Why do People Reject Technologies? - Towards an Understanding of Resistance to IT-induced Organizational Change

Research on resistance to information technology is characterized by the fact that there is still no unified understanding about resistance to change of IT-induced organizational change projects (Vithessonthi 2007). In order to provide a deeper understanding why people reject technologies when introduced in organizations this paper develops a Model of Resistance to IT-induced Organizational Change based on micro-organizational change (Oreg 2006) and technology acceptance literature (Venkatesh and Bala 2008). The model posits that work, technology and process related outcomes of business process change are determined by a tri-dimensional resistance to change conceptualization (Piderit 2000; Oreg 2006) and evaluation of process and technology characteristics (Venkatesh 2006). Moreover these dimensions are determined by the context of the change and individual differences such as personality traits. First case study results show that the model is appropriate to gain a deeper understanding why people reject technologies.