Exploring RFID adoption in South African industries

This paper explores technology adoption based on the ‘technology –
organisation – environment’ framework to study radio frequency identification
(RFID) adoption in South African industries. It operationalises the framework
using innovation-adoption theory, ‘organisational capitals’, and ‘societal
embedding’. The study explores adoption characteristics of RFID: drivers and
barriers of the technology are investigated to gain insights into the adoption
characteristics. The research provides some explanation of the current RFID
adoption levels in South Africa. Consequently, senior executives of 14
organisations across six industry sectors were interviewed and results show that
low level of awareness and lack of knowledge are the main reasons for the
reserved interest among the respondents. The lack of attention can be explained
by the way RFID is promoted amongst potential users: if marketed as an
operational solution, there appears to be greater potential to raise the level of
understanding of the technology and possible buy-in from amongst likely users