Opening the black box of system usage: user adaptation to disruptive IT

According to Benbasat and Barki (2007), systems usage has remained a black box in spite of the fact that the construct lies at the heart of a host of studies in the field. We know very little about how exactly users cope with information technology (IT), especially disruptive IT. To answer such questions, we grounded our current work in Beaudry and Pinsonneault's Coping Model of User Adaptation (2005; CMUA), a model that explains user strategies appraising an IT event. These strategies are a response to threats and opportunities embedded in the IT event and are impacted by the level of control users have over the situation. In the current study, following CMUA, we develop and test measures for a deeper understanding of systems usage and user adaptation to IT through a 2 × 2 laboratory experiment. Overall, we found strong support for the CMUA model.