The Importance of Previous Experience for the Trial of Mobile Self-Service Technologies

An increasing number of companies utilize mobile communication such as advertisements via Short Message Service (SMS) or mobile payment to facilitate interaction with their customers. Given the manifold potentials of mobile technologies, it is not surprising that a lot of innovative business models and services are emerging. In this paper we first discuss various theories of technology diffusion and trial of technology, which are frequently used in information systems and marketing research. Subsequently, we present a system which allows ordering products by simply photographing an advanced form of barcode, which can be placed on virtually any printed media, the product itself, or even be shown on television. We use a Structural Equation Modeling approach to measure the importance of various antecedents of trial, namely the ability to use a mobile technology, users’ role clarity, and both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, the role of previous experience as a moderator of the antecedents of technology trial is explored. The results show that there is a significant difference between experienced and inexperienced users regarding the trial of this service innovation.