Choosing a fit technology: Understanding mindfulness in technology adoption and continuance

Abstract

Mindfulness is an important emerging concept in society. This research posits that a user’s mindful state when adopting a technology is a crucial factor that determines how the technology will fit the task context at the post-adoption stage and, thus, has profound influence on user adoption and continued use of technology. Based on the mindfulness literature, we conceive of a new concept (mindfulness of technology adoption (MTA)) as a multi-faceted reflective high-order factor. We develop a MTA-TTF (task-technology fit) framework and integrate it into the cognitive change model to develop a research model that delineates the mechanisms through which MTA influences user adoption and continued use of technology. We examined the model via a longitudinal study of students’ use of wiki systems. The results suggest that mindful adopters will more likely perceive a technology as useful and choose a technology that turns out to fit their tasks. Hence, mindful adopters are likely to have high disconfirmation, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction at the post-adoption stage. The findings have significant implications for IS research and practices.