Social network services are emerging as a promising IT-based business, with some services
already being provided commercially such as Facebook, Cyworld and Xiaonei. However, it is
not yet clear which potential audience groups will be key social network service participants.
Moreover, the process showing how an individual actually decides to start using a social network
service may be somewhat different from current web-based community services. Hence, the aims
of this paper are twofold. First, we empirically examine how individual characteristics affect
actual user acceptance of social network services. To examine these individual characteristics,
we apply a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to construct an amended model that focuses
on three individual differences: social identity, altruism and telepresence, and one perceived
construct: the perceived encouragement, imported from psychology-based research. Next, we
examine if the users perception to see a target social network service as human relationship-
oriented service or as a task-oriented service could be a moderator between perceived constructs
and actual use. As a result, we discover that the perceived encouragement and perceived
orientation are significant constructs that affect actual use of social network services. (a) Identify
the research background and main research question addressed by the authors. (b) What is the
novelty indicated by the authors? (c) What are the main results? (d) What type of research
methodology would the authors have used in conducting the research? Justify your response. (e)
Based on your answer above describe the design you would use; provide sufficient details about
data collection, model or hypotheses, statistical data analysis and justification of the conclusion
indicated in the abstract. Also comment on the internal and external validity of the research..
Social network services are emerging as a promising IT-based busines.pdf
1. Social network services are emerging as a promising IT-based business, with some services
already being provided commercially such as Facebook, Cyworld and Xiaonei. However, it is
not yet clear which potential audience groups will be key social network service participants.
Moreover, the process showing how an individual actually decides to start using a social network
service may be somewhat different from current web-based community services. Hence, the aims
of this paper are twofold. First, we empirically examine how individual characteristics affect
actual user acceptance of social network services. To examine these individual characteristics,
we apply a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to construct an amended model that focuses
on three individual differences: social identity, altruism and telepresence, and one perceived
construct: the perceived encouragement, imported from psychology-based research. Next, we
examine if the users perception to see a target social network service as human relationship-
oriented service or as a task-oriented service could be a moderator between perceived constructs
and actual use. As a result, we discover that the perceived encouragement and perceived
orientation are significant constructs that affect actual use of social network services. (a) Identify
the research background and main research question addressed by the authors. (b) What is the
novelty indicated by the authors? (c) What are the main results? (d) What type of research
methodology would the authors have used in conducting the research? Justify your response. (e)
Based on your answer above describe the design you would use; provide sufficient details about
data collection, model or hypotheses, statistical data analysis and justification of the conclusion
indicated in the abstract. Also comment on the internal and external validity of the research.
