@inproceedings{BlessingKiefer2021, author = {Blessing, Gerald and Kiefer, Daniel}, title = {Digital skills of procurement employees and their attitudes toward digital technologies}, booktitle = {Human centred intelligent systems : proceedings of KES-HCIS 2021 conference ; Smart innovation, systems and technologies, volume 244}, editor = {Zimmermann, Alfred and Howlett, Robert and Jain, Lakhmi and Schmidt, Rainer}, isbn = {978-981-16-3264-8}, doi = {10.1007/978-981-16-3264-8_17}, institution = {ESB Business School}, pages = {173 -- 182}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Prior to the introduction of AI-based forecast models in the procurement department of an industrial retail company, we assessed the digital skills of the procurement employees and surveyed their attitudes toward a new digital technology. The aim of the survey was to ascertain important contextual factors which are likely to influence the acceptance and the successful use of the new forecast tool. What we find is that the digital skills of the employees show an intermediate level and that their attitudes toward key aspects of new digital technologies are largely positive. Thus, the conditions for high acceptance and the successful use of the models are good, as evidenced by the high intention of the procurement staff to use the models. In line with previous research, we find that the perceived usefulness of a new technology and the perceived ease of use are significant drivers of the willingness to use the new forecast tool.}, language = {en} }