Abstract
Despite the growing interest in holistic approaches capable to go beyond utilitarian perspectives in understanding users' relationship with interactive technology, user experience remains largely ignored in organizational settings (Bargas-Avila & Hornbæk, 2011). Traditionally, technology use in organizations was seen as almost completely externally motivated by the need to perform certain tasks. But this is bound to change as complex interactive technologies are increasingly used by organizations and as research indicating the importance of work motivation for employees performance and well-being (Gagné & Deci, 2005) is starting to be considered in the field of interactive technology interaction (Harbich & Hassenzahl, 2008). As a result, this paper addresses the opportunities of applying a user experience approach in organizational settings by providing an overview of the existing research and insights into how important individual and contextual variables might be considered in order to better understand the way desired technology-related outcomes can be facilitated.
TopBackground
UX has received an increased interest from both academia and practice, as it became more and more obvious that traditional frameworks focused heavily on usability and utility were becoming less adequate to address the more complex forms of interaction (Law, Roto, Hassenzahl, Vermeeren, & Kort, 2009; Hassenzahl, 2003, 2004).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Interactive Technology: Software systems supporting users task performance in a collaborative manner.
User Experience: Subjective evaluations and feelings that arise dynamically while interacting with technology and subsequently shape the overall appraisal of technology and behaviors towards it.
Non-Instrumental/Hedonic Quality: Perceptions of technology characteristics based on its ability to meet user’s personal needs such as the need for autonomy, competence, relatedness, stimulation.
Behavioral Patterns of Use: Types of usage behaviors supported by interactive technology in organizational settings, evolving from simple task execution to more complex forms of task development and creation.
Intrinsic Motivation: A self-determined type of motivation that is driven by genuine interest in and enjoyment of a given activity.
Instrumental/Pragmatic Quality: Perceptions of technology characteristics based on its ability to support users’ task related needs (e.g. utility, usability).