The influence of technology innovation adopter preferences on organisational career development and personal career management when facing technological change

The influence of technology innovation adopter preferences on organisational career development and personal career management when facing
technological change

The influence of advancing technologies has become omnipresent in daily life. As new technologies are introduced into the workplace, the employees in the effected workplaces may require new knowledge and skills to adapt. This may result in employees perceiving a need to review their career plans regarding the potential impact of advancing technology in their work life. The research for this study utilised the theory of diffusion of innovation (Rogers 2003) and the career growth (Weng et al. 2010) and organisational commitment (Meyer, Allen & Smith 1993) constructs. Taking an inductive approach to engage in a multimethod qualitative methodology to collect and thematically analyse cross-sectional data, this study sought insights from three (3) groups of participants located in the United Kingdom. These groups were: Twenty (20) individual employee participants who engaged in a semi-structured interview, six (6) employee participants who engaged in a focus group, and five (5) employer representatives who participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis resulted in themes describing that employees seem to accept that they need to adopt new technology in their work to succeed but they can use their personal choice to adopt new technology in their private life. The findings indicate that employees expect that their employer will train them in the use of new technology and that the absence of such training may impact on their commitment to remain with their employer. The employer findings indicated that while they are willing to implement new technology, they take their time before adopting. The findings suggest that employers may not be particularly strategic in their career development of employees. Further, it appears that any semblance of organisationally supported career development was siloed and localised to line managers. A substantial theme present in the employee participants responses resulted in this study introducing, as its major finding, the ‘Dual Adopter Typology’. This typology lays the foundations for a further theoretical contribution to Diffusion of Innovation theory by describing how individuals can display a different innovation adopter type in their work life compared to their private life. This typology could provide practical insights for employers to assist in the creation of more effective training and career development programs, as well as support individual self-insight and balanced personal growth and development in the context of omnipresent advancing TDI.