The effect of training on auditors' acceptance of an electronic work system

Abstract

This article investigates the effect of training on user acceptance of an electronic audit–workpaper system. Electronic work systems are implemented by organizations to reduce storage costs, facilitate communication, and improve efficiency and effectiveness. However, these goals may not be achieved because users who resist the system may try to duplicate tasks using paper methods, bypass the system, etc. Because training is an intervention under the control of management, study of factors that affect the success of training in improving knowledge workers' acceptance of new work systems is clearly important. The purpose of this article is to study the role of users' perceptions of their task and computer self-efficacy on their perceptions of system quality and their intention to use the system as intended by developers and to investigate whether training-related shifts in self-perceptions are associated with improvement in system acceptance.

We investigate these issues using data on 289 senior/staff auditors (workpaper preparers) and 142 manager/partner auditors (workpaper reviewers) who undertook intensive system-specific firm-sponsored training. We find that training is associated with shifts in preparers' perceptions of their task and computer self-efficacy, but that reviewers' self-perceptions did not change on average. For both groups, increases in computer self-efficacy are positively associated with shifts in system ease of use perceptions, and increases in preparers' task self-efficacy are also positively associated with shifts in their ease of use perceptions. These results imply that an important mechanism through which training improves system acceptance is through its effect on users' views of both their task and computer self-efficacy.

Introduction

This article studies the effect of training on professional users' acceptance of a highly complex work system. Particularly, we examine the role of users' perceptions of computer and task self-efficacy in the improvement of system acceptance associated with training. The general topic of training in complex work systems is important due to the considerable resources invested by businesses in developing and maintaining these systems. Training can be more effectively designed and targeted to particular user groups if the mechanisms of user acceptance are better understood (e.g., Venkatesh and Davis, 1996). However, research documenting training-associated improvement in system acceptance is relatively rare, and studies that do examine training often use simple technologies and/or student subjects. Therefore, extending findings from such settings into the domain of knowledge workers performing their professional roles is an important extension of existing literature.

Our particular focus on the role of user self-perceptions is also important because to improve training, it is vital to understand factors that affect users' positive or negative views of the systems on which they are being trained. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (e.g., Davis, 1989) is a well-recognized theoretical basis for studying user acceptance. TAM proposes that users' perceptions of system ease of use and usefulness influence the likelihood that users will quickly and efficiently adopt new technologies.¹ Recently, researchers have explored personal and situational factors that influence user perceptions. One such factor is the user's perception of his/her computer self-efficacy, i.e., proficiency at using technology Igbaria and Iivari, 1995, Compeau and Higgins, 1995, Venkatesh and Davis, 1996, Venkatesh, 2000. While user perceptions of computer self-efficacy have been shown to be important in their system perceptions, knowledge workers need both computer and task proficiency to apply a workplace system efficiently and effectively in performing their jobs. Thus, their perceptions of self-efficacy related to both the computer technology and the underlying task are likely to affect their perceptions about the system and their intentions to use it as intended by the system developers. We first examine the role of computer and task self-efficacy perceptions using TAM, and then test the extent to which shifts in these perceptions associated with training are related to shifts in perceptions about the ease of use and usefulness of the system. Exploring the impact of training on perceptions will aid organizations in designing training interventions targeted toward improving users' computer and task self-efficacy, and ultimately toward increasing user acceptance of new systems.

We study these issues in the context of an electronic audit workpaper system, newly implemented by an international audit firm in its U.S. practice.² Prior studies of technology acceptance have called for more research on technologies implemented in professional contexts, particularly those used by knowledge workers (e.g., Hu et al., 1999). In these systems, employees' job tasks are often so tightly integrated with the tasks of other employees that they have to use the system in some form to complete their tasks. Therefore, employees no longer have a choice regarding use of the system—use is mandated. Because most research on users' intentions to adopt new information technologies was conducted in environments in which usage is voluntary Davis, 1989, Davis, 1993, Hartwick and Barki, 1994, Jackson et al., 1997, Venkatesh and Davis, 2000, the question arises as to whether findings of those studies are generalizable to mandatory systems. Specifically, Brown et al. (2002) note that while results from prior studies provide consistent support for relationships among perceptions, attitudes, behavioral intention, and usage, it is unclear whether these relationships will hold when behavior is mandatory. Because the more important business systems are in fact mandatory, it is important to extend study of user behavior into these environments.

The implementation of the electronic audit workpaper system that we study is an example of a “paperless office,” i.e., a comprehensive electronic work system whose goal is to supplant paper as the medium of knowledge documentation and exchange. Organizations are increasingly implementing such systems in order to reduce storage costs, facilitate communication, and improve efficiency (e.g., Sellen and Harper, 2002). While these electronic work systems are usually mandatory, they can be met with resistance. People accustomed to using paper work systems often try to adapt a mandatory electronic system to their preferred ways of working, attempt to work around the electronic system, leave the organization, sabotage the system, and/or lobby to dismantle it Markus, 1983, Leonard-Barton, 1988, Hartwick and Barki, 1994, Chau, 1996a, Anderson, 1997, Chin et al., 1997, Griffith, 1999, Sellen and Harper, 2002. User resistance to mandatory systems imposed by employers has clear short-term efficiency and effectiveness consequences to organizations and potentially has long-term consequences as well. Thus, it is important to provide theory-based investigations of user behavior in mandatory system contexts.

To conduct the study, we measured system perceptions and intentions, and self-efficacy perceptions, before and after intensive, hands-on training sessions performed by system developers. Because auditors perform two basic roles within the system (a workpaper construction function performed by seniors and staff and a workpaper review function performed by managers and partners), we prepared research instruments specific to each role.³ This study has several findings. First, prior to training, workpaper preparers had relatively higher computer self-efficacy, but relatively lower task self-efficacy than workpaper reviewers. Second, we find that both self-efficacy perceptions positively affect ease of use perceptions for both groups prior to training, but this effect does not extend to perceived system usefulness. Third, we show that as a group, preparers' self-efficacy perceptions (both computer and task) shifted during training, but those of reviewers did not. Fourth, we find that shifts in computer self-efficacy during training are positively associated with shifts in perceived ease of use for both groups. For task self-efficacy, this association is found only for preparers. Taken together, our results imply that in a setting in which training is successful at shifting system perceptions, one mechanism through which that effect occurs is by affecting an individual's belief that she/he possesses the proficiencies necessary to perform the task well. This finding is stronger for less experienced workers using the system to perform a file construction task, than for more experienced workers performing a file review task. Presumably, the self-perceptions of more senior individuals are less subject to change through external intervention. The implications of our findings and their relationship to prior research are discussed further in the concluding section of the article.