Article Citation

Feng, W., Tu, R., Lu, T., & Zhou, Z. (2019). Understanding forced adoption of self-service technology: the impacts of users’ psychological reactance. Behaviour & Information Technology, 38(8), 820–832. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/10.1080/0144929X.2018.1557745

What is the abstract of the article? 

 With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, information system, and mobile technologies, some companies (e.g. airlines) consider fully replacing service employees with self-service technologies (SSTs) to cut down costs and to increase efficiency. However, replacing full services with SSTs sometimes fail to deliver the benefits companies have hoped for: users may feel that they are being forced to use SSTs and show resistance to the new technologies. To investigate why users show resistance, we draw inferences from psychological reactance theory and argue that users may perceive forced adoption as a threat, which leads to resistance of SSTs. A conceptual model was developed and an empirical study was conducted. The results show that, under a forced situation, users are likely to perceive the forced adoption as a threat to their freedom, causing them to have negative emotions and perceptions towards the SSTs, and, in turn, their adoption intention decreases and switch intention increases. The findings provide insights on why users show resistance to SSTs and highlight the impacts of the motivational state of psychological reactance.

Was the study experimental or non-experimental? Explain, tell us what made that clear. 

This study was non-experimental because it did not interfere with the participants. A voluntary form was provided for participants to fill out at the place these self-service technologies were used.

Was the research qualitative or quantitative? Again, explain.

The research is quantitative. They used a questionnaire to gather quantifiable data that they can be analyzed using statistics. This puts that information into numbers, so for this situation, they can find out how people feel about self-service technologies.

What was the population studied? Why do you say that?

The population studies were people who were at the airport intending to fly. The methodology stated this plus the article was written based on how those who had to use the SST’ at airports felt about them.

What sample was used for this study? Explain.

Two hundred and fifty-three surveys were collected but only two hundred and thirty-five were usable. Of these surveys 53.6% were male and 46.4% were female.

What was the method of measurement?

• • If the research was quantitative, was the measurement scale used, Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, or Ratio?

The 7-point Likert scale was used to measure the data. Since the distance between 1 and 7 isn’t measurable it is considered ordinal.

What was the method of analysis?

• • If the research was quantitative, what statistical tools were used to analyze the data?

First, they used confirmatory factor analysis to assess the reliability and validity of the measurements. It also uses Cronbach’s Alpha.

What was the conclusion of the study?

The conclusion of the study shows that user’s who are forced to accept the SST’s perceived this as a threat to their freedom, it positively influenced users’ motivational state of psychological reactance, further resulted in negative attitudes towards SSTs, lower adoption intentions, and high intentions to switch to different airlines

 Why is this study useful to you? Explain in detail.

Self-serve machines are used widely in grocery stores, airports, retail stores, and many other places. There is always mixed feedback on this, and I personally am not always a fan of self-service technologies. I have been in stores where there wasn’t any cashier ran checkouts and it can be a bit frustrating when I don’t want to use the self-service machines. Businesses should see this study and understand that there are people out there who don’t want to feel forced into using something they don’t want to.

What would be the next logical step in extending this study?

Extending this study it could go in the direction of finding out why a consumer would be more interested in utilizing self-service technology vs using a human for checking-in to flights. How can businesses make SST’s more consumer-friendly? Is there a specific reason that people avoid this and would rather use a human check-in lane?

Understanding forced adoption of self-service technology (PDF)