Assessing the Effects of Consumer Involvement and Service Quality in a Self-Service Setting

The aim of this study is to assess how consumer involvement and service quality within the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) influence consumers' adoption of self-service technologies (SSTs). A model is proposed to test the antecedent factors of SSTs in a retail environment. A total of 441 valid questionnaires were received, and the data were examined by using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings show that consumer involvement has a significant positive effect on attitude toward SSTs. In addition, service quality plays an important role by significantly moderating the influence of intention to use SSTs on consumer behavior. The key objective of this study is to analyze the role that consumer involvement and service quality play in influencing the adoption of SSTs. Future research could classify the different levels of involvement and types of SSTs to confirm and extend our framework. Despite the increasing popularity of SSTs, few studies have to date examined the topic of technology acceptance in combination with user involvement. This study extends the original TAM and explains the conditions required for successful user involvement and service quality in consumers' adoption of SSTs. This study makes an original contribution by proposing a strategic model for a successful implementation of SSTs. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.