The perceived effort expectancy on assistive technology: A comparative analysis among the pre-ageing and ageing population

Age stereotyping leads to the digital divide, which assistive technology aims to overcome. There is a need to address such stereotyping in terms of the capabilities and effort expectancy of assistive technology, based on cognitive, physical, and social capabilities. This research examines the variation in response for the constructs of cognitive, physical capabilities, and social presence, as well as effort expectancy. An effective model was also developed using the ANN for future work. This study focused on the effort expectancy of assistive technology and the factors of cognitive, physical, and social changes caused by aging. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire derived and adopted from previous studies from pre-aging (45 to 60 years of age) and aging (60–75 years of age) users. It was found that there was no significant difference in the responses among the pre-aging and aging respondents when it comes to cognitive and physical aspects, as many perceive themselves to be younger than their actual chronological age. However, social factors were responded to differently among the two groups due to different social needs and self-determination of the aging respondents. The findings offer a new affective model that can be explored in the near future, which can provide practical implications for technology developers, designers, and policymakers aiming to improve the accessibility and usability of technology for aging individuals.