Intentions to Use Self-Service Technologies: A Confluence of Multiple Attitudes

Abstract

The introduction of self-service technologies (SSTs) into the service encounter necessitates research to better understand customers’ attitudes toward service providers and technologies, and their intentions to use technology-based service delivery systems. In this research, the authors develop and empirically test three nested structural models that include a hierarchy of consumer attitudes toward both the interpersonal and the technological aspects of the encounter to better understand their intentions to use SSTs. The findings indicate that intentions to use SST options are driven by multiple, hierarchical attitudes. In addition to the direct effects of attitudes toward specific SSTs and individual employees, the findings confirm that higher order global attitudes toward service technologies influence intentions to use SSTs. Interestingly, the findings indicate that heavy SST users rely more on attitudes toward specific SSTs than do light SST users, who rely more heavily on global attitudes toward SSTs when determining intention to use an SST.