Reconceptualizing Innovation Compatibility as Organizational Alignment in Secondary IT Adoption Contexts: An Investigation of Software Reuse Infusion

Abstract

This paper reconceptualizes the compatibility construct that has generated mixed results in the information systems (IS) literature and develops an organizational alignment (OA) framework for secondary IT adoption contexts, grounded in Leavitt's organizational change model and its extensions and applications in the IS area. Rooted in structuration and sensemaking theories, the paper conceptualizes OA as a representation of institutional structures of signification, domination, and legitimation, and proposes that perceived OA between an IT innovation and its complementary organizational components will impact secondary adoption behaviors of organizational members with respect to that innovation. This proposition is empirically evaluated through a field study of software reuse at a large U.S. bank. Survey data collected from IS professionals are analyzed using partial least squares (PLS). A model comparison approach is utilized to compare the influence of the compatibility and OA constructs on individual-level infusion behavior of IS professionals. Results provide good support for the research model. As hypothesized, the OA construct is found to be a significant predictor of infusion behavior. However, compatibility is found not to have a significant relationship with infusion behavior, adding to the mixed findings about this construct in the literature. Results of the study and its limitations, generalizability, contributions, and implications are discussed.