Theorizing technology and behavior: Introduction to special issue

Abstract

What is "behavior"? What is "technology"? What is the relation between behavior and technology? In an effort to address these fundamental questions and provide the field with a more solid and coherent theoretical foundation, we assembled a special issue wherein scholars from various academic fields (psychology, economy, communication, science education, learning sciences, and anthropology) theorize what it means to "behave with a technology." We begin by presenting the literature that sparked these questions and inspired us to take strides in this theoretical direction. The editorial then ends with a description of how this special issue is organized and an overview of the set of papers that compose it. K E Y W O R D S behaving with technology, human tool use as behavior, learning as behavior, theories of human action, tool use as learned behavior

The Effects of Basic Psychological Needs, Task–Technology Fit, and Student Engagement on MOOC Learners’ Continuance Intention to Use

“…MOOCs and the Task-Technology Fit. Technology is an important driving force behind individual behavior depending on the situation [47]. Considering the characteristics of the MOOC environment, the relationship between technology use and the subsequent progress of the user needs to be structurally examined; the task-technology fit is useful for this purpose.…”

Impact of Multifaceted Workplace Bullying on the Relationships between Technology Usage, Organisational Climate and Employee Physical and Emotional Health

“…Johnson [ 32 ] said that workplace bullying is not created due to a state of isolation; rather, it is preceded by each of these layers, and identifying effective responses to and informing all about these interconnected opportunities are essential. Similarly, Oliveira [ 33 ] indicated that contemporary organisations’ technology is a driving force that shapes individual behaviour. Therefore, technology has a direct influence on reshaping human and individual behaviour.…”

Development and Validation of the Need for Online Social Feedback (NfOSF) Scale

“…Nowadays, overcoming the physical constraint typical of face-to-face communications allows people to have a revolutionary way to process information, working together and optimizing time and space in order to interact economically with multiple groups [47,48]. In fact, the possibility to "incarnate" and experience multiple social identities and to belong to a higher number of groups was enormously amplified thanks to the expansion of communication possibilities introduced by ICTs as personal computers, televisions, email systems, smart devices, and internet-enabled systems [49] that people promptly learned and become proficient in using for their purposes [50,51]. In particular, one of these emerging technologies as social networks made the maintenance and the transmission of social evaluations much easier through some technical features such as the manifest approval of user's contents.…”