What Determines the Acceptance of Digital Identity and Facial Recognition-Based Technologies? Evidence From an eID System and a Multi-Country Survey [Special Issue: Digital Identity on Public Services]

Abstract

This paper investigates what factors determine user acceptance of a novel digital identity solution, and of facial recognition for identity authentication, respectively. We explore the relative significance of socio-demographic explanatory variables, attitudinal variables like technology affinity and privacy concerns, and technology characteristics (as perceived by the user) like usability and data sovereignty, as well as the impact of prior usage experience. The analysis builds upon survey data of 651 respondents from eight European countries, and a case study of a novel digital identity (eID) system. The study finds that socio-demographic variables do not significantly impact adoption decision for either the new digital identity technology, or facial recognition for authentication. Rather, technology affinity, privacy concerns, perceptions of data sovereignty, usability and prior experience, as well as country effects are significant. Indeed, we find evidence that national context may have important impacts on individual attitudes to privacy and technology acceptance and adoption decisions. We contribute to research on technology acceptance by providing evidence on acceptance of digital identity solutions and facial recognition for authentication, and by identifying the effects of national context as a new avenue for research.