Toward a Process-Based View of Information Technology Acceptance

Abstract

Research into the acceptance of technology is in need of an alternative approach. Despite repeated calls for research to guide our colleagues-in-practice in the deployment of systems that are accepted, there has yet to be systematic research into the relationship between the decisions made by individuals and the bottom-line impact that is derived from user acceptance. This study fills the gap in the literature by theorizing a process-based view of information technology (IT) acceptance. We report on a narrative study of 30 users of an ERP deployment and, analyzing this qualitative data through the lens of the five decisions of acceptance proposed by Schwarz and Chin, propose a process model of IT acceptance. We conclude by theorizing on the relationship between these structures and the corresponding bottom-line impacts.