When Is RFID Perceived as a Radical Technology?

摘要

RFID Technology has been in existence since the 1940's when it was used to differentiate between friendly and enemy aircraft in World War II. Its application in the business world is however relatively new. RFID has the potential to revolutionize supply chains and take product tracking to a new level. However, its adoption has been slow not only because of the higher cost of tags compared to barcodes but also because many companies have not been able to figure out how to effectively use it. In this study we focus on one of the key issues companies face when they try to evaluate RFID i.e. its radical and disruptive nature. Using data from semi-structured interviews we build a case for why organizations may perceive RFID as a disruptive and radical technology. Perceived radicalness of a technology is presented as a second order formative with five critical dimensions. Testable hypotheses are proposed for each dimension and its contribution towards the "radicalness of RFID".