Challenge and Hindrance IS Use Stressors and Appraisals: Explaining Contrarian Associations in Post-Acceptance IS Use Behavior

Abstract

Post-acceptance IS use is the key to leveraging value from IS investments. However, it also poses many demands on the user. Drawing on the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this study develops a theory to explain how and why IS use stressors influence post-acceptance use. We identify two different types of IS use stressors: challenge IS use stressors and hindrance IS use stressors. We hypothesize that they are appraised through challenge IS use appraisal and hindrance IS use appraisal, respectively, through which they influence routine use and innovative use. We evaluate our hypotheses by surveying 178 users working in one organization and analyze the data collected using consistent partial least square (PLSc). We find that challenge IS use stressors positively influence routine use and innovative use via challenge IS use appraisal. Hindrance IS use stressors negatively influence routine use via hindrance IS use appraisal. We then dive deeper into these findings using a two-step fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), identifying the presence of challenge IS use stressors and challenge IS use appraisal as necessary conditions for high innovative use. We also reveal that the presence of hindrance IS use stressors and hindrance IS use appraisal only influences routine use and innovative use in the absence of challenge IS use stressors and challenge IS use appraisal. We discuss the practical relevance and transferability of our findings based on a comprehensive applicability check. Our findings advance IS scholarship of IS use stress and post-acceptance use by showing how routine use and innovative use emanate from IS use stressors.

The Interplay of Challenge-Hindrance-Appraisal and Self-Efficacy: Technostress and Remote Working Performance

“…Such appraisals can differ between individuals regarding the same stimulus (Smith & Kirby, 2011). Relevant appraisal conditions in a work context are considered to be challenge appraisal and hindrance appraisal and have been used in the context of IS use (LePine et al, 2016;Maier et al, 2021). Lazarus and Launier (1978) describe challenges as situations that provide opportunities to overcome hardship and for growth.…”

“…Similarly, Benlian (2020) emphasises the role of IS for learning and mastering skills in his characterisation of technology-driven challenge stressors. In addition, recent work suggests that challenge IS use appraisal leads to innovative use behaviour (Maier et al, 2021). In turn, advanced and innovative use behaviour has been associated with increased performance (Burton-Jones & Straub, 2006).…”

“…IT control is considered an element of secondary appraisal (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005). Yet, much empirical research on the bright and dark side of IS use has built on challenge-hindrance-research (e.g., Califf et al, 2020;Maier et al, 2021). The associated conceptualisation "does not differentiate the primary and secondary appraisal process" (LePine, Zhang, Crawford, & Rich, 2016, p. 1052.…”

Qualitative comparative analysis in the information systems discipline: a literature review and methodological recommendations

“…For this, future research can contrast the findings and highlight the QCA-specific advancements in each topic. Irrespectively of specific topics, IS research might use QCA to understand the relationship in multi-dimensional constructs, such as online trust (Lankton et al, 2016) or IT mindfulness (Thatcher et al, 2018), and to work with non-linear relations, such as the privacy paradox (Sutanto et al, 2013) or different influences of stress on user behavior (Maier et al, 2021). Even if QCA is still a relatively new method and evolving, it will become a central part of the toolkit of methods employed in the IS discipline.…”

“…Further advancements in the QCA methodology will open up new opportunities to advance our understanding. Among others, recent advancements include multi-step QCA, which enables mediation analysis (Maier et al , 2021; Schneider and Wagemann, 2012), or temporal QCA, which allows analyzing the influence of temporal sequence of conditions (Schneider and Wagemann, 2012).…”