Relationship of Demographic Traits and Situational Factor Determinants with the Tech Readiness of Self-Service Consumers

Over the past 20 years, self-service technology (SST) has become prevalent as a service delivery option. To ensure that SST options reach full potential, firms need to understand what customer traits and situational factors are related to the propensity to use SSTs. From a subset of data and independent determinants from an original dissertation model on SST adoption, this study uses linear regression to examine: H1) the relationship between: H1) consumers’ tech readiness (TR) and the consumer demographics of age (AG), gender (GN), income (IN), education (ED), and ethnicity (ET) (H1), and H2) the relationship between consumer’s tech readiness and the situational factors of wait time (WT) and crowding (CR). The study finds both hypotheses partially supported; the demographic determinants of age, income, education, gender, and ethnicity, and both situational factor determinants of wait time (WT) and crowding (CR), all have one or more significant relationships with some, but not all, tech readiness facets (OPT, INN, DIS, INS). However, none of the determinants independently or in combination explain more than 10% of TR’s’ variance; these demographic and situational variables appear to be relatively weak and somewhat fragmented predictors of consumer tech readiness