Leadership styles in technology acceptance: do followers practice what leaders preach?

Abstract

Purpose

Service firms recognize the need to introduce new technologies to stay in the market, or to retain their competitive advantage compared to their rivals. Introducing new technologies in an organization is by no means easy and poses many challenges like the acceptance and adoption of new technologies by employees. The technology acceptance model (TAM) has often been applied to explain individual technology use. In previous studies, the model has been extended with many different constructs, including personal and technology related factors. Also management support and training have been shown to positively influence technology acceptance. However, the influence of leadership style in this context has not been studied before. This study models and tests two leadership styles (transactional and transformational) as antecedents to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of new technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an empirical study in a service setting.

Findings

In the surveyed company transformational leadership positively influences perceived usefulness of the technology. This was fully accounted for by the sub‐dimension of intellectual stimulation. Transactional leadership did not display any significant effects.

Research limitations/implications

Since data analysis was conducted in a single company, future research is needed to generalize the current findings. Furthermore, a longitudinal design would allow for statements regarding the stability and durability of the observed effects.

Practical implications

Besides technology support and training, leader behavior can influence an individual's perception of a technology, ultimately resulting in usage.

Originality/value

Insight has been given to which extent a leadership style can influence technology acceptance and through which mechanisms.

Citation

Schepers, J., Wetzels, M. and de Ruyter, K. (2005), "Leadership styles in technology acceptance: do followers practice what leaders preach?", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 496-508. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520510633998