Dual Technology Adoption

Technology adoption remains a critical managerial challenge, in general and specifically in service settings. Investments are substantial but often fail to yield the intended benefits due to low usage among frontline employees, customers, and service partners. Existing technology acceptance theories predominantly focus on an individual user’s adoption, overlooking the frequent and complex scenario of dual adoption, in which the adoption of a second user is mediated by the adoption of a first user. This is especially relevant in frontline contexts, where customers’ adoption of a firm’s technology is mediated by frontline employees. To address this limitation, we develop the Dual Adoption Model (DAM). The DAM posits that the benefits and costs of technology use by first and second users, such as frontline employees and customers, need to be considered simultaneously to fully understand technology adoption. We test the application of the DAM in a field study on the adoption of an e-commerce platform by frontline salespeople and customers, where salespeople need to mediate customers’ e-commerce adoption. The DAM provides a novel theoretical framework for diagnosing failure in technology adoption and rollout and offers service managers concrete levers to successfully manage the complex transition from incumbent to novel digital systems.