Date of Award
8-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Educational Leadership - Higher Education
Committee Member
Dr. Michelle Boettcher, Commmittee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. D. Matthew Boyer
Committee Member
Dr. Pamela A. Havice
Committee Member
Dr. James
Committee Member
Satterfield, Jr.
Abstract
Despite a lack of empirical research on the effectiveness of administrative technologies in higher education (Anderson, Banker, & Ravindran, 2003; Selwyn, 2011), universities have pursued these technologies, or enterprise solutions, at an aggressive pace. Spending more than six billion dollars per year on enterprise solutions, higher education sees as many as half of the innovations result in failure (Liang, Saraf, Hu, and Xue, 2007). Recognizing that technologies represent a change process in the organization (Stam & Stanton, 2010), my study explores the experiences of faculty laggards with administrative technologies, particularly during the innovation diffusion process. Higher education managers can benefit from an increased understanding of faculty laggards and their adoption experiences, allowing them to more effectively construct a blueprint, or roadmap (Suchman, 1995) for successful diffusion of innovations. Through a critical epistemological framework, and utilization of institutionalism and Rogers (2003) innovation diffusion theory as a blended theoretical construct, I designed a phenomenological study utilizing open ended interviews as the primary source of data collection. Following a targeted short survey, I conducted interviews with six faculty members pre-screened for laggard behavioral tendencies. Conversations addressed two primary research questions on faculty laggards' experiences and incentives for faster adoption. Interview data was analyzed through a thematic framework (Glesne, 2011) and used to construct a phenomenological narrative summarizing the experiences of faculty laggards and ascertaining what would motivate them to adopt administrative technologies faster. Six phenomenological themes emerged, which were discussed through both theoretical lenses. Textural and structural descriptions were provided for a phenomenological summary. The study concludes with recommendations for future research as well as practice.
Recommended Citation
Simon, Robert B., "Understanding Faculty Laggards' Adoption of Administrative Technologies: A Phenomenological Study" (2018). All Dissertations. 2187.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2187