An empirical analysis of the antecedents of adoption of online services : A prototype‐based framework

Purpose – Online services have replaced many services that were delivered through other avenues. However, adoption of them has varied significantly. This paper seeks to expand on technology adoption theories by integrating them with those exploring service innovation and attempts to explore factors that help or hinder the attitude towards using online services. Thus, the study aims to provide insight into attributes to which developers and designers of such services should pay attention. Design/methodology/approach – The study accomplishes the purpose stated above through testing a framework that was developed as a result of critical literature review, interviews, a brainstorming session, an expert focus group and a final large‐scale survey. A set of prototypes was developed as alternative interfaces for the online service. Findings – In addition to finding that usefulness and ease of use are affecting the intention to use in the case of online services, the paper also identified that users were positively influenced by their acquaintances, commercials and related news about online ticket reservation positively. Self‐efficacy was also identified as a positive factor. However, a significant relationship between other elements of the user interface, such as task or user characteristics, could not be identified. Practical implications – There is an increased interest in better service design and development. In the case of online services, developing better user interfaces by different technologies is critical, because capabilities of user interface add a lot to the information technology (IT) adoption process. So putting emphasis on better marketing and user training would help the adoption of online services. Research limitations/implications – There were a number of hypotheses that were not supported in the paper. Further data collection may help to explore the role of user and service characteristics better. Originality/value – The study integrates technology adoption and market research theories to assess service innovation.