RT Journal Article
T1 Technology Adoption in Liquid Modernity: Toward a Relational Model of Appropriation in Later Life (REL(OA)TAM)
A1 Alonso González, David
A1 Arias Astray, Andrés
A1 Brea Iglesias, Juan
A1 Muñoz Hernández, Susana
AB In conditions of liquid modernity, marked by accelerated technological change, the virtualization of essential services, and the erosion of stable institutional support, digital participation in later life is less a matter of initial access than of continuously renegotiating engagement within unstable socio-technical environments. While established technology adoption models such as TAM, UTAUT, and STAM have provided robust explanations of cognitive and age-related determinants of adoption, they remain limited in accounting for the relational processes through which technological engagement is learned, stabilized, and sustained over time. This article advances a relational perspective on technology appropriation by foregrounding the role of warm experts—trusted informal supporters who mediate learning, interpretation, and adaptation in everyday contexts. Moving beyond dyadic understandings of assistance, the paper conceptualizes mediation as a distributed ecology of roles embedded within relational networks that both enable and constrain digital inclusion. Building on this perspective, the study proposes the Relational Technology Appropriation Model (RELTAM) as a general multi-level architecture integrating individual determinants, relational mediation processes, and network-level support configurations within a dynamic framework of appropriation. The Relational (Older Adult) Technology Appropriation Model (REL(OA)TAM) is introduced as a context-specific instantiation of this broader framework, calibrated to the distinctive conditions of later life. By incorporating temporal instability and mediation ecologies as structural components, REL(OA)TAM offers a socially grounded account of digital inclusion as an ongoing process of adaptive negotiation within the fluid and uncertain conditions of liquid modernity.
PB MDPI
YR 2026
FD 2026-03-24
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134731
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134731
LA eng
NO Alonso González, D., Arias Astray, A., Brea-Iglesias, J., & Muñoz Hernández, S. (2026). Technology Adoption in Liquid Modernity: Toward a Relational Model of Appropriation in Later Life (REL(OA)TAM). Societies, 16(4), 103. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc16040103
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
DS Docta Complutense
RD 19 jun 2026