International Journal of Information Management 28 (2008) 517–523 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Information Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt Intra-organizational relationships and technology acceptance Massimo Magni ∗,1 , Ferdinando Pennarola 2 Institute of Organization and Information Systems, Bocconi University, Viale Isonzo 23, 20135 Milan, Italy article info Article history: Keywords: Technology acceptance Relational beliefs Social exchange abstract Relying on social exchange theory and technology acceptance literature, our research argues that users’ acceptance of a newly introduced technology is related to the beliefs that individuals have about their social relationships with the supervisor, the team members, and the organization as a whole. Besides con- ﬁrming previous ﬁndings in the acceptance domain, our results demonstrate that perceived usefulness and ease of use about technology are inﬂuenced by team–member exchange, leader–member exchange, and organizational support, while affective commitment toward the organization shows a positive inﬂuence only on perceived usefulness. Theoretical and practical implications are offered. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Research inquiry into the behavior of users during the intro- duction of a new technology remains strong, given the importance of users in exploiting the information technology (IT) investment potential (Lewis, Agarwal, & Sambamurthy, 2003). According to Agarwal and Karahanna (2000), users’ behavior toward IT repre- sents a critical issue in the information systems (IS) ﬁeld, as the strategic value of IT investments can be reached when users accept the new system and use it coherently with the organizational goals. A number of studies attempted to underscore the determi- nants of individual acceptance and use of a new technology (see Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003 for a literature review). Within these studies, a pivotal role is played by the notion of perceived usefulness and ease of use (e.g. Anandarajan, Igbaria, & Anakwe, 2002; Davis, 1989; Ghorab, 1997; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), which represent the mediators between external factors and individual intentions and behavior toward a new technology. How- ever, while there is theoretical and empirical support about the role of social norms on perceived usefulness and ease of use (Lee, Kozar, & Larsen, 2003), less emphasis has been placed to inves- tigate the different social determinants of technology acceptance from a relational perspective. Indeed, previous studies investigat- ing the inﬂuence of social determinants on individual beliefs take a normative framework for deﬁning the relationship between the focal individual and the source of inﬂuence, considering others’ ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +390.16020.1658362665; fax: +390.16020.1658362634. 1 Authors are in alphabetical order. 2 Tel.: +390.16020.1658362638, fax: +390.16020.1658362634. expectations as the primary source of social inﬂuence. Therefore, social relationships between users and organizational entities are seen from a normative perspective, which contains the explicit or implicit notion that individuals are inﬂuenced “by the way in which they think that others will view them as a result of having used the technology” (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Our study departs from the normative perspective, developing a framework based on the beliefs related to the social exchange (Blau, 1964). In particular, despite some studies analyzed the importance of inter-organizational relationships in adopting a new technology (Lin, 2006), prior research on acceptance has not adequately rec- ognized the importance of those individuals’ beliefs, which refer to the exchange relationships between users and other intra- organizational entities. According to Clarkson (1995), relationships are the ﬁrst conditions of being human and represent critical determinants of individual actions in organizations, affecting the connection between objective characteristics of a deﬁnite organi- zational situation and individual behaviors (Brief & Weiss, 2002). Moreover, the pivotal role played by the relationship between indi- viduals and organizational entities represents a critical issue during the processes of organizational and IT change (Tierney, 1999). Given this focus, the present research offers contributions to the extant literature on technology acceptance. The literature has largely assumed that the effect of social inﬂuence on individual acceptance would be driven by others’ expectations (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Building on the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), we analyze how relational beliefs regarding users and other organiza- tional entities (peers, leader, and organization) affect individuals’ acceptance of a newly introduced technology, inﬂuencing both per- ceived usefulness and ease of use. From a practical perspective, relational beliefs may be controlled through managerial interven- tions inﬂuencing the individuals’ perception of usefulness and ease 0268-4012/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2008.01.002