Exploring the adoption of self-service checkouts and the associated social obligations of shopping practices. (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bulmer, Sandy; Elms, Jonathan; Moore, Simon
• Is Part Of: Journal of retailing and consumer services. Volume 42(2018)
• Page Start: 107
• Page End: 116
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: Self-service checkouts -- Adoption -- Technology -- Shopping -- Social obligations -- Practice; Retail trade -- Periodicals; Service industries -- Periodicals; Customer services -- Periodicals; Commerce de détail -- Périodiques; Service à la clientèle -- Périodiques; Customer services; Retail trade; Periodicals; 658.87
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.01.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0969-6989

Abstract

Abstract: While retailers and other service providers are increasingly introducing self-service checkouts into stores, these technologies do not have universal appeal for consumers. The literature offers limited understanding of how self-service checkouts influence shopping practices and consumers' experiences of the in-store environment. Using the lens of practice theory, this paper explores adoption of self-service checkouts by consumers. Semi-structured face to face interviews were used to capture consumers' discursive accounts of their shopping practices, and to examine their interactions with self-service checkouts. Findings illustrate that unwilling customers feel a sense of social obligation to use self-service checkouts at times in order to help others. This study provides a broader appreciation of how consumers engage with self-service checkout processes, and extends understanding of how consumers manage the paradoxes that surround the introduction of in-store technologies by retailers. The managerial implications of self-service checkouts for retailers are also discussed.