End-User Training
From Information Systems at Pitt Business
It is commonly held that by training users of an information system the system will have a higher probability of being viewed as successful. Traditionally the outcome of interest from such training sessions is an increase in technical proficiency or attitude about the system. However, there are other social outcomes that are generally ignored that still affect the success or failure of the system. These "soft" skills of training methods and motivations can dramatically impact the delivery and acceptance of the training and thereby increase the successfulness of the system.
This paper is unique in that it focuses on the "soft" skills or social aspects of training in information systems. In other words, this study focuses on how information from other peers (i.e., informal, verbal and word of mouth) is able to influence attitudes and behaviors beyond the communication received from formal training channels.
The effects of peer social influence was tested through 50 MBA student subjects. The analysis of these results indicate the following:
- Negative word of mouth has a more potent and powerful effect than positive word of mouth on subject attitudes
- However, neither positive or negative word of mouth had differing effects on the actual performance behaviors of the subjects
[edit] Abstract
None available/provided
[edit] Paper Information
Authors: Dennis Galletta, Manju Ahuja, Amir Hartman, Thompson Teo and A. Graham, Peace
Check out this paper at Social Influence and End-User Training
This paper was originally published in Communications of the ACM, Vol 38, Num 7, July 1995.
[edit] Keywords
End-user, training, information systems management
