Master Thesis How and why does age shape the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction?

Master Thesis

How and why does age shape the relationship between ICT adoption and

job satisfaction?

Tess Mollerus S2144654

Supervisor: Dr. M. L. Hage

Co-assessor: Dr. I. M. De Bresser

Date: January 23

, 2017

Word count: 18802

MSc. BA Change Management

Faculty of Economics and Business

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ... 2

LITERATURE REVIEW ... 6

ICT adoption and job satisfaction... 6

The role of age in the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction ... 9

This research... 12

METHODOLOGY ... 13

This research approach ... 13

Research context and case selection ... 13

Data Collection ... 13

In-depth interviews and participant observation ... 15

Data analysis and coding process ... 16

RESULTS ... 17

Context and observations ... 17

Within case analysis of the older group ... 19

Older employees’ perceptions of ICT and the ICT adoption process ... 19

Older employees’ perceptions of the role of ICT and ICT adoption on their job satisfaction ... 20

Within case analysis of the younger group ... 24

Younger employees’ perceptions of ICT and the ICT adoption process ... 24

Younger employees’ perceptions of ICT and ICT adoption on their job satisfaction. ... 25

Cross-case analysis ... 28

How: key differences between the age groups ... 28

Why: underlying mechanisms of the role of age ... 32

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ... 36

Propositions ... 36

Managerial implications ... 41

Limitations and future research ... 41

REFERENCES ... 43

APPENDICES ... 49

Appendix I : interview outline ... 49

Appendix II: Coding process ... 51

Codebooks older group ... 52

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INTRODUCTION

Because of demographical changes such as reduced fertility, decreased mortality, and increased migration, the population and hence the workforce are aging (Barnes-Farrell & Matthews, 2007; Mahon & Millar, 2014). This latter phenomenon is known as the ‘greying of the workforce’ (Tams, Grover & Thatcher, 2014). The workforce will continue to age and the number of young employees is expected to decline (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2011). Therefore, this trend is expected to continue in most industrialized countries coming decades

(Truxillo, Cadiz & Hammer, 2014). Despite the fact that very few studies considered older employees in work settings (Wagner et al., 2010), organizations can expect a growing proportion of older

employees with substantial implications, e.g. the challenge of familiarity with digital information and

communication technologies (ICTs) for older employees (Miller & Lockett, 2014).

Tams, Grover and Thatcher (2014, p. 285) notice that ‘while the workforce is aging, ICTs used in work settings to fulfil primary tasks and responsibilities associated with most work roles, are rapidly becoming ever more modern (Benbasat & Zmud, 1999; OECD, 2010a, 2010b)’. There is a

contradiction between this trend of the greying workforce and the rise of modernity in jobs, which may cause that some older employees’ perception of the working of ICTs may not meet the requirements to work with modern ICTs (Ziefle and Bay, 2005). For that reason, this first trend, the greying workforce, needs to be examined in conjunction with an important second trend in work settings; the increasing use of ICT.

Organizations across the world are relying increasingly on the use of ICTs for the internal

dissemination of key corporate information, whether this is via email, intranet, mobile technologies, or multimedia applications (Greenwood & Cooke, 2008). As work settings and the conditions are

changing rapidly, the necessity to integrate business and technical systems calls for novel ICT

frameworks and solutions to remain concurrent in highly competitive markets (El Kadiri et al., 2016). Consequently, in order to succeed, companies must be at the forefront of modern day ICT and should have efficient processes (Casey, 2015).

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have to juggle this demographical change in conjunction with the proliferation of increasingly modern ICT (Pak, Price & Thatcher, 2009).

Because these demographical changes and rapidly ICT developments are non-volitional, its impact on organizations become essential (Henry & Stone, 1995). As ICT continues its proliferation in work settings, it has been predicted that all organizational professionals will be using some form of ICT this decade (Henry & Stone, 1995). Importantly, the introduction of new ICTs has a remarkable positive as well as negative potential to change job satisfaction (Korunka & Vitouch, 1999). Because ICT

developments are inevitably increasing, job satisfaction should be considered a significant indicator of ICT success (Henry & Stone, 1995). It has been shown that that job satisfaction is the most frequently studied organizational variable (Wright, 2006; Spector, 1997). Besides, job satisfaction is correlated to a lot of relevant organizational variables. For instance, apart from being an important factor for divergent personal outcomes, e.g. job performance (Jex & Britt, 2008; Judge, Thoresen, Bono & Patton, 2001), and voluntary job turnover (Carmeli, 1991), job satisfaction is directly linked to the success of the organization (Attar & Sweiss, 2010). Hence, the importance of job satisfaction is well evidenced by these volumes of studies and amounts of correlates with this organizational concept (Elias, Smith & Barney, 2012).

Whilst there is a rise in popularity of both ICT- and job satisfaction researches, there is a lack of empirical research into the relationship between these concepts (Attar & Sweiss, 2010). Elias, Smith and Barney (2012) mention the existence of a relationship between ICT implementation and job satisfaction. This finding may reinforce the conclusion of Attar and Sweiss (2010), that the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction has been shown to be mostly positive.

However, as will be described in the literature section, there are mixed findings about this relationship. Exploring this relationship is of great relevance as the increasing use of ICT within organizations is changing the nature of work and requires the learning of new and different skills (Czaja & Sharit, 1993). This may affect job satisfaction, which is one of the most important organizational variables (Henry & Stone, 1995).

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tends to be positive, but the relationship may become negative when aspects of the work itself (e.g. the necessity to utilise new ICTs) are thought to be negative (Barnes-Farrell & Matthews 2007)”.

However, the explanatory role of age on a relationship between antecedent and dependent variables, is a black-box concept; the effect is not clear and even the few studies on age are relied on stereotypical accounts (Tams, Grover & Thatcher, 2014). Because this black box concept needs to be unpacked, the underlying mechanisms (the how and why) of age as effect on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction will be explored in this research.

Elias, Smith and Barney (2012) have found that age moderates the relationship between attitude towards ICT and overall job satisfaction, in such a way that the positive relationship is stronger among older employees. The reason why Elias, Smith and Barney (2012) explored age as effect is the

argument that ‘given that younger employees have typically had greater experience with ICT when compared to older employees, their attitudes towards ICT should not be as influential on

organizational outcome variables’ (P. 255). However, why and how age shapes this relationship needs to be explored more in-depth. It is expected that there are more explanatory factors of the role of age, that are not clear yet (Tams, Grover & Thatcher 2014). There are a few reasons why the assumption is made in current research that experience is not the only main explanation for the effect of age on this relationship;

First, the data used for Elias, Smith and Barney’s research (2012) was collected in 1997. Years later, concomitant with the rapidly increasing use of ICT in work settings and the greying workforce, the implementation and use of new business ICTs has become so pervasive that ICT adoption is now seen as a routine part of daily operations (Morris, Venkatesh & Ackerman, 2005). Besides, in many cases, older adults are the fastest growing computer and internet user group in work settings (Wagner, Hassanein & Head, 2010). Moreover, according to Peslak (2005), ICT’s influences in business started from 1950s. Because current older employee group (50+) grew up around the 1950s, it is more likely that they are grown up with more ICT surrounding them in comparison to older generations. This may have important implications for the role of age in combination with ICT experience, because alongside young employees, old employees are also expected to include ICT in their daily work life. As result, older employees at this moment in time, have had a greater exposure to ICTs as compared to the older employees at the time of the data collection of Elias, Smith and Barneys’ research. Moreover, this implies that Morris and Venkatesh’s (2000) statement that older employees did not have the opportunity to interact with ICT in their youth, can be questioned nowadays.

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been exposed to, is relevant or not to be applied in the work setting. For instance, Peslak (2005) mentioned that ICT’s influence on work settings has been introduced in the 1950s. However, before 1971 a computer was only seen as “anything but a big, fast, electronic brain that resided in a climate-controlled room” (Freed, 1995). This shows that ICT experience needs to be aligned with the requirements for adopting the new ICTs effectively. If this is not the case, the ICT experience which the employee has, is not likely to make ICT adoption easier.

Moreover, because of the increasing use of ICT on the work floor, other explanatory factors of the role of age may arise. Elias, Smith and Barney (2012) state that implementation of new ICTs at work has certainly outpaced the empirical research and examining the links between ICT and employee age is recommended. In addition, if the needs of older users are not addressed, the rapid rate of ICT change coupled with age-related changes in all of us will likely leave not only today’s older adults but also tomorrow’s older adults digitally excluded (Hanson, 2010). This exclusion may lead to an decrease in job satisfaction (Mor Barak, Findler, & Wind, 2003). Yet, the interdependencies inherent in the two above mentioned trends in the work environment (the greying workforce and the rapid ICT

transformation occurring in work settings (Ginn & Arber, 1996)), have remained largely unexplored, although we know that age is a salient dimension of human interactions with ICT (Tams, 2014). In addition, Morris, Venkatesh and Ackerman (2005) explored age as effect on determinants of ICT use, and they recommend future research to investigate the effect of age on the relationship between ICT use and job outcomes, such as job satisfaction. Therefore, this research is aimed to search explanatory mechanisms of the role of age on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction. This research will explore this effect with an in-depth research, because it is plausible that deeper insights will emerge. This exploration is relevant because age is still a black-box concept in explaining the relationship between ICT and job satisfaction, which needs to be unpacked. In addition, both organizations and (older) employees struggle with increasing ICTs and the greying workforce.

Based on abovementioned literature, I would like to propose the following research question: “How

and why does age shape the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction?”. By addressing

this research question, I aim to provide a thorough theoretical understanding of the mechanisms underlying the age effect on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction. Therefore the aim of this research is to bridge this literature gap by providing theory development on the role of age on ICT adoption and job satisfaction.

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ICT in work settings. Moreover, as mentioned above, job satisfaction is correlated to many important organizational factors, e.g. job performance (Jex & Britt, 2008), voluntary job turnover (Carmeli, 1991) and life satisfaction (Kumar, 2002; Judge & Watanabe, 1993; Attar & Sweiss, 2010). As a result, recommendations for improvements in job satisfaction may positively affect multiple variables such as job performance, job turnover and life satisfaction. Moreover, creating responsive human resource programs is an important managerial challenge as organizations face the greying of the workforce (Kim & Gordon, 2014), especially in combination with rapidly evolving ICTs (Platero-Jaime, Rodríguez-Duarte & Benito-Hernández, 2016). A deeper understanding of older employees’ motives may help to guide management to meet the needs of a greying workforce and encourage older employees to remain committed and active members in the workforce (Barnes-Farrell & Matthews, 2007). Gaining new explanatory insights about the effect of age on ICT adoption and job satisfaction can be a first step. This study contributes to available literature by formulating propositions about the role of age on this relationship.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This literature review provides coverage of several relevant areas. First, the organizational importance of the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction is reviewed. This is followed by an overview of age-related literature as effect on ICT adoption and job satisfaction, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the role of age. While both age and ICT use are increasing in work settings, there is a lack of available literature that clarify the role of age in combination with ICT adoption and job satisfaction. Therefore, a explorative study needs to be done to find explanatory mechanisms.

ICT adoption and job satisfaction

In this section, relevant literature about ICT adoption and job satisfaction is provided. There are mixed findings about the relationship between these concepts. Evidence shows that the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction tends to be positive (Form & McMillen, 1983; Attar & Sweiss, 2010). However, as detailed below, different factors may influence this relationship (e.g. gender, experience with ICT, education). Importantly, age is not yet explained as effect on this relationship.

ICT adoption is “a process, starting with the user becoming aware of the ICT, and ending with the user embracing the ICT and making full use of it” (Renaud & Biljon, 2008, p.210). ICT adoption is

relevant because it has become a routine in work settings (Morris,Venkatesh & Ackerman, 2005). Because of the increasing ICT use in work settings (Platero-Jaime, Rodríguez-Duarte &

Benito-Hernández, 2016), employees have no choice but to adopt ICTs. This emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of ICT adoption and its consequences.

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satisfaction. Two accurate definitions of job satisfaction have been developed by Locke (1976, p.1300) and Price (2001, p.605): “the affective orientation that an employee has towards his/her work” and "a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences", respectively. Job satisfaction is a broad concept which contains multiple subdomains, e.g. workload, compensation, organizational fairness, autonomy, etc. (Hinami, Whelan, Wolosin, Miller and Wettereck, 2012). This ensures that it is a complex phenomenon to study. However, it is critical for organizations to identify specific needs of their employees to ensure a high job satisfaction

(Vansteenkiste, Neyrinck, Niemiec, Soenens, De Witte & van den Broeck, 2007). In addition, because of the large amount of correlates with this organizational concept (Elias, Smith & Barney, 2012), important consequences may result when employees are dissatisfied. For example, job satisfaction may reduce voluntary turnover (Carmeli, 1991), may increase commitment (Judge & Hulin, 1993), and is positively related to life satisfaction (Attar & Sweiss, 2010). Moreover, job satisfaction is critical to ICT-success because dissatisfaction may lead to consequences such as system complaints, reluctance to use the system, and a potential decrease in performance (Henry and Stone, 1995).

As mentioned before, the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction entails mixed empirical findings (as represented in table 1.1). For example, Form & McMillen (1983) found a mostly positive relationship between the introduction of new ICTs (changes in ICT equipment). This effect was stronger for men than women. Second, Henry and Stone (1995) emphasized the importance of management support, system ease of use, and system experience in order to affect system success in terms of job satisfaction. Limbu, Jayachandran and Babin (2014) found that ICT factors (i.e.

infrastructure, training, and support) only influence job satisfaction indirectly through sales force administrative performance, where administrative performance can be defined as ‘the extent to which ICTs affect the quality of salesperson planning, time management, and reporting’ (p. 1237). Moreover, Selwyn (2004) states that there is a host of benefits of ICT for older adults such as interaction benefits or task-orientated goals, which may lead to an increase in job satisfaction. Furthermore, Mynatt and Rogers (2002) argue that ICT use can maximize independence for older adults. This independency may lead to an increase of job satisfaction (Eaton-Walley and Lowe, 2004). Moreover, Korunka, Weiss, Karetta and Huemer (1995) found no significant effect between the introduction of new ICT (the first implementation of visual display units at a work setting) and job satisfaction. In their research, effects on job satisfaction were only visible when contextual factors, e.g. participation and job content, were included in the analysis. They concluded that low participation of employees significantly decreased job satisfaction after the introduction of new ICTs, whereas job content positively affected job satisfaction when the work with new ICTs was diversified. Job satisfaction tended to decrease when the job content included low qualifications with menial, monotonous work at visual display units. Korunka et al (1995) also state that a participatory managerial style may

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In short, there are different findings about the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction. Interrelated factors and individual difference may account for these differences. This research is focused on age as explanatory effect on this relationship because of a few reasons. First, the role of age is not yet clear in this context. Age is a black-box concept which needs to be unpacked to explain the underlying mechanisms of this effect (Tams, Grover & thatcher, 2014). Second, Clark (1993) found that age differences in job satisfaction are larger than differences in factors such as gender and education. Third, Korunka, Weiss, Karetta & Huemer (1995) argue that new ICTs may cause a polarisation (improvement for certain groups of employees and deterioration for other groups) of job satisfaction. In combination that age matters for ICT adoption (Morrs & Venkatesh, 2000), this demonstrates that new ICT adoption can be perceived differently by various groups of employees and age can be seen as being a significant factor. Finally, age is both related to job satisfaction (e.g. Weaver, 1980; Barnes-Farrell & Matthews, 2007) and ICT adoption (e.g. Czaja & Sharit, 1993; Morris & Venkatesh, 2000; Hanson, 2010) which might suggest an age effect on the relationship between these concepts. Hence, a study is needed to provide a deeper understanding of age on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction. Next section will outline relevant literature about age in this context.

The role of age in the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction In this section, the available literature of age on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction is described. Despite the evidence that age has an important influence on ICT usage in work settings (Czaja & Sharit, 1993), existing literature mainly shows that the role of age is unclear and multi-faced; limited insight into the role of age in phenomena involving ICTs is available (Tams, Grover & Thatcher, 2014). How age plays a role on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction, remains vague or contradicting in literature.

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Furthermore, as result of the continued influx of ICT incorporated in work settings, tasks become more complex (Lewis, 1996) and the nature of work changes and requires the learning of new and different skills (Czaja & Sharit, 1993). For that reason, the number of employees that need to be (re)trained in order to hold on with the changes in their work tasks, is rising (Culpan, 1995). Hence, the nature of work is changing (Czaja & Sharit, 1993), which may influence job satisfaction.

Importantly, there are mixed findings of the effect of ICT trainings on different age groups. On the one hand, Gist, Rosen, & Schwoerer (1988) found that older trainees exhibited significantly lower

performance after a training in the acquisition of computer software skills, as compared to younger trainees. On the other hand, despite that Ford, Ledbetter and Roberts (1994) also found is an age difference in reacting on ICT trainings, they concluded that training had the greatest impact on older employees in improvement of computer use. Moreover, Ziefle and Bay (2005) found that despite that older adults had a lower willingness to use the complex model, performance of older and younger users was equivalent. These finding show that age groups may respond differently at ICT (trainings), but that there is no clarity in literature yet. Applying this to job satisfaction, it is important to

understand how performance can be improved (by ICT trainings), because effective performance mostly increases job satisfaction (Judge, et al., 2001; Jex & Britt, 2008).

As earlier mentioned, one of the reasons that current research searches for underlying mechanisms of age on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction, is that age is related to both ICT adoption and job satisfaction. However, mixed findings about the influence of age with either ICT adoption and job satisfaction exist. Starting with age and job satisfaction, research supports a positive correlation between these concepts (e.g. Weaver, 1980; Quinn & Staines, 1979; Gibson & Klein, 1970), where the age-satisfaction relationship is a part of the aging process and can be explained by changing needs and changing cognitive structures associated with age (Gibson and Klein, 1970). However, other research found a U-shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction (Clark, Oswald & Warr, 1996; Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson & Capwell, 1957), that can be explained by a sequential order that employees experience; from being a newcomer who feels positively about the novel situation, to a feeling of boredom and decreasing opportunities, to a satisfying end state where an employee comes in terms of his/her occupational role (Clark, Oswald and Warr, 1996). It can be argued that these different findings about the relationship between age and job satisfaction, depend on multiple factors. With the addition of ICT adoption in current research, new insights may arise.

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system to adopt an innovation’ (Rogers, 2003, p. 284). ICT may inconvenience older laggards and this trend is likely to continue in future decades (Hill, Beynon-Davies & Williams, 2008). Consequently, age-based inequalities in adoption patterns are cause for concern (Hanson, 2010). In contrast, it could also be argued that older elderly are dispelling the myth that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" by adopting computer ICT in surprising numbers (Galusha, 1998). Because older adults are the fastest growing computer and internet user group in work settings (Wagner et al, 2010), a smaller gap between older and younger employees that use ICT is ensured. Overall, despite that age is an critical factor for ICT adoption in work settings, exiting literature is limited. Even the few ICT-studies to age-related effects on ICT adoption are often explained by stereotypical accounts, where age is explained by a negative stereotype of older people (Tams, Grover & Thatcher, 2014). It appears that gaining a better theoretical understanding of age differences is important, particularly as they relate to user acceptance and usage of new ICTs in work settings (Morris & Venkatesh, 2000). In combination with an increasingly greying workforce, the relevance of age is indicated (Czaja & Sharit, 1993).

Importantly, besides the mixed findings of the role of age on either ICT adoption and job satisfaction, age is the central pillar of this research because it is an essential variable in work settings that may affect the relationship between these concepts. As mentioned above, generally, the relationship between age and job satisfaction is positive. However, Elias, Smith & Barney (2012) state that “this relationship may turn negative when aspects of the work itself (e.g. the necessity to utilise new ICT) are thought to be negative (Barnes-Farrel & Matthews, 2007)”. Moreover, while older employees mostly lack in experience with new ICTs (Czaja & Sharit, 1993), younger people are believed to be better equipped to adapt to new ICTs (Elias, Smith & Barney, 2012). In combination that that new ICTs can cause a polarisation (Korunka, Weiss, Karetta & Huemer, 1995), this may influence how older and younger employees perceive ICT adoptions, which may affect their job satisfaction

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satisfaction. Last, with the greying workforce and the increasing use of ICTs (Tams, Thatcher & Grover, 2014), it is of real importance to understand how job satisfaction, the most frequently studied organizational variable (Wright, 2006; Spector, 1997), is affected by these trends. Therefore, theory development is needed to explore this phenomenon. Codes obtained from research that are used for the results, are showed in table 1.2 and figure 1.

Table 1.2. Literature where the deductive codes are retrieved from.

Figure 1. Deductive codes that will be used for coding the interviews of both age groups .

This research

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METHODOLOGY

In this section, the research approach, the context and case selection are outlined. This is followed by an critical view on quality criteria for this research, and a description of in-depth interviews and observations. In conclusion, the data analysing and coding are defined.

This research approach

In this research, the underlying mechanisms of the effect of age on ICT adoption and job satisfaction are explored. Deductive methods are used to develop an initial understanding of this relationship. Hereafter, qualitative data collection methods (interviews and participant observations) are used. This ensured a deeper understanding of the uniqueness of the organization as part of particular contexts and interactions (Patton, 1985). Additionally, this provided the opportunity to gain further insights in complex social phenomena (Yin, 2003). This approach fits this research phenomenon, because the aim was to dive in the role of age deeply to find mechanisms that explain the role of age at the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction.

Research context and case selection

In this section, the research context and the method used for case selection are outlined. For this study, two polar groups (older and younger employees) are selected within the operation department of finance in one of the largest Dutch banking companies. The interviews of this research are conducted in a bank, because this sector particularly needs to use ICT to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services offered to customers, improve business processes, as well as to enhance managerial

decision making and workgroup collaborations (Luka & Frank, 2012). The context is elaborated in the result section where descriptions of observations are included.

For the case selection, an older and a younger group of participants are interviewed. This selection is made, because it makes sense to choose cases such as extreme situations and polar types in which the process of interest is transparently observable (Pettigrew, 1990). Consequently, ten older employees aged fifty years or older, and eight younger employees aged between twenty-four and thirty-four years are studied. Next to the age inclusion criteria, all participants were experiencing switches in their work because of ICT adoptions. These switches with ICT adoptions are elaborated in the result section.

Data Collection

In this research, triangulation, the combination of methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon (Denzin, 1978, p.291), is used as tool to gain accurate findings. Thurmond (2001) states that benefits of triangulation include “increasing confidence in research data, creating innovative ways of

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of collecting data, a stronger substantiation of constructs and propositions is built (Eisenhardt, 1989). Moreover, repeated observations, can help rule out spurious associations and premature theories (Becker & Geer, 1957). Because criteria of controllability, validity and reliability have been integrated in the data collection, the quality of the findings of this research are improved.

Quality criteria: controllability, validity and reliability

In this section, the criteria for controllability, reliability and validity are outlined together with the methods that are used to increase the research quality. First, this research dealy with controllability. This refers to the testability or verifiability of the results. The study needs to be described in such a way that another person is able to replicate it (van Aken, Berends & Bij, 2012). In order to meet the criteria of controllability, the interviews are recorded so that it was possible to rehear interviews again when necessary and to focus on the participant and the interview at that moment. The focus on observation and the possibility of rehearing answers led to an analysis that is more accurate.

Additionally, field notes were made to report the observations. Therefore possible distortions during the interviews are minimized and provided data is used properly during the analysis .

Second, the reliability is tried to be maximized. Results are reliable when they are independent of the particular characteristics of this study and can therefore be replicated in other studies (Yin, 2003). To increase reliability, secondary data of the organization (existing documents about the context of the organization) are used to complement primary data (interviews and observations). In addition, the interview outline is discussed with the department manager as a pilot interview, in order to get questions that are most accurate and informative. Moreover, responses are collected from different angles in the organization, e.g. a HR manager, the department manager, participants and the head of the department, which provided a broader scope of insights.

In order to control for an instrument bias, observations and in-depth interviews are combined. In addition, key results are discussed with the department manager for refinement. Moreover, research is more reliable when a situation bias is prevented. Therefore, observations and in-depth interviews are examined in one organization and all interviews are conducted in the same room in two weeks’ time to make sure that outcomes were not influenced by other aspects, such as a new (ICT) developments within the department or organization. However, because one department is studied, the

generalizability of the study is limited. Nonetheless, this study was not aimed to reach generalization, but to interpret the meaning of different phenomena (Bleijenbergh, 2013). These studies are of an exploratory nature (Yin, 2009). In order to gain accurate answers, all participants are ensured that their results are used confidentially (Ong & Weiss, 2000).

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way they are generated (Van Aken et al., 2012). In this research, underlying mechanisms of one business phenomenon are explored thoroughly with data retrieved from interviews. Because of the depth this research dived in and the use of triangulation, construct validity is approximated. This depth of the research also caused a high internal validity, allowing the researcher to confidently claim what caused a certain outcome in the study (Baxter & Babbie, 2004). The inclusion of an observation day and a conversation with the department manager after the conduction of the interviews as feedback loop, increased the validity of the results. Moreover, data obtained by observations within the organization, conversations with the manager, and a discussion about the interview outline with the manager in advance, are used to create more accurate interview questions. In addition, probing during interviews is used for later interviews with other participants. By conducting the interviews in an organization, the interviews and behaviours are occurring in a natural setting and therefore more accurate (van Aken, 2012). This caused an increase in external validity. Finally, in order to increase external validity, the context of the study and the potential influences of the researcher are described.

In-depth interviews and participant observation

For the interviews, the participants were invited by an email of the researcher which included a short explanation of the research content. In addition, the definition of ICT adoption was added in order to give the employees time to think about a specific ICT adoption and in order to make sure that all participants had an equal idea of the definition. It is important to note that, in order to ensure clear communication, participants were also informed by management about the interview. As it is discussed in research limitations, this may have affected their openness in the interviews.

Interviews provide in-depth information pertaining to participants’ experiences and viewpoints of a particular topic (Turner, 2010). The used questions are semi-structured, but with the possibility to adapt in order to explore a more personal approach to each interview (Aken, Berends & Bij, 2012). After introducing the interview and asking permission to record it, the interview was started with a simple open question to make the participants feel comfortable. This was followed by the core

questions. The interview outline contained five main topics: the ICT application, change in work tasks, change in job satisfaction, colleagues experiences (old-young) and ICT in the future, each consisting of multiple questions, each including possible probes (appendix I).

Furthermore, participant observation is used because it helps researchers to learn the perspectives held by study populations (Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Guest & Namey, 2005), and to answer

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account by informing the participants on beforehand, by asking probing questions during the interview, and by rephrasing some answers of the participants in order to make sure the answers are well received. Observations may provide clues to guide the interpretation, because detailed

observation of people’s behavior in a ‘natural’ setting has an apparently irresistible validity (Gillham, 2005). For that reason, observations are conducted before, during and after the interviews.

The first observation day, an appointment with the head of the department (Global Finance Services) took place, followed by accompanying appointments with the department manager. Some of these appointments were with participants of current research. Importantly, this might have fuelled findings, since those participants may have perceived the interviews as imposed by management. To counter this, participants were ensured that interviews were confidential. After the observations during the interview days, one last observation day is used in order to gain insights how key preliminary results were perceived by the manager and to refine some interview outcomes. Importantly, she confirmed most of the results which means that the outcomes are more valid.

Data analysis and coding process

After the conduction, every single interview is analysed by reading, coding and interpreting them separately. As soon as the interviews were conducted and transcribed, the qualitative analysis is started with coding. Due to this, new understandings of the first interviews could be used for probe questions in next interviews. This means that, in order to direct next interviews and observations, data collection and data analysis in this research were interrelated processes (Corbin and Strauss, 1990).

Data was first analysed by a within-case analyses for each individual case. After the within-case analyses, the cases are compared in the cross-case analysis. To do an accurate cross-case analysis between the older and younger group, key is to counteract the assumption that people are notoriously poor processors of information by looking at the data in many divergent ways (Eisenhardt, 1989). A selection of two groups is made to look for within-group similarities firstly, followed by the search to intergroup differences. In addition, next to the interviews, observations are made before, during and after the in-depth interviews to gain a better idea of the research context.

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able to adjust labels when needed. This was followed by the second step, axial coding, where sub codes were placed in ‘core’ codes and where these codes could be compared. In order to compare and gain new insights, this was again an iterative process. Thirdly, in the selective coding step, all ‘core’ codes were overseen and placed in categories. In these categories, the most essential aspects of the research are obtained. This is especially done in the cross-case analysis. Hereafter, raw data and existing literature are compared in order to obtain propositions. A variety of devices such as tabular displays and graphs are used to manage and present qualitative data, without destroying the meaning of the data through intensive coding (Miles and Huberman, 1984). The process of coding is attached in Appendix II.

Because participants have experienced more ICT adoptions and because ICT adoption can be a broad concept, three different examples of ICT adoptions are distinguished in the interviews. This is represented in the result section. Besides, as earlier mentioned, the definition of ICT adoption was added in the first invitation to gain equal thoughts of the definition. Because job satisfaction is also a broad theoretical concept that is difficult to include in interview questions, it is coded when

participants explicitly mentioned their positive affection as response to ICT adoption. For instance, used probe questions are: “How do you like that for your job?” and “Is that pleasant for you?”.

RESULTS

In this results, the analysis of the role of age on the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction is presented. This section start with a description of the context and of the observations that are conducted. Hereafter, the within-case analysis for both groups is described to compare the data within both the older and younger age groups. This first analysis is done in order to analyse how perceptions of ICT influence work and how this affects job satisfaction. The within-case analyses is divided into two themes: ‘The perceptions of the ICT and the ICT process’ and ‘Perceptions of the role of ICT and ICT adoption on their job satisfaction’. The deductive codes derived from the literature review (experience, openness to change and independency) are elaborated under these themes. After using the codes for both groups, a comparison is made in the cross-case analysis. Herein, key differences and the underlying mechanisms of the role of age as the effect on the

relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction, are described. The full codebook is provided in appendix III.

Context and observations

Data is collected at one of the largest Dutch banks. The studied department is responsible for

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in their way of working. As an HR manager of the organization mentions: “The organization is facing

changes from a traditional to a new way of working”. In comparison to other departments, the studied

department is just at the beginning of the change phase. Due to the goal of the studied organization’s to be the largest leading bank in ICT, this change is important in order to become more efficient and to keep up with the digitalization that is becoming increasingly important in rapidly changing work settings. The participants need to adopt new ICTs quickly and they know that these ICT adoptions are just a first step. As the department manager confirmed, this is important to keep in mind because during the conduction of the interviews and observations, participants are situated in an insecure and changing environment as result of ICT. This may influence how they perceive ICT adoptions.

Furthermore, many activities done by banks are switching to a digital; such as the automation of work tasks and online banking. This ensures a decline in the amount of jobs within banks. The chance of getting fired is increased while the chance of getting hired for a new job after execution is decreased. For current research, this might be important as it may affect the employee’s feeling about ICT adoptions and consequently, their job satisfaction. Age may play a part in this because older employees are used to long-term, fixed, stable jobs, whereas young employees have entered the organization whilst there is already a trend of “job hopping”. Moreover, because younger employees have more years left to work, their chance to get a new job after being terminated is higher.

The first conversation with the department manager in combination with a few attended meetings gave an initial idea of the structure and atmosphere in the department. Whilst the atmosphere in the head building was renewing without new fixed offices, the studied department was still bureaucratic and hierarchical. The head and the managers of the department had their own office and the participants worked in shared offices. People acted formally in interactions with each other. Moreover, it was noticeable that older employees are in majority when you enter the organization, which may be relevant for this research. Furthermore, the head of Global Finance Services addressed that less people are needed for similar activities due to reorganizations. Accordingly, some older employees may perceive ICT as a threat to their job. In contrast, for younger employees, new ICT adoptions

opportunities to improve their skills. According to him, younger employees have grown up with ICT and it is connected in their brain. It is part of their DNA which makes it easier to adopt. Older

employees have experience within the organization on their side and seek to take advantage of this. It is important to note that this conversation took place before the interviews, because it may have fuelled the analysis, as described in the research limitations section.

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used from any computer. Secondly, more ‘physical’ ICT adoptions are mentioned where they distinguished a new telephone as a headset, a new manner of printing, or new laptop. Thirdly,

participants were talking about ICT adoption in a general way. They indicated how they perceive ICT developments surrounding them and how this is affecting their work. In the results, the specific ICT adoption participants talk about is indicated by a label (ICT1, 2, or 3).

Table 3.1. Specific ICT adoption within the department.

Within case analysis of the older group

For this older group case analysis, the introduction of the ICT adoption is made, which is followed by the most interesting consequences as perceived by the participants that affect their job satisfaction.

Older employees’ perceptions of ICT and the ICT adoption process

To introduce the ICT adoption, older employees’ perceptions about ICT adoption are described in this theme. The included categories are the ICT adoption process and specific ICT perceptions (table 3.2).

ICT adoption process

Transition periods are important for ICT adoption processes. Despite their enthusiasm for the decrease in manual tasks after ICT adoption, it takes time for older employees to adopt new ICTs and get used to working with them. Some of them state that introductions of ICT adoptions are more often

inconvenient than not. This is a recurring trend under older participants, which can be explained by a lack of time to get acquainted with it and to gain expertise on how to use ICT more effectively.

Other participants mention that there is a lack of clear communication and it is unclear which direction the organization is going. ICT adoptions are implemented in their job when they are not ready yet and they have to search it out themselves. Furthermore, older participants acknowledge that they are generally slow adopters. This may be due to several reasons that are described in next themes.

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As mentioned earlier, there are different ICTs that were subject in the interviews. Older participants perceive all three ICT examples (ICT1, 2, and 3) just as a tool. Partold9 state: “I don’t perceive

technology [ICT1] any differently than just as a tool that I need to execute my work. Just as a carpenter opens his toolbox, I open my PC every morning”. Because it is imposed by management,

they acknowledge that they do not have a choice whether to work with it or not. The physical switches (ICT2) are less difficult to grasp for the older participants. There are still some inequalities in their satisfaction with these updates, but again they mostly perceive it just as a tool that can make their work either easier or slower. The majority of older employees explicitly mention their belief that they need to keep up with ICT adoptions in general in their job (ICT3), because they cannot deny its evolution is inevitable. However, they also mention the increasing dependence on ICT in the

organization which is associated with future worries. Because of the amount of ICT switches in their career, they know how fast changes can go in the coming decades. Some of them emphasize that they attach importance to continuity. Accordingly, employees and organizations should not run with all new ICTs, without being aware and considering the consequences thoroughly, such as the human aspect. Despite the pace of ICT, they try to keep up, as PartOld9 quotes: “Every day, every month,

every year it stays a challenge; can we still follow it? Because we are part of an information machine. Without technology we can do nothing”. In addition, older participants note that the social aspect in

their work is decreasing. As PartOld1 mentions: “It is a pity that you actually look at a screen all

day”. Moreover, they note that there is already a gap with the generation above them in coping with

rapid ICT changes. For the oldest generation, it is more difficult to adopt ICTs, as PartOld7 states: “I can imagine that for very old people, it can be quite difficult, if I personally see my mother who is doing her best but sometimes finds it very difficult. The most important consequences of ICT as

influence on their job satisfaction are outlined in next theme.

Table 3.2. Older employees’ ICT perception.

Older employees’ perceptions of the role of ICT and ICT adoption on their job satisfaction

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dimensional in this spectrum. This implies that it is possible that every participant could have mentioned more than one, or even all factors of this spectrum in their interview.

Figure 2.1. Older employees’ job satisfaction in response to ICT adoptions

 Decrease manual tasks (PartOld1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9)

Older participants indicate their enthusiasm towards ICT adoption because of the decrease in manual tasks, which gives them more time. For example PartOld1 mentions: “Well, you can do a lot more

than before”. In that sense, ICT gives more possibilities which influences their job satisfaction

positively. Two examples show this: Partold6:“Manual tasks are no enjoyable to do, so I think that is

positive”. And PartOld9: “The less I have to do manually, the more preferable”. Moreover, ICTs may

lead to an increasing flexibility. For example, the laptop enables participants to be able to work from different places. Furthermore, due to the greater focus on difficult and more detailed tasks, older participants can give the customer/manager information faster and more precisely which is important for their work output and job satisfaction. For example, on the probe question “And how is this [ICT2]

related to the satisfaction of your job?” PartOld4 answered: “That [ICT2] is actually the base, without technology I cannot get my job satisfaction, because I like it if the process is going well and that the output is the same as what you put into it”.

 Indifference (all participants)

Interestingly, all older participants express a feeling of indifference about whether ICT adoption affects them or not. The most common reason for this is that they agree that ICT changes are

inevitable, which they need to accept. They perceive ICT as a tool that should not have much influence on their job. For example PartOld5 says: “it is as it is, not good or bad”. And PartOld9: “ICT is

nothing other than a tool to execute work”. Some also mention the that ICT is always double-edged

that may lead to both advantages and disadvantages. However, despite that they express a feeling of acceptance, it is important for them that ICT should not take the overhand, as PartOld8 states: “ICT

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should not be exaggerated. There is not that much difference in jobs as result of ICT adoptions, as PartOld2 states: “I think we should not exaggerate […] It [ICT3] is simply part of your work. And you

[younger people] have grown up with it and do not know differently than working with computers. I know that things can be different. But it is what it is. So you cannot stop it, it is not possible without computers anymore, so yes, we have to go along with that process”.

 Predominating ICT (PartOld1, 2, 3, 8, and 9)

Another reason why ICT adoption may lead to more criticism is that older employees think ICT adoptions are going too fast or are becoming too much. A quote of PartOld5 explains: “At this moment

it is going too fast, it goes too fast. The whole organization is changing all systems and processes […] those changes are not moving in parallel, it is not a mess, but it all goes a bit fast. My feeling is that it is goes too fast and that you are able to keep up, but you need more time”. Moreover, older employees

express a feeling of worry about the increased hectic in their work. PartOld2 explains: “That you

constantly need to respond to stimuli. I am in a Whatsapp group with my colleagues, so also with work, I have my mobile phone. So I receive my emails that are synchronized with my laptop, so I see my work emails. The work-private boundary goes to pieces, I am worried about that”.Moreover, they cannot do anything without ICT anymore which makes them too dependent and vulnerable. When ICT does not function, people can just sit and stare. Irritation arises because they see the danger of the predominating role of ICT that will influence their job too much. For instance, the increased power of ICT changes your independency in your own work, as PartOld1 states: “The feeling that you have less

influence on what you do. You used to be more your own boss”.

 Openness to change (PartOld4 and 7 versus PartOld1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 10)

Furthermore, older employees are less enthusiastic towards ICT-adoption because of their lack of openness to change. Despite that PartOld4 and 7 explicitly mention their openness, the majority is less open for more ICT adoptions. Almost all older participants mention that they started working without ICT, which makes it more difficult for them to adapt ICTs. Another mentioned reason is that people use what they are used to, which are not the newest ICTs for them. Besides, they already experienced many switches in their job history which may make them weary of changing. Moreover, they think it is logic that older employees need to make a lot of effort changes and are less flexible for changes in general, as PartOld5 states: “I am old, so I grew up without a laptop and computer […] so you keep up

[…] But when you get older, it takes more effort”. Last, as mentioned earlier, some of them mentioned

that they attach value to continuity. Because this contradicts the fast moving environment they are facing, this may decrease their job satisfaction.

 Changing job content (PartOld1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10)

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feels irritated because they almost need to be an IT-expert to stay up to date: “You often get the feeling

that you are being thrown over the wall with a half-application. […] And then you will become more and more a half-IT person”. In addition, some older participants are willing to expand their ICT skills,

but feel that they are pushed in a corner, because the organization is not investing in their development anymore. PartOld6 explains: “Something that I fight a little against, is that you should not think that

the people who are working here for years have fallen into a certain angle, that they do not want to get out anymore”. Moreover, because of this change of job contents, they feel that their organization

specific experience is less recognized, as PartOld6 states: “Well it is not that our experience is being

requested anymore”. This affects their job satisfaction negatively.

 ICT does not work (partOld1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10)

Older participants were more critical towards ICT because it does not always function. This may lead to frustration. The most common reason for this is that they do not get the advantage that they

expected (yet). Some of them are dissatisfied with the manner how the ICTs are implemented because the system does not always work when it is being introduced. For example, PartOld3 mentions:“It

[ICT3] is more a dissatisfier. If it does not work, you are affected. And if it works, then you do not really notice something”. This is substantiated by the finding that user-friendliness is the most

common prerequisite for ICT adoption among older employees, in order to perceive an increase in their job satisfaction. PartOld9: “a requisite of technology[ICT1] for me is that the software that I use

is user-friendly, do I understand it? Is it possible to explain once and that afterwards I understand and can work with it”. If this is not the case, job satisfaction may be negatively affected. This argument

can be supported by the fact that older employee’ feeling about ICT in transition periods is mostly negative because they have a feeling of dependency on others when they need to get used to this ICT.

 Threat to jobs (PartOld1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 versus PartOld7)

The most critical perception of ICT adoption is the increasing threat to jobs. Older participants notice that ICT experience is of growing importance which is not their strength. They explicitly mention their experience in the know-hows of the organization. The reason for this might me that they want to emphasize their strength, because they are worried that their experience does not count anymore. PartOld6 explains: “I learned to do it manually, what can I do now […]It is not that experience

counts”. In combination with reorganizations and lesser job possibilities, this means that they feel less

needed in the organization. The chance of being fired is increased where ICT is perceived as competitor of jobs which creates a feeling of stress. Another quote of PartOld6 shows her concerns:

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organization loses organizational knowledge when terminating older employees. Because younger employees change jobs more often, the organization should invest in older employees in order to ensure sufficient organization specific knowledge transition. PartOld6 states: “Well I think that as

organization you need to invest more in the people who are already there with experience. They know how it used to be, how it works, and younger people, of course do not have that”. As the manager

confirmed, it may be possible that this loss of knowledge is emphasized by older employees because they are worried that this will be neglected.

Nonetheless, Partold7 explicitly mentions that she understands that colleagues perceive ICT as a threat to their job. However, for her it is different: “Personally, I do not feel it [ICT3] as threat”. A reason for this may be that she is already sixty years old and is nearing retirement which makes consequences of being fired less impactful. Furthermore, there are also older participants who mention that the threat to lose jobs as result of ICT change is more relevant for younger employees because it is their future. This will be elaborated the cross-case analysis.

Within case analysis of the younger group

The second within-case analysis is for the younger group, all codes used for previous within-case analysis that also appeared in the younger participants’ interviews are described. In addition, some new codes are added to analyse the younger group.

Younger employees’ perceptions of ICT and the ICT adoption process

Like previous within-case analysis, this section is divided in perceptions of younger participants about the ICT adoption process and specific of specific ICT perceptions (see table 3.3).

ICT adoption process

The majority of the younger participants indicate that they like to experiment with new ICT adoptions. Despite that the transition period is not always perceived as clear and management’s communication is key, they do not perceive this period as very negative as they like to find out the working of ICT themselves and ICTs are easy for them to adopt. An example quote of PartYoung8 shows: “But very

often, an application is basically thrown ‘bam’ in front of you, and you are just going to work with it, it depends on you adoption ability if you can find a way. With technologies you should have the train of thoughts to play with it for a while […] trial and error, trial and error, and you will find your way”.

Specific ICT perceptions

First, for younger participants, new updates of the system (ICT1) mostly lead to increases in flexibility, because they can use the system on every computer. Moreover, they like the decrease of manual tasks as consequence of ICT adoption, but express a feeling of irritation when they experience a decline after updates. As PartYoung8 states: “That is a shame when you shift to a new system that

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The perception of ‘physical’ ICT adoptions (ICT2) depended on which ICT adoption change was subject. For example, PartYoung7 expressed her satisfaction about the laptop, but her frustration towards the new headphones that did not work properly. Younger employees perceived ICT in general (ICT3) as inevitable that they need to keep up with. However, they also see opportunities that ICT adoption can bring. Moreover, all younger participants acknowledge that ICT adoption is easy for them because they have grown up with it. However, according to PartYoung1 there is already a difference in the ease of ICT adoption among younger employees because of the Internet switch in the nineties: “Someone who is in his 30s, has experienced the time without internet. The first time I saw

internet was when I was 12 or so […] And I think the generation born in the early nineties, has grown up with Internet completely and do much more with technology”. This may lead to a differences

within the younger group in how they perceive ICT adoptions. More extreme, some younger participants, perceive new ICT adoptions as chance to prove themselves. This will be compared to older participants in the cross-case analysis. Moreover, some younger participants mention their concerns for the future because of the dependence on ICT which causes that the human aspect might be neglected and that ICT might replace people.

Table 3.3. Younger employees’ ICT perceptions.

Younger employees’ perceptions of ICT and ICT adoption on their job satisfaction.

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Figure 2.2. Younger employees’ job satisfaction as response to ICT adoptions

 Decrease manual tasks (all younger participants)

Younger participants are very enthusiastic about ICT adoptions as it causes a decrease in manual tasks, increase in flexibility and time, improvement in the ease to find information, and above all causes a deeper focus on more interesting and difficult tasks instead of the routine work. This leads to

opportunities to improve job (outcomes) and they can utilize their day better as PartYoung5 mentions:

“I like it, because you can do more things with my day”. Moreover, the focus on more interesting,

more positively perceived tasks, causes an increase in job satisfaction. For instance, PartYoung4 states: “I am happy to see things improving and to see that we can focus more on the things we are

doing instead of processing data. Because yeah, processing data, is it interesting? No. Does it add really value to your personality? Not really”. And PartYoung6: "When more automated, there are fewer adjustments to make manually, so you actually make more time for the actual analysis that you want to do on the data […], I like it, that are nice improvements". Furthermore, some younger

participants like that work is less error prone and that the quality increases. As PartYoung3 states:

“Knowledge and quality are becoming key tasks, I am an advocate”.

 Benefiting from ICT (PartYoung1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8)

Younger participants like to experiment with ICT through trial and error, and that it keeps their job dynamic. For instance, PartYoung5 cites: “If you constantly have to do the same work, at any given

time it is not enjoyable anymore and just all these changes, in terms of technology [ICT3], makes the work you're doing more fun”. And PartYoung6: “I like it, because everything is changing constantly, you have to keep up with it yourselves and that keeps you sharp […] I like the constant new things, it keeps you alert”. Moreover, ICT adoption causes positive challenges that may affect job satisfaction

positively. As PartOld2 mentions: “Easier tasks are being automatized and cut out, with the result

that difficult tasks get more emphasis. So it offers a challenge where you can focus more on the more interesting things”. Furthermore, younger employees perceive benefits for their job because they cope

with ICT adoptions easily. For example PartYoung4 said: “It [ICT3] makes me a better professional,

faster and focus on something more productive’’. More extreme, they perceive ICT adoption as a

chance to prove themselves as being better than their colleagues. This is explained by PartYoung8:

“Well, every time a new system is implemented, I actually see it as an chance. It can also be seen as a threat, but I see it as an opportunity. […] With a switch to a new system, everyone starts at zero. And they [management] see who the fastest adopter is of the system, thus benefits can be gained. And then you have new opportunities because if you just arrived at a department, systems have been around for a long time. Everyone knows them inside out compared to you as a newcomer, then you have to make great effort to catch-up. And with a new system, that's an opportunity for yourself, I think”. These

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 Openness to change (PartYoung1, 3, 6, 7, and 8)

The majority of the younger participants are enthusiastic about ICT adoptions as it can improve their work tasks. For example PartYoung3 states: “I am actually really open to when something [ICT3] new

arrives”. A reason for this openness may be that they all mention the easiness for them to adopt new

ICTs. This is also shown in their perception of transition periods where they like to experiment with ICT in the beginning. More extremely, some younger participants really want ICT changes to happen because it gives them a chance to improve their work output and to show how fast they adopt new ICTs. This openness mostly leads to an increase in job satisfaction. However, this openness may also be dissatisfying when they are too open for changes. For instance, frustration arises when the

organization is developing too slowly and possible ICT adoptions are not being implemented by the management (see code ‘ICT too slow’).

 Indifference (PartYoung1 and 3)

Few younger participants were particularly indifferent about ICT. For instance, they mention that not all changes are improvements especially when ICT is not implemented optimally. In addition, they acknowledge that we just have go along with changing ICTs and that there are advantages associated with ICT. They emphasize that people should not forget that ICT use can be two-edged, as Partyoung1 states: "It [ICT3] can always go two ways. It is not per se something good or bad, it always have two

sides". Moreover, despite that the majority of younger employees mentioned a clear affection when

they had to adopt ICTs, it is PartYoung3 mentioned that ICT adoption are more a habituation that happen unconsciously, as her quote shows: “You work unconsciously to an adaptation of a system. So

you are busy with it, but often not consciously. Because yes, you have to, so you follow”.

 Threat to job in future (PartYoung1, 4, 5 and 7)

As mentioned earlier, ICT adoptions may be seen as competition with jobs. Despite that the majority of the younger participants perceive ICT adoption as opportunity as described in the code ‘Benefiting from ICT’, some of them acknowledge that this may be a threat in their future. However, this threat in the future is not really affecting their job satisfaction at this moment. For that reason, this code is placed in the middle of the spectrum. PartYoung4 explains: “If you look at it in the long term, it is not

nice, because all of us will not have jobs. Everything is going to be done by computers. […] And in the long term I am not happy about it. But am I going to be against it? No”. However, this feeling may

become negative in the future and younger employee should think about their position, as PartYoung5 describes: "But then I think like from here and ten, fifteen years, this stuff is going to replace people.

And then, what am I going to do for living? So this is advancing so fast, but what is my position now? If I remain here, do I have to adapt, do I have to start looking for a different career or a course or maybe specializing in something else related to digitalization and technology”.

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Despite that PartYoung3 mentions that ICTs arrives too fast: "I think it is a good development, only I

believe that it should not go too fast. That you are just used to something and then you have to go to the next. It must land first and be well thought about before something new arrives", the majority of

the younger participants mention that they feel disappointed because of inertia of the organization. As PartYoung4 states: “I haven’t seen much improvements yet unfortunately”. Other younger employees mention that they understand new systems more quickly because of their ICT experience. Sometimes, they feel restrained by inertia of (older) colleagues who are resistant or slower with ICT. For example PartYoung8 explains: “It is sometimes disappointing in the sense that, sometimes you want more, […]

A team that is more technical, that we do not receive, which I think, questions that are too simple. And because they [older colleagues] are less adaptable with technical things, they are also less able to innovate processes […] that is a restriction I think”. This may negatively affect their job satisfaction.

 ICT does not work (PartYoung1, 4. 6, 7, and 8)

The most critical perception of ICT adoption among younger participants is when they perceive the ICT as not functioning as it should, but being forced to adopt it anyways. This possibly leads to frustration which is detrimental to perceived job satisfaction. They argue that their dependence on the proper functioning of ICT is increased. For example, PartYoung7 mentions: “Well it [ICT2] often

does not work. It has to work, otherwise for me it is annoying […] It must work, otherwise for me it is really annoying, I irritate me as well". Because they have the understanding of which and how

opportunities could be made, it may be frustrating when ICTs are not improved. For instance, if the system, imposed by management, is not a good choice, irritation emerges. PartYoung8 explains this:

“In general, it is an improvement. However, there are also systems that we think, why on earth is this system chosen. […[ Sometimes we have to end with Z but then we take a step in between that has nothing to do with Z […]. That is a shame”.

Cross-case analysis

First, in this cross-case analysis, the most important and interesting differences between the older and younger groups are described. Both spectra (figure 2.1 and 2.2) are analysed and compared for key differences to find how age plays a role in the relationship between ICT adoption and job satisfaction. The spectra of both within-case analyses do not have the same key factors that influence job

satisfaction. For this reason, it will be analysed how these factors differ in this section, and most interesting codes are compared. Secondly, underlying mechanisms as to why age plays a role in this relationship are suggested (see table 3.4 and 3.5).

How: key differences between the age groups