Separate versus Joint Evaluation: The Roles of Evaluation Mode and Construal Level in System Acceptance

Abstract
It is increasingly prevalent for people to choose between alternative systems side-by-side (joint evaluation, or JE mode), rather than evaluating only one system in isolation (separate evaluation, or SE mode). This research investigates how users make technology acceptance decisions in these two contexts. Based on the context-specific theorization framework proposed by Hong et al. (2014) and integrating General Evaluability Theory and Construal Level Theory, we theorize how evaluation mode (JE vs. SE), as a usage context variable, interacts with other aspects of IS contexts to influence technology acceptance. The IS contexts considered in this study include a user-characteristic variable (construal level) and technology-related factors (perceived ease of use, PEoU and perceived usefulness, PU). Two experiments showed that, in JE, a higher construal level strengthened the effect of PEoU but weakened that of PU on technology acceptance. These effects were reversed in SE. The findings suggest that users’ technology choices and preferences can be reversed by simply presenting the target system in different ways. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of this research are discussed.

Biography
Professor Patrick Y.K. CHAU is Vice Provost for Research and Li Dak Sum Chair Professor in Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). Prior to joining UNNC in March 2019, he was Padma and Hari Harilela Professor in Strategic Information Management and Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate Programmes) at the Faculty of Business and Economics of The University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in business administration from the Ivey Business School, The University of Western Ontario in 1992.

Dr. Chau is known for his research in IT adoption/implementation and electronic commerce. He has close to 100 journal publications many of which are published in top-tier journals, including: MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems and Information & Management. As of March 2019, the total number of citations for his papers in Google Scholar reached over 17,500 with a H-index of 52. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Information & Management journal and a Senior Editor of Journal of the Association for Information Systems.

Dr. Chau’s academic achievements and contributions have been recognized by a number of appointments and awards including: Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professorship by the Ministry of Education; People’s Republic of China in (2010); Padma and Hari Harilela Professorship in Strategic Information Management at The University of Hong Kong (2014); Qiushi Chair Professorship at Zhejiang University, China (2014) and Li Dak Sum Chair Professorship at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (2017). In 2013, he also received the AIS Fellow Award, awarded by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) to no more than six scholars in the discipline of IS each year globally.