Why the little things matter: Exploring situational influences on customers' self-service technology decisions

The bulk of self-service research has focused on customers' static attitudes toward the technology while failing to note that situational influences can often have just as much, if not more, influence on a customer's decision to approach or avoid a self-service technology (SST). Exploring the importance of these situational influences, the authors conceptualize and empirically test a model of situational influences on customers' perceived time pressure, shopping effectiveness, and attitude toward using an SST. The results of a national panel database study found that during the SST transaction, four situational variables order size, wait-time tolerance, location convenience, and employee presence all had a strong influence in customers' SST decisions. Managerial implications are provided about the importance of accounting for situational influences in the adoption and implementation of SSTs going forward. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.