Abstract
Task-technology fit has been developed as a diagnostic tool to determine whether information systems meet user needs, and has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on the effectiveness of various types of information systems, such as group support systems and management support systems. Despite empirical evidence for the relevance of task-technology fit to improve information system effectiveness, the theory of task-technology fit provides little guidance of how to determine and operationalize fit for particular combinations of task and technology. Consequently, the theoretical validity of the concept of task-technology fit remains limited as does its practical applicability. In this paper, we present the results of an inductive study to explore the concept and antecedents of fit for mobile information systems to support mobile professionals. We performed a content analysis of online user reviews of four mobile technology products with the objective to identify issues that are relevant to users. The mobile technology products include a cell-phone, two personal digital assistants (PDAs), and an ultra-light laptop. The identified issues can be grouped into four conceptual constructs: overall user evaluation, task-related fit, context-related fit, and technology performance, and are characterized by a lower level of abstraction than the level of abstraction deployed in previous research studies on task-technology fit. In order to improve our understanding about how to achieve fit for particular combinations of task, use context, and technology we performed several statistical analyses. (1) An exploratory factor analysis yielded five factors, each indeed including a different set of conceptual constructs; (2) a case-wise analysis indicated user-perceived strengths and limits of individual devices with respect to the five factors; and (3) the results of a multiple regression analysis provided insights about the extent to which the five factors were related with overall technology evaluation. The results presented in the current paper will serve as input for a larger survey.
Keywords: Task-technology fit, fit operationalization, mobile information systems, mobile professionals, use context, technology comparison, content analysis
Acknowledgement
We thank Alfred Hubler for his invaluable feedback and guidance, as well as Chaiwat Baiwai and Ya (Tanya) Tang for their help during data collection and analysis. An abbreviated version has been accepted for presentation at the Fifth Workshop on e-Business (WeB 2006).
1. Introduction
As professionals, such as knowledge workers and managers, increasingly perform tasks outside of traditional office environments, mobile technology often provides critical support, in particular at the middle level of the organizational hierarchy, including midlevel executives, project managers, company and sales representatives, and field service workers (Computerworld 2003). Nevertheless, the requirements for the development and use of mobile information systems to support managerial tasks are not fully understood.
Research on technology innovation and diffusion has long pointed out the importance of matching information systems with the organizational tasks to be supported or automated (Kimberly 1981, Tornatzki and Klein 1982) as a precursor to system use and subsequent benefits. Goodhue and Thompson (1995) first coined the term of task-technology fit in their research quest to improve the assessment of information system success beyond self-reported user evaluations. Goodhue and Thompson (1995) conducted an empirical research study that investigated the support of tasks, such as managerial decision making, changing business processes, and routine tasks, with different scenarios of workstation-based information systems, in a mandatory use setting. The results show that, in addition to use, the fit between tasks and technology was an important factor that explains performance impacts of the systems. Zigurs and Buckland (1998) presented a theory of task-technology fit that matched the features of group support systems with the requirements of group tasks. Goodhue and Thompson’s work was later extended and integrated with the technology-acceptance model (Dishaw and Strong 1998, 1999, Mathieson and Keil 1998), while Staples and Seddon (2004) found evidence for the validity of Goodhue and Thompson’s (1995) model in voluntary, as well as mandatory use settings. Zigurs and Buckland’s (1998) framework has been applied and extended to gain further insights about the success factors of group work (Hollingshead, McGrath, O’Connor 1993; Murthy and Kerr 2000; Strauss and McGrath 1994). Recently, the theory of task-technology fit has been applied to mobile information systems (Gebauer, Gribbins, and Shaw 2006, Gebauer, Shaw, and Subramanyam 2006), emphasizing the role of the system use-context and technology maturity.
The theory of task-technology fit provides little guidance of how to operationalize fit, generally limiting the theoretical validity of the concept of task-technology fit as well as its practical applicability. In this paper, we explore the concept of fit of mobile technology in support of mobile professionals inductively. We seek to identify issues and requirements that are considered relevant by users as a basis to achieve fit between tasks, use-context, and mobile technology. With Gebauer, Gribbins, and Shaw (2006) and Gebauer, Shaw, and Subramanyam (2006), we assume that the theory of task-technology fit may help improve our understanding of the requirements of successful mobile information systems, yet that in order to successfully apply task-technology fit in a mobile environment the fit between technology and use context must be taken into consideration, in addition to the fit between technology and task. In the current research study, we applied an inductive research approach. We performed a content analysis of online user reviews of four mobile technology products, including a cell-phone, two personal digital assistants (PDAs), and an ultra-light laptop. Our analysis allowed us to identify a number of issues that can be grouped into four conceptual constructs: overall user evaluation, task-related fit, context-related fit, and technology performance. In addition, our list of user-relevant issues is characterized by a lower level of abstraction than the level of abstraction deployed in previous research studies. The results of our research study promise to be of value for the providers of mobile technology and services as well as for firms wanting to benefit from mobile technologies,
given that task-technology fit can be considered a pre-condition for actual use and performance impacts (Goodhue and Thompson 1995, Dishaw and Strong, 1998 and 1999). From a theoretical perspective, the results of our research study can contribute to strengthen the validity of the concept of task-technology fit, as well as to help generalize its applicability. In the following, we point out the underlying research streams, before we present and discuss the results of the empirical analysis.
Judith Gebauer
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Business Department of Business Administration gebauer@uiuc.edu
Mark Ginsburg
Seventh Rank Associates
mark@seventhrank.com
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