Impacts of Digital Natives on Technology Acceptance: A Conceptual Analysis

We seek to identify the impacts Digital Natives (DN) – as the first generation that has grown up with new digital technologies such as the Internet from their childhood – have on technology acceptance (TA) by investigating the effect of DN’ specific traits, abilities, and experiences on TA factors and variables. We conduct two literature reviews: the first about TA factors and variables and the second about DN and generational differences. We find that some TA factors and variables that prior research has pointed out as significant are likely to change in importance: DN do not question the use of technology itself and may be at least partially familiar with it but simultaneously have higher demands for the quality and usefulness of technology. Researchers can draw on our findings to validate them empirically in the future or problematize the current state of TA research. Practitioners can apply our findings to develop information systems that DN find attractive to use.