The role of user resistance in the adoption of a mobile data service

While prior research has focused predominantly on enabling factors such as perceived usefulness in shaping users' information technology (IT) adoption/usage behaviors, this research explores the role of inhibiting factors such as user resistance to change, and their resultant impact on organizations' methods and systems. We elaborate on the interdependent and asymmetric effects of resistance to usage vis-à-vis usage enablers by postulating that resistance not only has a direct negative effect on IT usage, but also biases enabling factors such as perceived usefulness and intention to use in a negative manner. The resulting model is empirically validated with a longitudinal survey of mobile data service that supports real estate title claim processing by administrators and staff personnel at an Eastern European governmental agency. Our study advances IT usage research by demonstrating the salience of previously ignored inhibiting factors, establishing user resistance as an important construct to consider in IT usage research, and by elaborating the nomological relationships between resistance and current predictors of IT usage. We expect that these findings will provide the basis for a more comprehensive investigation of IT usage inhibitors and for building a theoretical model of user resistance.     

Lexical and sublexical processes in the perception of transposed-letter anagrams

Evidence from priming and lexical decision tasks suggests that nonwords created by transposing adjacent letter pairs (TL nonwords) are very effective in activating lexical representations of their base words, because the process of orthographic matching tolerates minor changes in letter position. However, this account disregards the possible role of sublexical processing in reading. TL nonwords are perceptually ambiguous, with lexical and sublexical processing giving rise to conflicting interpretations. The consequences of this ambiguity were investigated in a lexical decision experiment with primes that were either high or low bigram frequency TL versions of target words. Priming effects were much larger for low BF primes (e.g., pucnh-PUNCH) than for high BF primes (e.g., panit-PAINT). This finding is interpreted as evidence that lexical activation can be inhibited by competing output resulting from sublexical processing of TL letter string. We conclude that phonological processing is an important determinant of responses to TL stimuli, and we consider how this interpretation might be accommodated within the dual-route cascaded (DRC) model of word recognition.     

Motivation and flow: toward an understanding of the dynamics of the relation in architecture students

The authors investigated the relation between motivation and flow in a sample of 327 architecture students. Specifically, they investigated the relation between flow and several levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as amotivation. They also assessed the need for autonomy in moderating the relation between intrinsic motivation and engagement. Results indicated a significant relation between flow experiences in academic activities and the more self-determined forms of intrinsic motivation, but not for extrinsic motivation. The need for autonomy moderated the relation between flow and intrinsic motivation. These results are discussed in the context of understanding flow as an intrinsically motivating state and a viable construct for understanding engagement.     

An analysis of the concept of cool and its marketing implications

Cool has become the favoured language of popular culture. This paper examines the roots of cool and its evolution with reference to its relevance to marketers. In particular, the work of Bourdieu and the concepts of cultural capital and cultural intermediaries are drawn on. The importance of talking to cultural intermediaries led Seagram to carry out a research programme that examines the process of adoption of alcoholic drinks and ways of reaching ‘style leaders’. Given the problem of recruiting and researching ‘style leaders’, the research employed specialist recruiters and moderators and a combination of direct and indirect questioning. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Is a Manipulator's Externality Paradoxical? The Relationship Between Machiavellianism,Economic Opportunism,and Economic Locus of Control

Machiavellianism and economic opportunism are defecting strategies founded on manipulating information in order to maximize gain or power. This study investigated their relationship with economic internality. We hypothesized that individuals inclined to adopt defecting strategies would tend to have external economic locus of control (ELOC). A Greek sample of 175 participants completed the ELOC and Mach IV questionnaires and a scale of economic opportunism. Machiavellianism and opportunism were both positively correlated with the ELOC Chance factor. Opportunism was negatively correlated with the ELOC Internal factor. The findings confirmed the hypothesis and showed that this kind of defector overestimates the role of chance, uncertainty, and hazard as sources of economic reinforcements.     

Cognitive models of stereotype change (4): Motivational and cognitive influences

Three experiments investigating the effects of cognitive and motivational factors on stereotype change are reported. Trait ratings in all three experiments showed there to be greater stereotype-change when stereotype-inconsistent information was dispersed across many group members than when it was concentrated in only a few. A sorting task (Experiment 1) indicated that, in the concentrated conditions the stereotype disconfirmers were more strongly isolated from the rest of the group than in the dispersed conditions. Free recall protocols (Experiment 2) showed greater memory for the target exemplars when subjects anticipated interaction with a group member than when no interaction was anticipated. The questions subject chose to ask target group exemplars were also influenced by anticlpated future interaction. Subjects chose more stereotype-inconsistent questions when interactian was anticipated than when no interaction was anticipated. Experment 3 showed the impact of stereotype-inconsistent information to be greater when expectancies for the stereotyped group are weaker A cued-recall task yielded evidence of spontaneous subtyping. All these studies support the subtyping model, even in the presence of cognitive and motivational factors that might be expected to impede stereotype change.