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Relating Cognitive Problem-Solving Style to User Resistance 187
prompted an examination of studies that had been conducted on resistance in
related fields.
Resistance to Change in other Areas
Rosen and Jerdee (1976) conducted an enquiry into age stereotypes of
employees, which suggests that increased resistance to change is a generally
believed characteristic of older employees. They found that there was a tendency
for younger persons to be considered more receptive to new ideas, and older
persons, by implication, more resistant to them. After a further intensive literature
survey, however, they found that there was little research evidence to support such
beliefs, and concluded that older employees are the potential victims of unjustified
discrimination. This study, it should be noted, contradicts the findings of Bruwer .
In a study of the impact of manpower-flows on innovation, from which
inferences for resistance to change can be drawn, Ettlie (1985) offers support for
the premises that innovation is aided by: an influx of new employees (if not too
disruptive); the degree to which the organizational structure is decentralized; the
complexity of the organization; and the availability of slack resources. Hence, by
implication, the same factors must ameliorate resistance to innovation.
Cognitive Problem-Solving Styles and Resistance to
Change
The third area of analysis is that of cognitive problem-solving style and its
impact on system success (e.g., e-commerce). If the way in which analysts define
and describe tasks can be implicated in the phenomenon of user resistance, then it
stands to reason that the cognitive approaches, or problem-solving styles of the
analyst and user are also significant. This follows from the fact that definition and
description are basic to cognitive information processing. Hence the implication of
the semantic gap also suggests the role of cognitive differences between the user and
the analyst in user resistance (Zmud, 1983).
There have been numerous studies attempting to categorize problem-solving
style, such as those of Woodruff (1980) and Lusk and Kersnick (1970), but one
of the major research efforts in this area has been performed by Kirton (1976,
1980, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) under what he terms Adaption-Innovation theory
(Kirton, 1976). Adaption-Innovation theory, Kirton claims, explains in an empirical
way many of the anomalies surrounding resistance to change in occupational
situations. He proposes that any person can be located on a continuum ranging
between two extreme cognitive styles; from an ability to adapt existing technologies
(an adaptor) to an ability to use new or different technologies (an innovator). This
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