The antecedents and consequents of user perceptions in information technology adoption

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Abstract

A common theme underlying various models that explain information technology adoption is the inclusion of perceptions of an innovation as key independent variables. Although a fairly significant body of research that empirically tests these models is now in existence, some questions with regard to both the antecedents as well as the consequents of perceptions remain unanswered. This paper reports the results of a field study examining adoption of an information technology innovation represented by an expert systems application. Two research objectives that have both theoretical and practical relevance motivated and guided the study. One, the study challenges an assumption which is implicit in technology acceptance models: that of the non-existence of moderating influences on the relationship between perceptions and adoption decisions. Specifically, the study examines the effects of an important moderating influence – personal innovativeness – on this relationship. Two, the study seeks to shed further light on the determinants of perceptions by examining the relative efficacy of mass media and interpersonal communication channels in facilitating perception development. Theoretical and practical implications that follow from the results are discussed.

Introduction

Computing technology and information systems represent substantial investments for organizations; investments on which they hope to realize a return in areas such as efficiency and improved decision making. Simply acquiring the technology, however, is often not sufficient; in order to obtain the anticipated benefits, it must be used appropriately by its intended users. This problem, variously labelled information systems implementation, technology acceptance, and technology adoption, has persisted in the information systems literature spanning over two decades 26, 11, 15). In fact, one of the hypothesized reasons for the productivity paradox is that systems acquired are never used and therefore, the gains in productivity realized from investments in information technology have not been at expected levels [35].

New information technologies have often been treated as innovations for target users. Although users in recent times have had significantly more opportunities to be socialized with information technologies, the rapid pace of technology development usually means that every new technology represents a fairly major change over the previous one. For example, for a user who is comfortable with a text-oriented interface like DOS, a direct manipulation interface represents a major innovation, although it provides roughly equivalent functionality. This process of innovation adoption has been studied in a variety of contexts 27, 36and characterized as a complex behavioral and social phenomenon.

Writers who have examined the problem of new information technology acceptance have drawn extensively from theories developed in innovation adoption and in social psychology; and several models have been proposed to guide inquiry into this phenomenon 11, 22, 4. Despite the existence of several models and despite some divergences in hypothesized relationships, a common theme underlying these models is the inclusion of perceptions of an innovation as key independent variables. For instance, Rogers' [36]view of the diffusion of innovations regards perceptions as antecedents to the decision to adopt the innovation. The technology acceptance model [11], and its precursor, the theory of reasoned action 17, 2, both postulate that perceptions or beliefs about the innovation are instrumental in the development of attitudes that eventually result in system utilization behavior. Given the persistence of perceptions in the research literature, the focal concerns of this study are with the antecedents as well as the consequents of perceptions.

Although a fairly significant body of research that empirically tests these alternate models and theories is now in existence 1, 13, 28, 38, some questions with regard to the role of perceptions in innovation adoption remain unanswered. Empirical work in innovation diffusion research [29]suggests that perceptions are directly instrumental to the adoption decision and does not acknowledge the existence of moderating influences. There is, however, support for the idea that perceptions can play differential roles in adoption decisions depending on adopter characteristics [36]. Whereas the theory of reasoned action [17]and its specialization to the domain of information systems, the technology acceptance model [11]both postulate the existence of a mediating construct between perceptions and adoption decisions, that of a potential adopter's attitude, neither one of them explicitly supports the possibility of any moderating influences on this relationship.

Besides the lack of attention paid to the possibly contingent relationship between perceptions and the adoption of new information technology, there is considerably less work done in examining what leads to the development of perceptions about an innovation. In particular, the relationship between how information is obtained and the development of perceptions about the innovation has not been extensively studied. According to the theory proposed by Rogers [36], communication channels play a dominant role in the development of such perceptions. Although the role of different types of communication channels in facilitating information technology adoption has been investigated by others 42, 32, 4, these studies have typically examined the effects of alternate communication channels on the adoption decision without taking the intervening perceptions into account. Consequently, little is known about the relative efficacy of different communication channels for the development of perceptions. The pivotal role played by perceptions in technology acceptance models and theories clearly highlights the need for more work.

We report the results of a field study conducted to examine user adoption of an information systems application. The general motivation underlying the study is concern with the broad problem of the adoption of new technologies. The specific motivation is to further examine the issues discussed above with regard to the antecedents and consequents of perceptions about an information technology innovation. Two research objectives that have both theoretical and practical relevance motivated and guided the study. One, the study challenges an assumption which is implicit in technology acceptance models: that of the non-existence of moderating influences on the relationship between perceptions and adoption decisions. Specifically, we examine the effects of a key moderating influence – personal innovativeness – on this relationship. Two, the study seeks to shed further light on the relative efficacy of mass media and interpersonal communication channels in facilitating the development of perceptions.

In addition to addressing some theoretical and empirical gaps in existing work with regard to perceptions and technology acceptance, the research reported here has implications for practice also. Clearly, the overall problem of technology acceptance is a key issue for organizations who invest substantial resources in information technology. Insights into how perceptions about a new information technology may be developed as well as the effect such perceptions have on adoption decisions could assist those responsible for implementing new information technologies. If the existence of moderating effects is confirmed, it would alert managers to the possibility that some individuals may require more intervention [14]in order to make a positive adoption decision. An understanding of the relative importance of alternate communication channels in developing perceptions would help managers make better informed and more effective resource allocation decisions with regard to these channels.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the theoretical background and sets up the specific research hypotheses constructed to address the two research objectives. The study context, conduct, as well as the operationalization of research variables are described in Section 3. Data analysis, results, and discussion are presented in Section 4. The implications of these results for theory and practice are drawn in the last section.

Section snippets

Theoretical background and research hypotheses

The research model underlying this study is shown in Fig. 1. The overall model is conceptually based on Rogers' [36]work where he posits a theory of the diffusion of innovations. In this theory, innovation adoption is viewed as a process of uncertainty reduction and information gathering. Information about the existence of the innovation as well as its characteristics and features flows through the social system within which adopters are situated. Potential adopters engage in information

The study context

This study was conducted at a Fortune 500 corporation headquartered in the northeastern United States (henceforth, Beta). Beta is a manufacturing firm and is the largest in the world in its industry, with annual sales over $4 billion. Streamlining the organizational processes used to deliver a quality product with prompt service is a major strategic goal which management determined could be achieved through order cycle automation. To meet this goal, a decision was made by Beta management to

Results and discussion

Descriptive statistics for all research variables are provided in Table 3. Included are the number of items comprising each scale and Cronbach's alpha for scale reliability [8]. The reliability coefficient of one scale, personal innovativeness, is slightly less than the value of 0.70 often recommended for field studies [33]. The implications of this reliability for interpreting the results are discussed subsequently.

Sample size did not permit a simultaneous test of all hypotheses and, hence,

Implications and conclusions

This study sought to achieve two objectives: one, to investigate the presence of moderating influences on the relationship between user perceptions about an information technology innovation and adoption decisions; and two, to examine the relative efficacy of alternative communications channels in the development of perceptions.

Theoretically, our results suggest that a premise underlying some dominant technology acceptance models – the absence of moderating influences on the perceptions to

Ritu Agarwal is an Associate Professor of MIS in the Department of Information and Management Sciences at Florida State University. She received her Ph.D. in MIS and an M.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Dr. Agarwal's publications have appeared or are forthcoming in the Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions, Decision Support Systems, Information and Management,

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    Ritu Agarwal is an Associate Professor of MIS in the Department of Information and Management Sciences at Florida State University. She received her Ph.D. in MIS and an M.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Dr. Agarwal's publications have appeared or are forthcoming in the Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions, Decision Support Systems, Information and Management, Knowledge-based Systems and elsewhere. Her current research focuses on individual learning and organizational adoption and diffusion of new information technologies, as well as object-oriented technologies. She serves as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Human–Computer Studies.

    Jayesh Prasad is Associate Professor of Management Information Systems in the School of Business Administration at the University of Dayton. He earned his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems at the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He has an M.B.A. degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta as well as a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. His current research interests focus on the management of information resources in firms with emphasis on the adoption, implementation, and use of information technologies by individuals and organizations. His research results have been published or are forthcoming in journals such as MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, and Decision Sciences.

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