Does perceived technology complexity affect the adoption of Business Intelligent systems?

How do we define a complex product? Complexity refers to “the degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and use” (Rogers, 1995). Research shows that new ideas that are simpler to understand are adopted more rapidly than innovations that require the adopter to develop new skills and understanding. It’s said that complexity an equally both an objective and social construct component. Looking at the objective view, a complex system is a product of many various integrated components, interacting within the system in a complex manner. The degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and used is the definition assumed in this research.

Technology complexity has always been an important element in technology development and economic success. Understanding or even measuring the complexity of technologies is a complicated issue. One method, that was to look at technology complexity was to conceptualize technology advancement as a combination of knowledge to search the process. Interestingly, a study based on US patent data considers the measure technology complexity by inventors, is the perceived difficulty of the steps taken to invent the technology (Fleming & Sorenson, 2004).

It’s important to understand the definition of complexity, especially in this research as many studies have revealed that complexity is a hindrance to various innovation adoption. 

Types of Complexity :

• Component Complexity - Direct function of the number of distinct acts that need to be executed in the performance of the task and the number of distinct information that must be processed.
• Coordinated Complexity - Coordinative complexity refers to the nature of the relationships between task inputs and outputs.
• Dynamic Complexity - Changes in the states of the world which have an effect on the relationship between input and output.

One study that clearly shows the negative relationship between the complexity of technology and adoption was that of Tornatzky and Klein (1982). Some of the elements that support the perception of complexity in technology in these studies are the lack of required skill and knowledge. As much as organizations are hoping to stay ahead of the competition, the lack of knowledge to use BIS and analysis information is discovered to be the key barrier to adopting BI systems.