"Need for cognition" and IT user satisfaction

We are living in a technology filled world. Global investment in IT in 2017 was about US$3.7 trillion and it is estimated to increase into the future. This implies that there is an obligation to evaluate our IT systems more carefully and effectively to see if we are getting a good return on investment. There is a long tradition in IT evaluation mostly based on the Technology Acceptance Model and the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model. However, these models do not adequately consider individual differences in how users perceive, use and evaluate IS (or IT, we use these terms interchangeably in this report).

In other streams of research (for example in Industrial and Organisational Psychology), individual differences have emerged as worthy of serious investigation. For instance, there are many studies on individual differences in personality, motivation and ability (intelligence) and how they impact on outcomes such as job satisfaction, job performance, career success, academic achievement, subjective well-being and life satisfaction. Although most of the effect sizes are small (around r= 0.20), there are still important implications for understanding how successful outcomes are achieved.

In this study, we set out to ascertain the effect of Need For Cognition (a personality trait indicating the tendency of a person to enjoy and expend effort on thinking ) on IT user satisfaction which is the proxy variable for IT effectiveness or success being studied here. The rationale is that IT users high in NFC would be more likely to have been more meticulous and careful when evaluating an IT system as compared to someone low in NFC. Also, the NFC construct has shown high reliability and validity and has already been tested for nearly 30 years.

We used the well established 18 item NFC Short Form Scale (Cacciopo et al, 1984) and developed a composite 18 item scale for IT user satisfaction. We tested the reliability of these scales with both having Cronbach Alphas of more than 0.8 which is considered high. We used a sample of Year 2 business and accounting students in Kent Business School (N=263) and invited participants to take part in the online survey (on the QUALTRICS platform) using both the scales above and a set of instructions for performing a short task using the school's website. A response rate of 26% was achieved and 68 students submitted responses which were valid.

Using statistical analyses (correlation and multiple regression), we found a small correlation (r=0.17) between NFC and IT user satisfaction. In the linear regression model, we also found that Confidence Belief and Gender were other major determinants of IT user satisfaction. Implications for IT evaluation practice are given as well as implications for work design and wider organisational practices. Limitations of the current research are listed and suggestions are given for future investigations.