Oddly enough, in the same edition of MIS Quarterly a paper explored a model of multi-level analysis of system use (Burton-Jones & Gallivant 2007).
REFERENCES:
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Burton-Jones & Gallivant 2007, ‘Towards a Deeper Understanding of System Usage in Organizations: A Multilevel Perspective’, MIS Quarterly, December, vol.31, no.4, pp.657-679.
From the first sentence the focus of the discussion by Limayem, Hirt and Cheung (2007) is on the “user” of an Information Sysem (IS). The purpose of the paper is specified to be to “explore the role of habit in the context of continued IS usage” (Limayem, Hirt & Cheung 2007, p.706). Habit is defined in this context as “the extent to which people tend to perform behaviours … automatically because of learning” (Limayem, Hirt & Cheung 2007, p.709), and is clearly separated from intention. Throughout the discussion the focus is on the individual system user, their experience, and the impact it has on their continuation intentions.
Yet in a corporate or organisational context, typically decisions are made on the continuation of use of information systems by individuals other than the people who use the systems regularly—and who therefore may have developed habits of use. Here, the word “user” has been inadequately defined to separate these two different levels of usage. Whilst an individual may combine the two in their personal life—as was the focus of the experimental study (Limayem, Hirt & Cheung 2007, p.721)—this is not the case in all situations. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the authors acknowledge the existence of multiple levels in an organisational context (Limayem, Hirt & Cheung 2007, p.731), yet fail to separate these in their experimental design.
REFERENCES
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Limayem, Hirt & Cheung 2007, ‘How Habit Limits the Predictive Power of Intention:
The Case of Information Systems Continuance’, MIS Quarterly, December, vol.31,
no.4, pp.705-737. Continue reading
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