How Consumers Experience and Negotiate Role and Script Conflict in Innovative Healthcare Services
(A2021-94533)

AUTHORS

Henriikka Seittu, Aalto University; Alexei Gloukhovtsev, Aalto University; Tomas Falk, Aalto University; Henri Weijo, Aalto University

ABSTRACT

Service innovations can improve consumers’ quality-of-life, yet the impact hinges on users’ ability to adapt to make use of them. Hence, alarming is that users experience barriers to their adoption. Recent studies have recognized the importance of role. It is suggested that users can navigate this barrier by reflecting on their roles in the service. Yet, lack of explicit focus is of this mental processing. We ask, why can some users navigate through barriers to adapt the innovation, while some, reject it? With 38 interviews from users of the online therapy, we examine this adoption, focusing on how users process understanding of their role. Our findings show, that role stress occurs when users’ internalized role scripts are contested. To reconcile this conflict, users engage in practices of self-reflection, that we recognize as role reflexivity. We suggest that it is the outcome of these practices that determines whether the user adopts the service.