Biometric technologies at music festivals: An extended technology acceptance model

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of user acceptance of Biometric Technologies (BT) at outdoor music festivals in the United Kingdom. While research on such technologies, such as facial recognition is limited in the events context, they have already been deployed at music festivals to deal with issues of security, safety and crowd management. Using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a self-administered questionnaire was completed by young adults in the United Kingdom who had previously been to a music festival. The study found factors such as privacy, reliability and accuracy did not have a significant impact on user acceptance. Other factors, such as trust, compatibility and convenience were found to have a significant positive impact on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and attitude to use. As the findings indicate that accuracy and privacy do not impact BT acceptance, the paper explores how organizers can be transparent and accountable as to their intentions to use BT, so as to justify the usefulness of BT to attendees, artists, regulators and authorities.