Mid-career employees embracing technology (MEET): a case study

The importance of information technology (IT) for modern business and, indeed, research in general cannot be questioned, as its sheer pervasiveness adequately attests. However, simplistic views of technological utopianism are now being offset by accounts of technological dystopianism. Clearly organizational management have wholeheartedly subscribed to an IT future as a staggering 41 percent of total capital expenditure in US organizations currently goes on IT. However, organizations face enormous difficulty in trying to achieve successful training programmes in the use of IT. This research study involved the construction and implementation of an IT training programme for mid-career employees in a large multinational organization. Davis (1989) identified two constructs as relevant to user acceptance of technology, namely ease of use (EOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). These constructs were operationalised into a set of principles to underpin the training programme which was delivered in two phases, each specifically addressing one of Davis’ constructs.