This study examines how processes of external influence shape information technology acceptance among potential users, how such influence effects vary across a user population, and whether these effects are persistent over time. Drawing on the elaboration-likelihood model (ELM), we compared two alternative influence processes, the central and peripheral routes, in motivating IT acceptance. These processes were respectively operationalized using the argument quality and source credibility constructs, and linked to perceived usefulness and attitude, the core perceptual drivers of IT acceptance. We further examined how these influence pro-1 Bernard C. Y. Tan was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Sue Brown was the associate editor. Stephanie Watts Sussman, Ronald Thompson, and Duane Wegener served as reviewers. cesses were moderated by users' IT expertise and perceived job relevance and the temporal stability of such influence effects. Nine hypotheses thus developed were empirically validated using a field survey of document management system acceptance at an eastern European governmental agency. This study contributes to the IT acceptance literature by introducing ELM as a referent theory for acceptance research, by elaborating alternative modes of influence, and by specifying factors moderating their effects. For practitioners, this study introduces influence processes as policy tools that managers can employ to motivate IT acceptance within their organizations, benchmarks alternative influence strategies, and demonstrates the need for customizing influence strategies to the specific needs of a user population.

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While prior research has focused predominantly on enabling factors such as perceived usefulness in shaping users' information technology (IT) adoption/usage behaviors, this research explores the role of inhibiting factors such as user resistance to change, and their resultant impact on organizations' methods and systems. We elaborate on the interdependent and asymmetric effects of resistance to usage vis-à-vis usage enablers by postulating that resistance not only has a direct negative effect on IT usage, but also biases enabling factors such as perceived usefulness and intention to use in a negative manner. The resulting model is empirically validated with a longitudinal survey of mobile data service that supports real estate title claim processing by administrators and staff personnel at an Eastern European governmental agency. Our study advances IT usage research by demonstrating the salience of previously ignored inhibiting factors, establishing user resistance as an important construct to consider in IT usage research, and by elaborating the nomological relationships between resistance and current predictors of IT usage. We expect that these findings will provide the basis for a more comprehensive investigation of IT usage inhibitors and for building a theoretical model of user resistance.