EValue and Value-driven User Responses to Information Technology

Abstract

This paper explores eValue creation, assessment and distribution within communities joined through the Web, and the possible implications on end-user acceptance of information technology (IT). We undertake to theorize more richly than has heretofore been done on the decision processing perspective of user acceptance of IT and, based on that, analyse different types of value-driven user motivations. Specifically, we draw on two metaphorical constructs-'attention economy' and 'high-tech gift economy'-in order to understand value-driven user responses to IT, and illustrate them through the example of Open Source Software (OSS) development teams. The focal point of interest is the adoption-diffusion continuum (from Prior Use to Post-adoptive Behaviour) within the context of end-user decision processing. A rough eValue anthology is introduced as a secondary epistemological level to aid clarifying when and how value-rational end-consumer action affects attitude toward use. The analysis is based on a unified view on user acceptance decision processing, combining the management perspective (Cooper and Zmud 1990), the user perspective (Rogers 1995), the organizational perspective (Swanson and Ramiller 2004), with emphasis on the decision processing perspective (Engel et al. 2001).