THE INFLUENCE OF INTERACTION STYLE AND EXPERIENCE ON USER PERCEPTIONSOF SOFTWARE PACKAGES

In recent years, a body of literature has developed which shows that u sers' perceptions of software are a key element in its ultimate accept ance and use. We focus on how the interaction style and prior experien ce with similar software affect users' perceptions of software package s. In our experiment, direct manipulation, menu-driven and command-dri ven interfaces were investigated. We studied users' perceptions of the software in two hands-on training sessions. In the first session, nov ice users were given initial training with word-processing software, a nd in the second session the users were trained on a word processor wh ich was functionally equivalent to the prior one, but had a different interaction style. In the initial training session, we found that the interaction style had a reliable but small effect on learners' percept ions of ease of use. The direct manipulation interface was judged easi er to use than the command style. The interaction style, however, did not affect learners' perceptions of the usefulness of the software. In the second training session, subjects who had used a direct manipulat ion interface in the first session learned either the menu-based or co mmand-based software. The perceptions of these users were compared to those of learners, who had used the menu or command software in the in itial training session. We found that both interaction style and the p rior experience with a direct manipulation interface affected percepti ons of ease of use. Subjects with prior experience of a direct style i nterface tended to have very negative attitudes toward a less direct i nterface style. The interaction style did not affect perceptions of us efulness of the package, but the prior experience did. These results s uggest that users' attitudes toward software are strongly influenced b y their past history of usage, including what interaction styles the u ser has encountered, and this should be considered in the design of so ftware and training programs. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.