What is Expectancy-Value Behavior

During the last few decades, various theoretical developments have been carried out with a view to describing the characteristic and distinct behavioral process that lies under any adoption of technological services and products. These developments are based mainly on the Social Psychology approach. There are three extensive theories within the field of Social Psychology whose ultimate purpose has been to define the internal psychological factors that explain human behavior: the expectancy-value theory, the cognitive dissonance theory, and the self-perception theory. While the expectancy-value theory has been widely used in the research of adoption and usage of information systems, the other two theories have been less recognized. Of all expectancy-value theory models, we should draw our attention to the reasoned action model (Azjen & Fishbein, 1980), because it underlies many of the studies on usage of technology. The planned behavior model (Azjen, 1985, 1991) represents a reformulation of the reasoned action model, justified by the existence of conducts that, albeit in part, a person cannot voluntarily keep under control. A rough description of both models is presented in this chapter, inasmuch as they served as a basis for the construction of the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989; Davis, Bagozzi & Warshaw, 1989), known as one of the main models for the technology readiness concept. The technology acceptance model seems to possess a similar or even better explicating power than its predecessors (Davis et al., 1989; Mathieson, 1991; Taylor & Todd, 1995a; Chau & Hu, 2002).