Predicting consumers’ intention to purchase fully autonomous driving systems : which factors drive acceptance?

• Author(s): Kelkel, Reiner
• Date: 2015
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/17252
• Origin: Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Subject(s): Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão
• Document Type: Master thesis
• Language: English
• Advisor(s): Amaral, Paulo Cardoso do
• Contributor(s): Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Description

This study aimed to find which factors influence consumers’ intention to purchase a fully autonomous driving system in the future and which perceived product characteristics influence the purchase intention and how. Therefore, an extension of the acceptance model of Driver Assistant Systems by Arndt (2011) is presented. It integrates perceived product characteristics specific to autonomous driving technology, to investigate which factors determine the acceptance of fully autonomous driving systems. The proposed model was empirically tested based on primary data collected in Germany. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model. Further, structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the causal relationships. The findings indicated that Attitude toward buying, Subjective Norm and the perceived product characteristics Efficiency, Trust in Safety and Eco-Friendliness significantly influenced individuals’ behavioral intention to purchase driverless technology. The variables perceived Comfort, Image and Driving Enjoyment were not found to have a significant effect on behavioral intention. Attitude and Subjective Norm had the most significant influence. A somewhat surprising finding was that Subjective Norm not only had a direct effect on Behavioral Intention, as suggest by the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior, but also on Attitude.