Abstract
The internet is often considered a channel in isolation from other channels and also isolated from the context of firms that use the internet (Afuah, 2003; Sultan & Rohm, 2004). Most of the literature on how internet technology is used is based on theories of technology acceptance (Davis, 1989) or innovation adoption (Rogers 1995). These theories focus on the properties of the technology, and how these properties become accepted and used by those who are intended to use the technology. The innovation adoption model identifies the relative advantage of the technology, its complexity, compatibility, and trialability. The technology acceptance model (TAM), for instance focuses how behavioural use result from perceived usefulness and ease of use. The usefulness and ease of use, as perceived by the user depends on background factors, such as past experience, education, etc. Numerous empirical studies have verified that these models work in both (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). However, recent developments have identified a gap in the previous studies, since they do not explicitly tie together perception and usage behaviour (Shih & Venkatesh, 2004).