Effects of E-Service Process Presentations on Customer Readiness and Adoption

Despite the potential advantages, customers sometimes are not ready to embrace new eservice because of insufficient understanding. E-service process presentations may facilitate customer learning; however, no scientific investigation has attempted to explore the effectiveness of such presentations in customer education and e-service adoption. Thus, this study intends to fill the research gap by investigating how e-service process presentations influence customer readiness and trial intention. Based on the stimulus-organism-response framework, we develop a theoretical model and propose customers’ perceptions of readiness as the antecedents for trial intention. By applying the cognitive load theory, the effects of different presentation formats on customer readiness are hypothesized. The contingent effect caused by customers’ levels of expertise is also studied. An experiment will be conducted to test the hypotheses. This study is expected to have both theoretical and practical implications.