The Adoption of Interrelated Innovations: A Critical Test of Technological Regime Theory

Banking technologies had two distinct generations: mass automation (MA) and electronic banking (EB). The established Technological Regime (TR) theory predicts that a bank’s accumulation in MA technologies may not impact its adoption of EB. On the hand, banks’ IT literacy acquired in the former generation is the primary antecedent of the adoption of EB. This study tests this theory and proposes a rival perspective of technological interrelatedness to refine it. In the transition between these two generations, many inter-related innovations were introduced, and may evolve into new systemic technologies, achieving synergy. Firms adopt innovations, hence acquire IT literacy, mostly in a piece-meal way, resulting in previous adoptions either supplementing (an accumulation case), or constraining (a burden case) the adoption and integration of current innovation in achieving synergy. The results of a case study, using secondary and interview data from four banks and two industrial experts in Taiwan, reveals that the RB technologies become banks’ burden in adopting EB innovations, and the concept of IT literacy should be re-examined in the context of inter-related technologies.