The Impact of Content Type and Availability on eBook Reader Adoption

Abstract

eBooks and eBook readers represent a major technology discontinuity for those involved in the creation, publication, distribution, and consumption of written material ranging from books to magazines. Emerging from this disruption is an important new market, ultimately driven by the individual adoption of mobile eBook readers. This paper views mobile eBook readers as content delivery platforms and argues that both content type and availability, concepts underrepresented in the adoption literature, are important in the cognitive processes that regulate adoption behavior. To that end, a conceptual model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), motivation theory, and constructs representing utilitarian and hedonic content availability is developed. The model is empirically tested using a survey of university students and analyzed using Partial Least Squares. The study finds that content is an important factor in eBook reader adoption and that traditional books are still preferred over eBooks by a three to one margin.