The Adoption of Information Technology in Self-Managing Service Teams

This article examines antecedents and consequences of the adoption level of standardized information technology (it) versus customized it in self-managing teams (smts) in a financial services institution. Linkages between specified antecedents and the adoption levels of standardized and customized it were investigated using data collected from bank employees and in-company databases. The authors find positive individual-level effects of tolerance of self-management, ease of use, and innovativeness on the adoption level of standardized it and positive individual-level effects of tolerance of self-management and perceived usefulness on the adoption level of customized it. These findings suggest that discriminating between different types of it creates a better understanding of it adoption in smts. A similar investigation of the it adoption-service performance relationships shows that the adoption level of customized it rather than of standardized it has a crucial impact on service performance both in terms of customer satisfaction and productivity.