Intranet portals: Marketing and managing individuals’ acceptance and use

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