Much ado has been made regarding user acceptance of
new information technologies. However, research has been primarily
based on cognitive models and little attention has been given to
emotions. This paper argues that emotions are important drivers of
behaviors and examines how emotions experienced early in the
implementation of new IT applications relate to IT use. We develop a
framework that classifies emotions into four distinct types:
challenge, achievement, loss, and deterrence emotions. The direct
and indirect relationships between four emotions (excitement,
happiness, anger, and anxiety) and IT use were studied through a
survey of 249 bank account managers. Our results indicate that
excitement was positively related to IT use through task adaptation.
Happiness was directly positively related to IT use and,
surprisingly, was negatively associated to task adaptation, which is
a facilitator of IT use. Anger was not related to IT use directly,
but it was positively related to seeking social support, which in
turn was positively related to IT use. Finally, anxiety was
negatively related to IT use, both directly and indirectly through
psychological distancing. Anxiety was also indirectly positively
related to IT use through seeking social support, which countered
the original negative effect of anxiety. Post hoc ANOVAs were
conducted to compare IT usage of different groups of users
experiencing similar emotions but relying on different adaptation
behaviors. The paper shows that emotions felt by users early in the
implementation of a new IT have important effects on IT use. As
such, the paper provides a complementary perspective to
understanding acceptance and antecedents of IT use. By showing the
importance and complexity of the relationships between emotions and
IT use, the paper calls for more research on the topic.
Keywords: Emotions, IT use, acceptance, adaptation behaviors,
appraisal theory, user reaction, IT-related behaviors