Voluntary Use of Information Technology: An Analysis and Synthesis of the Literature

Authors

HsingYi Tsai, Information Technology Management, Cedarville University, Cedarville, USA
Deborah Compeau, Department of Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Darren Meister, Information Systems, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Document Type

Research Article

Abstract

Voluntariness is recognized as an important influence on individual and collective technology acceptance. We conducted a comprehensive review of this literature and identified a rich set of voluntariness concepts and methods of operationalization. However, while considerable empirical evidence is reported in the literature, our review also revealed inconsistent results concerning the relationship between voluntariness and other concepts. Against that backdrop, we synthesized the literature into three types of voluntariness - perceived, intended and realizable voluntariness (RVOL), and showed how prior literature had not adequately accounted for RVOL. Moreover, we examined the multiple mechanisms that influence voluntariness and created a model to describe how to advance new knowledge about the important relationships among the three types of voluntariness and between voluntariness and user behavior. We argue that these concepts and relationships may help advance our knowledge of how a new technology is used individually and collectively in organizations.

DOI

10.1057/jit.2016.6

Recommended Citation

Tsai, HsingYi; Compeau, Deborah; and Meister, Darren (2017) "Voluntary Use of Information Technology: An Analysis and Synthesis of the Literature," Journal of Information Technology: Vol. 32: Iss. 2, Article 3.
DOI: 10.1057/jit.2016.6
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jit/vol32/iss2/3