A case study of user adaptation to information technology changes

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) adoption is increasing within organizations that seek to enhance their competitiveness and performance. Besides the great expansion of IT within organizations, the introduction of new technologies creates many consequences (expected and unexpected) in the users’ environment. Such consequences are interpreted and understood in many ways by users, unleashing many varied and complex reactions. This research seeks to answer the following question: how do Brazilian corporate users adapt to IT changes in a Brazilian corporation? In order to answer this question, this work sought to analyze corporate users’ adaptation in the Brazilian context by replicating the Coping Model of Users Adaptation (CMUA). The research conducted was qualitative, exploratory, being applied in a transversal case study in a software development company. Findings corroborate the initial application of the CMUA model, suggesting that the model’s phases of appraisal, primary and secondary, adaptation efforts, results and the cyclicality are noticeable in other contexts. Besides, it was observed that social influence has an important role in the adaptation process; that emotions have a fundamental role in users’ adaptation; that active resistance can culminate in adaptation processes; and that age and experience make IT changes’ reappraisal processes more positive.

Keywords: IT changes, IT users’ reactions, IT adaptation, CMUA.