Self service technology : an overview of existing research

The purpose of this working paper is twofold. First the paper presents a review of the literature on self service technology (SST). The review categorizes the literature based on dependent variables studied in existing research. The review finds that most of the studies have focused on antecedents of attitude/intention/usage of SST, satisfaction with SST, and loyalty to SST. Also, the antecedents to each of the three main dependent variables are systemized in the review. The review shows that existing literature on SST hardly include moderating variables in the models tested. None of the articles aiming to explain loyalty to SST have included potential moderating effects in the models tested. The paper also gives an overview of potential dimensions for categorization of SST. Only a few of the articles reviewed gives insight into such dimensions. Given the limited focus on dimensions for categorization of self service technologies, the second purpose was to study how various channels vary along more general channel dimensions. A brief review of such dimensions is reported, and an exploratory study among students at Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH) is conducted illustrating how 11 channels are perceived along 16 dimensions. The results show significant differences between the channels in how they are perceived along all of the 16 dimensions studied. Finally, based on the review and the exploratory study conducted, some directions for future research are suggested