ISSN 0832-7203 Advancing the Theory of Infusion: An Appropriation Model of the Infusion Process par

IT infusion is an important factor leading to improved individual performance. However, little is known on the process through which individuals infuse information technologies and why they do it. The present paper addresses these two issues. It draws on the theory of coping developed in psychology and on the appropriation literature to propose a conceptual model that describes the process and determinants of IT infusion by individuals. Infusion is conceptualized as emerging from post-implementation appropriation behaviors of users consisting of an integration of IT in both one's work system and one's work habits and routines. It is argued that when IT is fully infused (i.e. IT is integrated to both one's task and work habits), it will be associated with significant performance improvements. On the other hand, partial infusion (i.e. when integration is obtained for only one of the two dimensions) will either not affect performance or lead to small improvements in individual performance, whereas lack of infusion will have negative impacts. Some determinants of the infusion process are presented. Résumé Le niveau « d’infusion », le degré d’intégration de la technologie de l’information (TI) dans le système de travail de l’utilisateur, a été proposé en tant que facteur important dans la relation entre l’utilisation des TI et la performance individuelle. Toutefois, nos connaissances à propos du processus par lequel les individus intègrent les TI dans leur système de travail sont limitées. Le présent texte se base sur la théorie du coping, développée en psychologie, et sur la littérature sur l’appropriation pour proposer un nouveau cadre conceptuel. Ce dernier décrit le processus d’infusion des TI par les individus et identifie certains de ses antécédents. Dans ce modèle, le niveau d’infusion résulte du processus d’appropriation réalisé par l’utilisateur suite à l’implantation d’une nouvelle TI. Le processus d’appropriation est constitué des activités d’adaptation à deux niveaux : entre la TI et le système de travail et entre la TI et les habitudes de l’utilisateur. De plus, le présent texte propose que lorsque le niveau d’infusion est élevé, c’est-à-dire lorsque la TI est intégrée tant dans la tâche que dans les habitudes de l’utilisateur, l’utilisation de la TI sera associée à une augmentation significative de la performance individuelle. D’autre part, un niveau d’infusion modéré, caractérisé par l’intégration de la TI sur une seule des deux dimensions, est présumé ne favoriser aucune amélioration significative de la performance. Finalement, un faible niveau d’infusion sera associé à des impacts négatifs découlant de l’utilisation de la TI sur la performance au travail de l’utilisateur. Mots-clés: AP Psychology EI0211 IS Impacts EI0205 Productivity Introduction Organizations invest large amount of money in information technologies (IT). In 1990, U.S. businesses invested over $154 billion in purchased software, data processing, and computer services (Attewell, 1994). In 1998, companies in the U.S. and Canada have allocated approximately 6.8% of their total revenue to IT and the demand for IS applications is expected to grow by 30% per year in the near future (Information Week, 1998, 1999). Much of these investments are made in the hope of improving user productivity and performance. Although numerous studies have been conducted to determine what impacts IT have on individual performance, the empirical evidence is mixed and often contradictory (Attewell, 1994; Brynjolfsson, 1993; Hitt and Brynjolfsson, 1996; Pinsonneault and Rivard, 1998). For instance, IT have been found to have no significant productivity impact (Aldag and Power, 1986; Benbasat, Dexter and Masulis, 1981; Goslar, Green and Hughes, 1986) and to be associated with either lower performance levels (Cats-Baril and Huber, 1986) or higher performance (Goodhue and Thompson, 1995; Leidner and Elam, 1993-94; Millman and Hartwick, 1987). Others found that a given IT could be related to both, negative and positive impacts (Benbasat and Dexter, 1982; Hiltz, 1988; Kraut, Dumais and Koch, 1989). Practitioners are also intrigued by the apparent lack of productivity improvements and are questioning the value of IT investments (Roach, 1985, 1991). One potential explanation of the contradictory empirical evidence and the apparent lack of productivity improvement could be that the relationship between IT usage and individual performance is mediated by an intervening variable. Cooper and Zmud (1990) and Zmud and Apple (1992) argued that use alone is insufficient to significantly improve individual performance. Rather, they proposed that IT applications need to be infused or embedded into one's work system. Over time, successful IT applications are enhanced by users, which lead to a higher level IT usage, a more sophisticated usage, and a greater integration into the user's work system (Kling and Iacono, 1984). IT applications are thus increasingly integrated and infused into one's work system and thus more fully exploited, leading to higher levels of productivity. The main objective of this paper is to extend our current understanding of the concept of infusion by proposing a model of individual IT infusion process and determinants. The paper suggests that IT applications are infused through an appropriation process (Chin, Gopal, and Salisbury, 1997; DeSanctis and Poole, 1994; Orlikowski, 1996; Orlikowski, Yates, Okamura, and Fujimoto, 1995; Poole and DeSanctis, 1988, 1990; Tyre and Orlikowski, 1994, 1996) which, drawing on Lazarus' (1966) theory of coping, is made of two dimensions: an integration of IT into one's work system (or task) and an integration of IT into one's work habits and routines. It is argued that the effects of IT on individual performance depends on the degree of IT infusion. The paper is organized as follows. First, the IT infusion literature is briefly reviewed and the infusion concept is revised based on the coping theory. Second, a theoretical model of the individual IT infusion process and determinants is proposed and, the paper ends by discussing implications of the proposed model on research and practice.