Toward an Operationalization of Effective Use

A major body of work in the IS discipline, studies of individuals’ technology acceptance and adoption are increasingly criticized for their shallow conceptualization of use behaviors, especially after adoption. To overcome such critique, Burton-Jones and Grange (2013) have recently proposed the construct of effective use (EU). While promising in its more refined perspective on what enables users to use an information system effectively (i.e., transparent interaction, representational fidelity, and informed action), much of this debate has been purely conceptual to date. We pick up EU’s extant conceptualization and propose a measurement model for it. Through engagement with field and panel data, we are able to validate our proposed measurements and, for the first time, are able to take a look at the exact empirical relationship between the sub-constructs that constitute EU. This helps to advance the extant EU conceptualization and enables future empirical work on its validation and extension.