Technology Readiness Index (Tri)

TLDR

Technology increasingly mediates customer‑company interactions, offering benefits but also causing frustration as technology‑based products and services proliferate. The study proposes the construct of technology readiness of people and outlines its conceptualization. Researchers operationalized the construct by developing and refining a multi‑item scale and evaluating its psychometric properties. The scale’s potential practical applications and a research agenda for further exploring technology’s role in marketing and customer service are discussed.

Abstract

The role of technology in customer-company interactions and the number of technology-based products and services have been growing rapidly. Although these developments have benefited customers, there is also evidence of increasing customer frustration in dealing with technology-based systems. Drawing on insights from the extant literature and extensive qualitative research on customer reactions to technology, this article first proposes the construct of technology readiness of people and discusses its conceptualization. It then describes a program of research that was undertaken to operationalize the construct, develop and refine a multiple-item scale to measure it, and assess the scale’s psychometric properties. The article concludes with a discussion of potential practical applications of the scale and an agenda for additional research aimed at deepening our understanding of technology’s role in marketing to and serving customers.