User IT Adaptation Behaviors: What Have We Learned and Why Does it Matter?

We provide a review of the IT adaptation behaviors within IS research, addressing questions such as: what have we learned about this multifaceted phenomenon? who are contributors to the debate? and why does this topic matter? The article is intended to be insightful to faculty and students considering research on this emerging, intriguing yet complex topic of IT-related user adaptive behaviors. It is equally useful to instructors preparing lectures, managers and practitioners seeking to understand and assess the ‘state-of-the-play’ as well as those who want to think about strategic management and investments in human capital. In this article we focus on IT-related user adaptation behaviors, reviewing past studies and proposing integrating views. It is both informative and provocative. Challenges to the value of IT adaptation behaviors research, divergent views, and new perspectives on adaptive responses are presented. This article will spark helpful conversation on this topic

Determinantes del desempeño adaptativo en el contexto de sistemas de información

Hoy en día las organizaciones están caracterizadas por el cambio y expuestas a contextos dinámicos lo cual pone de manifiesto cada vez más la necesidad de empleados adaptativos. En este sentido, la conceptualización del desempeño ha sido extendida. El desempeño tradicionalmente ha sido definido como la suficiencia con la que se ejecutan las tareas centrales del empleado. Ahora comprende aquella dimensión que se relaciona con la capacidad del individuo a adaptarse a cambios en el ambiente de trabajo. Más aún, el creciente trabajo mediado por computadores motiva una comprensión acerca de los factores que explican la adaptación en el contexto de sistemas de información. El desempeño adaptativo se entiende como el comportamiento del individuo conducente a modificar la tecnología o incrementar el dominio del sistema por parte de la persona. Esta temática está en pleno desarrollo, sin embargo, son todavía escasos los modelos explicativos en la literatura. Fundamentado en la teoría de la migración, el cambio de proveedor de servicios del marketing y el cambio de tecnología, el artículo propone un modelo de desempeño adaptativo donde se identifican tres constructos de segundo orden: empuje, atracción y enganche. Factor de empuje comprende aquellos aspectos negativos que resultan del actual dominio del sistema de información (insatisfacción, disconformidad); el factor de atracción comprende los aspectos positivos de mejorar mi actual dominio (ventaja relativa) y el factor de enganche comprende los factores barrera (y en extenso facilitadores) del comportamiento adaptativo (actitud, norma subjetiva, autoeficacia e inercia y costos de cambio). Se presentan, además, los lineamientos del método para su evaluación empírica

Influencing the Relationship between Job Clarity and Turnover Intention through User Training During Enterprise System Implementation

Enterprise system (ES) implementations introduce pervasive and disruptive change to organizations. End-users struggling to cope with such change often develop an internal self-preservation narrative that, if not managed, can lead to employee turnover. Turnover is a visibly-assertive response to ES implementations that has lasting negative effects on organizations. The job role literature suggests that an individual’s intention to leave an organization is greater when they lack clarity concerning their own work tasks and their role in achieving broader organizational goals. These clarity perceptions evolve during ES implementations as individuals become aware that their existing job context is no longer relevant to the post-implementation organization. It seems likely that the strength of relationship between job clarity and turnover intention will also evolve during this time. Accordingly, this study uses PLS-SEM multi-group analysis to examine changes in this relationship during an ES implementation at a Fortune 100 manufacturer and finds a significant increase in the influence of job clarity deficiencies on turnover intention following end-user training. These results suggest that ES implementation teams should focus their efforts on building job clarity of the post-implementation work context

Consumer engagement with social media platforms: a study of the influence of attitudinal components on cutting edge technology adaptation behaviour

Despite pervasive use of digital devices, the influence of simultaneous and combined attitudinal components on consumers’ social media adaptation behaviours remains understudied. This research aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the influence of combined attitudinal components on consumers’ continuous interaction with social media platforms. An online survey was conducted to obtain robust quantitative data on consumers’ interaction and engagement with cutting edge technology such as social media. The findings indicate that consumers’ combined cognitive (perceived opportunity, perceived social influence and perceived control) and affective (enjoyment, self-enhancement, trust and fear) attitudinal components are the antecedents to consumers’ positive and negative adaptation behaviours of social media platforms. Consumers continuously engage with cutting edge social media platforms, either in positive adaptation behaviour (exploration to maximise or exploitation to satisfice social media led benefits) or negative adaptation behaviour (explore to revert from or avoid social media platforms) influenced by combined cognitive and affective attitudinal attributes. The study enriches and advances existing literature by identifying and analysing the influence of both cognitive and affective attitudinal attributes influencing consumers’ positive and negative adaptation behaviours of cutting edge digital technology such as social media platforms. The study helps marketers and IS managers in profiling consumers and understanding consumption patterns while interacting with cutting edge social medial platforms

Investigating Users’ IT Adaptation Behaviors: A Case of a Computerized Work System

IS research has shown that successful IT implementation projects rely on the extent to which IT users respond and adapt to the new technology and the changes the new technology comes with. Although the phenomenon of user IT adaptation has been studied previously in IS literature our understating of user IT adaptation is still limited. Drawing on the Coping Model of User Adaptation (CMUA) and the Approach vs. Avoidance model of coping, this study seeks to investigate how different user adaptation efforts evolve over time and subsequently influence IT use outcomes. Using a qualitative case study approach, 68 interviews were conducted at a medical center in Iran after the implementation of a Work System Computerization project. Our results indicate that emotions have a great influence on IT users’ adaptation efforts. Also, users’ IT appraisal might not necessarily happen in sequence as suggested by existing literature. Finally, our findings highlight the theoretical importance of preserving the distinction between approach- and avoidance-oriented emotion-focused adaptation efforts in exploring how emotion-focused efforts may influence system usage

Consumer Engagement with Social Media Platforms: A Study of the Influence of Attitudinal Components on Cutting Edge Technology Adaptation Behaviour

Despite pervasive use of digital devices, the influence of simultaneous and combined attitudinal components on consumers’ social media adaptation behaviours remains understudied. This research aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the influence of combined attitudinal components on consumers’ continuous interaction with social media platforms. An online survey was conducted to obtain robust quantitative data on consumers’ interaction and engagement with cutting edge technology such as social media. The findings indicate that consumers’ combined cognitive (perceived opportunity, perceived social influence and perceived control) and affective (enjoyment, self-enhancement, trust and fear) attitudinal components are the antecedents to consumers’ positive and negative adaptation behaviours of social media platforms. Consumers continuously engage with cutting edge social media platforms, either in positive adaptation behaviour (exploration to maximise or exploitation to satisfice social media led benefits) or negative adaptation behaviour (explore to revert from or avoid social media platforms) influenced by combined cognitive and affective attitudinal attributes. The study enriches and advances existing literature by identifying and analysing the influence of both cognitive and affective attitudinal attributes influencing consumers’ positive and negative adaptation behaviours of cutting edge digital technology such as social media platforms. The study helps marketers and IS managers in profiling consumers and understanding consumption patterns while interacting with cutting edge social medial platforms

Investigating the link between users’ IT adaptation behaviours and individual-level IT use outcomes using the coping model of user adaptation: A Case study of a work system computerisation project

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThe benefits of new IT-induced organisational changes, such as new organisational information systems (IS), depend on the degree that system users adapt by proactively changing themselves, their work routines, and even the technology itself in order to reap its strategic capabilities and advantages. However, researchers are increasingly concerned that IS research has provided very little indication about how IS users’ IT adaptive strategies are formed and evolved over time and how such adaptive behaviours employed by IS users influence subsequent IT use and individual-level performance outcomes. This thesis investigates in-depth the evolution of IT adaptation behaviours towards disruptive IT events in the case study of a Medical Clinic attached to one of Iran’s elite Oil and Gas industry companies. The case study investigated the individual coping behaviours of the employees of this Medical Centre as a consequence of the introduction of a mandatory Work System Computerisation (WSC) initiative. Work System Computerisation project refers to both the replacement of manual work processes with computers as well as modernisation of the existing out-dated computerised work systems in the medical centre under investigation. According to the case study, each of the seven sub-units of the Medical Centre implemented a different WSC scheme and the consequences of the introduction of the scheme resulted in differing outcomes among the employees of those sub-units, such outcomes being related to a complex interplay of the individuals’ coping behaviours, appraisals and emotional responses and the environment. The term ‘Disruptive IT event’ in this study refers to any enhanced or completely new information technology in different units within the medical centre (i.e. Work System Computerisation schemes) that replaced and disrupted existing work processes/practices and had resulted in disruptive and unpredictable changes to users’ daily routines. The theoretical lens used in this study is the Coping Model of User Adaptation (CMUA) elaborated by Coping Theory, which also underpins the model. CMUA provides a useful theoretical basis for deeper understanding of users’ adaptive responses to a new work information system (IS) as well as direct analysis of the impact of such adaptive responses on system usage. The other theoretical concept used, which addresses issues not readily covered by the CMUA, was a typology of adaptive behaviours from Roth and Cohen (1986): avoidance vs. approach. This allows for further clarification of how different types of individual-level adaptation acts evolve over time and affect individual-level IT use outcomes. Furthermore, how these various adaptive acts enhance or hinder the extent to which the new IT is used can also be explained. The research questions guiding this thesis are as follows: (1) How do IS users’ adaptation tactics and strategies evolve over time when dealing with a disruptive IT event? (2) How do alterations in users’ coping strategies subsequently influence their IT use outcomes and overall performance? The study’s methodological approaches and underlying philosophical assumptions followed an interpretive research approach. A broadly interpretive approach was adopted in this study with the aim of understanding the complexity of human sense making and their IT adaptation behaviours as the situation emerges. The research was carried out in one state of Iran, Mashhad, and took place during the period of 2011-2012. The findings of this thesis have both theoretical and managerial implications. From a theoretical perspective, this study expands on the work of Beaudry and Pinsonneault (2005) who suggested that the process of user adaptation could be understood in light of coping theory. The results of this study and the additional identified perspectives and enhancements which are represented in the following ways could help to advance the field of user IT adaptation behaviours in IS research. This study contributes to the existing IT adaptation literature by providing rich insights into the phenomenon of user IT adaptation behaviours within the context of Iran. Adopting an interpretive approach through a longitudinal process-oriented perspective has provided a greater understanding of the patterns of user adaptation to IS, users’ psychological constructs, initial patterns of their coping strategies, the alterations in such coping efforts over time, and the consequences of these evolutions on IT use outcomes in different divisions within a healthcare environment. The appraisal of ‘challenge’ is an influential contributor to the users’ subsequent adaptation process that CMUA is mute about it. The findings indicate that since the challenge appraisal represents a ‘positive stress’, some levels of challenge are useful to mobilise IS users towards IT adoption and use. The correlated concerns identified in the research (i.e. a web of complex personal, social and technical concerns) play a vital role on users’ adaptation processes following the IT implementation and over time. This highlights the importance of feedback loop in the adaptation process (which represents users’ revaluation process), and how the direct and indirect impacts of such interventions affect users’ reassessments of the IT event and their subsequent efforts and outcomes. The concept of emotion that is missing from CMUA is influential especially where non-IT savvy users’ behaviours toward significant IT events may be influenced by extreme emotions. Outcomes of this study highlight the theoretical importance of preserving the distinction between approach-, and avoidance-oriented emotion-focused behaviours in exploring how emotion-focused behaviours may influence behavioural outcomes such as system usage. The consideration of parallel processes for users’ IS appraisal is another area of theoretical expansion. The findings also suggest implications for practice as well as directions for future research. Understanding how employees’ IS appraisals considerably affect coping efforts and ultimately their technology performance outcome is critical for successful IT implementations and use in work settings. The results could assist decision makers in assessing user adaptation concerns and the intensity of such apprehensions at each phase of the change process and hence address them more effectively

A holistic view of the social and technical factors that Influence the assimilation of an mHealth tool in developing countries

The integration of smartphones and mobile devices into healthcare systems has been proposed to address some of the physical barriers to healthcare delivery in rural areas of developing countries. This has prompted a number of intervention initiatives to develop novel mHealth tools for specific regions. However, despite all the research and the investment, there has been slow practical progress. This thesis attributes this slow progress to compartmentalised thinking and limited holistic exploration. In order to understand these problems, this thesis undertook a number of studies, i.e., a review-focused, a past-focused, a future-focused, and policy-focused studies to understand how an mHealth tool could be assimilated in rural areas of developing countries. These studies took place in the context of an mHealth app being explored for introduction to assist with the diagnosis and treatment of sick children under the age of five in Enugu State, Nigeria. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to create a more socially and technologically holistic understanding of the factors that influence the introduction of mHealth tools into rural areas of developing countries. First, findings from the review-focused study illustrate two key trends in existing research. Most strikingly, little research has looked at the role of patient-to-patient interactions. Furthermore, the interactions between system developers and the other stakeholder groups are notably under-represented. Second, findings from the past-focused study indicate that, (i) at the social-level, there is a perceived limitation of services, human resources and a sense of exclusion from the urban health system; (ii) at ‘material-level, observations were made of the significant infrastructural and technological limitations that discourage rural healthcare workers (RHCWs) and parents/guardians (PGs) from spending prolonged periods at the rural health centres; (iii) at the ‘practice-level’, there is the formal diagnosis treatment method practiced by the RHCWs in the midst of the PGs diagnosis and treatment practices and African traditional healing practices, and (iv) at ‘imbrication-level’, the entanglement of phones with internet access have exposed PGs to a range of health information outside the control or guidance of health professionals. Third, from the future-focused study, findings show a set of factors which are bound as an emerging explanatory model which influence primary appraisal of an mHealth tool in a new context. These factors describe a set of individual and social influences that governments, funding bodies and non-governmental organisations should consider before the introduction of an mHealth tool. Fourth, from the policy-focused study, a framework is proposed that differentiates between interventions targeting traits and states, the latter being situation-specific, and the former which seeks to improve individual’s abilities, job knowledge, and skills as they relate to an mHealth tool. Furthermore, the framework differentiates between individual and social interventions, the former being resilient to personnel change, and the latter seeking to improve crucial situations that would otherwise cause social systems to break down around an mHealth tool. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and future research. These implications are discussed in the final chapter of this thesis

Examining the post-adoptive infusion of mobile technology in a healthcare domain: determinants and outcomes

The healthcare industry is beginning to appreciate the benefits which can be obtained from using Mobile Health Systems (MHS) at the point-of-care. As a result, healthcare organisations are investing heavily in mobile health initiatives with the expectation that users will employ the system to enhance performance. Despite widespread endorsement and support for the implementation of MHS, empirical evidence surrounding the benefits of MHS remains to be fully established. For MHS to be truly valuable, it is argued that the technological tool be infused within healthcare practitioners work practices and used to its full potential in post-adoptive scenarios. Yet, there is a paucity of research focusing on the infusion of MHS by healthcare practitioners. In order to address this gap in the literature, the objective of this study is to explore the determinants and outcomes of MHS infusion by healthcare practitioners. This research study adopts a post-positivist theory building approach to MHS infusion. Existing literature is utilised to develop a conceptual model by which the research objective is explored. Employing a mixed-method approach, this conceptual model is first advanced through a case study in the UK whereby propositions established from the literature are refined into testable hypotheses. The final phase of this research study involves the collection of empirical data from a Canadian hospital which supports the refined model and its associated hypotheses. The results from both phases of data collection are employed to develop a model of MHS infusion. The study contributes to IS theory and practice by: (1) developing a model with six determinants (Availability, MHS Self-Efficacy, Time-Criticality, Habit, Technology Trust, and Task Behaviour) and individual performance-related outcomes of MHS infusion (Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Learning), (2) examining undocumented determinants and relationships, (3) identifying prerequisite conditions that both healthcare practitioners and organisations can employ to assist with MHS infusion, (4) developing a taxonomy that provides conceptual refinement of IT infusion, and (5) informing healthcare organisations and vendors as to the performance of MHS in post-adoptive scenarios