Consumers’ resistance to digital innovations: A systematic review and framework development

Consumer resistance is one of the major causes of failure of any innovation. Despite rising academic interest, the non-adoption of digital innovation or consumer resistance has received less scholarly attention as compared to the factors driving the adoption of digital products and services. The existing research on consumer resistance is also in siloes, running across multiple verticals, spanning from resistance to green products to the Internet of things (IoT). The current study provides a systematic review of the extant literature on consumer resistance to digital innovations by utilising the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. A total of 54 studies were selected for content analysis to isolate thematic foci, identify research gaps, recommend future research avenues and develop a framework. Our analysis revealed that the extant literature could be grouped under broad research themes, namely resistance to digital innovations, organisational resistance to technological innovations, resistance to technological healthcare innovations and consumer resistance to innovations (offline). The results of this SLR study are expected to galvanise future research in this area from the theoretical as well as from a practice-oriented perspective by providing various actionable inputs to combat consumer resistance to digital innovations.publishedVersio

Why have consumers opposed, postponed, and rejected innovations during a pandemic? A study of mobile payment innovations

The highly infectious nature of the COVID-19 virus has made the use of contactless payment methods a health exigency. Yet, consumers are resisting using mobile payments (m-payments) during the pandemic, a confounding behavior that needs to be better understood. The present study explicates this behavior by examining consumer resistance to m-payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it provides more granular findings by measuring three levels of resistance/non-adoption, namely, postponement, opposition, and rejection. In this way, the study adds depth to the literature, which has largely examined resistance at an aggregate level to yield generic findings. Toward this end, the study draws upon the Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) to propose that usage, value, risk, tradition, and image barriers influence the three levels of resistance/non-adoption differently. An artificial neural network analysis (ANN) of the data collected from 406 non-users of m-payments confirmed that the influence of the five barriers varies for the three levels of resistance/non-adoption. The results further suggest that the usage barrier is the most significant contributor to opposition and rejection intentions toward m-payments, whereas the image barrier is the most influential for postponement intentions. This study thus makes a useful contribution to theory and practice.publishedVersio

Positive and negative word of mouth (WOM) are not necessarily opposites: A reappraisal using the dual factor theory

Prior research has not systematically investigated the enablers and inhibitors in conjunction to measure consumer behavior toward mobile wallets (m-wallets), focusing either on the adoption or the resistance perspective only. Similarly, antecedents and consequences of the dichotomous nature of word of mouth for m-wallets have also remained obscure so far. The present research proposes to address this void in the accumulated learnings by examining both enablers and inhibitors of mobile wallets (m-wallets) as antecedents of valence of word of mouth (positive and negative; PWOM and NWOM, respectively). Grounded in Dual Factor Theory, this study aims to explore consumers’ continued use intentions resulting from the WOM valence. The findings reveal that enablers (perceived information quality, perceived ability, and perceived benefit) drive PWOM, while the inhibitors (perceived cost, perceived risk, and perceived uncertainty) spur NWOM. Furthermore, the results show that only PWOM drives the continuance intentions of m-wallet users. Therefore, the study proves that the antecedents of PWOM are different from those of NWOM.publishedVersio

Virtual reality tourism to satisfy wanderlust without wandering: An unconventional innovation to promote sustainability

The tourism sector has always been a target of criticism due to the adverse environmental effects of travel and activities at tourist destinations. It is thus imperative for researchers and managers to seek tourism solutions that make business sense without raising sustainability-related issues. Particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual reality tourism (VRT), a form of digitally-driven albeit unconventional ex-situ touristic travel, has attracted the attention of multiple stakeholders in the sector. However, consumers’ perceptions of and motivations to use VRT as a sustainable solution for touristic activities are yet not fully understood. We address this deficiency in the literature by drawing upon expectancy theory to propose goal difficulty and reduction in the environmental impact of tourism (REI) as expectancy-related motivations, accomplishment as an instrumentality-related motivation and willingness to sacrifice as a valence-related motivation; we anticipate these motivations, in turn, to drive two outcomes: low- and high-effort pro-environmental behaviours. Analysing data collected from 350 individuals residing in the United States, we found support for all positive associations except for that of goal difficulty with high-effort pro-environmental behaviours and REI with both pro-environmental behaviours. We also tested and confirmed the moderating effects of the number of children in a household and daily green behaviours on some of the proposed associations. Our findings offer useful insights for future research and practice in the area.publishedVersio

Does enterprise social media use promote employee creativity and well-being?

Despite the increased use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) worldwide, its adverse impact on firms’ employees, such as exhaustion, has not been researched sufficiently. This is a critical gap in the literature since employees’ well-being is crucial to maintaining their productivity. The current study addresses this gap by examining whether interruption overload and psychological transition affect the relationship of employees’ socio-instrumental use of ESM with ESM-related exhaustion and employee creativity, respectively. We utilized the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to conceptualize the mediation effect of interruption overload and psychological transition on the hypothesized associations. We also used the Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) to propose the moderation effect of promotion and prevention-focus of employees on these associations. Cross-sectional data collected from 323 employees of firms in China were analyzed to test the proposed associations. Our findings suggest that both interruption overload and psychological transition mediate the association of ESM usage with exhaustion and creativity, respectively. Furthermore, the results revealed that promotion-focus strengthens the positive relationship between ESM usage and psychological transition, whereas prevention-focus of weakens the positive relationship between ESM usage and interruption overload. The study contributes key theoretical and practical insights to set an agenda for further research and aid managerial decisions.publishedVersio

The value proposition of food delivery apps from the perspective of theory of consumption value

Purpose The theory of consumption values (TCV) has successfully explained much consumer choice behavior, but few studies have investigated the values that drive food-delivery application (FDA) use. This study aims to bridge this gap by extending the TCV to the FDA context to examine food consumption-related values and interpreting and rechristening generic consumption values to adapt the TCV to the FDA context. Design/methodology/approach An explorative mixed-method research approach was taken to conduct focus group discussions with 20 target users to develop the questionnaire and then administer it for a cross-sectional survey (pen and pencil) to FDA users aged 22–65 years; 423 complete responses so received were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The findings show that epistemic value (“visibility”) is the chief driver of purchase intentions toward FDAs, followed by conditional (“affordances”), price (part of functional value) and social value (“prestige”). Food-safety concerns and health consciousness (proposed as part of functional value) did not share any statistically significant association with purchase intentions toward FDAs. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study are insightful for FDA service providers competing for higher shares in the market by helping them understand ways to influence consumer choices and purchase intentions. Originality/value It is the first study that combines FDAs 2014 an online service that it is attracting a lot of investment 2014and TCV which has continued to be one of the most relevant theories of consumer behavior. It extends the TCV by adapting it to the FDA context with food-consumption-related values. Thus, it adds to the relatively scant literature on FDAs on the whole which is essential, as FDAs represent the business model of new economy, i.e. online-to-offline (O2O). Finally, this study formulates a conceptual framework that may serve as the basis of future research.publishedVersio

Barriers and paradoxical recommendation behaviour in online to offline (O2O) services. A convergent mixed-method study

Mobile apps offering online to offline (O2O) services act as aggregators providing interface for delivery of required products and services at a preferred location. Despite offering multiple affordances, many O2O services have not diffused as anticipated, indicating the existence of consumer resistance towards them. One such example is that of food delivery apps (FDAs), which are experiencing resistance at both the pre-adoption and post-adoption stage. However, there are scarce empirical findings explicating the pre-and post-adoption barriers perceived to be associated with FDAs. The present study addresses this gap by utilising the Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) and a convergent mixed-method study design to examine the barriers that existing FDA users face and how these impinge on their trust and valence of recommendation behaviour (positive and negative word of mouth). The study not only extends the classic IRT barriers to the FDA-context by identifying three key barriers (economic, efficiency, and experience) but also offers empirical evidence to support the negative association of barriers with trust and paradoxical recommendation behaviour by analysing data collected from 303 FDA users through Prolific. The findings also support the mediation effect of trust and the moderation effect of advertisement overload on the identified associations, making interesting theoretical and practical contributions.publishedVersio

Digitalization and sustainability: virtual reality tourism in a post pandemic world

The government-imposed COVID-19 pandemic control measures brought the tourism sector to a complete halt. However, virtual reality (VR) tourism offered people a way to escape the isolation. Media reports and research have noted heightened activity in VR tourism, which has been touted as “alternative tourism” and “eco-tourism”. However, scholars have yet to determine whether this shift is temporary or will persist after the pandemic is over. Questions also remain regarding the factors driving this behaviour. The present study uses stimulus-organism-response theory (SOR) to propose a sequential mechanism of the interplay of antecedents and outcomes, theorising VR tourism as a sustainable tourism solution long into the future. The model, tested by analysing 359 responses collected from VR users through Prolific Academic, confirmed the positive association of the environmental impact of touristic travel and pandemic travel anxiety with eco-guilt; pandemic travel anxiety, moreover, was also associated with attitude towards VR tourism. Furthermore, attitude towards VR tourism was positively associated with willingness to forgo the pleasure of in-situ tourism and post-pandemic VR tourism continuance intentions, with willingness also mediating the association between the other two. Finally, willingness partially mediated the association of attitude and fully mediated the association of eco-guilt with intentions.publishedVersio

Big data analytics and e-governance: Actors, opportunities, tensions, and applications

We present a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles, empirical as well as conceptual, investigating the integration of big data analytics in e-governance within business management, decision sciences, social sciences, and policy literature. Our primary objective in undertaking this review is to better understand the competing and conflicting scholarly perspectives on the integration of big data analytics in the delivery of governance, public services, and evidence-based policymaking. We focus particularly on a critical assessment of the literature to identify visible as well as less perceptible gaps in extant research to set a comprehensive future research agenda. In addition, we also aim to dig deeper into the landscape of the available research in terms of the volume of scientific production and other bibliometric characteristics to gauge the extent and nature of scholarly engagement with the area to inform future research. To these ends, we executed our systematic review through a four-step process of scoping, specification and execution of search protocols, short-listing of congruent literature, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. In all, we identified 45 articles that attended to big data analytics and e-governance as the core concerns or themes. Our analysis generated four pillars on which the academic contributions in the area rest: actors, opportunities, tensions, and applications. We critically synthesized the findings around these four pillars to map the gaps and develop potential research questions that future researchers can address to expand the evidence and insights in the area to influence policy and governance