THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER ALIENATION ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT DECISIONS - AN EXPLORATORY CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

Organizations in both developed and developing countries use informati on technology to support their operational, tactical, and strategic pr ocesses (cf., Bogod, 1979; Cooper and Zmud, 1990). Any strategic compe titive advantage of information technology, however, is contingent on acquisition and assimilation of information technology products and ap plications into organizational processes. Using a value expectancy app roach, this study proposes an expanded model to examine the variables that correlate with information technology investment decisions. The t heory of alienation from social psychology is used as a basis to syste matically define and measure decision makers' attitudes and internal b eliefs toward information technology in an investment context. Detaile d discussion of the development of a computer alienation measurement s cale is presented. The scale was used to collect data from 97 decision makers in the United States, a developed country, and Saudi Arabia, a developing country. Results provide empirical evidence on the appropr iateness of applying the computer alienation construct to computer pur chase decisions. Computer-alienated decision makers were found to be m ore inclined to resist information technology adoption by refraining f rom buying computers. This resistance was evident in both the U.S. and the Saudi samples. The study findings also indicate that decision-mak er computer knowledge, computer experience, and education level are cl osely associated with alienated beliefs and attitudes toward informati on technology. Alienated decision makers reported paying less attentio n to information technology information sources. Assuming technologies can provide advantages, these findings point to the need for change a gents to minimize alienating beliefs and attitudes.