User acceptance of information technology innovations in the Chinese cultural context

Summary The paper explores user acceptance of information technology innovations in the Chinese cultural context. Although user acceptance has been extensively studied and has long been recognized as being affected by culture, there is a paucity of research on the topic in cultural settings other than North America. This paper enriches the literature by developing a model based on 12 prominent theories of technology acceptance and innovation diffusion in the Chinese cultural context. Perceived usefulness, ease of use, compatibility, result demonstrability, and facilitating saliently determine the behavioral intention of Chinese users to use information technology innovations. In addition, such relationships are mediated by attitudes toward behavior. The paper further contributes by providing a theoretical explanation through a lens of cultural clusters and dimensions theory. The findings are discussed with respect to cultural differences in power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long‐term orientation between the United States (U.S.) and China, which would influence users’ acceptance of information technology innovations.