Computer anxiety and anger: the impact of computer use, computer experience, and self-efficacy beliefs

Past research has demonstrated that the level of computer experience users have is the most valuable predictor in whether or not they will suffer computer anxiety symptoms, but this was not the case in the present study. No research was found which examined the correlates of computer anger symptoms. In the current study, the relationship between the computer use (frequency and duration), computer experience, and self-efficacy beliefs of users were analyzed as predictors for computer anxiety and anger symptoms. Questionnaire data from a sample of 242 university students were analyzed. The results indicated that computer self-efficacy beliefs, not computer experience or use, had the largest significant relationship with both computer anxiety, and anger. It is suggested that self-efficacy beliefs be increased so that users may experience lower levels of anxiety and anger. These findings are contrary to the trend of training computer users in specific computer domains. As computer anxiety and anger are negative psychological “states”, an immediate method to deal with these negative emotions should be developed. One possibility that is explored is the application of computer-based therapy that can be used while a user is experiencing negative emotional symptoms.     

Self-efficacy beliefs, computer training and psychological well-being among information and communication technology workers

This study examines the factorial structure of self-efficacy and the relationship among different levels of self-efficacy (i.e., generalised, professional and computer) and psychological well-being and training among Information and Communication Technology (ICT) workers. The sample was made up of 496 workers from different occupational sectors using ICT in their jobs and a subsample of these workers who were trained in ICT. Results show that (1) the generalised-specific structure is maintained in the three levels as expected but in fours factors: i.e., generalised self-efficacy, professional self-confidence, achieving professional objectives and computer self-efficacy. (2) There is a negative and significant relationship between self-efficacy and different psychological well-being indicators. (3) Computer attitudes moderated the relationship between computer training (i.e., number of training hours) and professional self-confidence. So far, workers with high positive attitude towards ICT, when number of hours are high, their levels of professional self-confidence increase, but it depends on the number of training hours (i.e. more training hours, more self-confidence). However, workers with low levels of positive attitude towards ICT experimented a decrease in professional self-confidence. In conclusion, training has not a direct influence on self-efficacy but moderated by type of training. Limitations of the study and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

An empirical investigation of sources of application-specific computer-self-efficacy and mediators of the efficacy—performance relationship

Integrating theory from research on training, computer self-efficacy (CSE), and motivation, this research validated a model of four factors that contribute to application-specific computer self-efficacy (AS-CSE) formation (previous experience, personality, learning goal orientation and computer anxiety) and three factors that mediate the relationship between AS-CSE and performance (goal level, goal commitment and performance goal orientation (PGO)). Using data from 313 individuals in an introductory computer skills course, the model was validated for database software. Results indicate that previous database software experience, trainee personality and learning goal orientation were positively related to AS-CSE, whereas computer anxiety was negatively related to AS-CSE. Additionally, goal level, goal commitment and PGOs were related to database test performance, and the relationship between AS-CSE and database test performance was also partially mediated by goal level and goal commitment. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Computer use and the gender gap: The issue of access, use, motivation, and performance

Since the beginning of computerization, it has been of interest whether there are differential effects on computer behavior, in particular in terms of computer access, computer use, and motivational variables, such as computer self-efficacy. The current research addresses the questions if the gender-related differences in this respect persist to the present day and if there is also a difference in actual performance characteristics. A sample of 48 university students (23 male) was administered a technology self-efficacy questionnaire, a survey on computer access, recorded a user diary, and turned in a computer task. Results show that the gender gap is closing as far as computer access and self-efficacy are concerned. Also, female and male students report comparable amounts of computer usage for their studies. User behavior appears to be gender-specific as males spend more time at the computer for personal purposes. There is also some evidence that male students outperform female students at a computer task (remastering of Power-Point slides). Conclusions for creating computer-based learning environments are discussed.     

Computer usage questionnaire: Structure, correlates, and gender differences

Computer usage, computer experience, computer familiarity, and computer anxiety are often discussed as constructs potentially compromising computer-based ability assessment. After presenting and discussing these constructs and associated measures we introduce a brief new questionnaire assessing computer usage. The self-report measure consists of 18 questions asking for the frequency of different computer activities and software usage. Participants were N = 976 high school students who completed the questionnaire and several covariates. Based on theoretical considerations and data driven adjustments a model with a general computer usage factor and three nested content factors (Office, Internet, and Games) is established for a subsample (n = 379) and cross-validated with the remaining sample (n = 597). Weak measurement invariance across gender groups could be established using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Differential relations between the questionnaire factors and self-report scales of computer usage, self-concept, and evaluation are reported separately for females and males. It is concluded that computer usage is distinct from other behavior oriented measurement approaches and that it shows a diverging, gender-specific pattern of relations with fluid and crystallized intelligence.     

Computer skills instruction for pre-service teachers: A comparison of three instructional approaches

The computer self-efficacy of teachers contributes positively to their technology integration self-efficacy. Many studies have examined instructional strategies that foster computer self-efficacy but not their corresponding impact on teachers’ technology integration self-efficacy. This study investigated the instructional strategies used for pre-service teacher computer skills instruction and their corresponding impact on teacher computer self-efficacy and technology integration self-efficacy. Using a multiple case-study approach, video recordings were made of the class sessions of three participating instructors throughout a semester. Content analysis of these video recordings found the instructors using three approaches of computer skills instruction: Extensive behavioral modeling, targeted behavioral modeling, and independent problem-solving. Analysis of pre and post-study student survey responses also found that the three instructional approaches raised their perceived computer self-efficacy. However, the effect sizes were largest when the independent problem-solving approach was used. This approach was also found to have had better motivational effects on students than the extensive behavioral modeling approach. On the other hand, computer skills instruction increased students’ technology integration self-efficacy only when instructors modeled teaching-related examples and provided students with multiple mastery experiences of technology integration practices. The applications of the three computer skills instructional approaches for teacher education are discussed.     

Computer self-efficacy, training effectiveness and user attitudes: an empirical study

Using 414 business undergraduates at two universities in the US, a 28-item computer self-efficacy scale is validated and used to examine the relationship between (a) training and computer self-efficacy and (b) user attitudes and computer self-efficacy. Survey responses were collected both at the beginning and end of an introductory computer course. A principal factor analysis of the computer self-efficacy scale supported a conceptually meaningful four-factor solution with high alpha reliabilities. Results suggest that training significantly improved the computer self-efficacy of males and females in this study for all factors. Training programs seemed more effective for male and female respondents with positive attitudes toward computers. Training programs seemed less effective for respondents with negative attitudes toward computers. Implications of these findings are discussed and research opportunities described.     

Computer phobia and computer self-efficacy: their association with undergraduates’ use of university computer facilities

Extensive development in universities’ provision of computer facilities may have negative consequences for students prone to computer avoidance. In the present study, undergraduates (N = 363) completed self-report measures on computer phobia and self-efficacy. Results demonstrate that many students follow previous trends by continuing to report levels of computer phobia within the higher parameters of self-report measures. Students who reported either high computer phobia or low computer self-efficacy were less likely to maximise their use of university computer facilities. Moreover, a range of background measures – initial computer experience, regular home use, successful completion of a computer course and introductory tutor’s characteristics – all impacted statistically on self-report responses. Results are discussed with reference to the increasing responsibility placed on students to acquire ICT skills.     

Critical success factors for motivating and sustaining women's ICT learning

Information Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the way people think, behave, communicate, and work. As a result, digital literacy, an essential skill for career development, lifelong learning, freedom of expression and social inclusion, is now one of the most important issues facing women today. The aim of this study was to identify the key factors and the possible mechanisms that motivate middle-aged and older females to acquire and utilize ICT skills. Drawing on Social Cognitive and Social Capital theories, we developed a theoretical model and validated it through Partial Least Squares (PLS) and mediation analyses. A survey was administered to 181 participants in an ICT learning program for digital-illiterate and middle-aged females. 133 responses were available for final analysis. The study revealed that social capital does not directly predict computer self-efficacy but depends on learning satisfaction as a mediator. In other words, unless participants develop a sense of satisfaction in class learning, a high level of social capital may not transfer into a high level of computer self-efficacy. In addition, our study shows that computer self-efficacy mediates the relationship between learning satisfaction and ICT usage, and that ICT usage and social capital both predict increases in subjective well-being. ICT utilization plays an important role in the well-being of the middle-aged and older females who often are unable to use ICT regularly due to their cultural roles. This study provides practical implications for the delivery of ICT training programs for females and other under-privileged groups.     

How and why trust matters in post-adoptive usage: The mediating roles of internal and external self-efficacy

Since the underutilization of technology often prevents organizations from reaping expected benefits from IT investments, an increasing body of literature studies how to elicit value-added, post-adoptive IT use behaviors. Such behaviors include extended and innovative feature use, both of which are exploratory in nature and can lead to improved work performance. Since these exploratory behaviors can be risky, research has directed attention to trust in technology as an antecedent to post-adoptive IT use. In parallel, research has examined how computer self-efficacy relates to post-adoptive IT use. While such research has found that both trust and efficacy can lead to value-added IT use and that they might do so interdependently, scant research has examined the interplay between these antecedents to post-adoptive IT use. Drawing on the Model of Proactive Work Behavior with a focus on its predictions about trust and efficacy, we develop a research model that integrates trust in technology and computer self-efficacy in the post-adoption context. Our model suggests that the two concepts are interdependent such that trust-related impacts on post-adoptive use behaviors unfold via computer-related self-efficacy beliefs. Contemporary tests of mediation on data from more than 350 respondents provided support for our model. Hence, our findings begin to open the black box by which trust-related impacts on post-adoptive behaviors unfold, revealing computer self-efficacy as an important mediating factor. In doing so, this study furthers understanding of how, and why, trust matters in post-adoptive usage, enabling strategic change management by elucidating the “fit” between technological characteristics and post-adoptive usage.     

Individual characteristics and computer self-efficacy in secondary education teachers to integrate technology in educational practice

The development of modern technologies and their extension to every domain of our daily life nowadays is an indisputable fact. The widespread use of computers renders training in these technologies necessary. Consequently, computers were soon introduced into the Greek educational system. Factors related to the nature of the teacher’s personality, such as computer self-efficacy, self-concept, attitudes, motivation and needs are considered crucial to the integration and development of modern technologies in education. This study examines the relationship between individual characteristics of secondary school teachers and computer self-efficacy as well as teacher prospects with regard to modern technologies.     

Computer attitude as a moderator in the relationship between computer anxiety,satisfaction, and stress

The present study empirically examines the relationship between computer anxiety, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and stress. Based on self-efficacy theory and self-worth theory of achievement-motivation, it is hypothesized that the relationship between computer anxiety and job satisfaction is curvilinear and attitude towards computer moderates such relationship. The relationship between computer anxiety and career satisfaction and job stress were empirically examined in this study. Two hundred and thirty undergraduate students (125 female and 105 male students) at a university in south-western part of Louisiana completed computer anxiety, computer attitude, job satisfaction, career satisfaction and stress surveys. Hierarchical moderated regression results support that the attitude towards computer acts as a moderator in the relationship between (i) computer anxiety and stress, (ii) computer anxiety and job satisfaction, and (iii) computer anxiety and career satisfaction. Implications for management are discussed.     

Efficacy of a planned behavior model: Beliefs that contribute to computer usage intentions of student teachers and experienced teachers

The primary purpose of this study was to examine beliefs contributing to student teachers’ and experienced teachers’ intentions to use computer applications in their curricula. The secondary purpose was to investigate the efficacy of the decomposed theory of planned behavior for predicting such intentions. A purposeful sample of 19 teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Results showed that both student and experienced teachers were motivated to use computers to prepare students for real world experiences. Although both groups reported high computer confidence, they expressed limitations in their usage. Student teachers focused on use of the Internet and not on using a variety of computer applications as tools for teaching and learning. Experienced teachers depended on both equipment resources and personal support from school administrators to successfully integrate technology into their classroom. Both teacher groups expressed the need for more computer-integrated training. This research provided support for using the decomposed theory of planned behavior to predict computer intentions and usage for teachers. Assessment of computer usage within any profession should be based upon a behavior model that complements the profession’s cultural environment.     

Teacher self-efficacy,academic self-efficacy,and computer self-efficacy as predictors of attitude toward applying computer-supported education

There is a large body of research regarding teacher self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, and attitude toward applying computer-supported education of teachers and prospective teachers. However, no study has been conducted on the correlation among the effects of teacher self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, and attitude toward applying computer-supported education and which additionally explains their relationships to one other. This research is conducted in order to test the effect levels among the latent variables of teacher self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, and attitude toward applying computer-supported education and these latent variables' ratios to each other. For this, eight hypotheses were developed in light of theoretical information by reviewing the literature. This research is done by using Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, Computer Self-Efficacy Scale, and The Attitude Scale Toward Applying Computer-Supported Education. The participant group of the research consists of 323 prospective teachers. Exploratory factor analyses of scales were analyzed via SPSS 16.0 software. For the confirmatory factor analyses of scales and the structural equation modeling, AMOS 20.0 software was used. The most significant finding of this study is that teacher self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, and computer self-efficacy are important predictors of prospective teachers' attitude toward applying computer-supported education.     

Antecedents of computer self-efficacy: A study of the role of personality traits and gender

Empirical evidence suggests that computer self-efficacy plays an important role in one’s acceptance and use of new information technology. Little is however known about the antecedents of computer self-efficacy. This paper reports on a study of 143 non-users of a self-checkout library system available at a large Canadian university which was conducted to investigate the relationships between stable personality traits and gender with computer self-efficacy. Results indicate that four of the five stable personality traits, as measured by the Big-5 factors of personality, contribute to explain computer self-efficacy. Taking gender into account, results show that the traits of neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness are significantly related to computer self-efficacy for women but not for men. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

大学生计算机自我效能感和焦虑的现状及对策

本文通过调查分析,得出了目前在校大学生计算机自我效能感(CSE)、计算机焦虑(CA)水平的现状,对可能影响大学生CSE、CA水平的因素从多个维度作了分析,并针对所得结论讨论了形成原因及应对策略。     

Comparing attitudes towards computer usage by undergraduates from 1986 to 2005

The importance and use of computers has increased dramatically over the last two decades. The Attitudes Towards Computer Usage Scale (ATCUS) was developed in 1986 [Popovich, P. M., Hyde, K. R., Zakrajsek, T., & Blumer, C. (1987). The development of the attitudes toward computer usage scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 47, 261–269.] and used in a variety of settings over the years. In order to examine how computer attitudes have changed from 1986 to 2005, the ATCUS was given to 254 male and female current undergraduate students. When comparing the 1986 with 2005 results, the amount of time spent using a computer was still positively related to computer attitudes; however, the number of college computer courses was not. There is no longer a significant relationship among any of the factors with college computer courses. Males and females no longer significantly differ in their attitudes toward computers, number of college computer courses, amount of time spent using computers, or degree of self-reported computer anxiety. Implications are discussed.     

A contingency model of computer and Internet self-efficacy

Information system researchers have recently devoted considerable attention to the concept of computer self-efficacy in order to understand computer user behavior and system use. This article reports on the development and examination of a contingency model of computer and Internet self-efficacy. User attitude and computer anxiety were assumed to influence the development of computer and Internet self-efficacy. Measures of user attitude, computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, and Internet self-efficacy were used in a university environment to collect 347 responses at both the beginning and end of an introductory computer course. Results suggested that training significantly improved computer and Internet self-efficacy. Respondents with ‘favorable’ attitudes toward computers improved their self-efficacy significantly more than respondents with ‘unfavorable’ attitudes. Respondents with ‘low’ computer anxiety improved their self-efficacy significantly more than respondents with ‘high’ computer anxiety. The interaction effect between attitude and anxiety was significant for computer self-efficacy scores but not for Internet self-efficacy scores. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Computer anxiety: A cross-cultural comparative study of Dutch and Turkish university students

The purpose of this study is to determine Dutch and Turkish university students’ computer anxiety levels and to find out whether their computer anxiety levels differ according to their culture, gender and computer experience (i.e., personal computer (PC) ownership, computer usage frequency, computer usage level). A total of 106 university students (30 Dutch female, 22 Dutch male, 26 Turkish female, 28 Turkish male) participated in this research. The data were collected through computer anxiety rating scale (CARS) validated by Heinssen et al. [Heinssen, R. K., Glass, C. R., & Knight, L. A. (1987). Assessing computer anxiety: Development and validation of the computer anxiety rating scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 3, 49–59]. The data were analyzed by t-test and one-way-analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that the Turkish students have significantly higher computer anxiety levels than the Dutch students. The students’ computer anxiety levels do not differ depending on gender. However, post-hoc analysis revealed that the Turkish female students have significantly higher computer anxiety levels than the Dutch female and Dutch male students. Also, results indicated that while the students’ computer experience increase their computer anxiety levels decrease significantly.     

Customers’ perceptions and intention to adopt Internet banking: the moderation effect of computer self-efficacy

In the past, the conventional concentration of Internet banking (IB) research has been on technology development, but this is now shifting to user-focused research. It has been suggested that potential users of IB services in Malaysia may not adopt the system even if they are available, due to their perceptions of this application and their level of confidence in using it to solve their banking needs. This study therefore employs the extended technology acceptance model as the theoretical framework for assessing the influences of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived reliability, and computer self-efficacy on IB adoption in Malaysia. This study scrutinizes the moderation effect of computer self-efficacy on perceptions–intention relationships. Based on data from a sample of 133 Internet-using bank customers collected through a field survey, it was found that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were strong determinants of behavioral intention to adopt IB, while perceived reliability has no direct relationship with intention. Computer self-efficacy significantly moderates the relationship of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use with intention.