Gain and Loss in System Switching: A Behavioral Economics View to Understand the Joint Effects of System Usage Performance on User Satisfaction

Information systems acceptance has long been an interesting topic for both researchers and managers. It is necessary to understand user’s attitudes and behaviors toward an information system so as to evaluate the consequence of system implementation. Different from previous research, this study investigates user acceptance toward a newly introduced system from a behavioural economics perspective. Specifically, the study targets the effects of system usage outcomes on user satisfaction in a mandatory context where an old system is replaced by a new one. Based on the Prospect Theory, we argue that users evaluate the new system according to their perceptions from a value function, comparing their current system usage status with a reference point in terms of gain and loss. By describing a three-stage system switching process, this study unpacks how the usage outcomes of both the old and the new system and their contrasts affect perceived value toward the new system, which positively predicts user satisfaction. The system usage performances related to both the old and the new system are incorporated in the research model. Their joint effects, the main and the interacting effects, on user satisfaction with the new system are explicitly explored and explained. Findings of the study enable firms to better understand a system switching process and to design more effective managerial interventions for improving new system acceptance.

[1]  Peter A. Todd,et al.  Understanding Information Technology Usage: A Test of Competing Models , 1995, Inf. Syst. Res..

[2]  W. Zangwill,et al.  Toward a Theory of Continuous Improvement and the Learning Curve , 1998 .

[3]  Arun Rai,et al.  Leveraging IT Capabilities and Competitive Process Capabilities for the Management of Interorganizational Relationship Portfolios , 2010, Inf. Syst. Res..

[4]  Anol Bhattacherjee,et al.  Understanding Changes in Belief and Attitude Toward Information Technology Usage: A Theoretical Model and Longitudinal Test , 2004, MIS Q..

[5]  Richard H. Thaler,et al.  Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice , 1985, Mark. Sci..

[6]  Fred D. Davis,et al.  A Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: Four Longitudinal Field Studies , 2000, Management Science.

[7]  G. Häubl,et al.  Explaining Cognitive Lock-In: The Role of Skill-Based Habits of Use in Consumer Choice , 2007 .

[8]  N. Melone.  A theoretical assessment of the user-satisfaction construct in information systems research , 1990 .

[9]  Vallabh Sambamurthy,et al.  Sources of Influence on Beliefs about Information Technolgoy Use: An Empirical Study of Knowledge Workers , 2003, MIS Q..

[10]  I. Ajzen.  The theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[11]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable , 1992, Inf. Syst. Res..

[12]  Maarten Gelderman,et al.  The relation between user satisfaction, usage of information systems and performance , 1998, Inf. Manag..

[13]  A. Tversky,et al.  Prospect Theory : An Analysis of Decision under Risk Author ( s ) : , 2007 .

[14]  Ting Zhang,et al.  Impact of User Satisfaction with Mandated CRM Use on Employee Service Quality , 2012, MIS Q..

[15]  E. Deci.  The Psychology of Self-Determination , 1980 .

[16]  Prasanna Tambe,et al.  The Extroverted Firm: How External Information Practices Affect Innovation and Productivity , 2012, Manag. Sci..

[17]  Viswanath Venkatesh,et al.  Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction: Understanding the Role of Enterprise Resource , 2010, MIS Q..

[18]  Gordon B. Davis,et al.  User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View , 2003, MIS Q..

[19]  Fred D. Davis.  Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology , 1989, MIS Q..

[20]  Susan A. Brown,et al.  Do I really have to? User acceptance of mandated technology , 2002, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[21]  Wei Wang,et al.  Innovate with Complex Information Technologies: A Theoretical Model and Empirical Examination , 2008, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[22]  A. Tversky,et al.  The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. , 1981, Science.

[23]  Elena Karahanna,et al.  Shackled to the Status Quo: The Inhibiting Effects of Incumbent System Habit, Switching Costs, and Inertia on New System Acceptance , 2012, MIS Q..

[24]  Viswanath Venkatesh,et al.  Consumer Acceptance and Use of Information Technology: Extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology , 2012, MIS Q..

[25]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Investigating user resistance to information systems implementation: a status quo bias perspective , 2009 .

[26]  T. C. Edwin Cheng,et al.  Extending the Understanding of End User Information Systems Satisfaction Formation: An Equitable Needs Fulfillment Model Approach , 2008, MIS Q..

[27]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[28]  Ana Ortiz de Guinea,et al.  Why break the habit of a lifetime? rethinking the roles of intention, habit, and emotion in continuing information technology use , 2009 .

[29]  Suzanne Rivard,et al.  A Multilevel Model of Resistance to Information Technology Implementation , 2005, MIS Q..