Investigating the role of task-technology fit along with attractiveness of alternative technology to utilize RFID system in the organization

Abstract

In spite of exponential growth projections of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) market value, many companies are reluctant to adopt RFID and RFID vendors are complaining that the business is not growing as fast as expected. The existing challenges and deep skepticism that RFID is facing remains around the return on investment, the incompleteness of RFID technology, and the lack of trust in the result of performance improvement. To fill these voids identified in previous research, from the perspective of business productivity and efficiency, this paper investigates what factors affect RFID-driven task performance, based on the extended Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model. To empirically evaluate the proposed model, a total of 63 usable responses were collected from companies in Korea, and the data is analyzed by Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results obtained pointed out the importance of the fit between the technology and users' tasks in achieving individual performance impact. Moreover, negative perceptions toward RFID have no direct effect on continuing RFID utilization. Knowing these factors, potential technology users are able to evaluate if it is reasonable to adopt RFID under certain conditions and at a certain point in time. Furthermore, they can attempt to actively influence these variables in order to reduce the failure probability of RFID deployments.