Radio Frequency Identification Assimilation Process in China: a Stage-based Model Perspective

RFID (Radio frequency identification) is an emerging technology that attracts much attention of supply chain participants recently. However, most Chinese supply chain participants just adopt this innovation without making further steps to fully utilize its benefits. Extant IS research on this technology only focuses on factors that impact its organizational adoption. According to assimilation theory, most information technologies exhibit an “assimilation gap” which means widespread usage tends to lag behind their adoption. However, a technology can only achieve its greatest benefits through full-scale deeper diffusion into the organization’s daily operations besides physical adoption. Drawing upon TOE framework, we propose a stage-based model to investigate factors that influence the assimilation of RFID into an organization in China. Moreover, we investigate these factors’ changing effect across different assimilation stages in the Chinese context that is addressed little in the existing literature.