پرتال‌های اینترانتی: بازاریابی و مدیریت مقبولیت افراد و مصرف

With increasing pressure on businesses to digitalize and integrate their internal communications, intranet portals are becoming popular as knowledge banks that distribute tailored information throughout organizations. However, user acceptance of intranet portals is often an issue that could lead to failure of core business functions. This study provides increased understanding of the uptake of intranet portals by developing and testing an intranet portal usage (IPU) model containing antecedents to user acceptance of a recently introduced intranet portal. SEM was used to test the relationships between prior experience, Internet self-efficacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, intention to use and usage. Results from a survey of university students indicate that internal marketing communications focused on portal experience and functionality provides the greatest value to the acceptance and use of intranet portals within organizations, while Internet self-efficacy leveraged through portal experience provides a complex relationship to perceived usefulness. Ongoing collaboration between marketing and IT departments benefits the perceived usefulness of portals as users gain familiarity

Intranet portals are at the forward edge of increasingly pervasive information communication technology (ICT). Organizations are continually faced with the challenges and promised rewards of technology, however implementation issues are common. Economic realities, business re-alignment, and increasing competition are providing pressure for departments that were once autonomous business units to become progressively more collaborative. Of particular note, marketing’s increasing use of technology in its activities has led to a dependence on ICT professionals and the systems they implement (Ling and Yen, 2001 and Pires and Aisbett, 2003). As organizations implement fully integrated information systems such as intranet portals, employees and stakeholders are expected to quickly and readily accept and adopt ICT. Intranet portals provide organizations and institutions with a single electronic access point to a large and diverse array of internal web-based information for authorized end users (Schubert and Hausler, 2001). Implementation of intranet portals allows for shared information workspaces that extend and transmit organizational knowledge (Li and Wood, 2005). However, Kakumanu and Mezzacca (2005) noted that issues of design consistency and a lack of extensive research has hampered the acceptance and use of intranet portals. Consistency issues relate to poor conversion of raw information and data into accessible systems that match the practices and navigation needs of end users (Detlor, 2000). Despite the best efforts of information technology (IT) departments, the user implementation stage of intranet portals remains the most detrimental stumbling block (Damsgaard and Scheepers, 2000). Ironically, the implementation of intranet portals uncover and highlight issues such as employee IT sabotage and espionage (Band et al., 2006), and what some authors define as a digital divide where an individual’s use of technology is hindered by their lack of confidence, competence and prior knowledge (Chinn and Fairlie, 2007 and Henning and Van Der Westhuizen, 2004). Poorly implemented intranet portals, and poor subsequent management, have been found to limit dissemination of organizational knowledge, create misinformed or disenchanted employees, inhibit internal and external communication and permit ineffectual customer relationships (Agarwal and Prasad, 1997, Butler, 2003 and Stenmark, 2003). This study aims to increase understanding of the problems and acceptance of intranet portals in organizations from a marketing perspective by extending the technology acceptance model (TAM) to include two external constructs, prior experience and Internet self-efficacy (Davis, 1989).

As intranet portals become more commonplace in organizations and institutions, the need to understand the critical success factors of portal acceptance and use has emerged as a key managerial imperative. This investigation concludes that the acceptance and use of intranet portals can be aided through the consideration of appropriate internal and external marketing communications that address portal experience, Internet self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, and usefulness.