User satisfaction in mandatory use IS environments

Abstract: A significant part of IS systems implemented today introduce a mandatory use environment for their users, where daily tasks and responsibilities are dependent on or even impossible without the use of a specific system. This paper focuses on examining the relevance, importance and potential effects of user satisfaction in these kinds of environments, with the purpose of contributing to this previously somewhat sub-prioritized area of mandatory use environments within the contexts of user satisfaction. We began with building a theoretical basis linking the fields of technology acceptance, user satisfaction, frustration, and IS sabotage. Furthermore we applied the theoretical framework on a real world scenario in order to examine these phenomena and hoping to identify them within an implemented environment. In our research we have collected qualitative empirical data from both end users and management in a storage facility, which had recently transitioned to a mandatory use voice-controlled system. Amongst our findings we discovered evidence suggesting that user satisfaction does not play as vital a role in mandatory use environments, as it does in voluntary environments. This evidence suggests that the system examined was highly integrated into the daily work at the warehouse, and thus it was hard to distinguish between job satisfaction and user satisfaction. Because of this and the incentive bonus system that existed, we suggest that the users were never really dissatisfied, which further reduced the need for management to consider user aspects of the new system.