Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Industrial Technology Education

First Advisor

Childress, Vincent Dr.

Abstract

Advancements in technology have led to changes in various aspects of living. Methods by which business is conducted and job re-structuring have been impacted globally. With concerns of raising productivity, the integration of technology, which has undergone growing popularity in education, government and industry, is positioned at the forefront of strategic planning. According to assertions by Iansiti (1998) and Handel (2003), some leaders who have supported technology integration have gained substantial growth in productivity and business. However, findings of prior research have revealed that companies have been slow to use technology. The process of supporting further integration starts with assessing perceptions about the acceptance of technology from an individual perspective, specifically, the perspective of workforce employees. Where Fred Davis (1986), researcher on attitude assessment of technology acceptance, developed the technology acceptance model (TAM), other researchers have developed adaptations to TAM with the objective of determining factors that drive productivity and system usage. In order to assess perceptions about technology integration within the workforce and reveal if differences in attitudes exist between different employee levels, two surveys were designed and utilized to reveal perceptions between two survey groups, non-managers and managers. Based upon findings generated from the rated responses to item statements, which were designed to ascertain eleven possible correlations between eight independent variables, several were found to have low to moderate significant relationships. Additionally, findings of a t-test also revealed that the differences in attitudes regarding the acceptance of technology between managers and non-mangers were not significant.

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