Adapting to IT Consumerization: A Self-concept Perspective

Individuals increasingly perform their work tasks using their personal IT, a trend referred to as IT consumerization. However, some users do not benefit from using their personal IT to carry out work tasks, experiencing loss of performance and degraded user experience. One reason that could explain a user’s loss of performance is a failure to adapt themself to using their personal IT in a work context. We address this issue by utilizing the IT self-concept lens, or the self-concept limited to the beliefs that an individual holds toward themself as an IT user. We also conceptualize the IT self-concept clarity (ITSCC) construct that we define as: The extent to which an individual’s beliefs toward themself as an IT user are defined with certainty and coherence. Based on this theoretical perspective, we propose a research model positing the direct effect of the IT self-concept on individual adaptation behaviors and the moderating role of ITSCC. We propose the design for a pilot study allowing us to validate the measurement of constructs within the research model and another study testing our research model. This study contributes by addressing issues related to the adaptation of individuals to the use of IT in a new context and by extending IT self-concept-based models by conceptualizing ITSCC and validating its measurement. This study would have implications for managers interested in segmenting employees when implementing IT consumerization-related policies