Measuring Computer Usage by Air Force Contracting Personnel as it Relates to Computer Training

We know little about how Air Force personnel use the computer resources with which they have been provided, though current plans call for spending over $75M on computer resources throughout the Air Force in FY 97. Research suggests that computer use relates to computer training, computer anxiety, and computer self-efficacy. Managers can take action to ensure that computers are better utilized with knowledge of how computer resources are being used, and an understanding of the effect that training, computer anxiety, and computer self-efficacy have on that usage. This study examines the use of computers by contracting personnel in the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center Contracting Directorate. Its purpose was to discover the amount of time employees spent using different computer programs and completing various computer tasks, and to measure their training level for each program or task. It also measured data about employees' computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy. Training was found in most instances to be related to increased computer usage, and employees in different job functions were also found to use computers to differing extents. Computer anxiety and self-efficacy were found to be related to the amount of time employees spent using computers. Time spent using computers and training amount were still significantly related, even when the effects of computer anxiety and self-efficacy were factored out of the equation.