User resistance to acceptance of In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems

Recently, automobile companies have begun to expand their partnerships with major information technology (IT) companies by adopting in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems for use in 'smart cars'. An IVI system provides embedded infotainment services that include not only navigation, but also access to a wider variety of content. In order to lead in the vehicle-IT convergence market, players need to be successful in offering IVI services. Although the vehicle-IT convergence market is growing rapidly, the availability and readiness of IVI systems in the Korean market seem to be different from that in other markets, such as North America and Western Europe. For that reason, this paper refers to the innovation resistance model in order to investigate the factors that impact the resistance to IVI systems in the Korean market. The empirical analysis was conducted in Korea and the results show that the technographics, subjective norm, and prior similar experience are direct and powerful antecedents for resistance. Contrary to expectations, prior similar experience triggered negative perception toward IVI systems. The results give implications not only for car makers and network operators, but also for policy makers.