Behavioral Perspective of Groupware Adoption

Abstract

Over the past decade, groupware technologies, such as e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, and group support systems, have become an important part of the business-computing infrastructure in many organizations. This evolving software category has captured the attention and imagination of information technology professionals, line of business managers and end users, not to mention software suppliers. Organizations adopt groupware applications to enhance communication, collaboration, and coordination among group members and thus improve group performance (“Lotus Development,” 1995). While some groupware applications, for example, e-mail, have been commonly accepted, many other applications, especially those that require significant collaboration and cooperation among users, are not widely used in organizations and their potential benefits are far from being fully realized (Orlikowski, 1993). Although many laboratory and field studies have consistently shown the relevance and positive impact of group support systems on group work, more research is needed in understanding how to increase the rate of diffusion and adoption of the technology (Nunamaker, 1997).