Is new technology clouding your judgment? : how to make innovations succeed

Abstract

A lack of experience on online consumer behavior, and limited empirical work that captures positive and negative factors influencing consumers’ technological adoption process, has led to a high failure rate of new innovations in cloud technology services. This dissertation develops a theoretical research model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework with the aim of understanding the drivers and inhibitors of business-to-consumer (B2C) cloud technology adoption. The model is composed based on constructs derived from cloud technology research in a business-to-business (B2B) setting. Furthermore, the consumer trend “Return On Time” is introduced as a new driver of attitude towards cloud technology and the perceived usefulness of an innovation. Results indicate that drivers and inhibitors of consumer adoption in the cloud share several characteristics with the B2B market. Perceived usefulness was the strongest driver of consumers’ attitude, while return on time was the strongest influence on perceived usefulness. Security risk was shown to have a significant negative effect on attitude, inhibiting adoption. For companies, this information is vital to create successful innovations by strategically utilizing cloud technology characteristics and consumer trends to satisfy customer needs.