Firms’ Intentions to Use Nonownership Services

Abstract

In this study, we investigate why companies intend to use nonownership services by conducting qualitative interviews with 10 experts to develop our hypotheses, then using a survey to test them. Our findings show that, as hypothesized, firms’ intentions to use nonownership services are affected by both financial (i.e., tax efficiency and cash and liquid asset management) and nonfinancial (i.e., control over assets and access to the latest technology and tools) factors, with access to the latest technology and tools being the most important driver. Furthermore, we show that the effect that the desire to gain access to the latest technology and tools has on intentions to use nonownership services is enhanced (i.e., moderated) when firms wish to reduce the risk of obsolescence. The hypothesized moderation effect of firm size on the importance of cash and liquid asset management is marginally significant. These findings are an important contribution to the literature, as previous studies have almost exclusively focused on the financial drivers of nonownership service use.