The purpose of this study was to explore how consumer traits(technology anxiety and need for interaction) explain attitude toward self-service technologies in fashion retail stores. We examined if technology anxiety influences perceived productivity and attitude toward self-service technologies, and if so, how the need for interaction with employees moderates the impact of technology anxiety on perceived productivity and attitude. For the purpose of the study, a web-based survey with Korean consumers was conducted. The final sample size was 214. Structural Equation Modeling Analysis and PROCESS in SPSS were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicated that technology anxiety negatively affected perceived productivity and attitude toward self-service technologies in which perceived productivity affected attitude positively. Need for interaction with employees was found to moderate the relationship between technology anxiety and perceived productivity. It also moderated the relationship between technology anxiety and attitude. This study contributes to the self-service technology literature by identifying two antecedents of consumer attitude toward selfservice technologies: technology anxiety and the need for interaction. The findings further provide valuable insights to retailers and marketers as to how technology anxiety, perceived productivity, and the need for interaction work in enhancing consumer attitude toward self-service technologies in the context of fashion retail.
The current study examined the influence of individual trait such as Need-For-Touch level (NFT; high vs. low) and swiping orientation (vertical vs. horizontal) on product evaluation and preference when using touch-screen interface like a smart phone and a tablet. Swiping is one of the most common interaction techniques for changing pages or searching some aligned pictures on touch-screen interface and it can be used in vertical and horizontal orientations. The experiment revealed a significant interaction between swiping orientation and NFT on preference, however the interaction on change-in-price of given products was only marginally significant. To be specific, high NFT participants reported higher preference for horizontal-swipe than vertical-swipe products, but such difference did not occur with low NFT participants. The current study illustrates the influence of swiping orientation and NFT on product preference and it provides a new perspective of design principles especially for online shopping websites.