Usage and impact of technology enabled job learning

Abstract

Individuals use technology to experiment with new ways of carrying out their tasks and in doing so they learn more about their jobs. The current study examines the role of technology enabled job learning as a key component in the complex relationship between information systems use and technology outcomes. Data from 308 end-users were analyzed to evaluate the relationships between system use and technology enabled job learning, and technology enabled job learning and technology outcomes. Technology enabled job learning was conceptualized in terms of how computer applications helped individuals learn and better perform their jobs. System use was conceptualized in terms of decision support, work integration, and customer service. Technology outcomes were conceptualized in terms of management control, task innovation, task productivity, and customer satisfaction. Results suggest that systems use has a significant, positive effect on job learning, and that job learning has a significant, positive effect on technology outcomes. Post hoc analyses were then conducted to examine the potential mediating role of job learning between systems use and technology outcomes. The findings from this research lead to a greater understanding of how patterns of systems use influence organizationally relevant outcomes through technology-enabled job learning.

Keywords:

• system use
• job learning
• information technology outcomes

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gholamreza Torkzadeh

About the authors

Gholamreza Torkzadeh is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and professor of Management Information Systems at the College of Business, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has published on management information systems issues in academic and professional journals including Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Decision Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, Omega, Journal of Operational Research, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, Structural Equation Modeling, Journal of Knowledge Engineering, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Long Range Planning, and others. He was Guest Editor of the Management Information Systems Quarterly Special Issue on IT offshoring. His current research interests include the impact of information technology, computer self-efficacy, information systems security, and IT offshoring. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from The University of Lancaster, U.K., and is a member of Association for Information Systems, The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Science, and Decision Sciences Institute. He has served ICIS and AIS in different capacities, and was ICIS 2005 conference co-chair.

Jerry Cha-Jan Chang

Jerry C. J. Chang is an associate professor of MIS at the College of Business and Economics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has a B.S. in Oceanography from National Ocean University (Taiwan), an M.S. in Computer Science from Central Michigan University, an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University, an M.S. in MoIS, and a Ph.D. in MIS from the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include instrument development, IS performance measurement, self-efficacy, software piracy, use and impact of IT, cultural aspects of IS, and management of IS. His work has appeared in MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Information & Management, Decision Support Systems, DATABASE, and Communications of the ACM.

Andrew M Hardin

Andrew M. Hardin is the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Assistant Professor of MIS at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from Washington State University in 2005. Dr. Hardin's research interests include financial decision support systems, virtual teamwork, virtual worlds, entrepreneurship, and research methodologies. His research has appeared in journals such as Management Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, DATABASE, Group Decision and Negotiation, Small Group Research, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, and Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. Dr. Hardin also serves as an associate editor for the Information Systems Journal and the European Journal of Information Systems.