Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Internet usage

Abstract

This study focuses on both intrinsic (i.e. perceived enjoyment) and extrinsic (i.e. perceived usefulness) motivation for the use of the Internet. An electronic Webpage survey was used to collect the data required for this study. A total of 1370 usable responses were obtained. Results indicated that local Internet users used the Internet mainly because they perceived the Internet to be more useful to their job tasks and secondarily, because it is enjoyable and easy to use. Findings demonstrated that while perceived usefulness had consistently strong effects on all usage dimensions (frequency of Internet usage, daily Internet usage and diversity of Internet usage), perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment affected each specific usage dimension differently.