MinForening/DinForening? - A case study of use and acceptance of a smartphone app

Abstract

Formål: Dette projekt er et casestudie, der gennem Social Constructivism of Technology og Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology søger at forstå, hvorfor nogle mennesker vil acceptere teknologi og hvorfor andre ikke vil. Formålet med projektet er bedre at forstå, hvad der gør at en teknologi accepteres af sine brugere, eller hvorfor dette fejler. Baggrund: Apps kan være en vigtig del af folks liv, ikke kun som en kilde til Facebook, MobilePay eller Instagram, men som et vigtigt redskab til styring af kroniske sygdomme, kommunikation med finansinstitution eller den offentlige sektor. Mange faktorer kommer i spil, når man skal forstå hvorvidt folk vil tage en smartphone-app til sig, og der er behov for refleksion og omtanke i udvikling og design af mobile apps, hvis de skal overleve i dagens konkurrencedygtige marked. Casen var app’en MinForening, der er skabt af firmaet MinForening (på engelsk "MyOrganization"), et lille opstartsselskab der blev grundlagt af en gruppe mennesker, der brænder for danske foreningsliv og deres mission er at gøre livet lettere for folk der deltager i og organisere frivilligt arbejde. Metoder: Dataindsamlingen bestod af to interviews med personer fra MinForening, et interview med to medlemmer fra foreningen TRoA, og et besøg hos en løbende klub kaldet PGU Runners. Projekt anvendte principper fra SCOT til at analysere de forskellige sociale grupper der eksisterer i forbindelse med MinForening. begreber fra UTAUT blev brugt til at undersøge de relevante sociale grupper oplevelser af appen, samt en analyse af hvilke problemer de oplevede i den forbindelse. Hver relevant sociale gruppers erfaringer i relation til appen. Til slut sammenligner dette projekt resultaterne fra dataindsamlingen og analysen for at fastslå hvornår / hvorfor accepten eller implementeringen af MinForening har været en succes, og hvornår eller hvorfor det har mislykkedes. Resultater: Resultatet af projektet var, at PGU Runners succesfulde accept af teknologien primært skyldtes, at de faktorer der påvirker brugeraccept (fra UTAUT), havde været positive i deres interaktion med appen, og at de problemer de oplever i relation til app’en, ikke var alvorlige nok til at forhindre denne accept. Nogle overraskende resultater blev også afdækket under dette projekt. Det første var individets betydning i den vellykkede accept af teknologi i organisationer og vigtigheden af informant S i implementeringen af MinForening hos PGU Runners. Det andet overraskende resultat var betydningen af "nyt" i forbindelse med brugernes accept af smartphone apps. Det blev erfaret fra informanterne fra TRoA, at en af hovedårsagerne til at de ikke så app’en som nyttig for TRoA, skyldtes, at app’en ikke gav nogen nye funktioner, som for eksempel Facebook kan har på nuværende tidspunkt, som i TRoA's tilfælde kan dette være en måde at styre deres fysiske ressourcer på.

Purpose: This project is a case study that through Social Constructivism of Technology and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, seeks to understand why some people will accept a technology and why others will not. This is with the aim of being better at understanding what makes a technology successful to its users, or why it fails. Background: Apps can be an important part of people’s life, not just as a source for Facebook, MobilePay or Instagram, but as an important tool when managing chronic illnesses communication with financial institution or the public sector. Many factors come into play, when determining whether or not, people will take to use a smartphone app, and there is a need for reflection and rethinking in the development and design of mobile apps, if and they is to survive in today’s competitive market. The case was the app MinForening created by the company MinForening (in English “MyOrganization”) a small startup firm, founded by a group of people who are passionate about Danish voluntary organizations (VO’s); their mission statement is to make life easier for people participating in voluntary work within different organizations and associations Methods: the data collection consisted of two interviews with people from MinForening, an interview with two members of the VO TRoA, and a visit to a running club called PGU Runners. The project uses the principle of SCOT to analyze what different social groups there exist in relation to MinForening, then applies the concepts from UTAUT to examine the relevant social group’s experiences of the app, as well as the principle of SCOT to analyze what problems each relevant social group’s experi-ences in relation to the app. In the end, this project compares the results from the data collection and analysis, to determine when/why the acceptance/implementation of MinForening has been a success, and when/why it has failed. Results: The result of the project was that the successful acceptance of the technology by PGU Runners was mainly due to the fact, that the factors effecting user acceptance (from UTAUT) had been positive in their interaction with the app, and that the problems they experienced in relation to the app, were not severe enough to hinder acceptance. Some surprising results was revealed during this project. The first was the importance of individual in the successful acceptance of technology in organiza-tions, and the importance of informant S in initiating the implementation of MinForening into PGU Runners. The second sur-prising result was the significance of “novelty” in relation to user acceptance of smartphone apps. It was learned from the informants form TRoA, that one of the main reasons they did not see the app as being useful for TRoA, was because the app did not offer any new functions than for example Facebook cannot. In TRoA’s case, this could be a way to manage their physical resources.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

MinForening/DinForening? - A case study of use and acceptance of a smartphone app