Today, organizations in different sectors are adopting or are expected to adopt Internet-based virtual worlds for a variety of business purposes. As the Internet has grown to become an important part of conducting business, virtual worlds, which provide a 3-D interactive experience, can be expected to follow a similar growth trajectory. However, little academic research has been done on organizational adoption of virtual worlds. In particular, most of these studies are confined to conceptual research. In addition, to the best of my knowledge, no academic research has been focused on why organizations are willing or unwilling to adopt virtual worlds. To fill these gaps, this study investigated empirically what factors influence organizational adoption of virtual worlds. By integrating the innovation diffusion theory, institutional theory, and the findings from prior studies on organizational adoption of the Internet into the TOE framework, this study developed a research model that posits predictors for virtual world adoption within an organizations' contexts that influence organizational adoption: technological, organizational, and environmental. The research model was tested using survey data from 130 organizations that had not adopted virtual worlds. Surprisingly, none of technological factors were found to play any role in organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. In addition, among the organizational factors, only organizational readiness was found to play a role. Interestingly, this study found that environmental factors play a key function in influencing organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. Notably, external institutional pressures were found to have strong effects on organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. This study provides several theoretical and practical implications. On the theoretical side, this study enhances the understanding of organizational adoption of virtual worlds by explaining empirically organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. In addition, this study offers strong empirical evidence for the applicability of institutional theory to yield an understanding of organizational adoption of virtual worlds and other new IT. Lastly, this study provides empirical evidence that it is important to examine environmental factors in studying organizational adoption of IT innovation. On the practical side, this study suggests that managers should pay attention to the capabilities of their organizations regarding the adoption of virtual worlds before they commit to such action. In addition, managers may need to pay attention to the institutional factors in their decisions to adopt virtual worlds. This may help their organizations avoid being left out of their respective industries or foster their image and reputation within those industries. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2009. / August 12, 2009. / Institutional Theory, TOE Framework, Organizational Adoption, Virtual Worlds / Includes bibliographical references. / Joey F. George, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce T. Lamont, University Representative; David B. Paradice, Committee Member; Ashley A. Bush, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253879 |
| Contributors | Yoon, Tom (authoraut), George, Joey F. (professor directing dissertation), Lamont, Bruce T. (university representative), Paradice, David B. (committee member), Bush, Ashley A. (committee member), Department of Management (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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