| The purpose of this study was to understand the issues and factors involved in the resistance to the implementation of a technological innovation in an institution of higher education. Archival information consisting of documents (reports, meeting minutes and participant-observation field notes), results of a survey and results of interviews were used to investigate the implementation process, user responses to the innovation and implementation process, as well as the institutional issues and barriers involved. The context was a four year college on the East coast and the implementation involved the acceptance of the online requisition system in place of a paper system used by budget managers and their assistants.; The results were compared to three theories: Diffusion of Innovation, Technology Acceptance Model 2 and the Unified Theory of the Acceptance and Use of Technology. The results support the constructs of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influences, and the facilitating conditions of training and support. The moderating condition of voluntariness was also supported. Moderating conditions of age, gender and experience were not supported. Recommendations which were made to modify the implementation of the online requisition system included: Pausing the implementation until a less complex online requisition system became available, greater user involvement throughout the planning and decision-making processes, communication of benefits to users, and transferring some of the requisitioning responsibilities to a new Purchasing Department in the business office. |
