Anxiety and Involvement: Cultural Dimensions of Attitudes Towards Computers in Developing Societies

Information systems (IS) are implemented within a social context consisting of economic, political, cultural and behavioural factors which differ greatly between societies and countries. Failure to take account of such differences can inhibit adoption of information technology (IT) and increase the risks of failure for system implementations. Developing societies are particularly vulnerable to such risk as their social contexts exhibit considerable differences, not only from the developed nations but also among themselves. This study examined the computer anxiety and involvement with personal computers (PCs) of six groups of computer-using students from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Tanzania and Thailand. Differences in comuter anxiety were found to exist between some of the groups, which was probably attributable to demographic factors. Differences were found to exist between the PC involvement of some of the groups which could be attributed to cultural factors. Implications for research and practice are drawn.