Evaluation of preceding variables affecting behavioral use and acceptance of chord-enabled keyboard among students

For years, chord-enabled keyboards’ usage has stayed behind its famous counterpart, the standard QWERTY design. Recent trends in this type of keyboard prompted its usage among social media platforms focusing on productivity and efficiency. However, few studies have evaluated its acceptance and consumer usage behavior – especially in the current generation. To fill this gap, this study aimed to examine the factors that affect the acceptance and adoption of chord-enabled keyboards through Random Forest Classifier and Neural Network ensemble. Nine thousand nine hundred (9,900) data points were considered through the convenience sampling method utilizing online platforms. The results displayed that all the examined latent variables were deemed significant: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Hedonic Motivation, Facilitating Conditions, Price Value, Habit, Intention to Use, Usage Behavior, and Perceived Usability. Among all these, usage behavior was identified as the most influential variable affecting the acceptance of chord-enabled keyboards. Users are more likely to utilize chord-enabled keyboards due to their perception of increasing productivity in accomplishing their tasks quickly, efficiently, and comfortably in the face of multiple typing tasks. Moreover, the variables of Effort Expectancy and Facilitating Conditions were also considered significant but less influential among all latent variables – due to difficulty on adoption. The results shed light on the factors influencing chord-enabled keyboard acceptance. With this, keyboard manufacturers can utilize the results to improve the acceptance and adoption of chord-enabled keyboards to improve individuals' typing efficiency and productivity, which can be extended for promotion in different countries.