technology anxiety construct, focusing on a user’s state of mind about general technology
tools, influenced self-service technologies’ usage.
It is hypothesized that consumers react affectively to technology and to technology-
based delivery interfaces. Independently of the innovation’s perceived benefits, risks and
complexities, consumers through their personal experiences and characteristics develop a
multitude of affective reactions such as fun, enjoyment or fear toward technology in general.
H1: A consumer’s enjoyment with technology will influence the likelihood of that
consumer using more frequently technology-based service deliveries.
Preference for dealing with technological interfaces
The preference for technological interfaces contrasts with a preference for human interfaces
(i.e., dealing with people instead of machines). Dabholkar (1996) confirmed that the need for
interaction with employees was a negative influence on the intention to use self-service
options, mediated by the expected service quality of those self-service devices. People differ
in how they feel about using machines vs. interacting with people. Zeithaml and Gilly (1987)
found that some people feel strongly that the use of machines (i.e., technology interfaces) de-
humanizes service encounters. Other people negatively value some aspects of human
interaction (e.g., less speed, chance of human error) together with not valuing the social
aspect of human interaction. For these customers, technological interfaces are preferred to
human interactions.
H2: A consumer’s preference for dealing with technological interfaces will influence
the likelihood of that consumer using more frequently technology-based service
deliveries.
Desire for control
Marketing researchers have viewed the term ‘control’ to indicate a person’s exercise of
direction over some object, while researchers of perceived control have defined ‘control’ as a
sensation, rather than just an activity (Tangsrud and Smith, 2001). Perceived control has
been considered to be a global indicator, summarizing the perceptual aspect of an individual’s
service experience, a crucial antecedent of consumer behavior, and a concept useful for
understanding the service encounter (Bateson, 1985b; Bateson and Hui, 1990). Perceptions of
control will evoke positive or negative affect, as they are related to a consumer’s judgment of
whether the environment will facilitate or frustrate goal achievement.