Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Sources Of Individual Differences In Adults’ Ict Skills: A Large-Scale Empirical Test Of A New Guiding Framework, Alexandra Wicht, Stephen Reder, Clemens M. Lechner

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We develop an integrative conceptual framework that seeks to explain individual differences in the ability to use information and communication technologies (ICT skills). Building on practice engagement theory, this framework views the continued usage of digital technologies at work and in everyday life (ICT use) as the key prerequisite for the acquisition of ICT skills. At the same time, the framework highlights that ICT use is itself contingent upon individual and contextual preconditions. We apply this framework to data from two recent German large-scale studies (N = 2,495 and N = 2,786, respectively) that offer objective measures of adults’ ICT …