Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour

Digital Service Accessibility Barriers and their Influence on Customer Adoption Behaviour Among Consumers with Intellectual Disabilities

Dr.M. Kalaivani (1), Dr. Vijayakanthan Selvaraj (2), Dr.S. Karunakaran (3), Dr.S. Divya (4)

(1) Associate Professor, Faculty of Management, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Vadapalani Campus, Vadapalani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
(2) Assistant Professor (Senior Grade), Faculty of Management, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Vadapalani Campus, Vadapalani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
(3) Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, St. Joseph's College of Engineering, OMR, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
(4) Assistant Professor, School of Management, Department of Business Administration, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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Abstract

Digital services have become indispensable platforms for accessing banking, healthcare, shopping, communication, and public services; yet consumers with intellectual disabilities still face many barriers that limit their ability to engage with digital platforms. This paper examines how accessibility barriers in digital services affect the customer adoption behavior of consumers with intellectual disabilities through the incorporation of findings from accessibility literature and existing technology adoption theories. Narrative synthesis method is used to examine scholarly articles on digital inclusion, assistive technology, accessibility barriers, and consumer technology adoption. It reveals that there are five primary categories of barriers, such as interface/design complexity, cognitive/literacy requirements, trust and security issues, socio-economic and infrastructure constraints, and dependency on caregivers. This concept is related to the constructs used in technology acceptance, such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and facilitating conditions to come up with a conceptual framework to explain the effects of these barriers on the adoption intentions and behaviors. The results show that interface complexity and caregiver-assisted usage are the major barriers associated with digital inclusion, while trust and security concerns are major determinants in the continued usage of these services. It is clear from this research that adoption by people who have intellectual disabilities cannot be explained simply by using technology adoption theories. This framework can give insights in coming up with digital services which will address the digital inclusion barrier.