1. Information Systems and Organisations
NCC Education - Title Master
Lecture 9:
User Acceptance and the Socio-technical Approach

2. Scope and Coverage This topic will cover:
Factors in user acceptance of technology
Human-computer interaction (HCI)
Socio-technical approach to implementing technology
NCC Education - Slide Master

3. Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic students will be able to:
Appreciate factors that influence user acceptance of IS
Understand the contribution of HCI principles to IS
Plan IS introductions with attention to human needs

4. Contents User acceptance and the Technology Adoption Model
HCI principles in the design of IS interactions
Work design with socio-technical principles
User experience and IS design
Emphasis – People and Technology

5. Stakeholders
People, groups and organisations with an interest in an IS
...who have the power to affect the outcome and success of the system.
Identify:
Who they are
The level of their commitment
Their power – to help or hinder
Their interests
Their requirements

7. Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder 1 X Stakeholder 2 Stakeholder 3
Vigorous Opposition
Some Opposition
Indifference
Will let it happen
Will help it happen
Will make it happen
Stakeholder 1 X
Stakeholder 2
Stakeholder 3

8. Users as Stakeholders
Remember, the future users of an IS are people, not an organisation (have you ever actually spoken to a ‘University’)
Only animate beings and pre-programmed machines can do anything in the accepted sense of the word

9. IS Acceptance
Most IS depend, to a small or a large extent for their effectiveness, on willing and competent users
User Acceptance of the technology is key
IS effect will therefore depend on how people in an organisation engage with the technology
TWO main issues
Technology Acceptance
Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

10. Technology Acceptance Model (Thinking of IS)
Perceived
Usefulness
External
Variables
Attitude
Toward Using
Behavioural
Intention
to Use
Actual System
Use
Perceived
Ease of Use
... can be related to ....
Davies et al, 1989

11. DeLone McLean Model System Quality Intention to Use Use
Information Quality
Net Benefits
User
satisfaction
Service
Quality

12. Technology Acceptance UTAUT
Model has been extensively developed
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology
In the developed model, Behavioural Intention (to use) is influenced by:
Performance Expectancy
Effort Expectancy
Social Influence
And Use Behaviour is influenced by:
Facilitation Conditions

13. UTAUT
Gender, Age, Experience and Voluntariness of use are other influencing factors
Reference is:
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., and Davis, F. D. (2003) User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View
It can be found at:

14. Use and HCI principles
When IS are designed, HCI principles can be employed to ensure ease of use – thus influencing one of the key aspects of user acceptance
Most famously Nielsen developed a set of heuristic principles to follow when designing an interface to a computer system
These (and more) are documented at the following URL:

15. Heuristic Principles are, that interface designs should aim for:
Nielsen Heuristics
Heuristic Principles are, that interface designs should aim for:
Visibility of system status-The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time
Match between systems and real world-The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms
User control and freedom- Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
Consistency and standards- Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing
Error prevention - Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.

16. Recognition rather than recall - Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another
Flexibility and efficient use - Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users.
Aesthetic and minimalist design - Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed
Help users recognise, diagnose and recover from errors - Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
Help and documentation - Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation.

17. Work and Motivation Behaviour Needs Goals Porter-Lawler model
of work motivation
Behaviour
create
which achieves
Needs
Goals
that satisfy
Huczynski and Buchanan (2007) in Boddy, Boonstra and Kennedy (2008), page 220.

18. Motivational Potential(how to motivate?)
Skill Variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Hackman and Oldham (1980) in Boddy, Boonstra and Kennedy (2008), page

19. Sociotechnical Design of IS
The Socio-technical design movement, started many years ago, stresses the importance of Human ‘systems’ working in collaboration with Technological systems –both needing to be ‘designed’ to ensure success of the whole
For IS, this translates most frequently in the importance of actively involving human users in the process of the design of systems
A useful URL is:

20. Work design and IS design
Work Design Principle
Possible design use with IS
Combine tasks Form natural work-groups Establish customer relations Vertical loading Open feedback channels
Use IS to combine several processes into a single task Give a team responsibility for a significant part of the task. IS provides information to (whole) team Use IS to provide the team with better information about their customers IS takes over routine tasks and team are given more responsibility Use IS to pass on positive information from customers
Based on, Table 8.1. , Boddy, Boonstra and Kennedy (2008), page 222.

21. User Experience Design
Situation and Context of use
Environmental factors (noise, light, dirty environment)
Time factors (how much time, time versus accuracy)
Can information be retrieved from somewhere else (e.g. Address finders using post-code/zip code)
Frequency of use (e.g. If infrequent, is it simple – for example an automated ticketing machine?)

22. User Experience Design - Example
Designing the User Experience is concerned with the total context and use of an IS
The following URL gives a good example related to web marketing:

25. References
Boddy, D., Boonstra ,A., Kennedy, G. (2008) Managing Information Systems : strategy and organisation 3rd ed. FT Pearson. ISBN-13: XXX

26. Lecture 9 – User Acceptance and the Socio-technical Approach
Any Questions?
NCC Education - End Slide Master