A motivational perspective on post-acceptance is usage behaviors

Abstract

While the pre-acceptance and acceptance stages are fundamental milestones for initial information system (IS) success in organizations, the post-acceptance stage could be even more critical in realizing the eventual IS success. We identify three important post-acceptance usage behaviors: routine use (RTN), extended use (EXT), and innovative use (INV). RTN refers to employees' using IS in a routine and standardized manner consistent with normal work processes. EXT denotes employees' using more of the available IS functions to support task performance. INV describes employees' discovery of new ways of using IS to enhance task performance. RTN, EXT, and INV represent behaviors with minimum, moderate, and maximum levels of innovativeness and learning, respectively. Drawing on motivation theory, we propose two hypotheses with comparative structures that delineate the relative importance of intrinsic motivation (IM) versus extrinsic motivation (EM) in explaining the three usage behaviors. Importantly, we apply and appropriate the tri-dimensional concept of intrinsic motivation from social psychology and propose the Rich Intrinsic Motivation (RIM) as a more comprehensive and precise conceptualization of intrinsic motivation toward IS use. RIM manifests through employees' intrinsic motivation toward accomplishment, to know, and to experience stimulation in using IS. We conducted three studies in three different telecom service organizations. Study 1 validated the measurement properties of RIM with data from 165 employees who use business intelligence systems (BIS). Study 2, using data from 244 employees who use customer support systems (CSS), verified the superior predictive power of RIM over perceived enjoyment (PE), the traditional measures of IM, in explaining user attitude in the post-acceptance stage. Study 3, using data from 193 employees who use BIS, revealed that RIM has a weaker impact on RTN than EM and that the importance of RIM relative to EM is greater for INV than for EXT and for EXT than for RTN.