36 Int. J. Information Technology and Management, Vol. 7, No.

1, 2008

Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an

information technology within a supply chain
management context

Susan K. Lippert
Management Department
Drexel University, 101 N 33rd Street
Room 331, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
E-mail: lippert@[Link]

Abstract: Information Technology (IT) has generated profound effects on

Supply Chain Management (SCM) activities related to problem-solving,
information sharing, and cost reduction initiatives. The influences of
individual-level antecedents on post-adoption utilisation of a specialised IT
within an SCM context were examined. Data were collected from 272 first-tier
supply chain members of the second largest US automotive service-parts
logistics operation using a new supply chain technology. Twelve hypotheses
were tested through a structural equation model. The results suggest that in
supply chains where usage is mandated, individual-level determinants can
increase utilisation. Study implications and suggestions for future research
are discussed.

Keywords: technology adoption; post-adoption behaviour; utilisation;

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM); Structural Equation Modelling (SEM);
Supply Chain Awareness (SCA); Resistance to Change (RTC); Technology
Trust (TT); Willingness to Take Risks (WTR).

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Lippert, S.K. (2008)

‘Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology within a
supply chain management context’, Int. J. Information Technology and
Management, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.36–59.

Biographical notes: Dr. Susan K. Lippert was educated at the George

Washington University and received the degrees of PhD and MBA. Her
work experience includes ten years of IT consulting to a diverse number of
private industry firms, government agencies, non-profit organisations,
university-affiliated groups, and international organisations focusing on
business goals, organisational perspectives, and managerial functions. At
present, she is engaged in research and teaching at Drexel University in
Philadelphia, PA. Her current research interests include understanding
post-adoption behaviour of supply chain affiliates and the role of technology
trust on the use and management of IT. Her work is published or forthcoming
in the following journals: Communications of the ACM, IEEE Transactions
on Engineering Management, Journal of Information Science, International
Journal of Logistics Management, Journal of the Computer Information
Systems, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Physical
Distribution and Logistics Management, Journal of Global Information
Management, Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, among
others.

Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 37

1 Introduction

The motor vehicle parts industry in the USA represents an often overlooked but
significant component of automobile manufacturing, sales and distribution. Motor vehicle
parts are distributed across complex supply chain hierarchies with limited recognition of
the profound effect of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the overall profitability of
the US automotive industry. The use of Information Technology (IT) to support supply
chain operations has emerged as an important and potentially costly initiative within this
industry. The US automotive industry incurs costs in excess of $5 billion annually due to
inadequacies within their supply chain infrastructures (White et al., 2004). In a 2005
AMR study (Mixer and Scott, 2005), US auto companies were found to spend 3.5% of
their total revenue on IT with the greatest focus on the investment of Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) and SCM applications.
Technology plays an important role in successful SCM when it is implemented with
an underlying strategy to reduce costs and improve service (Coia, 2003). Given the
amount of resources expended annually in support of supply chain initiatives, the
application of technology to support SCM activities is warranted. Understanding the
determinants that influence acceptance of new technologies in supply chains is a research
domain that has received limited attention (Lippert and Forman, 2005).
The US automotive supply chain consists of supplier organisations ranging in size
from 50 to thousands of employees (White et al., 2004). In 2001, motor vehicle parts
manufacturing employed nearly one million workers, representing about 6.5% of the
individuals working in that industry (White et al., 2004). Shipments of motor vehicles
and motor vehicle equipment amounted to almost $403 billion in 2001, or approximately
10% of the value of all manufactured goods (Census Bureau, 2003). US automotive
suppliers incur fines upwards of $500,000 per hour if they cause the shut down of an
automotive assembly line, a figure that reflects the economic loss from idling people and
equipment due to lack of parts (White et al., 2004). In a Booz Allen Hamilton study
(Heckmann et al., 2003), 45% of survey respondents said that their supply chain
information technology has failed to live up to expectations particularly in response to
providing performance measures across the supply chain, supporting decision-making
and failure to deliver promised economic and technical performance. A solid information
technology structure is an important part of maintaining an efficient supply chain
(Haight, 2003). In an attempt to balance customers’ demands with the need for profitable
growth, many firms have focused on improving SCM activities (Mixer and Scott, 2005).
The basis for developing this study highlights four under-recognised and
under-studied issues:
1 the significance of supply chains in the overall manufacturing process
2 the complexity of supply chain operations
3 the limited acknowledgement of the importance of supply chain operations in
automotive manufacturing
4 the existence of technologies in the 21st century that permit significant process
improvement in supply chain operations.
38 S.K. Lippert

2 Theoretical background

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was introduced by Davis (1989) to explain
and predict individuals’ acceptance behaviour toward a broad range of technologies,
independent of the population studied and the IT being introduced. TAM (Davis, 1989) is
based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and proposes
that adoption decisions are predicated on an individual’s affective reaction or attitude
toward using an innovation. Based to TAM (Davis, 1989), an individual’s decision to
accept a new IT is based on two predominant beliefs:
1 perceived ease of use, the individual’s perception concerning the amount of effort
required to use the new system
2 perceived usefulness, the individual’s perception concerning the degree to which
using the IT will improve his job performance.
Gefen et al. (2003b) assert that TAM is an important theory of technology acceptance
since the theory explains computer usage behaviour and offers insights regarding how
user acceptance is influenced by system characteristics. In an earlier work, Gefen and
Keil (1998) suggested that understanding the antecedents to perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness is important if managers want to influence individuals’ technology
usage behaviour. This assertion is important since in a separate study, Legris et al. (2003)
found that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness explain approximately 40% of
why an individual uses a new IT.
Davis (1989) suggests that perceived ease of use influences acceptance through its
effect on perceived usefulness, an assertion that has been substantiated by a number of
other studies (e.g., Gefen and Straub, 2000; Karahanna and Straub, 1999; Venkatesh and
Davis, 1996). Studies (e.g., Adams et al., 1992; Agarwal and Prasad, 1999; Moore and
Benbasat, 1991) have found perceived ease of use to be important in technology
adoption. Additionally, Davis (1989) asserts that other external variables, such as
system-specific characteristics or individual attitudinal factors, are mediated by these two
key beliefs, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Gefen and Straub (2000)
suggest that perceived usefulness, rather than perceived ease of use, may influence the
individual’s usage intention toward a specific technology.
Researchers have empirically validated TAM in a variety of settings. The relationship
between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and their effects on an
individual’s intention to adopt a technology were studied within the information systems
field (e.g., Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Igbaria et al., 1996; Venkatesh and Morris,
2000). Prior studies have examined a wide variety of TAM antecedents as shown in
Table 1. Although a range of TAM antecedents have been studied, the investigation of
resistance to change and willingness to take risks has not been previously evaluated using
TAM as a theoretical basis of inquiry.
Researchers investigating technology adoption using TAM as a theoretical foundation
have focused primarily on an individual’s intention to adopt as the dependent variable
(e.g., Fu et al., 2006; Hu et al., 1999; Lee et al., 2005) rather than using dependent
measures of actual usage behaviour. Intention to adopt represents the intent to behave in
the future rather than an actual behaviour in the present (Peter and Olson, 1999). Actual
usage behaviour toward new technologies has been studied in the form of post-adoption
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 39

behaviours (e.g., Karahanna et al., 1999; Parthasarathy and Bhattacherjee, 1998) and
computer utilisation (e.g., Kim et al., 1998; Lippert and Forman, 2005; Thompson et al.,
1991). A fundamental premise to the proposed research is that using a behavioural
post-adoption approach to study actual technology utilisation represents a more robust
measure of usage and acceptance than an individual’s intention to behave in the future
which may be influenced and changed due to a variety of history effects.

Table 1 TAM related research

Antecedent under Technology

Authors investigation investigated Dependent variable
Agarwal and Cognitive absorption World Wide Web Behavioural intention
Karahanna (2000) to use
Chau (2001) Computer attitude Personal productivity Behavioural intention
software
Dishaw and Strong Tool experience Maintenance support Actual tool usage
(1999) tools
Hong et al. Computer Digital library Intention to use
(2001/2002) self-efficacy
Hsu and Lu (2004) Flow experiences Online game Intention to play
Igbaria and Iivari Computer anxiety Microcomputers Usage behaviour
(1995)
Lee et al. (2005) Perceived enjoyment Internet-based learning Behavioural intention
medium
Saade and Bahli Cognitive absorption Internet-based learning Intention to use
(2005) system
Shih (2004) Perceived e-shopping User acceptance
information quality
van der Heijden Perceived enjoyment Dutch movie website Intention to use
(2004)
Zain et al. (2005) User involvement Computer systems Actual system usage

3 Research model and hypotheses

Figure 1 summarises the research model incorporating the hypothesised relationships

for the antecedents of technology utilisation. The model suggests that technology
trust, supply chain awareness, resistance to change, and willingness to take risks
have an affect on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, and therefore on
technology utilisation.
40 S.K. Lippert

Figure 1 Research model

H1 (+)
Technology
trust H2 (+)
Perceived
usefulness H11 (+)
H3 (+)
Supply chain
H4 (+)
awareness
H5 (+)

H10 (+) Utilisation

Resistance to H6 (-)
change
H7 (-)

H8 (+) Perceived H12 (+)

Willingness to ease of use
take risks
H9 (+)
Post-adoption
TAM constructs
Individual-level construct
constructs

3.1 Individual-level constructs

Existing literature provides evidence of positive relationships between various types of
trust (e.g., Ba and Pavlou, 2002; Gefen et al., 2003a; Lippert, 2001; Lippert, forthcoming;
Lippert and Forman, 2006; Pavlou and Gefen, 2004) and an individual’s intention to
adopt a technology (Gefen and Straub, 2000). A supply chain member’s trust evaluation
of an IT is based on the synthesis of affective and cognitive input (Lippert, 2004).
Since perceived usefulness refers to the degree to which an individual believes that a
particular technology will enhance his job performance (Davis, 1989), the individual’s
trust assessment will likely impact his perception. Likewise, since perceived ease of use
represents the degree to which an individual believes that a particular IT is effortless to
use (Davis, 1989), trust in the technology should influence an individual’s perception that
a technology is useful. Ultimately, trust assessments will affect a supply chain member’s
willingness to engage in utilisation behaviours where utilisation refers to the extent to
which users take advantage of the most important operational features of the technology
(Lippert and Forman, 2005). Therefore:

H1 The greater a supply chain member’s trust in the technology, the more he will
realise the perceived usefulness of the system.
Each time a supply chain member uses a technology, a trust assessment is made about the
system (Denning, 1993). If the technology is operational when needed, a positive
assessment of system performance is noted. Supply chain affiliates may consider
frequent or inconvenient system downtimes as negative experiences that may result in
diminished trust in the technology. Trust assessments are often based upon a single
incident (Denning, 1993). As such, they will affect an individual’s willingness to
engage in utilisation behaviours. Past experiences with the system, both positive and
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 41

negative, influence a supply chain member’s assessment of that technology. Each

interaction with a technology will influence an affiliate’s perceptions such that expected
interactions will lead to positive system evaluations. The accumulation of positive
experiences will increase an affiliate’s trust in technology (Lippert, 2001). As the
affiliate’s trust in the technology increases, perceptions that the technology is easy to use
will also increase. Therefore:

H2 The greater a supply chain member’s trust in the technology, the more he will
realise that the technology is easy to use.
Supply chains involve the flow of products, information, and services, within and among
supply chain partners (Handfield and Nichols, 1999). While supply chains exist for
virtually every product purchased, few supply chains are actively managed. Managing
supply chains requires integration of various business processes across organisations
adding value to supply chain members (Stock and Lambert, 2002). Well-managed supply
chains enable organisations to deliver products to consumers at the lowest landed costs
possible, and analysis reveals that retailers succeed due to their mastery of the supply
chain technology which facilitates the efficient flow of products from suppliers to
customers (Brown et al., 2005).
In particular, supply chains are systems in that they contain inter-related
organisations, have hierarchies, are goal-oriented, and have a series of processes
transforming inputs and producing outputs. Supply chain awareness measures the extent
to which users believe that an understanding of the players, relationships, and processes
in the user’s firm’s supply chain is important (Forman and Lippert, 2005). Therefore, if
supply chain members understand the concept of managed supply chains and their role in
the supply chain (Chandra and Kumar, 2000), it is more likely they will utilise
technologies to fulfil organisational obligations and ultimately retailer performance. As
such, the following relationships are hypothesised:

H3 The greater a supply chain member’s awareness of supply chain activities, the
more he will realise the perceived usefulness of the technology.

H4 The greater a supply chain member’s awareness of supply chain activities, the
more he will utilise the system.

H5 The greater a supply chain member’s awareness of supply chain activities, the
more he will realise that the technology is easy to use.
The degree to which supply chain members accept an organisational change depends on
the process used to initiate the transformation. As part of this change process, some
individuals within the supply chain will express greater resistance to the change out of
concern that the technology is complex (Rogers, 1995). Resistance to change is
oftentimes assumed to be a result of individuals’ greater comfort with what they know
juxtaposed with a discomfort for that which is new and unfamiliar (Piderit, 2000). If this
assertion is true, then an individual who is resistant to change will not exert the necessary
energy to identify the utility of the new technology (Lippert and Davis, 2006),
specifically regarding how the system will enhance job performance. As such:
42 S.K. Lippert

H6 The greater a supply chain member’s resistance to change, the less likely he will
realise the perceived usefulness of the technology.
The conversion from one system to another may result in resistance by organisational
members (Lippert and Davis, 2006). This transformation is a form of organisational
change, although the supply chain member may not recognise this in midst of the change
initiative (Lippert and Davis, 2006). A major obstacle to achieving desired organisational
outcomes is based on individuals’ resistance to behavioural change (Jones, 2003). Part of
this resistance will manifest in the individual’s unwillingness to use the new system. This
suggests that:

H7 The greater a supply chain member’s resistance to change, the less likely he will
utilise the new technology.
Risk is defined as the extent to which there is uncertainty about whether potentially
significant and/or disappointing outcomes of decisions will be realised (Sitkin and Pablo,
1992). Consistent with Dewett (2004), this view of risk is extended to the evaluation of
any task-related activity that a supply chain member might make in the course of
completing job tasks. A task-related activity might include the evaluation of the new
technology to enhance job performance. The change resulting from the launch of these
new systems can generate perceived risk through the changes in routines, relationships,
power balances, and job security (Dewett, 2004) since they are modifications to the
status quo (Pfeffer and Sutton, 2000). The introduction of an IT involves uncertainty for
the organisation and individuals using the system (Wan et al., 2005). Therefore:

H8 The greater a supply chain member’s willingness to take risks, the more he will
realise the perceived usefulness of the technology.
Wan et al. (2005) found that willingness to take risks is positively related to greater firm
innovation. As part of the innovation process, supply chain members will interact with
the new system as part of their earlier experiences. These experiences will shape their
perceptions of the IT, particularly around the issue of ease of use. Therefore:

H9 The greater a supply chain member’s willingness to take risks, the more he will
realise that the technology is easy to use.

3.2 TAM constructs

Perceived usefulness was consistently found to be a significant mediating variable
between perceived ease of use and the behavioural intention to adopt a technology
(Davis, 1989; Lynn et al., 2002). Therefore, in accordance with TAM, the following
is hypothesised:

H10 The greater a supply chain member’s perception that the technology is easy to
use, the more he will realise that the technology is useful.
Consistent with TAM (Davis, 1989), perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use will
independently lead to an intention to behave which will lead to usage behaviour. As such:
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 43

H11 The greater a supply chain member’s realisation of the technology’s usefulness,
the more likely he is to utilise the technology.

H12 The greater a supply chain member’s realisation that the technology is easy to
use, the more likely he is to utilise the technology.

4 Research method

A two-stage data process was used to collect data from members of the second largest US
automotive service parts supply chain. The first stage consisted of interviews of supply
chain members in order to understand the user population, to provide a foundation for
instrument design and development, and to serve as validation during the analysis stage.
The second stage consisted of a field survey to empirically test the hypotheses presented
in this manuscript.

4.1 Stage 1 data collection – interviews

A series of 59 face-to-face interviews, consisting of 29 men and 30 women, were
conducted over a four-month period in several geographic regions in the Northeast,
Midwest, and Southeast of the USA and Ontario, Canada. Nine employees of the
automotive company, 47 individuals working for supplier organisations, and three
members of the fourth-party logistics (4PL) firm were interviewed.
A purposeful sample was used to address factors affecting technology acceptance
with a diverse sample across the supply chain. The sample of interviewees was based on
a combination of organisational and individual factors.1 Knowledge obtained during the
interviews was added to information obtained from an extensive literature review
spanning the information systems, supply chain management, and marketing research
domains over the past 30 years. The survey used in this study was based on the mapping
of the literature to the on-site interviews in order to develop factors affecting the
post-adoption behaviour of supply chain technology users. The research model of the
current study was developed based on an interest to investigate selected factors identified
during the interview process.
This study’s population consists of suppliers using a technology called the
Collaborative Visibility Network (CVN) that was designed to streamline operational
costs and provide part-level visibility to the entire supply chain. CVN maintains cubic
dimensions for each supply chain member’s manufactured parts and enables better
cubing of trailers to optimise transportation operations, so that the after-market parts can
be delivered at the lowest landed costs.

4.2 Stage 2 data collection – field survey

For each item, a 7-point Likert scale was used with response options ranging from
strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). Table 2 presents the constructs used in this
study along with a definition, the number of items used to assess each construct, the
original coefficient alpha, and the scale source reference.
44 S.K. Lippert

Table 2 Construct definitions and sources

Number
Construct Construct definition of items Alpha Scale source
Perceived The degree to which an individual believes that 6 0.94 Davis (1989)
ease of use a particular technology is effortless to use
Perceived The degree to which an individual believes that 8 0.98 Davis (1989)
usefulness a particular technology will enhance his job 0.95 Agarwal and
performance Prasad (1999)
Supply chain The degree to which an individual understands 7 New Based on work by
awareness the supply chain management context items Holweg and
Bicheno (2002)
Resistance to The degree to which an individual is unwilling 4 New Based on work by
change to modify his current operations to items Robertson and
accommodate the new technology Wind (1980)
Willingness The willingness of an individual to engage in 5 0.85 Jaworski and Kohli
to take risks activities which may lead to loss or unintended (1993)
negative consequences
Technology An individual’s willingness to be vulnerable to 4 0.69 Based on work by
trust the information systems technology based on Lippert (2001)
expectations of technology predictability,
reliability and utility and influenced by the
individual’s predilection to trust technology
Utilisation The extent to which users take advantage of 7 New Based on work by
the most important operational features of items Lippert and
the technology Forman (2005)

4.3 Sample size

In total, 3000 surveys were distributed; 562 were returned for incorrect addresses. The
contact list obtained from the 4PL contained numerous address errors limiting the number
of surveys returned. After removing incomplete surveys from the 341 returned, 272
usable surveys were included in this study yielding a response rate of 11.1%. US
companies received 2705 surveys and 295 surveys were mailed to Canadian companies
that are first-tier suppliers to the automotive firm. An equivalent response rate was found
for both US (11.1%) and Canadian (11.4%) firms.
In an effort to test for non-response bias, an analysis of the demographics of the
organisations surveyed was conducted. The demographics of the first 25% of the
respondents were compared to that of the last 25% and found no significant differences in
item responses. Finally, the response rate represents 11.1% of the entire population of
suppliers in this particular supply chain. There was no significant difference between the
ratios of Canadian to US firms and urban versus rural locations in the overall population.

5 Data analysis
5.1 Sample characteristics
Gender, age, education level, locale (USA or Canada), and zip codes were collected. Zip
codes were collapsed into a binary structure and labelled as rural or urban based on
criteria from the US Department of Commerce 2000 National Census (Department of
Commerce, 2000).
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 45

Respondents varied in gender (female, 64.0%; male, 36.0%); age (20–29 years of age,
12.5%; 30–39 years of age, 33.1%; 40–49 years of age, 35.3%; 50–59 years of age,
17.3%; and over 60, 1.5%), and education (high school diplomas, 19.5%; some college,
43.4%; college degree, 34.2%; other, 2.9%). Twenty-four of the respondents were from
Canadian companies and 248 respondents were from US companies. Of the 248 US
companies, 25.8% were rural; 74.2% were urban. On average, respondents indicated that
they used CVN 3.5 times per week and spent 4.9 hours per week on the system.

5.2 Test of normality

The Shapiro-Wilk W-test (Shapiro and Wilk, 1965) is a formal test of normality (for
samples up to 2000) and is the preferred measure (Shapiro et al., 1968) since the statistic
is sensitive to variance in symmetry (skewness) and spread (kurtosis) (Royston, 1982).
The Shapiro-Wilk W-test represents the correlation coefficient between the squared
ordered values and the normal scores where W = 1 suggests that the data demonstrate
perfect normality. When the W statistic is significantly smaller than one, the assumption
of normality is not met. All data within the current study are normally distributed
(Shapiro-Wilk W-test, p > 0.01).

5.3 Psychometric properties of measures

In order to confirm the reliability of the scales, the composite reliability coefficient
(Jöreskog, 1971) and convergent and discriminant validity were assessed. A Composite
Reliability (CR) offers a means of assessing the internal consistency of the items of a
latent variable (Chin, 1998) and is calculated as ρc = (∑λ)2/[(∑λ)2 + ∑(1 – λ2)] where λ
is the standardised component loading of a manifest indicator on a latent construct
(Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2000). CR should be greater than 0.60 in order to be
considered acceptable (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988).
Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed by using two criteria. First, the
construct’s Average Variance Extracted (AVE) should be at least greater than 0.50 and
should exceed the correlation with other constructs. Second, the standardised loading
should be at least 0.70 and the items should load higher on constructs they are intended to
measure (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Evidence of convergent validity was obtained by
examining the AVE through the latent construct (Hair et al., 1998). Higher variance
extracted values occur when the indicators are truly representative of the latent construct.
AVE measures the amount of variance that is captured by the construct in relation to the
amount of variance due to measurement error (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). The AVE is
calculated as ρv = (∑λ2)/[(∑λ2) + ∑(1 – λ2)] (Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2000).
Table 3 summarises the factor loadings, composite reliability (ρc) and AVE (ρv) of the
measures within the research model. All the measures fulfil the recommended levels,
with composite reliabilities ranging from 0.838 to 0.984 and the average variance
extracted ranging from 0.537 to 0.882.
46 S.K. Lippert

Table 3 Summary of psychometric properties of the measures

Construct Measurement instrument Loading

Supply SCA1 It is important to understand the actual end user demand that 0.87
Chain drives our supply chain in order to use CVN effectively.
Awareness SCA2 It is important to understand how production processes in 0.91
(SCA) the supply chain are linked with each other in order to use
ρc = 0.967 CVN effectively.
ρv = 0.807 SCA3 It is important to understand how inventory levels are managed 0.90
along the supply chain order to use CVN effectively.
SCA4 It is important to understand the role of integration of supply 0.92
chain members in order to use CVN effectively.
SCA5 It is important to understand the role of transportation services 0.88
along the supply chain in order to use CVN effectively.
SCA6 It is important to understand why my company shares 0.89
information with other members of the supply chain in order to
use CVN effectively.
SCA7 It is important to understand why my company work as a 0.89
team with other members of the supply chain in order to use
CVN effectively.
Resistance RTC1 My department would be among the last to try a novel 0.89
to Change procedure even if it appeared promising.
(RTC) RTC2 Meaningful change and innovation in my department are 0.92
ρc = 0.937 often curtailed.
ρv = 0.789 RTC3 My organisation would be among the last to try a novel 0.92
procedure even if it appeared promising.
RTC4 Meaningful change and innovation in my organisation are 0.91
often curtailed.
Willingness WTR1 I would rather be safe than sorry. 0.72
to Take WTR2 I want to bee sure before I purchase anything. 0.77
Risks
(WTR) WTR3 I avoid risky things. 0.81
ρc = 0.849 WTR4 I like to ‘play it safe’. 0.84

ρv = 0.537 WTR5 I like to implement plans only if I am certain that they 0.76
will work.
Technology TT1 I think that CVN is predictable. 0.78
Trust (TT) TT2 I can rely on CVN to be working when I need it. 0.81
ρc = 0.952 TT3 I have faith that CVN will function as I expect it. 0.77
ρv = 0.833 TT4 I have a high degree of confidence that CVN will be working 0.80
when I need it.
Utilisation UTL2 Use the Express Option. 0.75
(UTL) UTL3 Use the Exception Management feature. 0.83
ρc = 0.838 UTL4 Use the Search function to manage workload planning. 0.79
ρv = 0.746 UTL5 Use the Search function to prioritise the unloading process. 0.82
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 47

Table 3 Summary of psychometric properties of the measures (continued)

Construct Measurement instrument Loading

Perceived PEU1 Learning to use CVN is easy for me. 0.87
Ease of Use PEU2 It is easy for me to remember how to perform tasks 0.88
(PEU) using CVN.
ρc = 0.947 PEU4 It is easy for me to become skilful at using CVN. 0.86
ρv = 0.818 PEU5 My interaction with CVN is clear and understandable. 0.78
Perceived PU1 Using CVN enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly. 0.83
Usefulness PU2 Using CVN improves my job performance. 0.90
(PU)
PU3 Using CVN gives me greater control over my work. 0.90
ρc = 0.984
PU4 Using CVN improves the quality of work I do. 0.91
ρv = 0.882
PU5 Using CVN improves my productivity. 0.92
PU6 Using CVN enhances my effectiveness on the job. 0.92
PU7 Using CVN makes it easier to do my job. 0.89
PU8 Overall, I find using CVN useful in my job. 0.84
Notes: ρc = composite reliability; ρv = average variance extracted

5.4 Research model results

A Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach with maximum likelihood estimation
was used to evaluate the hypothesised relationships. SEM is a statistical technique
designed to test hypothesised relationships among observed and latent variables (Hoyle,
1995). A structural model using a series of hypotheses identifies how the variables are
generated and related (Chou and Bentler, 1995) and provides an assessment of predictive
validity (Byrne, 1998).
LISREL was selected for the data analysis since the model fit to the data is evaluated
through the significance of the individual paths. SEM simultaneously estimates a series
of separate but interdependent multiple regression equations by specifying the paths
within the structural model (Hair et al., 1998). Hypotheses are simultaneously assessed in
the context of the entire model rather than through independent regression analyses of
each distinct hypothesis. The results generated from SEM offer parameter estimations
(Kaplan, 2000), consider both measurement and prediction (Kelloway, 1998), and are
appropriate when latent constructs interact with one another (Bollen, 1989).

5.5 Hypothesised structural model

The research model (Figure 1) was tested with an item-level SEM. Fit indices indicated
that the model fit the data well and exceed the thresholds set forth in theory (Table 4).
Table 5 summarises this study’s findings. The path coefficients for the structural
model provide support for half of the hypotheses. Six of the 12 hypotheses are supported
at p < 0.05 and six hypotheses exhibited significance at the p < 0.08 level.
48 S.K. Lippert

Table 4 Fit statistics of the research model

Recommended Observed
Fit index value Source of recommended value value
Chi-square/degree of freedom ≤3.00 Hair et al. (1998) 0.63
Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) ≥0.90 Kelloway (1998) 1.022
Incremental Fit Index (IFI) ≥0.90 Kelloway (1998) 1.003
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) ≥0.90 Kelloway (1998) 1.000
Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) ≥0.90 Diamantopoulos and Siguaw 0.998
(2000)
Root Mean Squared Error of ≥0.08 Browne and Cudeck (1993) 0.08
Approximation (RMSEA)
Standardised Room Mean ≤0.05 Diamantopoulos and Siguaw 0.01
Squared (SRMR) Error (2000)

The first two hypotheses were partially supported. Technology trust may influence a
supply chain member’s perception that the technology is useful (β = 0.49, p < 0.08) and
that the technology is easy to use (β = 0.54, p < 0.08). These values are reported in
keeping with the recommendation of Rosnow and Rosenthal (1989) that p values in
excess of 0.05 contain valuable information and are worthy of reporting since there is no
ontological demarcation between ‘significant’ and ‘non-significant’ results. Results of
testing Hypotheses 1 and 2 yield partially supported results at p < 0.08 which indicate
that technology trust may impact a supply chain member’s perceptions regarding the
technology’s usefulness and easy to use.
Hypothesis 3 is supported. An affiliate’s awareness of supply chain operations
influences his perceptions that the technology is useful (β = 0.12, p < 0.05). Hypothesis 4
is partially supported (β = 0.18, p < 0.08) such that having awareness of supply chain
activities may influence an affiliate’s use of the technology. Hypothesis 5 is supported
(β = 0.05, p < 0.05) which suggests that awareness of supply chain operations positively
influences a supply chain member’s perception that the technology is easy to use.
Hypothesis 6 is supported (β = 0.19, p < 0.05). An inverse relationship between the
supply chain member’s resistance to change and his perceived usefulness of the
technology was identified. Hypothesis 7 is partially supported (β = 0.16, p < 0.08) which
suggests that resistance to change may influence an affiliate’s utilisation of the
technology. Hypotheses 8 and 9 are supported suggesting that the greater an affiliate’s
willingness to take risks, the more he will realise the usefulness of the technology
(β = 0.00, p < 0.05) and that the technology is easy to use (β = 0.10, p < 0.05).
Hypothesis 10 was supported (β = 0.24, p < 0.05) in that an affiliate’s perception that the
technology is easy to use will positively influence his perception that the technology
is useful.
Hypotheses 11 and 12 are partially supported. If the supply chain member perceives
that the technology is useful, he is more likely to use the system (β = 0.19, p < 0.08). If
the supply chain member perceives that the system is easy to use, he is more likely to use
the technology (β = 0.08, p < 0.08).
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 49

Table 5 Summary of research results

Hypotheses Coefficient t-value Supported

H1 The greater a supply chain member’s trust in the 0.49 8.047** Partial
technology, the more he will realise the perceived
usefulness of the technology.
H2 The greater a supply chain member’s trust in the 0.54 8.753** Partial
technology, the more he will realise that the
technology is easy to use.
H3 The greater a supply chain member’s awareness of 0.12 2.665* Full
supply chain activities, the more he will realise the
perceived usefulness of the technology.
H4 The greater a supply chain member’s awareness of 0.18 2.571** Partial
supply chain activities, the more he will utilise the
technology.
H5 The greater a supply chain member’s awareness of 0.05 0.852* Full
supply chain activities, the more he will realise
that the technology is easy to use.
H6 The greater a supply chain member’s resistance to 0.19 4.294* Full
change, the less likely he will realise the perceived
usefulness of the technology.
H7 The greater a supply chain member’s resistance to 0.16 2.366** Partial
change, the less likely he will utilise the new
technology.
H8 The greater a supply chain member’s willingness 0.00 0.0722* Full
to take risks, the more he will realise the perceived
usefulness of the technology.
H9 The greater a supply chain member’s willingness 0.10 1.737* Full
to take risks, the more he will realise that the
technology is easy to use.
H10 Perceived ease of use will positively influence 0.24 4.235* Full
perceived usefulness.
H11 The greater a supply chain member’s realisation of 0.19 2.354** Partial
the technology’s usefulness, the more likely he is
to utilise the technology.
H12 The greater a supply chain member’s realisation 0.08 1.039** Partial
that the technology is easy to use, the more likely
he is to utilise the technology.
Note: * Parameter estimates are significant at 0.05 or less
** Parameter estimates are significant at 0.08 or less

6 Discussion

This study examined the influence of specific individual-level constructs on the TAM
concepts of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and the post-adoption
construct of technology utilisation. The influence of technology trust, supply chain
awareness, resistance to change, and willingness to take risks was examined as
determinants of technology utilisation within a supply chain context. Based on this study,
there appear to be several noteworthy insights.
50 S.K. Lippert

The influence of technology trust, while partially supported in this study, appears to
exhibit an impact on an affiliate’s perception of the technology’s usefulness and ease of
use. This suggests the inclusion of training programmes may offer practical solutions for
managers seeking to support new technological initiatives. Additionally, through the use
of positive dialogue with organisational employees, managers may be able to facilitate
trust-building toward the new innovation.
Awareness of supply chain operations appears to be an important predictor for
technology acceptance within a supply chain context. In particular, full support was
found between the understanding of supply chain activities and the realisation that the
technology is useful and easy to use. This suggests that managers may find it useful to
include a seminar on supply chain operations, for affiliates using these technologies, in
order to assist users with understanding how operations are related to the system. These
seminars might be appropriate as part of the initial training programme when affiliates
are learning how to use the new technology. The supply chain operation module could be
bundled with the functionality component to explain to supply chain members how their
use of the system connects and integrates them with others within the same supply chain.
While knowledge of supply chain awareness showed partial support for technology
utilisation, the absence of full support may be more a function of the utilisation construct
rather than the actual influence of supply chain activities. This suggests that further
investigation is warranted to develop the utilisation construct and reassess if knowledge
of supply chain activities does indeed influence technology utilisation.
An individual’s resistance to change appears to be an important predictor of the
supply chain member’s ability to realise the perceived usefulness of the technology such
that an affiliate who experiences resistance to change is less likely to realise the perceived
usefulness of the system. This finding suggests that resistance to change can influence an
affiliate’s ability to recognise how the technology can enhance his job performance.
Resistance to change can be overcome through conditioning and expectation matching
within the workplace. This study found partial support for the influence of resistance to
change on the utilisation of the new technology. This suggests that additional research is
needed to confirm this hypothesised relationship.
A supply chain member’s willingness to take risks was found to influence both his
realisation that the technology is useful and easy to use. These findings indicate that
individuals with greater risk-taking behaviours will recognise how the technology can
enhance job performance and is effortless to use. Consistent with other studies,
(e.g., Gefen et al., 2003a; Lee et al., 2005; Lippert and Forman, 2005), perceived ease of
use was found to positively influence perceived usefulness which suggests that the more
an affiliate recognises that the technology is effortless to use, the more he will understand
the usefulness of the system to complete daily tasks.
Interestingly, partial support was found for the influence of perceived usefulness
and perceived ease of use on a supply chain member’s willingness to use a technology.
This suggests that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use may influence
technology utilisation and that these relationships require further investigation to confirm
these results.
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 51

7 Implications

A number of implications evolved from this research for academics and practitioners
interested in enhancing technology utilisation. The challenge of facilitating acceptance
and use of new technologies is a real business consideration as supply chains continue to
develop and use new technological solutions. Recommendations for supply chains
introducing new technological systems with a minimum of cost and disruption
to business process activities emerged and are offered as pragmatic suggestions of
this research.

7.1 Implications for academics

This research offers a number of implications for academics. First, this study provides
further evidence for the profound affect of user attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, experiences
and behaviours on the process of technology utilisation. Second, a conceptual model
was empirically tested to understand the influence of individual-level determinants of
post-adoption utilisation behaviour. This study found that individual-level antecedents
(technology trust, supply chain awareness, willingness to take risks, and resistance to
change) and the TAM antecedents (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use)
exhibited an effect on technology utilisation. This indicates that the inclusion of
individual-level antecedents in the investigation of post-adoption utilisation behaviour is
relevant and appropriate in future examinations within the supply chain context.
Third, the supply chain population in which this research was conducted represents a
social system in which limited research regarding the adoption of specialised information
technologies exists. Since supply chains consist of multiple organisations working toward
a common goal, the need for consistent and effective technology utilisation is important if
information is to be adequately made available to all supply chain organisations. These
inter-organisational components are critical issues for effective technology utilisation.
Fourth, this study examined factors impacting post-adoption behaviour of supply
chain organisations using the TAM (Davis, 1989). As a consequence of this research, the
application of TAM in the context of supply chains was found to be appropriate. Fifth, a
measure to evaluate the specialised functionality used by supply chain members was
employed within this study and found to exhibit strong internal consistency. This
suggests that the utilisation measure may be valuable in future investigations that
evaluate an affiliate’s usage behaviour of similar SCM technologies.
Finally, this study enhanced Davis’ (1989) TAM by including additional,
individual-level antecedents for supply chains. This should be useful for future research
to develop a more thorough and deeper understanding of not only what influences
innovation adoption, but how the innovation is used and its organisational impact.

7.2 Implications for practitioners

This study offers a number of implications for supply chain executives interested in
improving utilisation of SCM technologies. Given that the projected technology
expenditures by automotive executives in 2006 is estimated to decline slightly by 1.3%
from the 2005 level (Mixer and Scott, 2005), it is important to understand what can be
done to facilitate the increased usage of supply chain technologies. The challenge of
encouraging acceptance and use of new technologies is a real business consideration as
supply chains continue to develop and use new technological solutions.
52 S.K. Lippert

The process of introducing new technologies into supply chains remains a challenge,
particularly if past implementations were less than successful. The effects of these earlier
experiences shape perceptions regarding the expected outcomes and potential obstacles
the affiliate is likely to encounter. Management and employees may not trust the new
technology if past expectations were unfulfilled particularly since a change in process
introduces uncertainty within the organisational structure. Unfortunately, change is
necessary in order for the innovation to be accepted, but the effects of affiliates’
resistance to change can exert negative influences on the success of the implementation.
To mediate the potential uncertainty associated with the new system, management should
provide detailed and explicate plans to the entire supply chain to help the stakeholders
develop internal procedures necessary to support acceptance of the new system. These
plans should be communicated in both face-to-face venues such as open forums or
departmental meetings and through written communication disseminated to the
organisation so that all individuals receive the information simultaneously.
Formative and summarise evaluations should be undertaken to determine what issues
the stakeholders encounter during the phases of the systems development life cycle.
Formative evaluations could be undertaken as part of the early design initiatives through
a needs assessment that would help determine which affiliates require the technology, the
degree to which they require the new system, and what type of technology is best suited
to meet their specific needs. As was the case with this technology studied as part of the
current investigation, the customer determined that the technology was necessary with
limited, and in some cases no, input from the affiliate organisations. Early involvement of
future system users vests their willingness to use the system since they were involved in
the requirements determination process. An implementation evaluation that monitors the
reliability of the technology implementation process would provide directed feedback to
management and permit individual affiliates to be directly involved in the process.
Once the system is introduced, a range of summarise evaluations can be performed.
These appraisals could investigate whether the technology produced specific and
significant effects on a series of defined outcomes (outcome evaluation). Management
could also conduct impact evaluations to assess the overall or net effects of the
technology that resulted from planned activities or occurred as a result of unintended
consequences. A cost-benefit analysis could address the degree to which the tangible and
intangible costs outweighed the benefits of the new system. These summarise evaluation
techniques could provide management with information necessary to assess the success
of the initiative.
The process of developing trust in the technology is another venue where managers of
supply chains can seek improvements based on the findings of this research. In particular,
trust in technology is based on an individual’s perceptions of the technology’s
predictability, reliability and utility and influenced by his predilection to trust technology
(Lippert, 2001). An affiliate’s expectation that the technology will function consistently
based on his past experiences with the system and his future performance expectations
provides an evaluation of the technology’s performance capabilities. Since past
experiences are the accumulation of evidence (Muir, 1994) as to how the technology has
historically functioned, any and all negative experiences will influence and shape
perceptions regarding the likelihood that the technology will function consistently in the
future. As such, management can foster technology trust by ensuring that the technology
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 53

functions consistently and when the technology is expected to be inoperable, provide

immediate and detailed communication to supply chain affiliates so that they can plan
their schedules accordingly.
As an affiliate gains experience in working with technology, his confidence level in
predicting how consistently the technology will function is likely to increase. Both
positive and negative past experiences with technology in terms of consistency of
performance suggests similar expectations of functional consistency in the future.
Unexpected downtimes or failures coupled with system problems and crashes reduce the
user’s ability to rely on the technology to be functioning in the present (Goodhue, 1998;
Bailey and Pearson, 1983). Reliability is a function of the frequency of the individual’s
access to the technology over the frequency of access to the system. To help supply
chains ensure that affiliates can maintain trust in the technology, unexpected downtimes
should be carefully managed. When an information system is unexpectedly
non-functional, the affiliate is unable to complete daily tasks. This presents a critical
problem for affiliates dependent upon the technology to schedule and process shipments
of products. The potential negative consequences, both up and downstream, from a
system shutdown can have financial, process, and inventory impacts upon supply chain
members. Therefore, it is critical that timely, effective, and accurate communication be
provided to affiliates so that they can plan for and execute their required tasks with
minimal process disruption.
Specialised training designed to demonstrate the new technology should be coupled
with instruction on the role of supply chain activities within organisations. Since supply
chain awareness appears to be an important determinant of perceptions, greater attention
should be paid to the systematic structuring of training and its application to technology
in order to encourage users to accept the new system.
Working with employees to reduce their resistance to change may offer additional
opportunities for individuals to identify the usefulness of the technology and encourage
them to use the technology to a greater degree. One way to accomplish this would be to
include formal change models in the technology adoption process (Lippert and Davis,
2006). This has been proposed as a viable mechanism for improving technology
acceptance and utilisation.
An individual’s willingness to take risks was found to influence their perceptions that
the technology is easy to use and useful. When introducing new technologies, managers
should identify those individuals who are willing to take risks when working with the
system. These individuals could be selected to be the first ones introduced to the
technology so that they could champion the benefits of the new system. Others, who are
more risk adverse, may recognise the system’s utility based on influence from important
others in the social network (Rogers, 1995).
Supply chain organisations must develop metrics and a formal process to track IT use.
Baseline measures should be established so that interval assessments can be
accomplished across operations. These metrics could be objectively generated by the
system or subjectively provided by users on a periodic basis. The objective metrics
might include:
1 frequency of use
2 time necessary to complete a specific task
3 number of operations completed during each session
54 S.K. Lippert

4 error rates
5 identification of unused features.
The first three metrics would enable managers to ascertain the degree to which all
authorised individuals are using the system. The identification of unused features metric
and error identification would enable management to prepare tip sheets that could be
disseminated on a monthly basis to employees using the technology. Each tip sheet would
explain a new feature and the importance of the task to others using the system. Daily tips
could be incorporated into the login sequence on corporate networks whereby individuals
would receive a suggestion to facilitate the testing and use of system functionality.

8 Limitations

Several limitations are inherent within this study despite efforts to guard against threats to
internal, external, and statistical conclusion validity. The first limitation centres on scope,
as the study does not encompass the entire supply chain of the automotive organisation
and is premised on only a single-tier of the supply chain. The inclusion of upstream tiers
would provide increased external generalisability. Second, this study is centred on the
supply chain of one automotive company and does not consider other supply chains
currently using this technology. Third, this study examines North American supply chain
members and does not examine international members that may offer different findings
based on their setting. Fourth, beliefs, attitudes, and decisions are dynamic. As a result,
cross-sectional studies such as this may not fully capture the complexity or periodicity of
the adoption and usage processes. Therefore, the results of this study should be viewed as
only preliminary evidence of the criteria that influence technology utilisation.
Additionally, there is a need for further refinement of the utilisation measure to more
robustly support the conclusions of this study.

9 Future research

The results of this study could be strengthened by including longitudinal data. This study
focused on one technology (CVN) in one domain (SCM). Further research is warranted in
other domain areas using other supply chain management technologies. Additionally, this
study focused on individual users and their self-reported evaluation of the system. More
objective measures such as actual utilisation statistics could provide a different
assessment of the hypothesised relationships. Organisational factors such as
organisational culture, top management support, available resources and structure may
also be factors influencing the affiliate’s utilisation of the technology.
This research could be undertaken within another automotive supply chain using the
same technology. This would enable a comparison of supply chain perceptions and
facilitate investigation into the relationships significant at the p < 0.08 level.
A more sophisticated conceptualisation of utilisation may be warranted. The
utilisation construct requires additional refinement to increase its reliability, convergent
and discriminant validity. The utilisation metric should be refined and this assertion
is presented as both a limitation of the current study and a recommendation for
future research.
 Assessing post-adoption utilisation of an information technology 55

Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by the generous support of Dean George Tsetsekos of
the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University and Skip Grenoble, PhD of the Centre
for Supply Chain Research, Penn State University. I additionally want to thank Steve
Matheys and Todd Ericksrud for their assistance in gaining corporate support and access.
I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. The manuscript
is greatly improved because of their input.

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Note
1 Sample participation was determined based on five organisational characteristics including:
(1) stage of IT adoption; (2) organisational size; (3) geographic location – USA (rural or
urban) or Canadian; (4) classification as a truckload (TL) or less than truckload (LTL) facility;
and (5) union versus non-union enterprise (Forman and Lippert, 2005). Interviewees were
selected based on their: (1) role in the buying centre (Robinson et al., 1967; Webster and
Wind, 1972); (2) experience with technology in general; (3) position within the organisation as
management or line personnel; (4) amount and type of training received; (5) level of supply
chain management understanding; (6) tenure within the firm; (7) time in current position;
(8) level of education; (9) gender; and (10) age.