An adoption-diffusion model for RFID applications in Bangladesh

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is at its early stage of adoption in Bangladesh with a few business applications and pilot studies. It is expected that the next stage will be the organizational adoption and diffusion in more applications inspired by business cases. Eventually, the adoption will drive this technology into ‘extended use’ stage provided that the adopters and users are ‘satisfied’. At this moment the RFID initiative is discrete in Bangladesh and do not have any long-term strategy leading into implementation-to-diffusion process. Without having a clear strategy to achieve large scale diffusion discrete RFID adoption may not inspire the process in reaching the full potential of RFID. This study, therefore, investigates the factors influencing the adoption diffusion of RFID and its extended use process; and then proposes a conceptual framework. The framework is an objective integration of innovation-diffusion theory and expectation-confirmation theory, with some logical modifications. It posits that while adoption of RFID is important but the long-term viability of RFID and its ultimate success depends on its continued and extended use, which is judged against ‘satisfaction’ and ‘performance’ derived from RFID. The implications of the framework in the context of Bangladesh are discussed.