{"id":7422,"date":"2016-01-07T12:41:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T12:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/?p=7422"},"modified":"2021-01-15T09:09:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T09:09:52","slug":"innovation-adoption-and-beliefs-that-hold-us-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/innovation-adoption-and-beliefs-that-hold-us-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation adoption and beliefs that hold us back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

My international travel is infrequent enough to keep it interesting. \u00a0My journey through customs is a process of discovery as I re-learn what is expected of me. \u00a0The departure card is one of the less memorable steps in this process.<\/p>\n

I descended the stairs into the airport customs area to meet a crowd of people standing in a row filling out departure cards. Taking my place in line with the others, I picked up a pen to share in the experience.<\/p>\n

My thoughts immediately turned to feeling sorry for whoever had to read my writing. \u201cSurely\u201d, I thought, \u201cthere must be a better way to do this in our advanced technological state.\u201d Almost on cue, I heard a man\u2019s calm voice off to my left asking:<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you know that you can complete your departure card electronically in less than a minute?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I looked to my left to see a large, metal kiosk, which I assumed contained the man who asked the question. I was early for my flight and curious, so I completed my hand-written departure card and stepped over to see if I might take the man in the box up on his offer.<\/p>\n

\"mR.<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking at the screen, I read something about needing to use my QR code. To get this QR code, I needed to download the Brisbane Airport app on my phone, find the departure card section in the app menu, and complete the steps for filling out the electronic departure card. Having navigated myself through the process, I showed the kiosk the resulting QR code and the kiosk printed a departure card for me to sign.<\/p>\n

Need more pens!<\/h2>\n

\"Need<\/a><\/h2>\n

Out of curiosity, I waited around to see if anyone else used the kiosk.\u00a0 As I stood there, one woman looked back and forth from me to the kiosk and asked \u201cWhat\u2019s that? Do we need to use that as well as completing the paper form?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u201d I replied. \u201cI believe it is a new way so you don\u2019t have to fill out a paper pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman said \u201cOh, I guess that is what we will be using in a year.\u201d And with that, she left with her handwritten form in hand.<\/p>\n

Over the next several minutes, the crowd of people grew, and no one approached the box. I also did not hear the box repeat its promotion to save people time. As a result of a pens shortage and the number of people passing through, I did see people at the bench have to wait to complete their forms. Someone had even written in marker on the counter: \u201cNeed more pens!\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the misquoted Henry Ford<\/a>\u00a0bemusing about people who had no concept of cars wanting faster horses, travellers will want more of what they are comfortable with even if it is less efficient. The analogy that comes to mind is that of an acorn dreaming about what it will be when it grows up to be a bigger acorn. The acorn\u2019s future plans will be defined by the constraints of its shell, with no concept of what it means to be a tree.<\/p>\n

Personality, planned thought, or a deeper belief?<\/h2>\n

Why are some people more likely to engage with new technologies and new ideas? Are some people just \u201cwired\u201d to be innovative based on their personality, is it a rational decision-making process that anyone can access, or is there something deeper?<\/p>\n

Some research points to personality, finding that those who exhibit less dogmatic personality traits<\/a>\u00a0or measurable traits of openness<\/a>\u00a0are more creative, innovative, and adaptable to change. Such observations are understandably seen as \u201ccommon sense\u201d.\u00a0 Our personality forms the lens through which we see the world<\/a>. It is a defence response that helps us navigate through life.<\/p>\n

This defence mechanism responds to the world based on our beliefs. Researchers have spent a lot of time coming up with models to explain these beliefs and show why we do some behaviours and not others. A few years ago, I pulled together as many of these theories as I could find when I published my research into consumer behaviour in relation to environmental versus convenience purchasing decisions<\/a>.\u00a0 The resulting diagram connected all the models and is complicated to say the least.<\/p>\n

One model that simplifies why we engage in new technologies is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)<\/a>. \u00a0The TAM proposes that two beliefs we have about how useful something is<\/strong> and how easy it is to use<\/strong> will determine our attitude.<\/strong>\u00a0Our attitude\u00a0then determines our intent<\/strong>, and that intent drives our behaviour<\/strong>.\u00a0 If we want to change our behaviour, we simply increase our perception of how useful something is and its ease of use.<\/p>\n

\"Technology<\/a><\/p>\n

Using this model, you could say that my fellow travellers did not use the electronic departure card system because the perceived usefulness<\/strong> was not high enough. Even with a reduced supply of pens, people still waited for others to finish or borrowed additional pens from each other.\u00a0 Pens were more familiar, while the usefulness of the kiosk would be realised \u201cperhaps in a year\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, you could say that we could increase the ease of use<\/strong> of the electronic departure card system through providing additional kiosks, adding more prominent calls to action, and clearer instructions.\u00a0 There is an education and a change process needed for any new technology that can be\u00a0overlooked by those creating the technology.<\/p>\n

I will declare that I have a significant advantage in my perceived ease of use. A few years back I was part of the team that developed the original Brisbane Airport iPhone application<\/a>. Even though I was not involved in the development of the electronic departure card functionality, I was already familiar with where it might be in the app.<\/p>\n

By comparison, a woman who sat next to me on the plane said she got frustrated and gave up when she mistakenly tried to scan the code on her boarding pass. This woman was flying back from having had received a medal in a professional golf tournament, and was returning to her role as a senior project manager in the finance sector. You could say that not being able to use technology that was supposed to be easy was a threat to her views of being competent and capable. If we have a perspective that something must be negative, it is often easier to view technology as deficient rather than ourselves as incompetent.<\/p>\n

The thought of adjusting the two variables of usefulness and ease of use appears very rational and logical. Except much of our behaviour is often neither reasonable nor planned, but based on a deeper belief about how we see the world.<\/p>\n

Is the world a safe place?<\/h2>\n

\"Acorn\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you focus on, you create\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like the previously mentioned acorn analogy, some people see life through their current constraints, while others see life through possibilities.<\/p>\n

\"Belief<\/a><\/p>\n

Some people see the world as something to be feared<\/strong>. Resources are scarce and need to be protected. Change is a threat to be avoided or attacked. If something good comes along, it is to be questioned with suspicion, and possibly interpreted as a danger to the security of status quo. Someone approaches you, smiles, and reaches out to shake your hand, and you question their agenda and wonder what they want from you.<\/p>\n

Other people see the world as an opportunity to be explored<\/strong>. Resources are abundant and are to be shared. Change represents a potential to be taken advantage of. If something bad comes along, it can be reframed and treated as an opportunity. Someone approaches you, smiles, and reaches out to shake your hand, and you start thinking about how you can help them or get to know them.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that bad things do not happen, any more than everything that happens is good for us.\u00a0 Life holds tragedy and there are those who inherently want to harm others. However, many outcomes are created solely from our expectations.<\/p>\n

We see this when we work with others in what is referred to as the Pygmalion Effect<\/a>, where our perception of someone else\u2019s performance is a significant factor in defining that performance. That same principle applied to ourselves is called self-efficacy<\/strong>, or our belief that we can succeed.<\/p>\n

Our belief about the threat of the world and our ability to navigate that threat is the fuel that drives our personality to defend us in predictable ways. This defence position is often not triggered by actual threat, as society has evolved beyond the simple question of \u201cWhat if I die?\u201d. Rather, the question heard by our different personality types is perceived as:<\/p>\n