Exploring the Early Adopters of Augmented Reality Smart Glasses: The Case of Microsoft HoloLens

Abstract

Not much research has been done to understand how consumers react to wearable technologies that mix virtual and real worlds in glasses-like wearable devices. Drawing up on various technology acceptance and media theories, the authors develop a model to understand how people react to Augmented Reality Smart Glasses (ARSGs) using the example of Microsoft HoloLens. Results show that consumer’s adoption decision is driven by various expected benefits including usefulness, ease of use, and image. However, hedonic benefits were not found to influence the adoption intention. In addition, this research shows that the influence of the descriptive norms on the adoption intention outperforms the influence of the injunctive norms, which are established drivers of technology acceptance research. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.