Male and Female Professors. A Gender Analysis regarding the Web Acceptance and Use

Abstract

The current article theoretically explains the Web acceptance and usage between male professors and female professor. Our proposals indicate that gender role partly moderates the key relationships in the model. Particularly, the theoretical review provides strong support for the proposals, highlighting the roles of ease of use and usefulness in determining the actual use of the Web between male professor and female professor. Male professors and female professor would not weight motives in the same way when on the Web. Male professors are more driven by instrumental factors and they would engage in behaviours without previously adjusting their attitudes, and would take less time to decide to try the Web. On the contrary, females’ attitude towards usage would be a more relevant mediator between motives and intention to use Web; these evaluations of motives -among female professors- would cause an increase in the salience of ‘ease of use and usefulness’ in determining attitudes towards using Web.