Factors hindering the learning of ICT: An empirical study in transport sector

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether (i) both operational staff and engineering staff in a Hong Kong public transport company have same perception that the organizational defensive patterns impede them from learning new information and communication technology (ICT) from other companies, and (ii) skilled incompetence, organizational defensive routines, and fancy footwork are positively associated with each other in both operational and engineering groups of a transport company. This paper investigated the influence of organizational defensive patterns by means of a survey of 324 employees (151 operational staff and 173 engineering staff) at a Hong Kong public transport company. Each employee selected completed a questionnaire that asked them to indicate the influence of the organizational defensive patterns (skilled incompetence, organizational defensive routines, and fancy footwork) on the learning of ICT in their organization. The results indicated that both operational staff and engineering staff shared the same perceptions about how organizational defensive patterns impeded their learning of newly adopted ICT systems. The findings also indicated that the operational and engineering groups of the transport company perceived that skilled incompetence, defensive routines, and fancy footwork were positively associated with each other. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.