Do you take to new technology like a duck to water? Or do you feel like a Luddite when it comes to learning a new computer program or application? According to recent research conducted by Deborah Compeau, from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Barb Marcolin, an Ivey PhD graduate, and AU's Alain Ross, assistant professor of e-commerce, people fall into six categories when it comes to embracing or rejecting new innovations:

-Purposive planners are very structured and self-disciplined in their approach. They plan carefully and with a lot of attention to detail, and once they've made their plan they act on it.

-Explorers find time to learn on their own because they find it fun or useful. They might, for example, stop in the middle of a task and spend some time looking into new areas.

-Visionaries are people who find out about new technologies and think about what these could do for them personally and in their organizations. Visionaries are sometimes explorers. They tend to be lateral thinkers and look at technology from a very strategic perspective.

-Problem solvers are not necessarily interested in technology but are very interested in mastering their workplace tasks. They tend to have a strong task-oriented mindset.

-Pinballs are people who don't think about learning but simply bounce around between technologies picking up knowledge. They tend to do a lot of incidental learning and some actually become quite capable users of technology.

-Reluctant learners are people who don't really see the value of technology in their jobs. They simply focus on what they have to learn to survive in the organization.

This research is a new area for Ross, but one that she was very interested in.

"Organizations introduce information technologies in order to meet strategic and operational goals," she said. "Yet the extent to which these goals can be met is contingent on how well users can work with the technologies. Therefore, how users develop their IT competencies is a critical question. Coming from an IT consulting background, it seemed clear to me that organizations could really benefit from this understanding."

The research was carried out as a field study in a single firm called ChemCo. An organization-wide survey was implemented to identify factors associated with IT competency development. Then researchers interviewed 19 individuals with varying levels of user competency to hear how they described their IT competency development over time.

The researchers haven't finished all of their analyses yet, so the full implications of the research are still to come. Ross feels that being able to identify different types of IT learners will help managers understand the kinds of learning support they can provide to their employees.

"It shows that a menu of IT learning options is essential because different learners require different types of support. Classroom learning, for example, will be helpful for one set of learners - those we call purposive planners - but providing a ‘learning sandbox' will be more helpful for visionaries and explorers."

The research also showed that IT learning is a social activity for many learners. Reluctant learners and pinballs in particular benefit from coaching and peer support. However, some learners avoid social learning environments because they don't want others to see them as incompetent. Managers need to be sensitive to these identity issues that may interfere with IT learning.

"Developing IT competence is more complex than previously thought," Ross said. "This challenges managers to be more creative in providing learning support to their employees. This creativity, however, is likely to be rewarded with employees who are more comfortable and effective with the technologies they use in their work. Along with creating a more satisfying workplace, this gives managers an important tool in optimizing their IT investment."