User Perceptions and Groupware Use

Abstract

The increasingly complex, global nature of work tasks has led to increased interest in virtual teams that interact across space, time, and organizational boundaries to achieve organizational objectives (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002; Roebuck & Britt, 2002). One of the factors thought to contribute to the popularity of virtual teams is the availability of groupware systems (Townsend, DeMarie & Hendrickson, 1998). While some groupware systems, such as electronic mail, have become almost ubiquitous in many organizations, other groupware applications have not enjoyed similar acceptance (Briggs, Adkins, Mittleman, Kruse, Miller & Nunamaker, 1999; Orlikowski, 1993). Because of the importance of groupware to the success of virtual teams, it is important to understand why this innovation has not successfully diffused.