The role of value compatibility in information technology adoption

Compatibility has been recognized as an important element in the adoption of IT innovations in organizations but as a concept it has been generally limited to technical or functional factors. Compatibility is also significant, however, with regard to value compatibility between the organization and the adopted IT innovation. We propose a framework to determine value compatibility analyzing the organization's and information system's structure, practices, and culture and to explore the value compatibility of an organization with its adopted self-service computer-based information system. A case study was conducted to determine the congruence of an organization's value and IT value compatibility. This study found that while there was a high correspondence in the organizational structure and practices dimensions, there were organizational culture disparities. The cultural disparities reflected the self service acceptance and training issues experienced by the case organization. These findings explain the problems experienced with value compatibility and the adoption of the information systems and show the suitability of the framework for the detection of such problems.