Effective intervention in user adaptation : a 2×2 coping framework entailing implementation and contextual factors

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of information technology applications worldwide, successful technology implementation in organizations remains a formidable challenge. Whether organizations can actualize the benefits of new technology depends critically on how end users evaluate and cope with it. Various intervention practices have been proven to be effective in facilitating user adaptation in the existing literature. However, research that systematically examines the impacts of intervention practices across implementation stages and usage contexts is still rare. Leveraging coping theory, we propose a 2×2 framework under the conditions of pre-/post-implementation stages and mandatory/voluntary usage contexts to investigate how various intervention practices adjust user appraisals of new technology via different coping mechanisms. We then extend the investigation into the downstream job outcomes and make comparisons of relevant relationships across usage contexts. Our empirical findings from two unique organizational settings, featured opposite degrees of usage voluntariness, support consistently significant effects of intervention practices, beliefs updating, and effects of usage behavior on job outcomes in both contexts while suggesting nuanced differences between the two contexts. Our research sheds light on how to manage technology implementations and help users cope with the change effectively in different contexts via various intervention practices in the technology implementation process.