A process model of psychological acceptance in technology-based service innovation: a symbolic interactionism perspective

As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in service systems, the diffusion of technology-based service innovations is often gradual and contested rather than automatic. Prior research has provided robust explanations for early-stage technology evaluation by treating adoption as a discrete decision or momentary experience. However, it provides limited insight into the longer-term process through which user acceptance gradually develops through ongoing use. Drawing on symbolic interactionism, this study reconceptualizes diffusion of technology-based service innovation as a process of symbolic meaning construction unfolding through ongoing interaction and use. Based on a qualitative study of an evidence-based medicine (EBM) system implemented in hospitals in Taiwan region, the study develops an integrative process model that explains how users' relationships with a technology evolve from initial unfamiliarity to routine integration in professional practice. The findings show that diffusion advances not only through positive functional evaluation but also through interpretive alignment and the gradual internalization of shared meanings through everyday service interactions. Diffusion begins with users moving from initial evaluative meanings, which are progressively shaped into collectively negotiated and socially validated interpretations, ultimately leading to the internalization of shared meanings and their circulation in use. By conceptualizing diffusion as a process of symbolic meaning construction in use, the study reveals the psychological and interpretive dynamics through which user acceptance develops beyond initial evaluation.