Enriching our theoretical repertoire: the role of evolutionary psychology in technology acceptance

Abstract

Information systems (IS) research has drawn heavily on social and cognitive psychology to explain technology adoption. Indeed, the many variations of the technology acceptance model all share these same theoretical foundations. Focusing exclusively on the socio-cognitive lens can lead to overlooking enhanced explanations of technology acceptance, such that new theoretical perspectives may be warranted. In this qualitative grounded theory study, we discovered how the lens of evolutionary psychology, as embodied in the Four-Drive model, was helpful in understanding technology acceptance across three organizational sites. We contend that evolutionary psychology is an important addition to the theoretical repertoire of IS researchers, and propose including ‘evolved psychological mechanisms’ within traditional models of technology acceptance.

Keywords:

• technology acceptance
• evolutionary psychology
• human drives
• grounded theory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chon Abraham

About the authors

Chon Abraham is an associate professor of Management Information Systems (MIS) at the Mason School of Business, College of William and Mary. She received a BS in Political Science and Systems Engineering and a commission into the U.S. Army from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1995, an MBA from Old Dominion University with a concentration in MIS in 2000, and a Ph.D. in MIS from the University of Georgia in 2004. She worked as a systems analyst for American Management System in Norfolk, VA after serving on active duty as an Army Finance Officer and prior to pursuing a Ph.D. She publishes in various MIS and healthcare information systems-oriented journals such as Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Business Intelligence Journal, Communications of the ACM, Database, Decision Support Systems, IBM Center for Healthcare Information Management Publication Series, and the Journal of Healthcare Information Management. Her research interests mainly focus on implementations of emerging technologies, primarily in healthcare settings. She is a 2008–2009 recipient of a Fulbright Research Award to Japan, where she studied healthcare information technology initiatives.

Marie-Claude Boudreau

Marie-Claude Boudreau ([email protected]) is an associate professor of MIS at the University of Georgia. She received a Ph.D. degree in Computer Information Systems from Georgia State University, a Diplôme d’Enseignement Supérieur Spécialisé from l’École Supérieure des Affaires de Grenoble (France), and an MBA from l’Université Laval in Québec (Canada). Dr. Boudreau has conducted research on the organizational change induced by information systems, such as integrated software packages and open source software. She is currently doing research on sustainability and information systems. She has authored articles published in many journals, such as Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Communication of the ACM. Her teaching interests include data management, integrated software packages, business process management, and qualitative research.

Iris Junglas

Iris Junglas is a Research Fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance. Prior to joining Accenture, she was on the faculty at the University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business and has worked for various international IT consultancies before. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, U.S.A. and a Master Degree from the University of Koblenz, Germany. Her research interest captures a broad spectrum of topics. Most prominent, however, are the areas of E-, M- and U-Commerce, healthcare information systems, and lately the consumerization of IT. Her research has been published in the Journal of the Association of Information Systems, Management Information Systems Quarterly Executive, Communications of the ACM, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Data Base, and various others. Since 2008, Iris has been an associate editor for the European Journal of Information Systems.

Richard Watson

Richard Watson is the J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He has published over 150 journal articles, written books on electronic commerce and data management, and given invited presentations in more than 30 countries. His most recent research focuses on Energy Informatics and IS leadership. He is a consulting editor for John Wiley & Sons, a former President of the Association for Information Systems, a visiting professor at the University of Agder in Norway, co-leader of the Global Text Project, the International Coordinator for the Ph.D. in Information Systems at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, and the Research Director for the Advanced Practices Council of the Society of Information Management, an exclusive forum for senior IS executives.