Review by: Brahm, Taiga (2008-04-16)

The article (in press) addresses the question how the communication behavior in computer mediated environments (CMEs) can be explained through a number of variables. In particu-lar, they look at the effects of the level of interactivity of an environment on the users' attitu-des and intentions towards using online communication tools. In addition, they included the variables perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness which have recently been identified as important determinants of users' acceptance and use of information technology. These are conceptualized as extrinsic motivators. In order to include intrinsic motivational factors as well, the researchers draw on the concept of flow experience. The main research questions of the study built on these variables. The goals of the study, thus, were to investigate the in-fluence of interactivity characteriscitx on users' external attitudes and internal motivation towards the acceptance of IT as well as the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on user's attitudes and intentions. Based on a literature review, the variables are connected to the Technology Acceptance Mo-del (TAM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Flow theory. The TAM suggests that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are the major determinats of the use of IT. Perceived usefulness is defined "as the degree to which a person believes that using a parti-cular information system would enhance their job performance" (p 4). The concept of percei-fed ease of use captures whether the use of IT is free of effort. The TRA, which can be seen as the foundation of the TAM, states that an individual's attitude towards carrying out a certain behavior influences the corresponding actual behavior. Flow theory was used to connect the state of flow (i. e. "the state that people experience when they act with total involvement" (p 4) with the attitude and motivation towards using IT. Based on these theories, a number of hypothesis were formulated:

• Greater interactivity corresponds to greater perceived ease of use.
• Greater interactivity corresponds to greater perceived usefulness.
• Greater perceived ease of use corresponds to greater perceived usefulness.
• Greater perceived ease of use corresponds to a more positive attitude toward ITuse.
• Greater perceived usefulness corresponds to a more positive attitude toward onlinecommunication tool use.
• Greater perceived usefulness corresponds to greater behavioral intention to useonline communication tools.
• A more positive attitude corresponds to a greater behavioral intention to use onlinecommunication tools.
• Greater interactivity corresponds to greater flow experience.
• Greater perceived ease of use corresponds to greater flow experience.
• Increased flow experience corresponds to greater perceived usefulness.
• Greater flow experience corresponds to a more positive attitude toward onlinecommunication tool use.
• Greater flow experience corresponds to a greater behavioral intention to useonline communication tools.

The researchers used a quantitative approach to investigate the hypotheses. They designed a questionnaire, partly based on existing items. This measure was tested in a pre-study with 47 users which provided good results with the except of the interactivity scale which was revi-sed for the final study. The data for the study was gathered through an online questionnaire, randomly addressing users on the internet. In total, 426 responses were included in the ana-lysis which was done using structural equation modeling. The measurement model provided good results with regard to the reliability and to the discriminant and convergent validity of the instruments. The structural equation model that showed the best fit with the data sup-ported all hypotheses stated above. Thus, this study offers an empirical support for the in-fluence of interactivity, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness as all as flow experience on the attitude towards use as well as on the behavioral intention. However, the study did not show the connection with actual behavior. Other weaknesses of the study, already mentioned in the paper, include the use of self-reporting measures which might be a source of common method bias, the limited population which does not allow the generalization of the results, and the cross-sectional nature of the data. Since more and more people communicate through CMEs, for instance in online learning or when shopping online, this research can be called highly relevant. Based on a thorough lite-rature review, it provides hypotheses with regard to online communication which were tested and confirmed using structural equation modeling. In sum, the research contributes both to the empirical and theoretical advancement of the research in online behavior.