Technology emergence between mandate and acceptance: an exploratory examination of RFID

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on radio frequency identification (RFID) acceptance and examine three understudied drivers: a company's satisfaction with existing logistics technologies, its logistics technology readiness (technology optimism and technology innovativeness), and relationship hostage position. The proposed conceptual model also investigates the impacts of RFID acceptance and these three antecedents on the company's logistics performance. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from the members of three professional associations in the USA. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships. Findings – According to the analysis results, a company's satisfaction with existing technology has negative impact on RFID acceptance, and technology readiness has positive impact on RFID acceptance. However, the relationship between a company's hostage position and RFID acceptance was found to be only partially significant. Also, the positive relationship between a company's RFID acceptance and its logistics performance is confirmed in this study. Furthermore, while a company's satisfaction with existing technology and technology innovativeness were found to be positively related to logistics performance, its technology optimism and hostage position were not significant related to its logistics performance. Practical implications – This research confirms that a company's RFID acceptance is positively related to logistics performance. Therefore, even if a company is satisfied with its existing technologies, careful evaluation is warranted to determine if RFID as a new technology is needed to maintain the company's logistics performance in a dynamic environment. Also, this research suggests that supply chain members should be extremely cautious about the power usage toward its partners, because the authors' results show that forcing other partners to take cooperative actions may not yield the desired results. Originality/value – This is first study examining RFID technology through a behavioral perspective. A new construct, RFID acceptance, was proposed, and related measurement scale was developed and tested along with its antecedents and outcomes.