Exploring the Factors Influencing the Intention to Use Self-Service Technologies: An Eastern European Perspective

Abstract

Despite decades of research on self-service technology (SST), there are still only limited numbers of studies conducted in emerging markets (Ostrom et al., 2010). In order to help close this surprising gap in the literature, two studies were conducted in an emerging Eastern European country: an exploratory investigation with 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews and a quantitative survey research involving 139 respondents.The research outcomes reveal similarities, but also differences among the factors which influence SSTs usage by Eastern European and Western consumers, respectively. Antecedents such as complexity, previous experience with SSTs, perceived risk, relative advantage and technology readiness were found to be strongly related to the intention of using these devices, thus confirming previous findings. However, in contrast to previous discoveries, the attitude towards the past, individualism, masculinity, rational and experiential thinking, were found to have only weak connections with the behavioural intention. The research provides valuable theoretical contributions to the scarce literature available on SST usage in emerging markets.
Classification-JEL: H12
Keywords: self-service technologies; emerging markets; Romania; online shopping; ATMs; SST use model.