Are Customers Ready for Tablet-Based Menus? An Analysis of the Innovation Characteristics that Influence the Intentions to Adopt Tablet-Based Menus

• Main Author: Suarez, Nataly
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2015
• Subjects: Self-Service Technologies; Technology Acceptance Model; Predictors of Customer Trial; Restaurant Type; Other Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6033; http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7229&context=etd

Since the release of the new iPad in 2010, few studies have explored the idea of tablet- based menus in restaurants. Since this is a new topic in the hospitality industry, there has not been literature that explores how personal traits influence the adoption intention of tablet-based menus. This study aims to explain the impact of innovation characteristics and individual differences on customer intentions to adopt tablet-based menus in restaurants of different service levels. With a random sample of 430 participants collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a regression analysis and an ANOVA test were performed. The results confirmed that only three variables (relative advantage, compatibility, and restaurant type) make a statistically significant contribution to predicting the adoption intention of tablet-based menus. It was also found that adoption intention of tablet-based menus differs across three restaurant types (quick-service restaurant, midscale restaurant, and upscale restaurant). The findings of this study provide an important insight to restaurant managers who may consider implementing tablet-based menus at their establishments. Limitations and ideas for future research are discussed.