Abstract

Different computer competency, personality traits, gender and different types of software interface can influence a users' perception of the software usefulness, ease of use and hence performance. Understanding the relationships between a users gender, personality traits, computer competency, perceptions, and performance using different interfaces is necessary because these variables are significant for the end-user as well as for business managers in making software decisions. In this paper, a research model to explain the above relationships is proposed, based on the computer learning process and the technology acceptance model. A menu driven interface and an icon-based interface were used in the experiment. A survey methodology was used to measure computer competency and user perceptions. Analysis of the data was done for the measurement model and Structural model. The measurement model was assessed in terms of reliability measure, and factor analysis. The structural model and hypotheses were investigated by examining the regression analysis. Two-way repeated measured analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate the relationship among gender, interface and perception and performance. The results suggest that the relationships between computer competency, perceptions and performance are significant for both interfaces.