Changes in user beliefs and attitudes during the learning process of office applications

Abstract

This longitudinal study examines the mechanisms through which behavioral beliefs and attitude toward behavior change in time. We test two alternative explanations: the two-stage model of cognition change based on the expectation-disconfirmation theory (EDT), and the implicit change mechanism of the deliberative theories: theory of reasoned action (TRA) and theory of planned behavior (TPB). As the research setting we employed the learning process of information systems, specifically office applications taught to university students. Our observations suggest that the expectation-disconfirmation model captures a special case rather than the general case of temporal change in dispositions. We posit that that the deliberative theories have more general inbuilt mechanisms of attitude and belief change. We feel that in an effort to create parsimonious models of the deliberative process, separate constructs for the feelings of (dis)satisfaction may not be needed, as suggested by EDT.