Retailers worldwide are implementing checkout-free technology in their stores to improve the customer experience, save on labor costs, and collect valuable data. Despite these hopes, consumer adoption remains below expectations, calling into question the actual potential of checkout-free shopping. It is therefore crucial for retailers to understand what influences consumers' intentions to patronize checkout-free stores. I hypothesize that consumers' self-efficacy, that is, the belief in their ability to use checkout-free shopping successfully, influences their intentions to patronize these stores.
In Study 1 (N = 197), I assessed the relationship between participants' self-efficacy and their patronage intentions for checkout-free stores in a cross-sectional survey. In Study 2 (N = 401), I conducted a between-subject online experiment to test whether the salience of different characteristics of checkout-free stores influences participants' self-efficacy and patronage intentions. In Study 3 (N = 307), I conducted a between-subject online experiment where participants replied to either simple or complicated questions regarding checkout-free shopping to manipulate their self-efficacy. The aim was to show a causal effect on patronage intentions.
Participants' self-efficacy was positively related to their patronage intentions (Study 1). This relationship was replicated in Study 2, although the salience of different characteristics of checkout-free shopping did not influence participants' self-efficacy or their patronage intentions. In Study 3, answering complicated questions (compared to simple questions) decreased participants' self-efficacy; however, the effect on patronage intentions was only marginally significant. All three studies consistently showed a positive relationship between participants' self-efficacy and their intentions to patronize checkout-free stores.
In conclusion, consumers' self-efficacy seems to be a motivator for their intentions to patronize checkout-free stores. Self-efficacy is not so much influenced by the salience of different characteristics of the stores, but rather by the personal experience of a lack of knowledge about checkout-free shopping.