Investigating the adoption of a mobile application that provides information on afro textured hair
Dinga, Mbasa · Open University of Cape Town (University of Cape Town) · 2017
Black women of African descent face numerous challenges when it comes to the texture of their hair. These problems can range from the day-to-day management of their natural hair to the discriminatory hair policies found in schools and professional environments, to the "paralysis" they face when having to choose an appropriate hairstyle or salon to go to. This research investigates whether a mobile application, designed to empower black women by providing them with up-to-date information about their hair and related services, would be useful in addressing some of these challenges and whether they would adopt such an application. The determinants of behavioural intention to use of technology, as prescribed by the Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, were analysed to determine whether they could account for the intention to use this mobile application. A valid sample of 242 respondents was used. The results found that, although there was a high percentage of positive behavioural intention to use the mobile application, the adopted theory explained 14% of the variation of behavioural intention. Also, of the six determinants prescribed by the theory, only performance expectancy and social influence were found to be significant contributors to behavioural intention. These results show that the UTAUT2 slightly accounts for the behavioural intention. This report recommends repeating this investigation but changing the data collection method.