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Resistance to new IT: Tech Companies impressions of
clients perception of the value of new IT adoption
IT adoption of Cloud Computing & Machine LearningJennifer Lieuw 10680586
Amsterdam, June 23rd 2017 Universiteit van Amsterdam
MSc Business Administration - Digital Business, Semester 2 Master’s Thesis Digital Business
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Abstract
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Introduction
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Literature review
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1.1 IT innovation: Why new IT adoption?
1.2 IT adoption models/approaches
1.3 Technology acceptance
1.4 Resistance to new IT: risks & uncertainties
1.5 Customer relationships & Organizational change
Data and method
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2.1 Research Design
2.2 Data analysis process
Results
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3.1 Why new IT: Cloud Computing or Machine Learning?
3.2 IT adoption in different organizations
3.3 Business (Management) & IT alignment (IT agility)
3.4 Technology resistance or acceptance?
3.5 Client relationship, Communication & Transparency
3.6 Data analysis overview
Discussion
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4.1 Implications
Conclusion
References
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Appendix
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Interview questions (in Dutch)
Interview transcripts
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to find barriers and complications, because of IT specialists
perception of clients' technology acceptance or resistance of the value of new IT adoption in
organizations. By doing multiple in-depth interviews within information technology (focused)
companies and consultancy firms, interviewing IT specialists, consultants and account
managers about the opportunities and challenges of new IT adoptions in organizations. The
contribution of this study is to attack organizational challenges of adopting new technologies,
by getting a better understanding of the influence of the client's resistance to technology on IT
adoption and to understand the complications for organizations and IT consultants by getting
a better understanding of possibilities and challenges of new IT adoption in organizations.
Keywords: IT adoption, new technology, IT innovation, technology acceptance, technology
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Introduction
Every year, Gartner Inc. (2016) highlights top technology trends for organizations. The top 10
strategic technology trends for 2017 are: Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Advanced Machine
Learning, Intelligent Apps, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Digital Twin, Block chain &
Distributed Ledgers, Conversational System, Mesh Apps & Service Architecture, Digital
Technology Platforms and Adaptive Security Architecture. These disruptive technologies
have the potential to impact different industries. New technologies are implemented in
organizations to improve organizational competitiveness (Makkonen, Johnston, & Javalgi,
2016). Also internal benefits for organization could be created, for instance new opportunities
for project groups, because of access to internal information and the mobility of workers
across project boundaries benefit from existing-technology groups (Taylor, 2010).
Yet, successful implementation of new IT innovations are considered complex, because of
knowledge barriers and the consequential changes of processes and patterns of interactions in
organizations(Angst, Agarwal, Sambamurthy, & Kelley, 2010). Different behavioural,
process and organizational factors could influence the IT innovation adoption, diffusion or use
in an organization. Firms should be aware of the different challenges of IT innovations. One
of the challenges is” trust” in adopting a new technology in an organization. For instance, AI
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systems are introduced as a disruptive technology that could change the workforce (Amico et
al, 2016). Machine Learning in particular, are supporting the decisions making of
professionals in different industries and governments and is expected to have a bigger impact
in future (Banavar, 2016). However, the industrial or organizational benefits would only be
effective if there is trust in AI systems in the organization. Also, cloud computing technology
could offer different properties such as agility, scalability, pay-per-use and cost efficiency for
organizations(Oliveira et al., 2014). Nevertheless, complexity and the technology readiness
have a direct effect on a firm’s adoption of cloud computing(Oliveira et al, 2014) . So,
organizations who are considering to adopt artificial intelligence and cloud computing
solutions should have trust, accountability and technology readiness as adoption criteria.
Many researchers focused on the opportunities and challenges of innovations in the
organizational context. However, this research will specifically focus on technology
acceptance or resistance towards new IT (innovation) adoption and the impact for technology
specialists, consultants and accountmanager. By discussing several propositions related to
(IT) innovation, IT adoption models, technology acceptance & resistance, technology
diffusion, customer relationship and organizational change and the adoption process of Cloud
computing and Machine learning. This research proposal will therefore address the following
research question: What is the impact of organizations’ technology acceptance or resistance
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Literature review
The following part, consists of five different topics about IT innovation, IT adoption ,
Technology Acceptance, Technology Resistance and Client relationships discussed in
different scientific researches. This theoretical framework focuses on the different factors and
barriers that could influence technology resistance to new IT adoption. These topics will be
discussed based on the seven different propositions to form a theoretical framework to
compare these statements with the experiences and opinions from IT specialists/consultants
and IT account managers.
1.1
IT Innovation: why new IT adoption?
“Innovation could be defined as a new pattern of work, which is radically changed from the
previous practice” (Mitchell & Zmud, 1999). It could be argued, that information technology
(IT) is a target of innovations, because IT is an engine of innovation which increases
knowledge across boundaries and enables to create new knowledge, and distributing it in new
ways(Boland Jr et al., 2007). On the contrary, the effectiveness of an organizational
innovation depends also on the IT infrastructure: enabling technologies, sourcing
arrangements and policies which form an intricate system of information related activities and
supports its development and use of social relations and processes of its use (Mitchell &
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before choosing an innovation approach. For example, the organizational IT adaptation could
be related to adopting a process innovation and the challenge of implementing it (Angst et al.,
2010). The process of gaining the organizational members to be committed to the use of an
innovation is considered be a next step after the IT adoption decision and complementation
(Repenning, 2002).
Proposition 1: Organizations have to be aware of their IT infrastructure and the challenges of
implementing new technology to get an effective organizational innovation with committed
employees.
1.2
IT adoption models/approaches
The process of innovation and the challenge of implementing it in an organization could be
analysed with a behavioural approach of organizational technology innovation adoption.
Makkonen et al (2016) probes for a behaviour approach with an IT adoption lifecycle,
whereas processes of organization’s activities and needs could lead to eventual adoption of an
innovation among other potential solutions. Also, awareness of innovation are developed
continuously during the processes of finding potential solutions for the organizational needs.
It aims to produce knowledge and solutions to facilitate the development of potential needs
and solutions for adoption. IT adoption could evaluate the potential needs, solutions and their
fit in a specific task and increase the mutual fit in a specific task by introducing changes to
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activities. Another approach is to focus on the coordination or allocation of processes in an
organization. Different parts and processes of the organization could be connected, so new
ideas and activities could be integrated with each other (Bartel & Garud, 2009). Likewise,
new technology and allocation of resources could gain deeper understanding of the processes
in the organization. The renewal of innovative capabilities is essential for organizations on
long-term, but abrupt shifts in technological capabilities can also be difficult for the
organizational transition. Besides, political and contentious process can have a strong
influence on technology adoption and integration.
Furthermore, analysing the processes in an organization, focussing on individuals (or
organizational members/employees) could also be a different approach. Because, beyond
innovation attributes, personal innovativeness determines individuals’ intentions to adopt IT
innovations in the early stage, whereas social influence determines individuals’ intentions to
adopt or continue IT innovations in the later stage(Sun & Jeyaraj, 2013). Some organizations
adopt a new IT innovation, but without full utilizing its benefits (Wei, Lowry, & Seedorf,
2015). Assimilation theories suggest that most information technologies show an
“assimilation gap”, whereas usage tends to lag behind their adoption. Technology diffusion is
affected by the individual, organization, and social system in which the technology is
employed (Chen, Yen, & Chen, 2009). Hameed et al (2012) designed a conceptual IT
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and User Acceptance with important characteristics that can influence the IT innovation
adoption. The factors; Innovation and User Acceptance have both characteristics which
involves the individuals of an organization (e.g. employees). The characteristics includes
social approval of innovation(innovation) and the
constructs of different technology
acceptance models like TRA, TAM and TPB or behaviour models and Perceived Behavioural
Control (PBC) factors. Also, understanding and building techno-social developments requires
knowledge of technological systems, social processes and their interactions. (Orlikowksi &
Barley, 2001)
Proposition 2a:: The focus on IT adoption lifecycle, process coordination and allocations
helps organizations to gain a better understanding of the innovative capabilities of new
technologies.
Proposition 2b: Social approval of innovation, technology acceptance and perceived
behavioural control factors influences the “Assimilation gap” of the difference between new
technology usage and adoption.
1.3
Technology Acceptance
As mentioned before, User Acceptance can be measured with the Technology Acceptance
Model. IT innovation adoption of implementing new technologies are explained with several
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(e.g. TAM)(Hameed, Counsell, & Swift, 2012a). As a result, attitude is perceived as a core
construct with high predictive validity for IT adoption (Hameed et al, 2012). The mentioned
conceptual IT innovation adoption model presents five attributes that affect initiation,
adoption-decision and implementation stages of IT adoption (Hameed et al., 2012a). Hameed
et al (2012) considered innovation process only being successful, if the innovation was
accepted and integrated in the organization and the individual users continue using the
innovation. The problem of low adoption and high underutilization is a problem for realizing
the benefits of IT implementations for organizations (Venkatesh et al, 2008). Venkatesh et
al(2008) developed an updated version of the technology acceptance model, called TAM3.
TAM3 should develop an understanding of the determinants of IT adoption and use and
interventions that can favourably influence these determinants, managers can decide on
implementing the right interventions to minimize resistance from employees to new
information technologies and maximize effective utilization. The influencers of earliest
adopters appear to be innovation-focused: the perceived benefits of the innovation as well as
the strength of the producer network positively relate to early adoption, because early
adopters also tend to perceive the technology in the innovation as less different than previous
technology than do those who intend to adopt later. The influence of an early adopter within
the adopting firm, the ability of the firm to sense and respond to new technology, and the
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multiple stages of diffusion, showing that firm-internal traits are particularly important
influencers of adoption. However, firms are missing the critical firm traits that lead to
information gathering and understanding of innovations. (Vowles, Thirkell, & Sinha, 2011).
Also, concerns about the information technology “productivity paradox” were raised,
however rather than being paradoxically unproductive, computers have had an impact on
economic growth that is disproportionately large compared to their share of capital stock or
investment, and this is likely to grow further in coming years (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000).
Business processes, new skills and new organizational and industry structures are major
drivers for the contribution of information technology. The complementary investments and
resulting assets may be larger than the investments in the computer technology itself.
However, they go largely uncounted in the nation accounts, so the computers have made a
much larger real contribution to the economy than previously believed.
Proposition 3a: IT adoption are only successful, if the innovation is accepted and integrated
in the organization and the individual users continue using the innovation.
Proposition 3b: Early IT adopters, the ability to sense and respond to new technology, and
the depth of technology knowledge are influencers of diffusion and adoption within the
organization.
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As mentioned before, concerns about new technology could arise or even technology
resistance. Markus (1983) explains resistance in terms of interaction between the system
being implemented and the context of use. She posits that a group of actors would use a
system if they believe it would support their position of power. They would resist, if they
think that it might cause them to lose power. Marakas and Hornik (1996) adapted a model of
passive resistance to explain resistance behaviour as passive-aggressive responses to threats or
stresses that an individual will, rightly or wrongly, associate with a new system. Martinko et
al. (1996) suggest that resistance to IT depend on the interaction of the following factors:
internal and external influences as well as the individual’s prior experience with the
technology. These factors influence the individual’s expectations about future performance
outcomes, which could drive the individuals’ affective and behavioural reactions toward the
technology and its use. When it generates conflict and consumes time and attention, resistance
is dysfunctional and can even be destructive. It could also increase stress or turnover in
organization by eroding performance levels, and would eventually have negative impacts.
Resistance against new technology or managing the employee’s adoption to the new
technology could also become complicated for organizations (Pan, Pan, & Devadoss, 2008).
The risk of failure in implementation could be caused by the lack of preparation for cultural
changes. Acceptance of IT adoption could impact the innovation adoption process, but
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new technological innovation must be developed within the organization to make everyone
committed to the technology or IT transformation. New technologies or IT adoption could
influence the organization cultural change. As mentioned before, innovations are also
involved with uncertainty and risk during the adoption decision process of new innovations.
IT technology integration of products and services with other business technologies, could
impact the business operationally and strategically. However, ambiguity of the organizational
ability to create added value with IT innovation could be uncertain and also a managerial risk.
IT innovations are considered complex, because knowledge barriers could complicate the
implementation of innovations. Also, the consequential changes of processes, work routines
and established patterns of interactions among organizational actors and the complexity of
technologies makes IT innovation implementation complex and could have a high failure rate.
Especially, Angst et al(2010) concluded, that larger and well established firms have less
trouble with analysing benefits & observing pilot tests of new innovations. Yet, the behaviour
or changes of new innovations in smaller firms are rather more likely to be noticed and
emulated. Thus, innovations involving an IT diffusion are ambiguous, complex, radical and
uncertain (Boland Jr, Lyytinen, & Yoo, 2007).
Proposition 4: Organizations could be show resistance to new IT when employees might
cause them to lose power, perceive inequity, lack of preparation or knowledge about the
technology and cultural or organizational change and ambiguity added value .
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1.5
Customer Relationships & Organizational (Cultural) Change
The Internet has opened up a new possibilities for enriching interactions between
organizations and their customers. Dell Computer succeeded in attracting customer orders and
improving service by placing configuration, ordering, and technical support capabilities on the
web (Rangan and Bell, 1999). It coupled this change with systems and work practice changes
that emphasize just-in-time inventory management, build-to-order production systems, and
tight integration between sales and production planning(Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000). Other
firms have also built closer relations with their customer via the web and related technologies.
For instance, web retailers like Amazon.com provide personalized recommendations to
visitors and allow them to customize numerous aspects of their shopping experience.
Yet, problems can exist during redesigning of business processes such as the lack of
detailed knowledge about functional areas: hidden agendas of top management, lack of
knowledge of application tools, prior choice of metaphors in the organizational language and
the lack of communication(Sarker & Lee, 1999). Difficulties can arise during creating an
atmosphere of open communication, pressures against selecting IT vendors on merit, lack of
awareness of the lead times associated with IT, uncoordinated implementation of HR and IT
strategies and discontinuities in the leadership. Failures mostly caused by the breakdowns in
leadership. Successful radical change, members of the senior management must be committed
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project (Sarker & Lee, 1999). A social system is needed where managers need to make careful
use of signals(clear and explicit messages), symbols(actions that indirectly reinforce the
signals) and reward systems to manage the reengineering process. Also the nature of feedback
is needed, who are eliminated because of the new processes by downsizing. So, a clear vision,
an in-touch with the human organization instead of only numbers, closely involvement on the
top-level, committed to the plans, continuity/stability in the leadership and contingent plans
are important.
Communication is also a central issue. Thus, well thought-out plans for
communicating with employees, sharing information unidirectional or increasing mutual
understanding and trust between the management and employees. Sarker & Lee (1999) argue
that open communication is necessary toward promoting mutual understanding in an
organization. So, are there distortion in the communication because of power differences,
conflicting self-interest, and is the organizational language carefully controlled to ensure trust
among stakeholders? Employees could feel uncomfortable in sharing their honest views
regarding the redesigns, due to fear of losing jobs or the lack of trust or both.
IT knowledge and management are also important factors of IT adoption in
organizations The understanding of the capabilities and limitations of broad range of
process-enabling IT options in the organizations. Awareness and appreciation of the complexities,
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enable the redesigned processes. Improving formal or informal organizational mechanisms to
educate themselves in functional and technological areas. Also, organizations need to
understand their organization infrastructure for smooth adoption of the new systems. And ask
questions about alignment between the overall organizational strategy and IT strategy and
between the IT strategy and the strategies of other functional areas before starting an IT
adoption process. Thus, IT management should have an overall understanding of the new
information technology to have credibility to advice on top-level regarding achievement and
organizational goals..
Proposition 5: Communication, trust and transparency of a new technological innovation
must be developed, (because innovations are involved with risks and uncertainties) within the
organization to make everyone committed to the technology or IT transformation.
In conclusion, organizations are challenged with how to adopt new technologies. First, having
good IT infrastructure is mentioned as important first step to get committed employees
towards new technologies. Secondly, the IT adoption lifecycle, process coordination and
allocations are introduced to advance better understanding of innovative capabilities of new
technologies. Additionally, social approval, acceptance, integration and perceived behavioural
control factors related to innovation and technologies are mentioned as factors which could
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individuals that would influence successful new technology diffusion and adoptions. Lastly,
communication, trust and transparency of new technological innovation is mentioned as
factors which influences employee commitment to IT transformation.
However, there are some implications mentioned in previous research about IT
adoption and employees IT adoption and acceptance in organizations. There is no specific
indication, if the factors mentioned in the IT innovation adoption model have different
impacts on the different stages of IT adoption(Hameed et al (2012). Hence, this study will
focus on technology resistance of new IT adoption. Trying to find and established causal
relationships between the mentioned factors and the impact on IT innovation adoption.
The IT
innovation adoption model could be tested with organizations from different sectors or in
different departments from one organization. Issues about the importance of social factors in
adapting and using IT are mentioned before. Yet, the impact of organizational culture &
change could be examined in a broader organizational context. Additionally, the conceptual
model for process of IT innovation adoption are developed based on past studies, but
empirical insights of the model are limited to draw a causal implication of the findings.
Thus, this research will focus on the client’s perceptions of IT adoption’s value of new
technologies. Therefore; what is the impact of organizations’ technology acceptance or
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Data and method
2.1
Research design
This qualitative research will conduct data with an interpretive and deductive approach to its
subject matter by describing meanings and understandings of situated meanings (Gephart,
2004). These approaches are applicable for examining and understanding processes and
people. The study consists of a cross-case analysis of several in-depth interviews, by
interviewing IT/Technology experts, consultants and (account) managers of different
organizations. This approach, will give a holistic view of the opportunities and challenges of a
new IT adoption for IT/tech organizations and their clients (in this case: Machine Learning &
Cloud Computing). Semi-structured interview questions/answers will give a better
understanding of the experiences, commitment and general opinions of the account managers,
consultants and experts.
The aim of the research is to be exploratory by refining theories about IT adoption and
finding patterns, impacts on work processes and experience insights about IT adoption
barriers or/and opportunities for companies and their clients(Boland Jr et al., 2007).
The unit of analysis is ‘action’ for an interpretive qualitative research approach
(Gephart, 2004). However, the focus or unit of analysis of this research is understanding
situated meanings of new IT adoption by the clients of IT & technology organizations.
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maximize the utility of information from small sample and single cases based on the
expectations of the information content of IT/ Technology (account)managers and
consultants(Flyvbjerg, 2006). These interviewees have a position in their organization, where
they have daily client contact, but are also well known with IT technologies in general. The
research sample of this study consists of (account) managers and consultants of technology
(focused) companies (e.g. from Dell EMC, Microsoft, Shell) and a consultancy firm (from
KPMG). This sample could be representative for the population, because these IT experts
with client experiences could give new insights about barriers & opportunities for all Business
IT organizations.
The interviewees (respondents) were approached during networking business events
and in-house days of the organizations. The account managers of Dell EMC are experts in
Digital Transformation, Workplace Collaboration, Security Software combining it with Cloud
Computing (client focus), and the managers/consultants of Microsoft are specialized in Data
Analytics, Data Visualisation and Cloud Computing and using Machine Learning in Power
BI(data visualisation tool). Shell interviewee is specialized in Business Analytics and the
KPMG interviewees are software implementation consultants. Interviews are the main
research method of this study. Semi-structured interviews with different account managers,
consultants and experts of IT/tech companies will explore more in-depth explanations of
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sources for this research design are interviews with respondents from private organizations
The data collection consist of in-depth interviews within different companies
organization/company; 2 account managers & cloud specialist of Dell EMC, 1
manager(technical evangelist/Data Analyst) & 1 Data consultant from Microsoft and 2
software implementation consultants of KPMG. The following topics will be discussed in
semi-structured interviews: new IT technologies, digital transformation, technology
acceptance, machine learning (AI), automation & robotics. The questions will discuss these
topics to get a clear understanding how new IT technologies are being adopted in different
organizations and to get a clear understanding how the perception of
managers/consultants/experts are similar or different from clients. The interviews will be
around 45-60 minutes (consisting around 12 questions). And will be recorded and completely
transcribed.
The strengths of this research are the external validity or generalizable findings of a
multiple-case study, because it ensures good validity for possible replicated logic for future
cases as well. The internal validity will be ensured with comparing the results of existing
conceptual frameworks with, to find causal relationships. Construct validity or evidence of the
extent which the study claims to investigate is ensured with the similar case study approach as
existing research (Boland et all, 2007). The reliability will be ensured with a case study
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However, the limitation of this research is the focus on only interviews instead of
using multiple qualitative research methods like observations and documentations.
2.2
Data analysis process
This qualitative research involves analysed and interpreted theories and interviews in order to
find meaningful descriptive patterns of the particular phenomenon of resistance to new IT
adoption (Auerbach & Silverstein, 2003). The analysis strategy consists of a combination of
content analysis and stream analysis.
First of all, content analysis were used to analyse the qualitative data which has been
collected through in-depth interviews with IT specialists. Content analysis involves coding
and classifying data, or categorizing and indexing for context analysis purpose to make sense
of the data collected and to highlight the important findings (Neuendorf, 2016).
Another analysis strategy of this research is stream analysis. This approach is
applicable to find organizational issues and help prioritize and develop integrated responses to
those issues. In this case, organizational change because of new IT adoption and the resistance
of employees or management. A systematic approach for identifying and separating core
problems related to technology acceptance or resistance from symptoms. An approach to
identify organizational drivers for new IT adoption and organizations issues by searching for
commonality in events from interviews with IT specialists from different IT
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However, the research design intention was actually a multiple case study (interviews)
at several IT organizations and IT consultancy firms, and doing a comparative analysis or
cross –case analysis. Unfortunately, the interviews are not all focussed on one case per
company, so cross-case analysis is less applicable.
The coding includes words or phrases that symbolically assigns a portion of visual
data which describes a social phenomenon and eventually to identify data as representing a
more general phenomenon (Saldana, 2003). By using a combination of deductive coding
approach and creating a list of codes prior to field and derived from theory. The theoretical
framework and concepts are leading in this research but are redefined during the data process.
The core concepts of this research are: IT Innovation, Technology acceptance/resistance,
customer relationships, organizational change, Machine Learning & Cloud Computing and
Business&IT strategy alignment. However, the combination with inductive coding approach
will open up to new codes or themes while coding the transcript (See factors in table 1).
(Miles & Huberman, 1994). At the end, the data are displayed in a table which provides a new
way of arranging and thinking about the more textually embedded data to find systematic
patterns and interrelationships.
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3.1 Why new IT: Cloud Computing or Machine Learning?
Proposition 1: Organizations have to be aware of their IT infrastructure and the
challenges of implementing new technology to get an effective organizational
innovation with committed employees
Mitchell & Zmud (1999) discussed the link between the effectiveness of an organizational
innovation and the IT infrastructure and argued that enabling technologies, sourcing
arrangements and policies form a system of information related activities and supports its
development and use of social relations and processes of its use. The main arguments from
the IT specialists and account managers about the need of IT innovation were: cost reduction,
being more efficient & effective, competitive constraints, regulations and keeping up with the
fast pace of changes with new technology trends. Organizations want to be more productive
and optimize their business. An IT consultant mentioned the competitive landscape in the
financial sector, where organizations have to focus on cost reduction but also focusing on
making their services and applications more user-friendly. There is also external pressure
from Dutch or European regulations and competitors as well. An example mentioned was
creating a mobile bank application, which should give users the opportunity or ability to
check their bank account status instead of visiting the desktop. Technology changes in a fast
pace, so organizations have to keep learning more about new technologies, so they have to be
aware of the new possibilities and advantages of these technologies for their organisation. So,
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However, not every organisation who is willing to innovate are ready for new
technologies. The IT specialists mentioned that some organizations want to innovate, yet they
do not know how they should innovate or they do not have the internal resources and people
and that is why organisations are asking advice from IT consultants (Interviewee 4).
Organizations want to know the ’new big thing’ and want to implement it, because they do
not want competitive disadvantage if they do not innovate. However, organizations should
first consider what the actual benefits will be if they implement the new technology. A IT
specialist mentioned that one of his clients implemented cloud computing, however they
called them(technology provider) because they regretted their decision. The costs were much
higher than expected (Interviewee 6). The IT specialist argued that certain technologies as
Machine Learning and Cloud computing are hyped up in the media, but many organization do
not really know what these technologies are.
Thus the proposition: Organizations have to be aware of their IT infrastructure and
the challenges of implementing new technology to get an effective organizational innovation
with committed employees. Are align with the different arguments from the IT specialists,
because organizations have to be ready and should have an up to date IT infrastructure to be
able to successfully innovate their IT. However, they still recommended organizations to
invest in IT innovation, because this is necessary if they want to want to be more efficient and
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3.2 IT adoption in different organizations
Proposition 2a:: The focus on IT adoption lifecycle, process coordination and
allocations helps organizations to gain a better understanding of the innovative
capabilities of new technologies.
Proposition 2b: Social approval of innovation, technology acceptance and perceived
behavioural control factors influences the “Assimilation gap” of the difference
between new technology usage and adoption.
Makkonen et al(2010) argue that IT adoption could evaluate the potential needs, solutions and
their fit in a specific task and increase the mutual fit in a specific task by introducing changes
to these needs and/or solutions. Understanding the IT maturity level, the vision of the
organization and creating a strategy are necessary for a successful IT adoption in
organizations mentioned by all the IT specialist and account managers. ‘There are many
diverse clients, because every organization is different. Every organization are able to start a
new IT project with us or asking for advise when they have obstacles during an IT adoption
process and are just asking for certain IT specifications to improve their organization.’ It is
easier to adopt a new information technology, if the client is not advanced in a technology yet,
because organizations with an higher maturity level have more complex systems, so changing
it with a complete different technology would make it harder to switch to another system.
Many regulations in organizations could slow down the process of deciding or adopting a new
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are necessary during an IT adoption process. An example mentioned was one of the IT
specialists’ clients in the financial sector who decided to use a mobile application to improve
the user-friendliness and convenience for consumer to check their bank account status with
the application. The IT specialists mentioned that they discuss new technologies with their
clients to improve their processes, mostly to reduce costs by improving their IT landscape.
Hence, the focus on IT maturity level, strategy and the vision of the organization helps
organizations to gain better understanding of the innovative capabilities of new technologies
for their organization. Also the difference between technology usage and adoption depends on
the approval of innovation with all the regulations in an organization, because the
organizations could may be enthusiastic about new technology trends. However, they should
take in consideration that there are also obstacles with adopting new technologies (for
example, their IT infrastructure could hinder a successful IT adoption.
3.3 Business (Management) & IT alignment (IT agility)
Proposition 3a: IT adoption are only successful, if the innovation is accepted and
integrated in the organization and the individual users continue using the innovation.
Proposition 3b: Early IT adopters, the ability to sense and respond to new technology,
and the depth of technology knowledge are influencers of diffusion and adoption
within the organization.
Hameed et al (2012) considered innovation process only being successful, if the innovation
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innovation. As mentioned before by the IT specialists, an IT adoption process could only be
successful, if the organizations’ regulations, IT infrastructure landscape and budget allows IT
changes. The IT account managers mentioned that most of their clients are positive about new
IT innovations. However, sometimes IT adoption processes are restrained by decision making
within organizations. Some departments may be enthusiastic about new technologies, for
example the IT department. But the management of an organization are mostly focused on the
costs of new investments. The IT specialists mentioned that IT is not always a main priority
within an organization. They are only asking for advice when they experience problems with
their current IT processes. For example, when their security are lacking and they got hacked.
Furthermore, some organizations have an outdated IT infrastructure which are not ready for
implementing the newest information technologies. The IT specialist mentioned that there are
certain organizations who are still using out dated software systems from the 90’s, because
they are used to these systems and are sceptical about constant changes with new
technologies, mostly clients where cost reductions is not the main goal of the organization or
the possible risks of using the newest technology for a large organizations.
The influence of an early adopter within the adopting firm, the ability of the firm to
sense and respond to new technology, and the depth of technology knowledge within the
adopting firm are significant influencers across multiple stages of diffusion, showing that
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Sinha, 2011). Also, Angst et al(2010) concluded, that larger and well established firms have
less trouble with analysing benefits & observing pilot tests of new innovations. Yet, the
behaviour or changes of new innovations in smaller firms are rather more likely to be noticed
and emulated. Thus, innovations involving an IT diffusion are ambiguous, complex, radical
and uncertain (Boland Jr, Lyytinen, & Yoo, 2007). There are some different arguments about
what kind of clients are early IT adopters. Bigger organizations are the early IT adopters,
because they mostly have a bigger budget and are mostly striving to have a competitive
advantage on the market. However, other IT specialist mentioned that it is easier for smaller
organizations to adopt new IT, because they could easier change the IT infrastructure because
there are less parties involved or less restraining regulations to change by adopting new IT.
Public organizations are mostly mentioned as not-early IT adopters. Decision-making
processes takes longer and they also have less competitors then private organizations. But
there are exceptions, for example in the health sector, to improve medical equipment’s.
Another argument is that it does not specifically depends on the size or industry of the
organization, but also depending on how traditional or open the organization is. The pros of
early IT adopters are cost reduction on long term, competitive or financial advantage. Yet
there are also cons, because of the speed of new technologies organizations have to keep
innovating and investing in new technology to keep your competitive advantage.
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integrated in the organization. IT departments may be positive about the IT adoption, because
they are aware of the possible improvement possibilities. However, the management should
also be convinced, because de top-management are the decision makers in an organizations.
Also the employee should be informed about these technologies to get a better understanding
of the need of innovation. Also, the benefits for early IT adopters are their competitive
advantage, because they are able to sense and respond to new technology, and the depth of
technology knowledge are influencers of diffusion and adoption within the organization.
3.4 Technology resistance or acceptance?
Proposition 4: Organizations could be show resistance to new IT when employees
might cause them to loss power, perceive inequity, lack of preparation or knowledge
about the technology and cultural or organizational change and ambiguity added
value .
Employees will be inclined to use a system if they believe it will support their position of
power(Markus, 1983). If they think it might cause them to lose power, they will resist. Pan et
al (2008) argues that IT innovations are considered complex, because knowledge barriers
could complicate the implementation of innovations. Also, the consequential changes of
processes, work routines and established patterns of interactions among organizational actors
and the complexity of technologies makes IT innovation implementation complex and could
have a high failure rate. The IT account managers and specialist mentioned loss of power,
lack of preparation, ambiguity of IT added value, rigidity, IT knowledge and risks as reasons
for technology resistance. Many organizations are not aware of the added value of new
30
management to adopt new IT. Because many organizations have their own legacy system. It
could be hard to change it, because of rigidity, regulations and traditions within an
organization. Or because of national or even European legislation about security of data
storage for example. However, an IT specialist mentioned that some organisations in the
financial industry are not always advocating for new IT adoption because they are anxious
about losing control because of technology. For example, cloud computing allows
organizations to store data in external datacentres. The IT account managers and IT specialists
also mentioned that technology resistance under employees exist in an organization when new
IT adoption will take over their jobs’ . You have to be cautious as an IT specialist or IT
accountmanager. Also clients want to improve their organizational processes with new
technologies, however they also want to keep the current process the same. So, this is
actually conflicting. Also, the lack of knowledge about the possible added value of new IT
adoption is a reason why clients could be resistant. Clients do hear about the new technology
trends, however they do not have a clear vision about what they want to do with the new
technology. They may not have the people or money to eventually implement the IT
successfully. People are normally resistant to change.’ However, client could be sceptical
about how secure their data would be outside their own data centre.
Thus, IT specialists and account managers perceive technology resistance and argues
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them to lose power, perceive inequity, lack of preparation or knowledge about the technology
and cultural or organizational change and ambiguity added value .
3.5 Client relationship, Communication & Transparency
Proposition 5: Communication, trust and transparency of a new technological
innovation must be developed, (because innovations are involved with risks and
uncertainties) within the organization to make everyone committed to the technology
or IT transformation.
Sarker & Lee, 1999 discussed the difficulties which could arise during creating an atmosphere
of open communication, pressures against selecting IT vendors on merit, lack of awareness of
the lead times associated with IT, uncoordinated implementation of HR and IT strategies and
discontinuities in the leadership. Especially the account managers argued that building a good
client relationship is important to have a successful IT adoption. When clients do trust the
technology organization or technology consulting firm, they would likely to share more
information about their status or are willing to invest more in new technologies in the future.
Many clients are used to buy their technology at one of the leading information technology
providers. When they are satisfied with their invested new products or services, they are more
willingly to invest more at the same IT provider. They mentioned that even if there are many
providers, organizations would not change a winning team if they are satisfied with it.
However, another IT specialist mentioned that technology information technology providers
keep innovating in a fast paced, because of the many competitors on the market. Even if
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innovating, investing and educating in new IT knowledge to keep a competitive advantage as
an IT provider. Another IT specialist mentioned that to adopt a new information technology
successfully, it is necessary to communicate the strategy, functions of the IT and de possible
changes well to the clients. Working transparent with an agile software development, where a
couple requirements and solution evolve collaborative effort of self-organizing cross
functional teams, but mostly important part is to keep transparent to the client by having
feedback and improvement possibilities.
So, communication and transparency from the IT specialists and account managers are
key factors for IT adoption mentioned in the interviews. Also clients are more willingly to be
open for more help during an IT adoption process. Eventually trust was also mentioned with
client relationship and being open to make everyone committed to the technology or IT
transformation.
Data analysis overview
Table 1: Resistance to new IT adoption factors – Overview perceptions from IT specialists &
IT account managers about Machine Learning & Cloud computing
Factors
Description
Exemplary Quotation (in
Dutch)
Public or Private
sector
Familiarity or use of the newest
technologies could differ
between different sectors. The
“Cloud adoption processes
are harderin: Financial and
Public sector. In Finance,
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need of innovation could be
different for commercial
organizations in comparison
with national governments for
example.
people are scared about how
secure financial data would
be stored. They want control
these data at their own
datacenters. Banks &
Insurance companies are not
fast. It also counts for public
organizations (especially
governments).
Small or Big
organization
Management could be different
between small and bigger
companies (hierarchy or flat
organizational structure). Also
the ability to change could be
different depending on the
strong organizational structure,
regulations and culture. And
which are the early IT adopters?
“Smaller organizations are
more open and easier to
change. It is harder for
bigger organizations,
besause they already have a
complex system, and you
could not easily build an
whole new IT system..”
Management or
IT department
(Rigidity)
Top-level management could
have a different perspective of
technology innovation in
comparison with the IT
department who are more
innovating and using new
technologies. Management
could argue with budget/cost
related issues or asking why you
need to change a winning
formula? Also the IT
infrastructure of the
“There will be a gap
between people who want to
change, because other
organizations are much
faster. And others who are
against change.’’
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organization plays a role of new
IT adoption.
People are resistant to change
which could cause rigidity in
the organization.
Communication
& Transparency
& Trust
How well is the vision or need
for the new IT adoption
communicated to the different
levels in the organization or to
the client? How will the
implementation process be?
What will change for the
employees and what are the
benefits for them? Technology
awareness is necessary. This is
necessary, because a good client
relationship consists of these
factors and will help to adopt
new technologies better.
“ask feedback from people
and stimulate them to
collaborate in a community
where they are allowed to be
involved in the process.
Budget &
regulations
New information technologies
could improve the
organizational processes,
however taking budgets, needs
and regulations of the
organization in consideration is
needed. Because is the
organization able or prepared to
implement a new technology?
“A client had other
expectations. They wanted
more maintenance, but it
didn’t not fit our business
model.”
Innovation
“Being more productive,
optimalisation, cost
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company is different. Being
more customer friendly, by
trying to understand them.
Many clients see IT as just
extra costs. However,
technology or IT is actually
a daily business for every
organization “
Discussion
The main question of this research will be discussed in this section. The theoretical and
practical insights will be compared to form an answer to the main question. This section will
also conclude the limitations of this research and the possibilities for future research. Before
answering the main question: What is the impact of organizations’ technology acceptance or
resistance on the diffusion of new IT adoptions?, a short recapitulation of the topics and
propositions will be discussed.
In the first topic, was assumed that organizations have to be aware of their IT
infrastructure and the challenges of implementing new technology to get an effective
organizational innovation with committed employees. Boland Jr. et al (2007) argued that IT is
a target of innovation, because IT is an engine of innovation which increases knowledge
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advantage could increase the organizational efficiency and effectivity and eventually result in
a competitive advantage in the market mentioned by the IT specialists and IT account
managers. But the effectiveness of an organizational innovation depends on the IT
infrastructure, because technologies, sourcing and policies form a complex system of
information related activities (Mitchell &Zmud). Every organization has their own IT
infrastructure and some are more rigid or complex than others. The IT specialists mentioned
that not every organization is ready for IT innovation, because they do not have a clear vision
why they have to innovate. The trends of new technologies are a reason why some clients feel
the pressure to innovate, but some IT innovation may not be applicable for the organization,
because the benefits are not high, they do not have the budget or resources, there are
regulation that constrains innovation and change. Thus, Choosing an innovation approach
should take the organizational vision, strategy and challenges in consideration.
The second topic discussed is IT adoption models helps organizations to gain better
understanding of the innovative capabilities of new technologies and technology acceptance
and perceived behavioural control factors influence the adoption process. Makkonen et al
(2010) discussed the IT adoption lifecycle, whereas IT adoption could evaluate the potential
needs, solutions and their fit in a specific task and increase the mutual fit in a specific task by
introducing changes to these solutions. Which leads to a life cycle of continuous adoption of
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finding potential solutions for the organizational needs of their clients. The awareness of
innovation are developed during consulting sessions with their clients about their
organizational barriers and needs. The focus of coordination or allocation of processes in an
organization (Bartel & Garud, 2009) were not specifically mentioned by the IT account
managers and IT specialist. However, it could be argued that coordination or allocation of
processes could be discussed or could be an outcome of a consulting session. However, they
did mention that abrupt shifts in technological capabilities could be a barrier for the
organizational transition mentioned (Bartel & Garud). The IT specialist especially mentioned
the impact of political and contentious processes which could have influences on technology
adoption and integration. It could be hard to adopt new IT when the organization has rigid
regulations. The statement form Wei et al (2015), about organizations adopting a new IT
innovations, but without full utilizing its benefits. Yet, the assimilation gap theory, about the
gap between the IT usage lag and their adoption. Could be compared with the clients that did
not have a clear strategy when they implemented a new technology. However these
technologies were not always applicable for the organization, and in some cases it even causes
an increase the costs. Overall, the different IT specialist and IT accountmanagers did not
discuss Hameed et al (2012) IT innovation adoption model, with the following factors:
innovation, organizational, environmental, CEO and User Acceptance. But did mainly focus
38
infrastructure as central points.
The third topic is technology acceptance of IT adoption and the IT adoption status
differences between organizations. Attitude is perceived as a core construct with high
predictive validity for IT adoption (Hameed et al, 2012). Hameed et al (2012) argue that IT
adoption are only successful, if the innovation was accepted and integrated in the organization
and the individual users continue using the innovation. The factor attitude was not
specifically mentioned by the interviewees. However, they did mention that clients are mostly
interested in new IT adoption, because they want to increase their efficiency and effectivity
with new technologies and that is one of the reasons why they contacted the IT specialist or IT
account manager. The influencers of earliest adopters appear to be innovation-focused: the
perceived benefits of the innovation as well as the strength of the producer network positively
relate to early adoption, because early adopters also tend to perceive the technology in the
innovation as less different than previous technology than do those who intend to adopt later.
(Vowles, Thirkell, & Sinha, 2011). The IT specialist did mention this as well, however they
did mention that these early IT adopters have to keep improving and innovating to keep their
competitive advantage, because other organizations will eventually follow the early IT
adopters technology or even improve their technology. The productivity paradox is not
applicable (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000).
39
that a group of actors are willing to use a system if they believe it will support their position
of power. If employees think that it might cause them to lose power, they will resist.
Also
people will resist new technology, if they perceive inequity. The IT account managers and IT
specialists mentioned that the contact persons form the organizations are mostly not resistant
to technology. But more the employees from operational functions or even from the IT
departments, because new technologies as cloud computing or machine learning applications
could replace their job.
Martinko(1996) et al. suggest that resistance to IT depend on the
interaction of a number of factors as internal and external influences, but also the individual’s
prior experience with the technology. External influences mentions by the IT specialist, were
competitors, pressure from Dutch or European regulations or expectations from users.
Resistance because of uncertainty and risk during the innovation adoption decision process of
new innovations. The IT specialist especially mentioned that clients who has no technology
knowledge are more uncertain because of the thought of ambiguity of the organizational
ability to create added value with IT innovation could be uncertain and also a managerial risk.
IT innovations are considered complex, because knowledge barriers could complicate the
implementation of innovations. Angst et al(2010) concluded, that larger and well established
firms have less trouble with analysing benefits & observing pilot tests of new innovations.
Not all the interviewees agreed with this statement. The IT specialist did mention that larger
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However, larger organisations are also mentioned as more rigid in comparison with smaller
companies., because of many stakeholders, regulations and slow decision-making process by
top management. Yet, smaller firms may not have the budget.
And the last topic is related to customer relationships, communication, transparency
and trust. For successful IT adoption, members of the senior management must be committed
to the initiative, and must demonstrate their commitment by being visibly involved with the
project (Sarker & Lee, 1999). The IT specialists mentioned that if their clients communicate
their thought-out plans with their employees, by sharing information will increase mutual
understanding and trust between the management and employees. But also between the
technology organization and their client. Agile software method helps the IT specialist to be
more transparent and communicate and getting feedback about the IT adoption process. To
get an overall understanding of the new technology within the organization.
(Sarker & Lee,
1999).
Thus, IT specialist and IT account managers mentioned that they did not perceive technology
resistance from their clients at the beginning of most of the IT adoption processes. Clients are
enthusiastic about new technology trends like cloud computing or applications which are
using machine learning, because they have heard many good stories about these technologies.
However, they perceived technology resistance during the IT adoption process, when the
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