The main purpose of this study is to examine how two components of interactive service quality (interpersonal service quality and self-service technology service quality) are related to retail patronage. This study also aims to identify the moderating effects of individual characteristics. The results indicate that two components of interactive quality are greatly related to retail patronage intentions. The moderating effects of technology anxiety, need for interaction, and age are also partially supported. To increase retail patronage, it is very important to focus on improving self-service technology service quality as well as interpersonal service quality. The results from this study also provide retail managers with a detailed understanding of how individual characteristics influence retail patronage intentions.
Advances in technology enable new ways of doing business and revolutionize the interaction between consumers and companies. The important role of technology in the marketing process is well illustrated in the pyramid model (Colby and Parasuraman, 2003 and Parasuraman, 2000). Technology, positioned at the center of the model, is added as a fourth dimension along with company, customers, and employees, and plays a critical role in changing the conventional marketing structure. To go along with this current trend, many retailers have incorporated a variety of technological applications. Retail technology tools are used to offer consumer better access to services via various channels and to better meet consumer demand and increase consumer satisfaction (Bitner et al., 2002). Due to retailers’ increasing use of technological tools, the traditional modes of service delivery (e.g., service by store employees) have been substituted or enlarged by technology (Colby and Parasuraman, 2003).
Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1991) suggest two interactive elements in the service production process: interactive persons and interactive equipment. That is, service is delivered by either a contact person or a technology system in interacting with consumers. For example, in grocery stores, consumers can pay goods by interacting with either a retailer's employee or a self-checkout system. Linking their conceptualization, this study focuses on two components of interactive quality and its role as a determinant of retail patronage. The aim of this study is two-fold: (1) to examine the effect of perceived service quality of interactive elements on retail patronage intentions, which in turn result in retail patronage behavior and (2) to explore the moderating effects of individual characteristics in the relationship between perceived service quality of interactive elements and retail patronage intentions. In particular, among various retail technologies, the focus of this study is on a retail self-checkout system because of its widespread acceptance over recent decades in the retail industry, especially grocery retailing areas. According to the findings of a study by Food Marking Institute in 2008, 62.8% of grocery retailers have installed self-checkouts in at least one store location. On average, self-checkout lanes make up 25% of total checkout lanes and 25% of the total transactions go through self-checkout lanes (Amato-McCoy, 2008). More recently, one survey shows that a top-ranked technology is a self-checkout in enhancing consumers’ overall shopping experience (Tarnowski, 2011).
However, there have been growing arguments that the pervasive installation of self-service technologies, such as self-checkout systems, results in a reduction in customer service and the depersonalized atmosphere (Alpert, 2008). While some consumers may consider self-service technologies to be easy to use or more convenient, others tend to be uncomfortable with the technologies and prefer to contact with a person (Dabholkar et al., 2003). Therefore, how perceived service quality of interactive elements influences retail patronage will differ by consumers’ individual characteristics. For this reason, a deeper understanding of consumers’ individual characteristics is necessary in order to justify the costs of self-service technologies implementation.
