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Abstract
As individuals’ relationships with information technology (IT) grow more complex and personal, our understanding of the problem of resistance to IT continues to evolve. Current approaches to resistance are based on perceived threats to work tasks and social structure. This work enhances our understanding of resistance by developing a definition and measure of the IT Identity Threat, a new construct that integrates social, task-related, and personal factors of resistance. Grounded in identity theory, the IT Identity Threat offers a parsimonious means to explain and predict IT resistance behaviors. Using data from two independent studies conducted among students and faculty at a large university in the Southeastern United States, we validate an operational measure of IT Identity Threat as a second-order construct and demonstrate that it successfully predicts resistance to IT. Our findings provide support for the IT Identity Threat construct as a simple mechanism to study resistance to IT.
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Notes
1. The verification of identity is an event described in the identity literature. It can be defined as an individual’s observation, either direct or through perceptions communicated by others, which confirms the self-beliefs that comprise an identity. In other words, when an individual perceives that they are the kind of person that they believe they are, their identity is verified [Citation17] pp. 50-60.
2. This university was recently ranked in the top 20 Public Universities in the well-known US News and World Rankings of Best Colleges.
3. It must be noted that while the list service sent invitations by email to all students and faculty, it is not known how many of those invitations were treated as spam and ignored. According to the list service administrator, our response rate was typical.
4. Our sample frames were selected with resistance in mind. We surveyed populations of users that had vocally expressed discontent with the technology. For example, ePortfolio had been subject to criticism in the student newspaper and critically evaluated in conference papers. Also, post-implementation, iRoar had been the subject of committee meetings held by the CIO to address faculty concerns about the system. Consequently, while we expected variance in our sample frame, we also anticipated high levels of threat perceptions were likely among subjects who selected to complete our survey.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Kevin Craig
Kevin Craig ([email protected]; corresponding author) is an Assistant Professor in the Paul H. Chook Department of Information Systems and Statistics at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College. His work examines the effects of identity and stereotypes on individual behavior with respect to technology. His work appears in Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of Business Economics, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and other journals.
Jason Bennett Thatcher
Jason Bennett Thatcher ([email protected]) is an MIS Endowed Faculty Fellow in the Department of Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science at the Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama. Dr. Thatcher’s research examines the influence of individual beliefs and characteristics on adaptive and maladaptive post-adoption information technology use. He also studies strategic, human resource management, and cybersecurity issues related to the effective application of information technologies in organizations. His work appears in Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and other venues. He has served as President of the Association for Information Systems.
Varun Grover
Varun Grover ([email protected]) is the David D. Glass Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Systems at the Walton School of Business, University of Arkansas. His work focuses on the impacts of digitalization on individuals and organizations. He has published extensively in the information systems (IS) field, with over 400 publications, 220 of which are in major refereed journals. He has been a senior or associate editor of several major IS journals, a recipient of numerous awards for his research and teaching, and is a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems. He has been invited to give numerous keynote addresses and talks at various institutions and forums around the world.