Reevaluating IT adoption capability at the unit-level of analysis through a micro-foundations lens

Despite significant advancements in information technology adoption, notable gaps exist in understanding how lower-level micro-behaviours influence higher-level organisation dynamic capability. Scholars have yet to fully explore how the micro-foundations of lower-level phenomena influence higher-level organisation’s IT adoption capability. Adoption success is often defined in terms of innovation outputs and innovation models. While innovation models have helped to categorise successful IT adoption and revolutionised how we think about IT innovation, scholars and practitioners are still no wiser about identifying which IT-related microfoundational mechanisms aggregate in ways that influence dynamic capability at the unit level of analysis. To investigate how micro-foundations aggregate to influence dynamic IT adoption capability, the researchers conducted a systematic review of 97 peer-reviewed articles across related literatures. The study found that greater attention was focused on the barriers and challenges of IT adoption, with significantly less focus on identifying the aggregation of micro-routines at the unit-level of analysis. The study makes a significant contribution to the current IT adoption literature by helping to re-evaluate how IT adoption capability becomes a competitive advantage over time. This review broadens academic insights by developing an integrative framework for enhancing IT adoption success, addressing an important research question related to the transformative-emergence process for successful IT adoption at the unit level of analysis.