Can Cognitive Style Predict Adoption of an Emerging Technology?: A Study of Cognitive Style and Its Influence on the Perception of a New Technology

Understanding how individuals recognize an emerging technology can have a profound impact on how successfully the technology is adopted. The authors look into how people with different cognitive styles interpret a new technology and arrive at different beliefs of the same technology, which influences the recognition and acceptance of the technology. An experiment was conducted to test whether an individual's cognitive style impacts their beliefs and intention to use RFID, an emerging technology. The study suggests that a person's cognitive style does influence how he/she perceives the usefulness and ease of the technology, as well as his/her attitude and intention to use it. People with introversion, thinking and judging cognitive styles tend to perceive higher ease of use of RFID than those with extroversion, feeling and perceiving cognitive styles. Also, judging types are more likely to better perceive higher usefulness of RFID. The authors also provide discussion on the managerial and theoretical implications of our findings.