Information Technology and Knowledge Worker Productivity: A Taxonomy of Technology Crowding

This paper explores unintended consequences of information technology use on knowledge worker productivity in the workplace.Drawing upon economics principles and theoretical frameworks of bounded rationality, task-technology fit, and human interruption theory, we propose a taxonomy of technology crowding which is a phenomenon that occurs at the point in which more technology usage which otherwise improved productivity has reached the point of diminishing marginal returns.This shows that more technology does not always lead to increased productivity and can sometimes, in fact, be counterproductive.We conducted a preliminary field study of 61 knowledge workers using multidimensional scaling techniques to empirically develop and validate the taxonomy.Three salient dimensions of technology crowding were identified: software bloat, information overload, and communication overload.The findings provide initial evidence and an understanding of unintended outcomes of technology use on knowledge workers and offer interesting implications for managers to effectively deploy technology tools to boost their knowledge workers' productivity.