IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v219y2025ics0040162525002859.html

Navigating human-technology dynamics: Exploring innovation resistance to smartphone apps in amusement parks

Author

Listed:
  • Canestrino, Rossella
  • Bonfanti, Angelo
  • Magliocca, Pierpaolo
  • Caputo, Francesco

Abstract

This paper offers a novel exploration of the factors influencing users' rejection of smartphone apps, focusing on the context of amusement parks. This study introduces a unique and broader framework grounded in the Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT), which includes hedonism and utilitarianism, for understanding technology resistance. Notably, this research highlights the distinct leisure dynamics impacting technology adoption in amusement parks, unlike previous studies focusing on acceptance in sectors like banking and healthcare. A mixed-method sequential design was employed to achieve the research aim: qualitative data from online focus groups informed the conceptual model, which was tested by quantitatively analyzing 362 survey responses. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was run to assess the model's reliability, validity, and structural relationships. The results confirmed the positive relationship between value, amenability, information, and functional risk barriers, along with perceived utilitarianism and app rejection, while perceived hedonism is negatively associated with rejection. Differently, complexity, usage, and physical risk barriers do not significantly affect the rejection of smartphone apps in amusement parks. These findings help to understand human-technology interactions in the leisure context, suggesting effective interventions that park managers can undertake to enhance the visitors' experience and the users' digital service adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Canestrino, Rossella & Bonfanti, Angelo & Magliocca, Pierpaolo & Caputo, Francesco, 2025. "Navigating human-technology dynamics: Exploring innovation resistance to smartphone apps in amusement parks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:219:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525002859
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124254
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162525002859
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124254?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Friedman, Nicola & Ormiston, Jarrod, 2022. "Blockchain as a sustainability-oriented innovation?: Opportunities for and resistance to Blockchain technology as a driver of sustainability in global food supply chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Iyanna, Shilpa & Kaur, Puneet & Ractham, Peter & Talwar, Shalini & Najmul Islam, A.K.M., 2022. "Digital transformation of healthcare sector. What is impeding adoption and continued usage of technology-driven innovations by end-users?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 150-161.
    3. Huang, Dan & Jin, Xin & Coghlan, Alexandra, 2021. "Advances in consumer innovation resistance research: A review and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    4. Papathanassis, Alexis & Knolle, Friederike, 2011. "Exploring the adoption and processing of online holiday reviews: A grounded theory approach," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 215-224.
    5. Chen, Chia-Chen & Chang, Chin-Hsuan & Hsiao, Kuo-Lun, 2022. "Exploring the factors of using mobile ticketing applications: Perspectives from innovation resistance theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Hamed Taherdoost, 2018. "Development of an adoption model to assess user acceptance of e-service technology: E-Service Technology Acceptance Model," Behaviour and Information Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 173-197, February.
    7. Valentina Kirova & Tan Vo-Thanh, 2019. "Smartphone use during the leisure theme park visit experience: The role of contextual factors," Post-Print hal-02545056, HAL.
    8. Michael Antioco & Mirella Kleijnen, 2010. "Consumer adoption of technological innovations : Effects of psychological and functional barriers in a lack of content versus a presence of content situation," Post-Print hal-02312561, HAL.
    9. Viswanath Venkatesh, 2000. "Determinants of Perceived Ease of Use: Integrating Control, Intrinsic Motivation, and Emotion into the Technology Acceptance Model," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 342-365, December.
    10. P. Kautish & S. Purohit & R. Filieri & Y. Dwivedi, 2023. "Examining the role of consumer motivations to use voice assistants for fashion shopping: The mediating role of awe experience and eWOM," Post-Print hal-04713694, HAL.
    11. Hew, Jun-Jie & Leong, Lai-Ying & Tan, Garry Wei-Han & Ooi, Keng-Boon & Lee, Voon-Hsien, 2019. "The age of mobile social commerce: An Artificial Neural Network analysis on its resistances," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 311-324.
    12. Stephanie Hays & Stephen Page & Dimitrios Buhalis, 2013. "Social media as a destination marketing tool: its use by national tourism organisations," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 211-239.
    13. Scuotto, Veronica & Magni, Domitilla & Garcia-Perez, Alexeis & Pironti, Marco, 2024. "The impact of innovation failure: Entrepreneurship adversity or opportunity?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    14. Mainardes, Emerson Wagner & Souza, Irailton Melo de & Correia, Rogério Dias, 2020. "Antecedents and consequents of consumers not adopting e-commerce," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    15. Viswanath Venkatesh & Fred D. Davis, 2000. "A Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: Four Longitudinal Field Studies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 186-204, February.
    16. William Money & Arch Turner, 2005. "Assessing Knowledge Management System User Acceptance with the Technology Acceptance Model," International Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM), IGI Global Scientific Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 8-26, January.
    17. Laukkanen, Tommi, 2016. "Consumer adoption versus rejection decisions in seemingly similar service innovations: The case of the Internet and mobile banking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2432-2439.
    18. Alexandre Alves dos Santos & Mateus Canniatti Ponchio, 2021. "Functional, psychological and emotional barriers and the resistance to the use of digital banking services," Innovation & Management Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(3), pages 331-348, June.
    19. Laukkanen, Tommi & Sinkkonen, Suvi & Laukkanen, Pekka, 2009. "Communication strategies to overcome functional and psychological resistance to Internet banking," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 111-118.
    20. Pereira, Vijay & Bamel, Umesh & Temouri, Yama & Budhwar, Pawan & Del Giudice, Manlio, 2023. "Mapping the evolution, current state of affairs and future research direction of managing cross-border knowledge for innovation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2).
    21. Todd Gabe, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-related capacity constraints on theme park attendance: evidence from Magic Kingdom wait times," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(14), pages 1222-1225, August.
    22. Fred D. Davis & Richard P. Bagozzi & Paul R. Warshaw, 1989. "User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(8), pages 982-1003, August.
    23. Nigel Hemmington, 2007. "From Service to Experience: Understanding and Defining the Hospitality Business," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 747-755, September.
    24. Porter, Constance Elise & Donthu, Naveen, 2006. "Using the technology acceptance model to explain how attitudes determine Internet usage: The role of perceived access barriers and demographics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(9), pages 999-1007, September.
    25. Oktavianus, Jeffry & Oviedo, Helena & Gonzalez, Winiber & Putri, Andriani Pratama & Lin, Trisha T. C., 2017. "Why do Taiwanese young adults not jump on the bandwagon of Pokémon Go? Exploring barriers of innovation resistance," 14th ITS Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Kyoto 2017: Mapping ICT into Transformation for the Next Information Society 168529, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    26. Kautish, Pradeep & Purohit, Sonal & Filieri, Raffaele & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2023. "Examining the role of consumer motivations to use voice assistants for fashion shopping: The mediating role of awe experience and eWOM," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    27. Shaik, Aqueeb Sohail & Alshibani, Safiya Mukhtar & Mishra, Shreya & Papa, Armando & Cuomo, Maria Teresa, 2023. "Does learning from innovation failure enhance innovation performance? A quantitative investigation of small businesses," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    28. Palmié, Maximilian & Miehé, Lucas & Oghazi, Pejvak & Parida, Vinit & Wincent, Joakim, 2022. "The evolution of the digital service ecosystem and digital business model innovation in retail: The emergence of meta-ecosystems and the value of physical interactions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    29. Marios Koufaris, 2002. "Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Flow Theory to Online Consumer Behavior," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(2), pages 205-223, June.
    30. Gupta, Anil & Arora, Neelika, 2017. "Understanding determinants and barriers of mobile shopping adoption using behavioral reasoning theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-7.
    31. M. Antioco & M. Kleijnen, 2010. "Consumer adoption of technological innovations Effects of psychological and functional barriers in a lack of content versus a presence of content situation," Post-Print hal-00387308, HAL.
    32. Gary C. Moore & Izak Benbasat, 1991. "Development of an Instrument to Measure the Perceptions of Adopting an Information Technology Innovation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 192-222, September.
    33. Kleijnen, Mirella & Lee, Nick & Wetzels, Martin, 2009. "An exploration of consumer resistance to innovation and its antecedents," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 344-357, June.
    34. Andrew John & Jill Klein, 2003. "The Boycott Puzzle: Consumer Motivations for Purchase Sacrifice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(9), pages 1196-1209, September.
    35. Heidenreich, Sven & Kraemer, Tobias & Handrich, Matthias, 2016. "Satisfied and unwilling: Exploring cognitive and situational resistance to innovations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2440-2447.
    36. Kuisma, Tuire & Laukkanen, Tommi & Hiltunen, Mika, 2007. "Mapping the reasons for resistance to Internet banking: A means-end approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 75-85.
    37. Bernadette Szajna, 1996. "Empirical Evaluation of the Revised Technology Acceptance Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 85-92, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Dan & Jin, Xin & Coghlan, Alexandra, 2021. "Advances in consumer innovation resistance research: A review and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    2. Mahmud, Hasan & Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Mitra, Ranjan Kumar, 2023. "What drives managers towards algorithm aversion and how to overcome it? Mitigating the impact of innovation resistance through technology readiness," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    3. Chakraborty, Debarun & Singu, Hari Babu & Patre, Smruti, 2022. "Fitness Apps's purchase behaviour: Amalgamation of Stimulus-Organism-Behaviour-Consequence framework (S–O–B–C) and the innovation resistance theory (IRT)," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Alnoor, Alhamzah & Abbas, Sammar & Sadaa, Abdullah Mohammed & Chew, XinYing & Bayram, Gül Erkol, 2025. "Navigating the power of blockchain strategy: Analysis of technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and innovation resistance theory using PLS-SEM and ANN insights," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    5. Naresh K. Malhotra & Sung S. Kim & Ashutosh Patil, 2006. "Common Method Variance in IS Research: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches and a Reanalysis of Past Research," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(12), pages 1865-1883, December.
    6. Maria Tsourela & Dafni-Maria Nerantzaki, 2020. "An Internet of Things (IoT) Acceptance Model. Assessing Consumer’s Behavior toward IoT Products and Applications," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-23, November.
    7. Talwar, Shalini & Talwar, Manish & Kaur, Puneet & Dhir, Amandeep, 2020. "Consumers’ resistance to digital innovations: A systematic review and framework development," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 286-299.
    8. Escobar-Rodríguez, Tomás & Bartual-Sopena, Lourdes, 2015. "Impact of cultural factors on attitude toward using ERP systems in public hospitals," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 127-137.
    9. Villanueva Orbaiz, María Luisa & Arce-Urriza, Marta, 2024. "The role of active and passive resistance in new technology adoption by final consumers: The case of 3D printing," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Kaur, Puneet & Dhir, Amandeep & Singh, Naveen & Sahu, Ganesh & Almotairi, Mohammad, 2020. "An innovation resistance theory perspective on mobile payment solutions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    11. Hew, Jun-Jie & Lee, Voon-Hsien & Leong, Lai-Ying, 2023. "Why do mobile consumers resist mobile commerce applications? A hybrid fsQCA-ANN analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    12. Nel, Jacques & Boshoff, Christo, 2021. "“I just don't like digital-only banks, and you should not use them either†: Traditional-bank customers' opposition to using digital-only banks," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    13. Friedman, Nicola & Ormiston, Jarrod, 2022. "Blockchain as a sustainability-oriented innovation?: Opportunities for and resistance to Blockchain technology as a driver of sustainability in global food supply chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    14. Simarpreet Kaur & Sangeeta Arora, 2023. "Understanding customers’ usage behavior towards online banking services: an integrated risk–benefit framework," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 74-98, March.
    15. Irfan Bashir & C. Madhavaiah, 2014. "Determinants of Young Consumers’ Intention to Use Internet Banking Services in India," Vision, , vol. 18(3), pages 153-163, September.
    16. Laukkanen, Tommi, 2016. "Consumer adoption versus rejection decisions in seemingly similar service innovations: The case of the Internet and mobile banking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2432-2439.
    17. Ye Sang & Heeseung Yu & Eunkyoung Han, 2022. "Understanding the Barriers to Consumer Purchasing of Zero-Waste Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-20, December.
    18. Türker, Cansu & Altay, Burak Can & Okumuş, Abdullah, 2022. "Understanding user acceptance of QR code mobile payment systems in Turkey: An extended TAM," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Andrei OGREZEANU, 2015. "Models Of Technology Adoption: An Integrative Approach," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 5, pages 55-67, June.
    20. Hsiao, Chun Hua & Yang, Chyan, 2011. "The intellectual development of the technology acceptance model: A co-citation analysis," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 128-136.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:219:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525002859. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.