Are tech-savvy users more likely to use technology? An examination of market entry and customer experience

Drawing upon research in consumer behavior concerning customer beliefs of technology, multiple studies investigated the connection between customer technology readiness (TR) and service outcomes such as usability evaluation and final usage (Massey, Khatri, and Montoya-Weiss 2007, Tsikriktsis 2004). The conflicting results from the above studies revealed that although technology belief does not have a significant main effect on usability evaluation, it does affect usage and future intention to use technology-based service. In this research, we aim to answer the following three questions: Do customers with higher TR tend to use the technology more frequently? Does market entry affect customers' intention to use? Can flow experience better explain TR and future usage? To address the above research questions, we conducted a survey with customers for major online financial services. We analyzed the survey results in a set of analyses of variance between segments of customers with different levels of technology readiness. Our analysis results provide strong support to the connection between TR and service outcomes.