Student intention of using eco-cup rental machines: a unified theory of acceptance and use of technology analysis

To tackle the increasing use of disposable cups in Taiwan, the government has introduced measures such as a ban on plastics and promoting reusable cups, including through rental machines for reusable cups, called eco-cup rental machines. We investigated the intention of university students using eco-cup rental machines on their campus. We analyzed the factors that influence the decision-making process of the students, based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. The UTAUT model considers these factors, performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), and facilitating conditions (FC), affecting individuals’ behavior intention (BI) to adopt and use new technologies. In a survey covering 101 students from the campus, our results showed that PE (r = 0.48), EE (0.35), SI (0.46), and FC (0.38) had statistically significant correlations with BI. The multivariate relation and partial least squares structural equation model indicated that PE and SI had the largest relative importance influence on BI (38 and 41%, respectively). Our findings suggest that eco-cup rental machines, and similar drives toward reusable cups, need to be nudged forward through improving their social acceptance, consequently providing positive social cues to individual users and designing easy-to-use schemes.