A Study on Green Characteristics of RFID using Innovation Diffusion Theory

Background of RFID Technology and the Literature

An RFID system consists of three primary components: the tag or transponder; the readers; and the middleware. It is always connected to an enterprise application system for data processing in support of business activities (Wang, et al., 2010). RFID uses tags with embedded chips within a product, pallet, or case. These chips help to store and transmit information about the specific unit to RFID readers (which are radio frequency transmitters) (Attaran, 2007). According to Wang, et al. (2010), the middleware is an intermediate layer between the RFID readers and the enterprise application systems. It is used for reader and device management to provide a common interface to configure, monitor, deploy, and issue commands directly to readers; data management to filter raw data and pass on only useful information to the appropriate applications; application integration to provide integrated RFID data and connect disparate applications within the enterprise; and partner integration to provide collaborative solutions like business-to-business integration between trading partners.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest and attention among consultants, academics and researchers worldwide on RFID. This is indicated by the increasing volume of articles on the subject in trade publications and scholarly journals. A steadily increasing number of logistics companies adopt RFID for efficient identification of physical items, and hence several recent studies suggested that the interest of researchers in RFID should continue (Riedel, et al., 2008; Li, et al., 2010; Pedroso, et al., 2009). Li et al. (2010) classified the literature of RFID into three areas: RFID general overview, analytical studies, and empirical studies. In this chapter, a theoretical perspective to the adoption of RFID using the theory of diffusion of innovations is provided. This theory is briefly described and hypotheses based on tenets of this theory have been developed in the next section.