Do Perceived Leadership Behaviors Affect User Technology Beliefs? An Examination of the Impact of Project Champions and Direct Managers

Abstract

Understanding the managerial influence on user beliefs of information technology (IT) has been an important concern to the IT adoption research. Our study contributes by examining relationships between managers' leadership behavior and user technology beliefs. Drawing on the transformational leadership theory [Bass 1985], we develop a research model comparing the effect of leadership behaviors of two managerial roles - project champions and direct managers - on user technology beliefs. Our cross-sectional survey across 138 users in five organizations suggests that project champions and direct managers' leadership behaviors exercise different influences on users' technology beliefs. Implications of this study on research and practice are discussed.