City Research Online

Abstract

Family is an important socialization environment for adopting information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, while existing information systems research focuses on individual factors that influence digital inequity, it tends to ignore the influence of relational/collective factors on individuals’ ICT adoption. Drawing on technology adoption, socialization, and social identity theories, this study focuses on the process of technology socialization of ICT adoption for middle-aged parents with the influence of their adult children in Chinese families. Through in-depth interviews with thematic analysis, we identify three mechanisms in the family, including creating a family shared environment, negotiating a family ICT identity and interplay, and generating digital differentiation. These findings contribute to a technology socialization framework, addressing how individuals can become digitally savvy with the influence of the socialization agents in the family. The findings have implications for ICT firms and policy makers to promote the family shared environment as a vehicle for achieving social wellbeing and digital upskilling of middle-aged adults.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	IS/ICT adoption, Technology socialization, Family shared environment, Family ICT identity, Digital differentiation, Digital divide
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) T Technology > T Technology (General)
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity School of Communication & Creativity > Department of Media, Culture & Creative Industries
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads