| Sumario: | ISSUE In the 21st century, technologies are omnipresent in everyday life. This applies in particular to modern information and communication technologies (ICT), which have been increasingly adopted by older adults in recent years (Konig et al., 2018). Although in 2018 at least 15 million older people in Germany stated that they at least rarely used modern ICT (Frees & Koch, 2018), but less theory formation and empirical research exists for older adults on this topic. CONTENT A prominent concept is the technology acceptance model (TAM), introduced by Davis in 1989 (Davis, 1989) and further developed as TAM2 and TAM3. Conceptually, the model was developed for employees, but it is also frequently used for research on technology acceptance among older adults (Chen & Chan, 2011) However, aging processes, questions of socialisation with technology or links to other theories of ageing have so far only been inadequately addressed in this field. The symposium is intended to address these issues and to engage in critical discussions on a theoretical and empirical level. STRUCTURE L. Scheling will conduct a systematic review of the current state of research on TAM in the context of ICT use in old age. The results show weaknesses with regard to sampling, diversity of methodology and theoretical anchoring in existing theories of lifespan and develop-mental psychology. In the second talk, M. R. Jokisch will examine the relationship between TAM and self-efficacy using a large-scale survey of older adults. The following presentation by F. Wolf is dedicated to the methodological weaknesses and examines the TAM in an ambulatory assessment. Here the question shall be answered which predictions are possible using the TAM for daily smartphone use. In the fourth contribution, given by A. Schlomann, the TAM will be discussed in the context of gerontological theories. Theoretical references to person-environment interaction models and the metatheory of ontogenesis by Baltes will be elaborated. This talk will prepare the discussion led by T. Kolling. CONCLUSION The symposium will help to understand what we can learn from the TAM about older adults in the context of ICT adoption and where the model reaches its limits. Possible adaptations of the TAM based on gerontological expertise are outlined and discussed.
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