Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Management

In-Store Automation: Consumers’ Technology Adoption and Perceived Digital Exclusion

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Abstract

This study examines the role of perceived relative digital exclusion in the usage of in-store automated checkout systems and the effect of performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on system use behavior. It adopts the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Relative Deprivation Theory (RDT) from digital inequality studies. The results were obtained through PLS-SEM analysis using 294 online survey responses. The study confirms the negative influence of perceived relative/subjective digital exclusion on consumers’ attitudes and intentions to use automated checkout systems, while performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions affected consumers’ attitudes and intentions to use the system positively. The study brings academic and industrial attention to consumers who are not tech-savvy and have been implicitly excluded from the physical-digital integrated shopping context by including their perception of digital exclusion in the technology adoption model. 

Keywords: In-store automation, Automated checkout, Digital exclusion, Technology adoption behavior, Technology driven shopping

How to Cite:

Hwang, J., Youn, S. & Kim, S. E., (2022) “In-Store Automation: Consumers’ Technology Adoption and Perceived Digital Exclusion”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15986