How IT Consumerization Affects the Stress Level at Work: A Public Sector Case Study

IT consumerization refers to the adoption of consumer technologies in an enterprise context and is becoming increasingly important in both research and practice. While there are often positive effects attributed with the trend, e.g. with respect to increased performance or motivation, not much attention has yet been given to the effects it has on stress of employees. In order to close this research gap, we conduct a qualitative single case study in the public sector. We derive four major stressors that are related to IT consumerization, i.e. 1) increased reachability, 2) lack of competence, 3) workflow changes, and 4) system redundancies. These stressors are discussed with respect to related theory concepts in IS. Moreover, they are used to derive recommendations for practitioners with respect to policy development and communication. Our paper contributes to the recent discussion on theoretical implications of IT consumerization effects

Innovation Through BYOD? - The Influence of IT Consumerization on Individual IT Innovation Behavior

Leveraging the IT innovation capabilities of employees is becoming increasingly feasible in the era of IT consumerization. Consumer IT tools, in form of tablets, smartphones, or social media, are entering organizations and are changing the way employees use technology for work. In this article, the authors decipher the term IT consumerization in more detail by providing a framework that illustrates the various perspectives of the phenomenon. They then apply the various perspectives in order to propose an IT consumerization framework that juxtaposes consumer IT with enterprise IT in its ability to lead to individual IT innovation behaviors. Using data from 486 European employees that work for large-sized companies, they are able to infer that consumer IT and the permission to use privately owned IT exert positive effects on employees’ innovation behaviors. An examination of the various perspectives supports the assumption of science and practice that BYOD strategies and the diffusion of consumer IT within organizations are beneficial for innovation. The results provide a first step in theorizing about the innovative power of IT consumerization

IT CONSUMERIZATION AND COMPLIANT USE: DO POLICIES MATTER?

Facing the ongoing IT consumerization trend, organizations take different strategies that permit or regulate the acquisition and use of consumer-originated IT devices at the workplace. This paper investigates the effect of two types of IT consumerization strategies (‘laissez-faire’ and ‘middle ground’) on the policy-related attitudes of employees and their level of policy-compliant device usage (voice, email, and data) at two higher education institutions. Based on hypotheses derived from two theories – i.e., procedural justice theory and transaction cost theory – and mixed methods interviews with 36 employees, our findings suggest a paradox where middle ground strategies accommodating for IT consumerization are associated with a higher understanding of, but a lower satisfaction with these policies. Differences in compliant behavior are found for voice and data usage on professional devices. Extending the procedural justice view, we conclude that transaction cost theory serves as a complementary lens to explain policy compliance

Adoption of Mobile Business Solutions and its Impact on Organizational Stakeholders

Companies which create mobile business solutions require users to adopt them in order to create value for the organization. However, when mobile devices enter the workplace, companies themselves face an adoption process, in having to integrate these devices into the existing IT infrastructure. In this research project, we conducted a focus group with subsequent expert interviews, following a grounded theory approach. We identified seven drivers of mobile business solution adoption in an organizational context: mobile user experience, social influence, time to market, security, workplace flexibility, information availability and process mobilization. While these factors facilitate adoption for some users, they create challenges for or require strategic decisions from other organizational stakeholders, such as internal users, operating departments and corporate IT. The adoption factors and implications for organizational stakeholders were compiled in a conceptual framework

Does the Ability to Choose Matter? On the Relationship between Bring-your-own Behavior and IT Satisfaction

Employees increasingly complete organizational tasks using privately owned consumer technologies such as private devices (e.g., smartphones) or private Internet accounts (e.g., email accounts). Higher satisfaction constitutes a major reason for this bring-your-own behavior (BYOB). However, little research has theoretically explored and empirically tested this assumption. This study sheds light on this phenomenon by analyzing the effect of BYOB on IT satisfaction. Drawing from social cognitive theory, we propose choice self-efficacy as a new construct that intermediates the relationship between BYOB and IT satisfaction. Building on results from survey data (n = 400), we provide new evidence that BYOB has a positive effect on IT satisfaction whereby choice self-efficacy plays a vital element as it mediates this relationship. Since IT satisfaction shapes how people use technology and how they perform with it, we derive important implications for future research on IT consumerization. Furthermore, we provide several conclusions for practitioners and discuss how to enhance IT satisfaction and choice self-efficacy

The performativity of BYOD

Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) is a trend introduced by a large IT corporation in 2009 realised as a consequence of the consumerization of Information Technology. BYOD is described as the phenomenon of using personal mobile devices connected to corporate networks to perform work. This study aims to understand consumerization of IT and BYOD in the Tertiary Education sector, particularly the context of BYOD in universities in both the United Kingdom and Malaysia. The study will commence with a pilot case study in the Computer Science Department of a UK University to explore its current systems and support for staff and students, gathering insights on the consideration of BYOD for the department. As this is a phenomenological study, Actor Network Theory (ANT) is selected as an initial lens. This seeks to create a ‘timeless snapshot’ of phenomena in time, space and social change. This paper aims to set the scene for the study in terms of the performativity of BYOD by reviewing the literatures pertaining to the history of BYOD, and the implementation of BYOD in the commercial and education sectors

DRIVERS FOR THE ADOPTION OF MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS

The diffusion of mobile devices rapidly increased in the last decade. Nowadays, smartphones are part of our daily lives, both with respect to private and professional use. This leads to several challenges for enterprises, like the trend to Bring Your Own Device or IT consumerization. IT executives are forced to ensure a high level of security, provide services for employees and support the enterprise productivity. In this context, several software solutions have been introduced to manage the mobile IT, one of which are mobile device management (MDM) systems. However, until now, there is a lack of research concerning possible factors that may influnce the adoption of MDM systems in enterprises. Based on the well-established Technology Organization Environment (TOE) Framework a model for MDM adoption in enterprises is constructed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Data was gathered by means of an online survey, in which 95 IT executives from German enterprises participated. Overall, it could be found that perceived security benefits, costs, firm-size, and the BYOD culture significantly influnce MDM adoption, while regulations, business partners, employees´ innovativeness with IT and the amount of mobile device usage have no significant influnce

Factors driving employee participation in corporate BYOD programs: A cross-national comparison from the perspective of future employees

As individuals all around the world increasingly use mobile devices in their daily life, their desire to use the same devices in the workplace continuously grows. In response, organizations are more and more allowing their employees to use their own devices for both business and private purposes and offer so called ‘Bring-your-own-Device’ (BYOD) programs. For organizations with global operations there is a need to examine the drivers of BYOD demand across different national cultures to assess how to develop a successful BYOD program. Based on recent literature on BYOD, we examine how different factors contribute to employees’ behavioural intention to participate in a BYOD program across different national cultures. The model was examined by surveying students from China, Germany and U.S. in their final term. The results show significant cross-cultural differences, particularly regarding the 'Perceived Threats'. Overall this study offers novel insights for cross cultural BYOD implementations

Feed the Machine - An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Openness in Innovation on IT Entrepreneurship

In the future, if businesses want to innovate, IT will have to play a substantial role. Furthermore, innovating with IT will most likely imply opening up the innovation channel and collaborating with various kinds of external partners, as digital platforms and eco-systems involving various actors arise. According to prior research, emphasizing external innovation collaboration bears the risk of inhibiting internal innovation. As the ability to innovate with IT becomes a key differ-ential factor in almost every industry, business managers – especially in non-IT firms – must cultivate the entrepreneurial role of their IT departments and the respective employees. There-fore, the question arises of how the focus on external innovation sources and the emphasis on internal innovativeness of IT professionals relate to each other. Prior research has generated conflicting results on this issue. With our large-scale (n = 354) empirical analysis, we provide evidence that firm openness fosters the entrepreneurial behavior of IT professionals. Further-more, this impact is mediated by the absorptive capacity of the IT unit. Consequently, as our model shows, valuable external knowledge can be integrated for internal innovation purposes, thus driving both IT professionals’ willingness to act entrepreneurially as well as their perceived ability to do so