Abstract

What happens to a technology artifact after it is adopted? It has to evolve within its particular context to be effective; if it doesn’t, it will become part of the detritus of change, like the many genes without a discernible function in a living organism. In this paper, we report on a study of post-adoption technology behavior that examined how users modified and innovated with technology artifacts. We uncovered three types of changes conducted to technology artifacts: personalization, customization, and inventions. Personalization attempts are modifications involving changes to technology parameters to meet the specificities of the user; customizing attempts occur to adapt the technology parameters to meet the specificities of the user’s environment; and inventions are exaptations conducted to the technology artifact. The paper presents a grounded theoretic analysis of the post-adoption evolution based in-depth interviews with 20 software engineers in one multi-national organization. We identify a life-cycle model that connects the various types of modifications conducted to technology artifacts. The life-cycle model elaborates on how individual and organizational dynamics are linked to diffusion of innovations. While the research is still in progress and the post-adoption evolution model has to be refined, the research has significant value in understanding the full life-cycle of adoption of technological artifacts and how is maximum value derived from them.

Download

Share

COinS