RFID acceptance amongst customers: A cross-cultural framework based on Hofstede

Cultural variations across countries are considered a major factor affecting customers| readiness to adopt, willingness to use, or evaluation of technology. Relevant contributions from marketing studies, computer science and international business are integrated into the literature of cross-cultural management and technology acceptance, and a conceptual model is developed. Drawing on a broader research project on RFID aimed at supporting intelligent business networking and innovative customer services, the development of the framework is informed by the authors| work in the preparation of a RFID based application at several established grocery retailers for short life products in Ireland and in Greece. From the findings of our exploratory study it emerges that low individualism and high uncertainty avoidance are conducive to greater customers| acceptance of new service technologies. Managerial implications and directions for future research are discussed.