When More Isn’t Necessarily Better: Conceptualization and Use of the Experience Construct in Is Research

Experience and related concepts such as organizational tenure have been extensively researched in a variety of disciplines, such as human resources, counseling, entrepreneurship and venture capital. Within the information systems literature, the experience construct is regularly employed to categorize subjects as well as to explain differences in training, amongst other treatment outcomes. Despite regularly appearing in both the academic and practitioner realms, the theoretical development of this construct has received very little attention. For instance, it is a common occurrence in job advertisements — asking prospective candidates to possess a certain amount of work experience, generally measured in years — to qualify for a position. Many professional disciplines incorporate an experience requirement into their licensing practices, such as counseling psychology, public accounting, and real estate brokering, among others. Following the applied community’s generally accepted practice of measuring experience in terms of years of education, service, or tenure, the research community often operationalizes the construct in a similar manner assuming a linear relationship, suggesting more is better than less. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of the experience construct in IS research, to offer alternative conceptualizations, and to suggest that commonly accepted practices may result in misuse of the construct and possible misinterpretation of results obtained in conjunction with its use.