Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in Ethiopian Agriculture Education and Research

Abstract

Kitaw Berhanu, Dinaw Mehretu and Afewerk Ephraim

Many studies proposed models of ICT acceptance and use in order to better predict and explain users’ behavior to account for the changing technologies. Hence, a question is whether models of technology use and acceptance that have been developed and used in the developed world can be applied to explain Internet acceptance and use by Agriculture staff of two Universities in Ethiopia. To this end, this study applied the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A survey was administered to 293 agricultural faculties in Haramaya and Jimma University. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The result of the model indicated that the model variables explained over 59% of the variance in education and 29% variance in research. As a result, the study underlined the importance of designing intervention in the study area to support academic and research works of the staff.