Older Women’s Motivation to Use Technology: A Psychological Capability Perspective

Abstract

A rapidly aging population, combined with technological advancement, is creating strong latent motivators for older women to learn and use technology. While many past studies have provided insights into older women’s perceptions and impacts of their technology adoption, the psychological capabilities underpinning their motivation to learn are often overlooked. This study draws on interview data from 16 older women in a less developed country to explore the psychological capabilities of older women that drive them to learn and use technology. Our analysis reveals five themes (i.e. sense of purpose, self-efficacy, continuous learning, self-care, and social support seeking) that reflect the psychological capabilities of older women in relation to their technology learning and adoption. As our findings provide new evidence of the importance of fusing the elements of psychological capabilities with content delivery in education and training for older women in less developed countries, this study has practical and theoretical implications for gerontechnology.