The use and acceptance of information and communication technologies by senior citizens: A technology acceptance model (tam) for Turkish population

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Enformatik Enstitüsü, Bilişsel Bilimler Anabilim Dalı, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2017

Öğrenci: HACER GÜNER

Danışman: CENGİZ ACARTÜRK

Özet:

To become an information society, it is required that the citizens have access Information and Communication technologies (ICT) in appropriate ways. ICT plays a major role to improve inclusion of various parts of the society into daily life, such as elderly citizens. As in neighbor countries in the EU and in the Middle East, the population of Turkey is getting older, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat, 2016). This urges the need for a systematic investigation of ICT needs of elderly citizens and potential problems that may be faced during the course of interaction with ICT interfaces. Given that the research on ICT use of elderly citizens in Turkey is not at a mature state recently, the present study aims at closing the gap by focusing on the use and acceptance of ICT by elderly citizens in comparison to younger adults. It reports data collected from 232 elderly participants (the age range from 60 to 96 years old) and 235 younger adults (the age range from 19 to 40 years old). The findings of the study show that, both elderly and younger adults confirm the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in a similar way. This was accompanied by elderly citizens’ need for assistance, encouragement and friendlier interface designs. We believe that the findings obtained in the present study will contribute to increasing awareness about the needs and expectations of elderly citizens and inspire further research on ICT use of elderly population in Turkey.