Beyond Resistance to Technology Appropriation

Research into users´ resistance to an implemented system is one strand of work that examines users´ responses to technology. In this paper, we investigate possible outcomes of user interactions with technology using the work of Louis and Sutton that indicates a wider range of possibilities than merely resistance. This is applied to the information systems context through the concept of appropriation as presented in the Model of Technology Appropriation. We note that technology appropriation subsumes most user activities currently described as resistance. However, resistance draws attention to the importance of power and politics to users´ responses to technologies. We conclude that work be undertaken to expand the scope of the model of technology appropriation to explicitly include issues of power and politics.