The adoption of retail self-service checkout systems - An empirical study examining the link between intention to use and actual use

Abstract

Self-service technologies (SSTs) are becoming increasingly essential drivers of business success. A large-scale utilization tends to be a prerequisite for a successful information technology (IT) investment. This study investigates the determinants of technology adoption in the case of self-service checkouts (SCOs) in Finnish grocery stores. The objectives are to confirm the determinants of intention to use SCOs, examine the link between behavioral intention to use and actual use, and study how a contextual variable may act as a trigger that turns the intention into actual use. In addition, the influence of some relevant control variables is taken under scrutiny.

The study builds itself on the technology acceptance theory (Davis, 1989) by formulating a research model to explain the acceptance of SCOs. The core TAM model is extended by adding some context-specific variables based on the current research setting and previous literature on technology adoption. Method of research is a large-scale empirical study in the form of a consumer survey. Nine research hypotheses are formulated and tested with a sample of 1534 survey responses collected with a longitudinal study. Collected data is analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique Mplus 6.1.

The research hypotheses are supported and the link between intention to use and actual use is confirmed. Findings suggest that the contextual variable, perceived waiting time, strongly moderates the relationship between intention to use and actual use. While a consumer may have a high intention to use the technology, it is less likely to turn into actual use without a contextual trigger. Thus, such activation mechanisms should generally be taken into account when investing in technology. In addition, preference of cash payment option was negatively related to intention to use SCOs, which might be caused by the lack of cash payment option in the SCO systems used in the sites of this study. Prior experience of SCO usage has a significant effect on its adoption, so to maximize utilization retailers should find ways to get consumers to trial SCO systems for the first time.