Information Technology Adaption by senior citizens: Why seniors use IT

Along with the progress of digitalization, it becomes essential for everyone to use digital means at every corner in society. At the same time, the potential disadvantages of not being able to use digital services have increased. This paper, by focusing on the elderly as one of the central concerns in the digital divide discussion, studies the elderly’s technology acceptance through a comparative study of two countries. Denmark and Japan are chosen as subjects of the study, which have similarly advanced IT infrastructure but significant difference in IT utilization among the elderly. The comparative analysis shows that reasons why the elderly do not use IT are very different, but three key aspects are identified as essential drivers of IT use. That is: advanced usability, informal supporters, and external mandate. Our work identifies findings within the current digital divide discussion and provides implications for the future inclusion strategies of the elderly.