Abstract

SANCHEZ-OBANDO, Jhon Wilder  and  GARCIA-DUQUE, Carlos Emilio. On the falsifiability of the Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). discus.filos [online]. 2025, vol.26, n.46, pp.15-28.  Epub Feb 23, 2026. ISSN 0124-6127.  https://doi.org/10.17151/difil.2025.26.46.2.

Falsifiability determines whether an empirical theory is scientific or not, hence any theory that aims at complying this feature must satisfy such condition. Despite its relevance in other areas of science the use of the concepts pertaining to falsifiability to evaluate the empirical nature of hypotheses in the field of new technologies of information and communication or, in particular, in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (hereafter, UTAUT) is infrequent. This paper analyzes three hypotheses advanced by the UTAUT to explain factors that favor the use of technology in several fields in order to determine whether those hypotheses satisfy the condition of falsifiability and whether they perform well according to several empirical tests. To do this, we took into account 6 research papers on the UTAUT published between 2003 and 2023, then we analyzed falsifying instances which allowed us to evaluate, by using Popper’s theory of science, the main hypotheses selected. The results show that the central hypotheses of UTAUT were falsified as made clear by the six research works analyzed which counterexamples refute the following claims: Performance Expectative (PE), Behavioral Intention (BI) and Social Influence (SI). Our results are consistent with Popper’s views about the falsifiability of any kind of empirical theory and support the conclusion that the UTAUT is a scientific theory.

Keywords : Popper; falsifiability; falsification; empirical nature of a theory; UTAUT.

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