The customer as co-producer: an empirical research on customer motivations to use self-service technologies

Abstract

Homogenous markets force producers to diversify their offerings from the competition's. Providing value added services is one of their options towards obtaining a competitive advantage, furthermore it is a very sustainable way of increasing market share. Co-production is an example of such a value added service. It translates into a business model where customers and producers work closely together towards the creation of a final product. If implemented correctly, co-production could provide both customer and producer with cost-, and time-savings. The implementation of co-production (or more specifically for this master thesis, self-service technologies) can imply quite an extensive expenditure, which makes a lot of retailers hesitant to implement the technology. The only way to account for such an expenditure is to make sure that as much customers as possible will use it. This master thesis examines the determinants underlying the intention to try out a certain self-service technology, namely self-scanning. The intention was found to be positively influenced by past behavior, self-efficacy and attitudes of consumers. As attitudes are a rather general terminology, research is done to assess which attributes might influence it. Need for interaction was found to negatively influence attitudes, but more importantly attitudes are positively influenced by perceived usefulness and the level of enjoyment derived from using the technology. Ultimately age proved to have a moderating effect on some of the variables in this mode