Self service technology (SST) continuance intentions : development and testing of a model in the context of electronic access to academic literature.

Abstract

Self Service Technologies are “technological interfaces that enable customers to produce a service independent of direct service employee involvement” (Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree and Bitner, 2000). Advances in technologies have extended the range of these applications, and created greater potential for their widespread adoption and use in a number of contexts. The real test of long term SST success will lie not in its initial adoption, but rather in its continued use by the customer. Continued use is characterised by repeated engagement in the use of the SST as opposed to reverting to other traditional channels of interaction. The intentions for continued use is referred to as continuance intention. This study contributed to the advancement of SSTs by developing a model of the determinants of SST continuance intention and tested it in the university context with its electronic database of journals (an E-Journal Portal) selected as the specific instance of an SST. 113 responses from academic users of the E-Journal Portal were obtained from a survey. Results show that determinants from the social psychology, marketing, and information systems literature, are strong predictors of continuance intention. 47.6% of the variance was explained by the combined model. In particular, the results show that Responsiveness, from the marketing literature, emerges as the most significant variable in the study, with Need for Interaction, Self-Efficacy, and Perceived Usefulness as other significant predictors. The results strongly suggest that determinants of SST continuance are contextual. This study tested the model in one context, and paves the way for future testing and modifications of the model. Contributions to theory and practice are given.