Ambivalence and the Bivariate Nature of Attitudes in Information Systems Research

Abstract

People using information technologies experience both joy and frustration, and thus develop both positive and negative attitudes toward systems. Many researchers in information systems have studied user attitudes toward technology, and such attitudes have in fact been one of the most frequently studied phenomena in the IS field. User attitudes have generally been measured utilizing bipolar scales, on which the low end represents strong negative attitudes and the high end represents strong positive attitudes. However, psychologists have long recognized that the positive and negative dimensions of attitudes can be separated, and attitudes are thus bivariate. In the present research, we investigate whether the positive and negative aspects of user attitudes are separable using constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model, one of the most frequently tested models in information systems research. Our results demonstrate that users can experience both positive and negative attitudes toward a system, and that the positive and negative attitudes are independent. Implications for information systems theory and measurement are discussed.