Knowledge that Transforms

As the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) by business becomes more common, we need to better understand when these systems are and are not useful. This research uses a laboratory experiment to extend cognitive fit theory (Vessey 1991) to geographic tasks performed using either map-based presentations or tabular presentations. The experiment found that decision makers using a map-based presentation made faster and more accurate decisions when working on a geographic task in which there were adjacency relationships among the geographic areas. Decision makers using a map-based presentation made faster but less accurate decisions when working on a geographic task in which there were no relationships among the geographic areas.

The acceptance of new information technologies by their intended users persists as an important issue for researchers and practitioners of information systems. Several models have been developed in the literature to facilitate understanding of the process by which new information technologies are adopted. This paper proposes a new construct that further illuminates the relationships explicit in the technology acceptance models and describes an operational measure for this construct that possesses desirable psychometric properties. The construct, personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology, is hypothesized to exhibit moderating effects on the antecedents as well as the consequences of individual perceptions about a new information technology. The construct was developed and validated in the context of the innovation represented by the World-Wide Web. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Despite the recent empirical interest and advances in research with regard to the construct of computer self-efficacy (CSE), the results obtained to date have, in some cases, been either equivocal or contradictory. We suggest that such results may be attributable to a general lack of attention to the dynamic, multileveled, and multifaceted nature of the computer self-efficacy construct. We offer examples from the extant CSE literature suggesting weaknesses in existing measures of the construct as well as issues associated with manipulations and the need for control of antecedent and consequent factors directly associated with CSE. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to provide a thorough review of the extant literature related to CSE; (2) to present an integrated model of empirical findings, constructed from a wide variety of disciplines, that comprehensively defines the multifaceted nature of task-specific CSE in terms of its antecedent, consequent, and moderating factors; (3) to present a conceptual model of CSE at the general versus task-specific level; and (4) to use the two models of CSE to proffer guidelines for both measurement and manipulation of the construct. Through our review of the CSE literature, we offer several thoughts regarding the nature of the empirical results obtained to date. The combined objectives serve as a basis for establishing a foundation upon which future research investigating the CSE construct can be based.