Innovating with technology in team contexts: a trait activation theory perspective

Abstract

Noting the limited research on technology exploration in team contexts, we draw on trait activation theory to understand what drives users to experiment with new technology. We identify personal innovativeness in IT (PIIT) as an important situation-specific trait that influences individual-level efforts to try to innovate with technology. We also identify team learning behavior as an important team-level intervention that levels the playing field for trying to innovate with technology. We test our cross-level model in a one-year field study of 268 employees embedded in 48 organizational work teams. The results of our analysis show that (1) PIIT predicts trying to innovate with technology, (2) team learning behavior has a cross-level direct effect on trying to innovate with technology, and (3) team learning behavior has a cross-level moderating influence on the relationship between PIIT and trying to innovate with technology. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice.