

requires special attention because if users

dont trust the integrity and confidentiality of

the communication capabilities offered by a

ubiquitous computing device, they will not

(and should not) use them. Even worse is if

TABLE 4 Benefits and Disadvantages Related to Use of the tablet PC, by UTAUT Factor

Factors Related to

tablet PC Acceptance Benefits of the tablet PC Disadvantages of the tablet PC

Performance

expectancy

Multi-tasking and organizing efforts

leading to more effective use of

time:

Multi-tasking tablet PCusers can use short windows

of time to engage in

productive work behaviors.

Organization The tablet PC

offers a range of features that

allow one to organize various

forms of information (notes,

documents, e-mails, etc.) in a

more effective manner.

Effort expectancy Information accessibi lity leading to

reduced cognitive load:

Necessity to recall action

items eliminated.

Accessibility of necessary

data tablet PC users aremore likely to be able to

access necessary

information.

Action taken in closer

proximity to action request.

Challenges in data input:

The tablet PCs keyboard can make

data entry more difficult than in

other computing environments.

The stylus can be difficult to use for

note taking.

Social influence Improved image:

Impression of technical savvy

heightened.

tablet can be seen as intimidating:

In large meetings, participants may

be unsure about the tablets

function.

Clients or customers may fear that

they are being recorded.

tablet can be seen as boasting:

The tablet PC can be seen as a way

for an individual to boast, due to

Their technical savvy The perception that the tablet PC

was g i ven t o t he i nd i v idua l

because they are special

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