An Exploratory Study of Information Systems Usage Profiles from a Longitudinal Perspective

Past research on Information Systems (IS) usage has mainly focused on the presence of usage and time of usage from a cross-sectional perspective, which provides limited understanding about what usage profiles exist and how these profiles change over time. We address this gap by leveraging a data set that captures IS usage profiles from IS usage log data over 18 months. Through cluster analysis based on two dimensions (number of IS features used and the depth of such usage), we found that the longitudinal profiles represent five distinct trajectories: minimalists, centrists, maximizers, decliners, expanders. Expanders start with a low usage profile and expand the usage over time, while all other four groups started the usage at a medium or high usage level and then made different adjustments over time. Moving forward it will be interesting to evaluate cognitive and behavioral differences across these profiles