Assessing Chinese Consumers Likelihood To Adopt Self-Service Technologies

Abstract

The proliferation of new self-service technology in retailing suggests a need to assess the extent to which consumers are ready and willing to actually use the technology. This study examines the influence that the dimensions of the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) has on the propensity of consumers in China, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, to use self-service technology to complete retail transactions. Cluster analysis was also used to classify Chinese consumers into consumer types based on their TRI scores. The findings indicate that the dimensions of TRI impacts consumer types differently with respect to influencing the likelihood of using self-service technology. Implications of the consumer classifications are also discussed.