Not All Adaptations are the Same: Deciphering Asymmetric Adaptation-Fit Mechanism in IT Consumerization Behavior, Thriving at Work, and Work-to-Family Conflict

This study investigates how employees’ IT consumerization behavior (ITCB) influences work-family well-being. Based on adaptive structuration theory for individuals (ASTI), we argue that ITCB directly influences four post-acceptance adaptation behaviors: exploitive (exploratory) technology (task) adaptation. Moving beyond instrumental performance output alone, we extend ASTI to involve job fit and professional fit as intermediate outcomes and propose asymmetric adaptation-fit mechanism linking ITCB to thriving at work and work-to-family conflict. We tested research model by conducting a two-wave survey to collect data from 241 employees across different industries. The results show that ITCB enables these four adaptation behaviors. Among them, only exploitive technology adaptation positively influences job fit and only exploratory task adaptation positively affects professional fit. Both fit outcomes facilitate thriving at work while only job fit attenuates work-to-family conflict. This research advances the ASTI literature by revealing mechanisms that contribute to ITCB-driven adaptation dynamics and humanistic impacts across work-family domains.