As organizations continue to invest heavily in Information Systems (IS) to support business processes, the underutilization of such systems is a key concern that challenges efforts to exploit their benefits. What is most desirable is for users to engage in forms of deep use that effectively leverage the features of the IS for work tasks. But, too often users engage in surface-level use, minimizing their interactions with the IS. Yet for many users how they use an IS changes over time to become progressively deeper as the IS is embedded more in the performance of various tasks. To date there has been limited research on post-adoption IS use, particularly on how individuals choose to or are influenced to learn about, selectively adopt and apply, and then extend IS use. This research therefore seeks to bridge a gap in the literature by responding to calls for greater attention to changes in IS post-adoption use. This study draws on evolutionary theory, that is, Generalized Darwinism and its key principles of variation, selection and retention, to understand and explain how individuals’ IS use change over time, as they enact routines supported by the IS. Using a multi-method research design, this study includes an exploratory phase (qualitative) followed by a confirmatory phase (quantitative). For the qualitative phase, case studies were used to explore change in IS use; a cross-section of 39 users (i.e. basic, intermediate and advanced) of large-scale IS (e.g. CRM) from across three (3) organizations were interviewed. The findings from the qualitative phase coupled Generalized Darwinism principles of variation, selection and retention, supporting theories (e.g. motivation theory) and prior research in IS, were used to develop a conceptual model that framed changes in post-adoption use for further analysis. The model was then tested using data collected from a field survey (86 users) and analyzed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modeling. The study showed that variations occur as individuals used formerly unused (available) features, modified use of currently used sets of features, substituted or replaced one (already-used) feature with another feature and found novel or innovative uses of IS features. There were also a number of similarities in the findings from the case study and the survey regarding the triggers and enablers of variations and the impact of variations on retention, and in turn the impact of retention on deeper use via emergent use, integrative use and extended use. Both the case studies and the survey confirmed the importance of feedback valence, intrinsic motivation, and domain-related knowledge and of key sub-dimensions such as intrinsic motivation to learn, knowledge of IS features and work process understanding as triggers of variations. Satisfaction, in addition to variations was also instrumental in determining which variants in use were selected and incorporated into one’s work routine (retention). Furthermore, the results suggest that as changes occurred over time, such changes resulted in more deeply ingrained use behaviours, by way of infusion. At the same time, some differences were observed among the case studies and between the case study outcomes and the survey findings, with some of the factors identified as important in the case findings, such as peer learning, extrinsic motivation, and perceived (IS) resources, not being significant as predictors of variations in the survey context. Overall, the findings on changes in IS use and factors involved provided insights into how change occurs via variation, selection and retention and the outcome of the change (i.e. deeper use). It is anticipated that the findings of this research will contribute to the post-adoption IS use literature and provide useful insights for managers as they tackle the problem of IS underutilization.

Tidigare historisk forskning kring stenindustrin i Bohuslän har fokuserat på utvecklingen av produktionen, kulturens inverkan på hur stenarbetarna organiserade sig, och hur kulturmötet var mellan ideologiska ambulerande stenhuggare och bofasta konservativa bohuslänningar. Den här uppsatsen byter till ett ekonomiskt evolutionärt perspektiv utvecklat av ekonomerna Nelson och Winter. Det är en kritik av den rationelle aktören. Företag är analogt med organismer som är olika väl anpassade till marknadsförändringar. Uppsatsen är en fallstudie för att undersöka hur ett nytt företag kan etablera sig på en överetablerad marknad. 1926 bildas Bohusläns Kooperativa Stenindustri u.p.a. i Hovenäset av en grupp stenhuggare. De anlitar I/S Chr. V. Pedersen & Hagensen för att ordna anbud i Danmark och hjälpa dem att bli stenleverantörer till Hamburg. Frågeställningen är om statsvetaren Robert Axelrods samarbetsteori kan belysa och bidra med en större förståelse till hur de kunde etablera sig som stenleverantörer. Hur utvecklade de rutiner och varför ville de exportera till Hamburg. Besvarandet av frågorna gjordes genom att analysera korrespondensen mellan kooperationens medlemmar och det danska företaget.  Uppsatsen kan visa att genom reciprokt agerande kunde ett stabilt samarbete uppnås. Rutiner utvecklades genom dialog och Hamburg sågs som ett brohuvud in på den tyska marknaden. / Earlier historical research into the stone industry in Bohuslän, a province in Sweden, has focused on the development of production, how culture impacted on the way the stonemasons organized themselves or the cultural meeting between ideologically driven travelling stonemasons and local and conservative sedentary. This thesis changes the perspective to economic evolutionary history developed by the economists Nelson and Winter. It is a critic of the rational agent. According to the theory companies are analogue to organisms, which are differently well adapted to market changes. The thesis is a case study and investigates how a company is able to establish itself on an overripe market place. The Cooperative of Bohuslän’s Stoneindustry” was formed in Hovenäset, a small fishing village in Bohuslän which worked with the Danish company I/S Chr. V. Pedersen & Hagensen to establish itself as stone deliverers to Hamburg. The questions asked are if political scientist Robert Axelrods theory of cooperation can illuminate how new companies are able to enter a ripe market, how the co-operative developed routines and why they wanted to export to Hamburg. The questions are answered by analysing the correspondence between the members of the co-operative and the Danish company. The thesis is able to show that a beneficiary stable cooperation was possible through tit for tat or reciprocal action. Routines developed through dialog between the different members and the Danish company. Hamburg was seen as an entry point into the German market.