Determinants of RFID adoption stage and perceived benefits

Abstract

This study identifies the determinants of radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption stage and explores the perceived benefits from RFID adoption. RFID adoption is divided into three stages, starting from not considering the adoption (Stage 1), to begin considering the adoption (Stage 2) and to finally implementing RFID (Stage 3). It is argued that a firm's RFID adoption stage is influenced by the following factors: Drivers (Internal Drivers and External Drivers), Management Leadership (Top Management Leadership and Middle-level Management Leadership), and Barriers (Cost Issues, Lack of Understanding, Technical Issues and Privacy Issues). The RFID adoption stage will in turn impact the level of perceived Benefits from RFID implementation. Benefits we measure are Customer Service, Productivity, Asset Management and Communication.Through an on-line survey we collected data from 175 organizations and we used an ordered probit regression model to test the factors influencing RFID adoption stage. Business sector and firm size were entered as control variables. The results show that internal drivers, top management leadership, cost barrier and firm size are significant determinants of the stage of RFID adoption. In addition, two-factor ANOVA were conducted to investigate the impact of RFID adoption stage/firm size on perceived benefits. The findings show that RFID adoption stage has a significant positive impact on each perceived benefit. The results also show that firm size has a significant impact on perceived customer service and productivity benefits. Our results offer new insights into RFID adoption factors and broaden our understanding of RFID technology in the supply chain.