Abstract

TAVARES, Elaine  and  COSTA, Isabel. The role of individual values in the interaction between individuals and Information Technology . Rev. Portuguesa e Brasileira de Gestão [online]. 2008, vol.7, n.3, pp.11-21. ISSN 1645-4464.

Several researches in information systems management discuss how information technology (IT) is accepted or rejected by individuals. Nonetheless, the influence of individual values in the technology assimilation is underprivileged in the literature. This article presents a theoretical essay about individual values as a conceptual lens to be inserted in studies regarding the interaction of IT and people in organizations. It is based on the assumption that individual values drive action in organizations and must influence the way users redefine technological artefacts. The perspectives of the social construction of reality and individual as agents in IT use underlie this reflection. We discuss the ideas that technology structures are constructed in practice and that values, beliefs and expectations will influence the use of IT. The concept of values, the way that they are acquired and transformed and the influence they have over human behaviour are also examined. Finally, we present suggestions for the identification of values in empirical research.

Keywords : Information Technology; Individual Values; Social Construction of IT.

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