Exploring Differential Drivers of ICT Service Adoption Among Baby Boomers : Public e-Government and Generative AI in a Value-based Adoption Model Framework

This study explores the adoption of ICT services among Baby Boomers by comparing Government24,a public e-government service, and Generative AI, a private-sector innovation. Guided by theValue-Based Adoption Model (VAM), the framework considers perceived benefits (perceived usefulness,perceived ease of use, social support) and perceived sacrifices (perceived anxiety, perceived physiologicalaging) as predictors of use intention. The findings reveal distinct adoption mechanisms across the twoservice contexts. Perceived usefulness significantly influenced use intention in both services, but its effectwas stronger for Generative AI than for Government24, suggesting that discretionary services benefitmore from being perceived as functionally valuable. Perceived ease of use was not a significant factorin Government24, but it played a meaningful role in Generative AI adoption, although the differencebetween the two contexts was not statistically decisive. Social support was an important driver in bothcontexts, with a stronger impact on Government24, indicating that public services rely more heavily onfamily or peer encouragement for adoption. Regarding sacrifice factors, perceived anxiety did not affectadoption in Government 24 but significantly reduced adoption in Generative AI, highlighting the greatersensitivity of discretionary services to psychological barriers such as trust and safety concerns. Perceivedphysiological aging negatively affected use intention in both contexts, with a stronger impact onGovernment24, demonstrating that age-related declines create higher barriers in public e-governmentservices than in conversational AI platforms. Taken together, these results show that while perceivedusefulness and social support are consistent facilitators across both services, the influence of perceivedease of use, perceived anxiety, and perceived physiological aging varies by service type. The comparativeperspective underscores the need to design ICT services that account for Baby Boomers’ context-specificmotivations and constraints, offering insights for tailoring both public and private digital solutions tosenior users