The authors explore whether and why business-to-business customers using service relationship designs—service delivery systems that promote repeated personal interactions between a customer and a specific service provider—will adopt self-service technology (SST). Their results show that these customers associate operational performance gains and relational performance losses with a prospective SST. Whereas perceived operational performance gains increase customers’ intention to adopt SST, perceived relational performance losses decrease it. However, these main effects are moderated by customers’ purchase frequency and their enacted service design, which refers to the way that customers actually experience firms’ intended service designs. Specifically, the positive effect of perceived operational performance gains on customers’ intention to adopt SST was weaker for customers with higher purchase frequency. Similarly, the negative effect of perceived relational performance losses on customers’ intention to adopt SST was strongest for customers who had enacted strong service relationships.
Adams, D. A., R. R. Nelson, and P. A. Todd (1992), “Perceived Usefulness, Ease of Use, and Usage of Information Technology: A Replication,”Management Information Systems Quarterly, 16, 227-247.
2.
Adler, P. S. and S. W. Kwon (2002), “Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept,”Academy of Management Review, 27, 17-40.
3.
Anderson, J. C., H. Hakansson, and J. Johanson (1994), “Dyadic Business Relationships within a Business Network Context,”Journal of Marketing, 58, 1-15.
4.
Armstrong, J. S. and T. S. Overton (1977), “Estimating Non-Response Bias in Mail Surveys,”Journal of Marketing Research, 14, 396-402.
5.
Axelrod, R. (1984), The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.
6.
Bateson, J. E. G. (1985). “Self-Service Consumer: An Exploratory Study,”Journal of Retailing, 61, 49-76.
7.
Beach, L. R. and T. R. Mitchell (1978), “A Contingency Model for the Selection of Decision Strategies,”Academy of Management Review, 3, 439-449.
8.
Bitner, M. J., A. L., Ostrom, and M. L. Meuter (2002), “Implementing Successful Self-Service Technologies,”Academy of Management Executive, 16, 96-108.
9.
Colby, C. L. and A. Parasuraman (2003), “Technology Still Matters, Never Mind the Doomsayers: E-Services Are Alive, Well, and Positioned for Growth,”Marketing Management, 12, 28-33.
10.
Compeau, D. R. and C. A. Higgins (1995), “Computer Self-Efficacy: Development of a Measure and Initial Test,”Management Information Systems Quarterly, June, 189-211.
11.
Curran, J. M., M. L. Meuter, and C. F. Suprenant (2003), “Intentions to Use Self-Service Technologies: A Confluence of Multiple Attitudes,”Journal of Service Research, 5, 209-224.
12.
Czepiel, J. A., M. R. Solomon, and C. F. Suprenant (1985), The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer Interaction in Service Businesses. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
13.
Dabholkar, P. A. (1996), “Consumer Evaluations of New Technology-Based Self-Service Options: An Investigation of Alternative Models of Service Quality,”International Journal of Research in Marketing, 13, 29-51.
14.
Dabholkar, P. A. and R. P. Bagozzi (2002), “An Attitudinal Model of Technology-Based Self-Service: Moderating Effects of Consumer Traits and Situational Factors,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30, 184-201.
15.
Dabholkar, P. A., L. M. Bobbitt, and E. J. Lee (2003), “Understanding Consumer Motivation and Behavior Related to Self-Scanning in Retailing: Implications for Strategy and Research on Technology-Based Self-Service,”International Journal of Service Industry Management, 14, 59-95.
16.
Davis, F. D. (1989), “Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology,”MIS Quarterly, 13, 319-339.
17.
Gremler, D. D. and K. P. Gwinner (2000), “Customer-Employee Rapport in Service Relationships,”Journal of Service Research, 3, 82-104.
18.
Gutek, B. A. (1995), The Dynamics of Service: Reflections on the Changing Nature of Customer/Provider Interactions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
19.
Gutek, B. A., A. D. Bhappu, M. Liao-Troth, and B. Cherry (1999), “Distinguishing between Service Relationships and Encounters,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 218-233.
20.
Gutek, B. A., B. Cherry, A. D. Bhappu, S. Schneider, and L. Woolf (2000), “Features of Service Relationships and Encounters,”Work and Occupations, 27, 319-352.
21.
Gutek, B. A. and T. M. Welsh (2000), The Brave New Service Strategy. New York: AMACOM.
22.
Gwinner, K. P., D. D. Gremler, and M. J. Bitner (1998), “Relational Benefits in Services Industries: The Customer’s Perspective,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 26, 101-114.
23.
Harrison, D. A., P. P. Mykytyn Jr., and C. K. Riemenschneider (1997), “Executive Decisions about Adoption of Information Technology in Small Business: Theory and Empirical Tests,”Information Systems Research, 8, 171-195.
24.
Hendrickson, A. R., P. D. Massey, and T. P. Cronan (1993), “On the Test-Retest Reliability of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use Scales,”Management Information Systems Quarterly, 17, 227-230.
25.
Igbaria, M., N. Zinatelli, P. Cragg, and A. L. M. Cavaye (1997), “Personal Computing Acceptance Factors in Small Firms: A Structural Equation Model,”Management Information Systems Quarterly, 21, 279-305.
26.
Kahneman, D. and A. Tversky (1979), “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk,”Econometrica, 47, 263-291.
27.
Kim, J. and C. W. Mueller (1978), Introduction to Factor Analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
28.
Mathieson, K. (1991), “Predicting User Intentions: Comparing the Technology Acceptance Model with the Theory of Planned Behavior,”Information Systems Research, 2, 173-191.
29.
Meuter, M. L. and M. J. Bitner (1998), “Self-Service Technologies: Extending Service Frameworks and Identifying Issues for Research,” in Marketing Theory and Applications, Vol.9, D. Grewal and C. Pechman, eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
30.
Meuter, M. L., A. L. Ostrom, R. I. Rountree, and M. J. Bitner (2000), “Self-Service Technologies: Understanding Customer Satisfaction with Technology-Based Service Encounters,”Journal of Marketing, 64, 50-64.
31.
Mills, P. K. and J. H. Morris (1986), “Clients as ‘Partial Employees’ of Service Organizations: Role Development in Client Participation,”Academy of Management Review, 11, 726-735.
32.
Moon, Y. and F. X. Frei (2000), “Exploding the Self-Service Myth,”Harvard Business Review, 78, 26-27.
33.
Parasuraman, A. (2000), “Technology Readiness Index (TRI): A Multiple-Item Scale to Measure Readiness to Embrace New Technologies,”Journal of Service Research, 1, 307-320.
34.
Piccoli, G., M. K. Brohman, R. T. Watson, and Parasuraman, A. (2004), “Net-Based Customer Service Systems: Evolution and Revolution in Web Site Functionality,”Decision Sciences, 35, 423-455.
35.
Pujari, D. (2004), “Self-Service with a Smile? Self-Service Technology (SST) Encounters among Canadian Business-to-Business,”International Journal of Service Industry Management, 15, 200-219.
36.
Rayport, J. F. and B. J. Jaworski (2005), Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interface with Customers. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
37.
Reynolds, K. E. and S. E. Beatty (1999a), “Customer Benefits and Company Consequences of Customer-Salesperson Relationships in Retailing,”Journal of Retailing, 75, 11-32.
38.
Reynolds, K. E. and S. E. Beatty (1999b), “A Relationship Customer Typology,”Journal of Retailing, 75, 509-523.
39.
Schultze, U. (2003), “Complementing Self-Service Technology with Service Relationships: The Customer Perspective,”Electronic Service Journal, 3, 7-31.
40.
Schultze, U. and A. D. Bhappu (2005), “Incorporating Self-Service Technology into Co-Production Designs,”International Journal of e-Collaboration, 1, 1-23.
41.
Schultze, U. and W. J. Orlikowski (2004), “A Practice Perspective on Technology-Mediated Network Relations: The Use of Internet-Based Self-Service Technologies,”Information Systems Research, 15, 87-106.
42.
Selnes, F. and H. Hansen (2001), “The Potential Hazard of Self-Service in Developing Customer Loyalty,”Journal of Service Research, 4, 79-90.
43.
Stank, T. P., T. J. Goldsby, and S. K. Vickery (1999), “Effect of Service Supplier Performance on Satisfaction and Loyalty of Store Managers in Fast Food Industry,”Journal of Operations Management, 17, 429-447.
44.
Szajna, B. (1994), “Software Evaluation and Choice: Predictive Validation of the Technology Acceptance Instrument,”Management Information Systems Quarterly, 19, 319-324.
45.
Venkatesh, V. and F. D. Davis (2000), “A Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: Four Longitudinal Field Studies,”Management Science, 46, 186-204.
46.
Vickery, S. K., C. Droge, T. P. Stank, T. J. Goldsby, and R. E. Markland (2004), “The Performance Implications of Media Richness in a Business-to-Business Service Environment: Direct versus Indirect Effects,”Management Science, 50, 1106-1119.
47.
Yen, H. J. R. and K. P. Gwinner (2003), “Internet Retail Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Relational Benefits,”International Journal of Service Industry Management, 14, 483-500.
