| Previous studies have examined the relationships among user participation and involvement, system use and user satisfaction in an effort to better predict how users will accept information systems. While generally concluded that user participation is desirable, it is impractical to involve all users to the fullest extent. This thesis synthesized previous research involving user participation, involvement, expertise, and system acceptance, and examined how user expertise moderated the relationship between participation and system acceptance. A controlled experiment was conducted to examine how expertise moderated the effect of multi-voice participation. Survey responses were analyzed using nonparametric statistical methods to determine whether the level of user participation was correlated with the user's acceptance, and whether this relationship was moderated by user expertise. Perceived usefulness, a predictor of system acceptance, was determined to have the strongest correlation with participation, and there was evidence to partially support the hypothesis that expertise moderated that relationship. |
