Adopting information systems at work: a longitudinal examination of trust dynamics, antecedents, and outcomes

ABSTRACT

For users to adopt information systems, they must develop trust in such systems. Even though trust theories consistently define trust as dynamic, the development of trust over time has received little empirical attention. The present study examined the development of trust in a newly introduced information system and its association with antecedents related to the individual (e.g. disposition to trust), the information system (e.g. reliability), and the context (e.g. support) at different time points. We further assessed users’ reliance, performance, and well-being as outcomes of trust. Employees (N = 313) of a German public university assessed a newly introduced invoice processing system on four occasions (before system launch, after initial use, five months after launch, ten months after launch). Results from latent growth curve modelling show a non-linear increase of trust in the information system over time with changing predictors: Person factors were stronger predictors of trust in early phases, whereas system characteristics were stronger predictors later in the process. Moreover, users’ trust in the information system correlated positively with reliance, performance, and well-being. Our results highlight the central role of trust for the successful adoption of information systems at work, and offer specific suggestions for their building and maintenance.

KEYWORDS:

• Trust development
• trust dynamics
• information systems
• longitudinal data
• workplace

Acknowledgements

We thank all employees that gave us valuable insight into their work with the new information system. Furthermore, we thank Dr. Miriam Höddinghaus for her support during data collection and preparation and Dr. Celeste Brennecka for her support with proofreading the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Anonymised data are available upon request from the corresponding author.

Notes

1 An approval by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Psychology & Sports Science of the University of Münster has been gathered for the research project ‘Getrost Vergessen’ under approval number 2019-03-GH-FA, which this study has been part of.

2 Questionnaires at T0 to T3 included further scales and questions which are unrelated to our hypotheses and therefore not presented at this point. These were requested by the organization in order to further evaluate the information systems’ introduction process.

3 For T0, we only regressed trust disposition on trust, since system properties, context and service structures and outcomes were not assessed, as the system was not used at that time point.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation [Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft] [grant number HE 2745/16-2 and BE 1422/21-2].