Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and sports bracelets usage in physical education for freshmen: the role of gender and self-efficacy

ABSTRACT Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and supplemented by social cognitive theory and gender schema theory, this study investigated the interactive mechanism of TAM by incorporating self-efficacy and gender as two factors in students’ usage of sports bracelets. Data were collected from 682 Chinese college freshmen. Results indicated that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU) and attitude towards technology (ATT) significantly influenced students’ intention to use sports bracelets. Self-efficacy (SE) not only was positively associated with PU and PEU, but, more importantly, self-efficacy moderated the relationship between PEU and behavioural intention (BI), and also between ATT and BI marginally. The effects of SE towards BI were found to be more apparent for low PEU and ATT students. In the case of sports bracelets, gender was found to moderate the relationships between PU and BI, and BI increased with PU for males but remained unchanged for females. Implications were discussed.