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The impact of mortality anxiety on attitude toward product innovation
Abstract
Threatening environmental stimuli, such as terror attacks, armed conflicts and death imagery in advertising, have been shown to positively affect consumer attitudes and behaviors toward products. This article calls into question the generalizability of this effect to innovative products by showing that mortality anxiety, i.e., individuals' fear of their own mortality, leads to product innovation resistance. Drawing from the literature on innovation adoption and mortality anxiety, four experimental studies provide evidence that while mortality anxiety has a positive impact on the evaluation of noninnovative products, it negatively affects the evaluation of innovative products. When faced with mortality anxiety, consumers are more likely to experience state nostalgia, a temporary backward-looking mindset, in contrast with the forward-looking mode necessary to favor product innovation adoption. This process is confirmed by the positive impact of mortality anxiety on attitude toward innovative products that trigger feelings of nostalgia, or retro-innovation.
... And also, Huang and Wyer (2015) proposed that this motivation may increase consumer's desire for stability, that is, decrease the desire for risk taking. Notably, mortality salience decreases the tendency of choosing innovative products (Boeuf, 2019), which is commonly associated with uncertainties and risks (Conchar et al., 2004). These kinds of research predicted that consumers might actually cut down risk taking behviors under mortality salience condition. ...
... For those with limited time horizon, they are inclined to select social partners who are familiar to them (Fung et al., 1999), because they may help to reduce psychological distress and aversion from one's mortality (Pinquart & Silbereisen, 2006), as well as create predictable positive feeling and avoid emotional risks (Carstensen et al., 2003). Familarity is always associated with certainties and safeness, which can help to mitigate risks (Boeuf, 2019). In addition, their thoughts of happiness will be more focused on calm and peacefulness rather than excitement, meanwhile they will enjoy calming products relative to exciting ones (Mogilner et al., 2012). ...
... Based on SST (Carstensen, 1991), we show that people with different perception of time horizon can induce or reduce sensation seeking (Chu et al., 2018), which in turn lead to very different results under mortality salience. Past work has shown mixed effects that mortality salience can both increase and decrease risky behaviors (Boeuf, 2019;Hansen et al., 2010). The current research has the potential to reconcile the seemingly contradictory finding by proposing that when time is viewed as expansive, mortality salience will increase people's preference for risky behaviors. ...
Abundant literature has examined how mortality salience influences risk-taking behavior. However, these researches have placed relatively little emphasis on the boundary conditions under which mortality salience may increase or decrease risk taking. This research examines the proposition that mortality salience may increase or decrease risk taking, depending on consumers’ perception of time horizon. We conduct two online experiments (N = 470) with between-subjects design. The results show that when the time is perceived as limited, mortality salience weakens sensation seeking, which in turn decreases people’s risk taking. In contrast, when the time is perceived as expansive, mortality salience enhances sensation seeking, which in turn increases people’s risk taking. Our findings shed light on how and when mortality salience can influence risk taking, and also provide practical implications for marketers and policy-makers on the consumption settings related to risk decisions.
... Studies in this tradition often use other terms in relation to MS, such as existential insecurity (Rindfleisch et al., 2009;Zhou et al., 2013), death awareness (Huang et al., 2018), mortality anxiety (Boeuf, 2019), mortality threat (Ruvio et al., 2014;Ulqinaku et al., 2020), meaning threat (Sarial-Abi et al., 2017), or life experience (Dunn et al., 2020), even if they use the same operationalizations. For example, Rindfleisch, Burroughs, and Wong (2009, p. 1) define existential insecurity as "anxiety associated with the awareness of one's mortality" and they manipulate existential insecurity through a writing task called "death essay," and measure it through the fear of one's own death scale. ...
... Others use the term "existential insecurity" referring to MS (Rindfleisch et al., 2009;Zhou et al., 2013), include "fear" and "anxiety" in their definitions (Boeuf, 2019;Rindfleisch et al., 2009;Zhou et al., 2013), or narrow the scope to a person's "own" death or mortality (Boeuf, 2019;Huang et al., 2018). We also find studies that One factor within this elaboration is especially applicable to our context: the ecological value of literature reviews and theory development. ...
... Others use the term "existential insecurity" referring to MS (Rindfleisch et al., 2009;Zhou et al., 2013), include "fear" and "anxiety" in their definitions (Boeuf, 2019;Rindfleisch et al., 2009;Zhou et al., 2013), or narrow the scope to a person's "own" death or mortality (Boeuf, 2019;Huang et al., 2018). We also find studies that One factor within this elaboration is especially applicable to our context: the ecological value of literature reviews and theory development. ...
The influence of mortality salience (MS) on consumer behavior has been well‐established over the last 25 years. However, research findings have provided divergent insights with regard to the direction of its outcomes. This article provides a systematic review of the extant research stream thereby revealing how the differences are primarily due to the conceptualization and operationalization of MS. Based on a conceptual revision of MS, we suggest an extended definition of the concept. An extensive overview of empirical findings, together with a holistic presentation of influential factors, offers a foundation for further MS studies conducted in a consumer behavior context, concluding with an extensive research agenda.
... Nostalgia is the sentimental belongingness to the past. Consumers undergoing mortality anxiety are more prone to nostalgia (Boeuf, 2019). Prior research provides evidence that mortality anxiety negatively affects the product innovation triggered by state nostalgia. ...
... Nostalgia and green consumption Nostalgia is defined as the determinant of resistance to new innovative products (Tonder, 2017). Boeuf (2019) pioneered the literature that state nostalgia negatively affects innovation adoption. Concerning the sharing economy, where people are encouraged to choose and produce differently is also affected by nostalgia; however, media and other popular communication channels play a vital role to adopt new products (Phillipov, 2016) and purchase behaviors (Tonder, 2017). ...
... This can also relate to the ethnocentric feeling among individuals, which will further expand government effectiveness to promote green drive-in sharing economy. By contrast, policymakers can make use of the negative impact of nostalgia on green consumption by lowering the desire of collective nostalgia, by making use of public service advertisements related to environmentalism and innovation adoption (Boeuf, 2019). The focus should be on the future rather than dwelling in the past. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the accelerators of sharing economy that lead to sustainability by adopting green consumption. Nostalgia is studied as a mediator along with social connectedness and past orientation. Specifically, the study is based upon a framework to explore the outcomes of sharing economy through an individual's green consumption behavior from the perspective of mortality anxiety.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative research technique was employed by collecting data from 537 households through snowball sampling. The model was tested using partial least squares (SEM-VB). The validity of the theoretical and measurement model was assessed.
Findings
The results revealed that nostalgia positively influences social connectedness and past orientation, whereas social connectedness and past orientation accelerate green consumption. However, it was confirmed that nostalgia decreases green consumption.
Research limitations/implications
The drivers of sharing economy lead toward environmentally friendly consumer behavior by providing opportunities for different agents to increase the usage of shared consumption. The model can be improved by introducing other mediating variables to enrich understanding.
Practical implications
The study may provide opportunities for practitioners and the government to identify the key factors in a sharing economy, specifically with reference to green consumption and social connectedness. It is predicted that it will help reduce environmental deterioration.
Originality/value
This study identifies the role of mortality anxiety and nostalgia toward green consumption, predominantly in the context of a sharing economy. It is a forward to collaborative consumption.
... The latter approach is at the heart of retro-innovation, which has been utilised in various contexts, including agriculture (Stuiver 2006;León-Bravo et al. 2019;Franco et al. 2020;Klerkx and Rose 2020), not least with regard to its potential in the context of sustainability transitions (Sixt, Klerkx, and Griffin 2018). The concept has also been used in other contexts, such as marketing (Brown, Kozinets, and Sherry 2003;Castellano et al. 2013;Boeuf 2019) and journalism (Arrese 2015). The core idea is ultimately the same across the different fieldsthe hybridisation of old and new forms of knowledge for improved social or commercial performance. ...
... However, we wish to suggest that a reconsideration of historic practices does not hinge upon reflexive discontent with practices that are currently prevalent in agricultural communities. Considered broadly, retro-innovation can also be read as an expression of nostalgia (Castellano et al. 2013;Boeuf 2019;León-Bravo et al. 2019) and reminiscence of the old (Zagata et al. 2020). Similarly, cultural ideals can also contribute to the revival of traditional practices (Loucanova, Parobek, and Kalamarova 2015), though these may express a critical relation to the present. ...
Purpose
To advance the discussion of retro-innovation and highlight the implications this has for the provision of agricultural advice and the role of advisors.
Design/Methodology/Approach
70 interviews with farmers and 10 interviews with experts on biological pest control and direct marketing in Latvia were conducted.
Findings
Biological pest control and direct marketing in Latvia are practices that challenge existing conceptions of retro-innovation as they exhibit incremental development, while still combining old and new knowledge in a way that transforms farming practices. They also underline the importance of continuous learning and exchange within the farming community, which supplement the knowledge and advice provided by formal advisory organisations, indicating that the practices are highly dependent upon locally embedded sources of knowledge and a balance between formal instruction and informal peer-to-peer learning. This allows them to retain their dynamism and evolve, although more targeted advisory assistance would help to address issues that prevent biological pest control and direct marketing from being more widely adopted.
Practical implications
This paper highlights the importance of locally embedded forms of learning and advice provision. A better understanding of these can provide a more solid basis for interventions that aim to encourage widespread adoption of sustainability-oriented practices.
Theoretical implications
This paper improves understanding of retro-innovation processes by drawing attention to the disparate motivations driving innovation and the role of continuity in retro-innovation.
Originality
This paper advances the discussion on retro-innovation by looking at examples that expand upon existing approaches to it and highlight specific advisory challenges.
... Similarly, entrepreneurs are reluctant to innovation when it requires too much change in their established behavioral habits or patterns or when it does not fit their social or personal values (Kim & Park, 2011). The psychology literature suggests that DA triggers a psychological discomfort among individuals that results from self-preservation and the awareness of inevitable mortality (Boeuf, 2019), activating reactions focused on coping with the tension and reducing their discomfort. As DA may change entrepreneurs' sense of meaning in life, they may counter it by initiating defensive actions offering a sense of security (Das et al., 2014); in this case, they may become inhibited in choosing EXPLORE over EXPLOIT. ...
... Improved products represent developments of existing products, therefore not new for the company, but incorporating new technology for the company. However, contrary to some scholars (Boeuf, 2019), the authors do not consider PI as representing those products changing the consumers' patterns, therefore more closely related to disruptive innovation. A five-point Likert scale to measure the importance of each item was used, with respondents asked to assess PI in comparison with their main competitor(s) in the industry in the last three years and considered the average of the scores for the four items. ...
... The 'research methods' area demonstrated that innovation resistance research was dominated by quantitative methods reflected in such concepts as surveys, scales, items, models, discriminant, factors, and analysis. A further reading found that the quantitative methods used were dominated by SEM, while others, such as experiments (e.g., Boeuf, 2019;Leung et al., 2018;Longoni et al., 2019), artificial network analysis (e.g., Arif et al., 2020;Hew et al., 2019), and complexity modeling (e.g., Moldovan and Goldenberg, 2004) attracted only limited attention. Some studies also utilized qualitative methods such as focus groups, interviews, and case studies, while a limited number adopted a mixed-methods approach (e.g., Joachim et al., 2018;Mani and Chouk, 2019;Talwar et al., 2020a). ...
... The importance of work in this area was also supported by the expert interviews. Emotion is considered as a powerful factor that influences consumer judgment and decision making (Kahneman, 2011) and has only recently gained attention in innovation resistance studies (Boeuf, 2019;Castro et al., 2019;Rieple and Snijders, 2018;Valor, 2020). Literature regarding emotion and decision making (Lerner et al., 2015) can provide a useful lens for understanding the antecedents and process of resistance decisions. ...
Innovation resistance is an emerging area of research in marketing. This study delineates the state of the art in consumer innovation resistance literature and advances theoretical development in this area by providing a systematic review of 152 articles extracted from the Scopus database. The articles were analyzed using multiple-perspective document co-citation analysis and content analysis, aided by CiteSpace and Leximancer, to identify intellectual foundations, research topics, contexts, and methods of existing literature. Based on the results of the review and expert interviews, this study then discussed six research avenues: (1) operationalizing innovation resistance; (2) factors leading to innovation resistance; (3) a process-based perspective; (4) the consequences of innovation resistance; (5) emerging key research contexts; and (6) strategies to overcome innovation resistance. The study contributes to an overall understanding of current literature on innovation resistance and reveals future research domains.
... In this respect, it can be said that this research is a basic reference source for both businesses operating in practice and academicians. Although most of the studies conducted are about the religious and psychological dimensions of death (Karakuş et al., 2012), there are a limited number of applied studies on death in consumer studies (Boeuf, 2019;Erciş et al., 2016). When the relevant literature is reviewed, there is no applied consumer research on the dimensions of coronavirus (covid-19) fear, death anxiety and shopping attitude. ...
... An increase in the level of death anxiety during the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic is likely to affect the consumer's current consumption behavior (Nokay, 2011). There is support in consumer studies that death anxiety has an effect on attitude (Boeuf, 2019;Erciş et al., 2016). ...
During the coronavirus (covid-19) epidemic, individuals shop more than ever in online stores due to some restrictions and other reasons. However, despite all the restrictions and hurdles, there are still consumers who continue to shop in physical stores. Despite the coronavirus (covid-19) fear and death anxiety during the epidemic process, it can be said that it is not easy for these consumers to give up their shopping habits. The aim of this research is to examine the effect of coronavirus (covid-19) fear on attitude towards online store and physical store shopping and the mediating role of death anxiety in this effect. For this purpose, an online survey has been developed. The data were obtained from 570 participants through an online questionnaire using the snowball sampling method. SPSS 25 package program and process macro software were used in the analysis of the data obtained. Process macro is software that works with regression analysis plugin. In this research, the process macro software is used to analyze the role of intermediary variables. According to the analysis results, coronavirus (covid-19) fear has a direct positive and significant effect on attitude towards online store shopping and death anxiety. However, coronavirus (covid-19) fear does not seem to have a direct significant effect on attitude towards physical store shopping. On the other hand, death anxiety has a direct positive and significant effect on attitude towards both online store and physical store shopping. At the same time, death anxiety has a full mediating role on the effect of coronavirus (covid-19) fear on attitude towards online store and physical store shopping. Accordingly, coronavirus (covid-19) fear has a significant indirect effect on attitude towards both the online store and the physical store shopping, thanks to the mediating role of death anxiety. Finally, looking at the degree of impact (β coefficient), it can be said that death anxiety has a greater impact on attitude towards online store shopping than coronavirus (covid-19) fear. In conclusion, this research successfully explains the relationship between coronavirus (covid-19) fear, death anxiety, attitude towards online store shopping and attitude towards physical store shopping. In this respect, it can be said that this research is a basic reference source for both businesses operating in practice and academicians.
... It predicts the adoption of new technology (Reinhardt & Gurtner, 2015;Roberts, Flin, Millar, & Corradi, 2021). It leads to positive performance by counteracting cognitive barriers to innovating (Boeuf, 2019), and mediating the relationship between other forms of innovation and financial performance (Doucouré et al., 2018;Kerr et al., 2017;Marcati et al., 2008). ...
How does digital entrepreneurship help innovative, women entrepreneurs in emerging economies? Using strategic choice theory, we predict that specific innovativeness improves new venture performance, and that digital entrepreneurship enables innovativeness and increases its effect on performance. We also predict that innovative female entrepreneurs benefit more than male ones from a high degree of digital entrepreneurship. We confirm our hypotheses using primary data of entrepreneurs from Ghana (N = 199) and Vietnam (N = 223). We also conducted a series of robustness tests to validate our findings. We conclude that strategic choices among new ventures yield best results if bounded by prior strategic choice and specific innovativeness, enabled by a high degree of digital entrepreneurship, and enacted by women.
... The research suggests an individual with anxiety demonstrates self-compassion (Werner et al., 2012). Anxiety has a negative impact on a customer"s attitude toward using the m-payment system (Patil et al., 2020) and anxiety leads to innovation resistance (Boeuf, 2019). The study opinion that to use m-payment, individuals need to be tech-savvy, show patience when setting up the m-payment features or making the transaction, stay high on confidence while using the payment method. ...
Purpose
The new ways to complete financial transactions have been developed by setting up mobile payment (m-payment) platforms and such platforms to access banking in the financial mainstream can transact as never before. But, does m-payment have veiled consequences? To seek an answer, the research was undertaken to explore the dark sides of m-payment for consumers by extending the theory of innovation resistance (IR) and by measuring non-adoption intention (NAI).
Design/methodology/approach
Three hundred individuals using popular online m-payment apps such as Paytm, PhonePe, Amazon Pay and Google Pay were surveyed for the primary data. IBM AMOS based structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Each m-payment transaction leaves a digital record, making some vulnerable consumers concerned about privacy threats. Lack of global standards prevents consumers from participating in the m-payment system properly until common interfaces are established based on up-to-date standards. Self-compassion (SC) characteristics such as anxiety, efficacy, fatigue, wait-and-see tendencies and the excessive choice of technology effect contribute to the non-adoption of m-payment.
Originality/value
This study proposes a threat model and empirically explores the dark sides of m-payment. In addition, it also unveils the moderator's role of SC in building the structural relationship between IR and NAI.
... 44). Mortality anxiety is likely to trigger consumers' state nostalgia (a temporary backward-looking mindset), which in turn leads consumers to passively resist an innovation (Boeuf, 2019). In this sense, non-users of Airbnb may be more likely to passively resist Airbnb in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This study aims to understand consumer innovation resistance towards Airbnb from a process-based perspective. Using Airbnb in the Chinese market as the research context, a narrative approach suitable for building process theories was employed. Data were collected using retrospective and scenario interviews and analysed using an abductive approach. Three different processes of resistance were observed: pre-persuasion passive resistance; post-persuasion passive resistance; and active resistance. These were driven by individual characteristics, the status quo, external environments, and innovation-specific barriers. This study provides a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of consumer Airbnb resistance and argues that passive resistance can arise after consumers’ consideration of a new product/service, challenging the previous view on passive resistance. The findings have implications for Airbnb’s internationalisation into the single largest tourism market.
... We consider death anxiety in the present study because existing scholarship on death anxiety in the work domain (e.g., Belmi & Pfeffer, 2016;Boeuf, 2019;Sliter et al., 2014) suggests that death anxiety results in several negative outcomes, such as reducing work drive and impairing job performance and innovative behavior. Moreover, based on COR theory, we argue that consistent threats to one's salient resources-one's own life and the lives of close relativesresult in a resource-draining state-death anxiety (Stein & Cropanzano, 2011)-which, in turn, can reduce other resources, such as energy, meaning in life, and a sense of value, and thus lead to a sense of work alienation. ...
The present study examines the role of death anxiety as an important mechanism underlying the relationship between fear of Covid-19 and hotel frontline employees’ (FLEs) sense of work alienation. Importantly, the study proposes FLEs’ intrinsic spirituality as being a relevant boundary condition. Results, based on time-lagged survey data (three
rounds, 2 weeks apart) from 203 FLEs in 91 hotels and analyzed using structural equation modeling, reveal that death anxiety mediates the association between fear of Covid-19 and work alienation. In addition, FLEs’ intrinsic spirituality moderates the direct relationship between fear of Covid-19 and death anxiety and the indirect relationship between fear of Covid-19 and work alienation, such that the relationships are weak when intrinsic spirituality is high (vs. low). The study offers several important suggestions that can help hospitality managers address FLEs’ sense of work alienation during traumatic conditions.
... For instance, anticipated emotions are found to influence appraisals of risk and usefulness of innovations Wu et al., 2017. Likewise, emotions towards nuclear power affect quality assessments of microbial decontamination strategies (Bearth and Siegrist, 2019), primed nostalgia leads to negative assessments of innovative products (Boeuf, 2019), primed liking towards an existing artefact drives negative appraisals of innovations (Gerlach et al., 2014) and both positive and negative emotions influence appraisals of benefits, risks and ease of use (Igbaria et al., 1994;King and Slovic, 2014;Lu et al., 2009;Park et al., 2020;X. Wang et al., 2019;Wells et al., 2010;Wu et al., 2017). ...
The dominant models of innovation adoption have traditionally overlooked the role of emotions, despite the relevance of this construct in consumer decision-making. To address this historical gap, a notable stream of research on emotions in innovation adoption has emerged in recent years. To enrich our understanding of the psychology of innovation adoption, this paper integrates insights from research on emotions in psychology with a systematic review of the literature on consumer emotions in innovation adoption. Drawing on well-established theories of emotions and decision-making, we derive five fundamental dimensions that help define the role of emotions in the consumer adoption of innovations. A systematic review of existing evidence within the specific field of innovation adoption summarises the existing evidence through the lens of the five dimensions. The contributions of the paper are twofold. First, the paper offers a novel perspective that provides a deeper understanding of emotions as a psychological mechanism enabling or impeding innovation adoption. Second, we set an agenda for invigorating research in this important domain.
... Moreover, according to the results of this study, death anxiety results in adjustment and behavioral disorders. In studies conducted based on consumer research, death anxiety, current consumption desire (Nokay, 2011), as well as consumer attitude (Boeuf, 2019; -rciş eЭ aХ., β016Ψ has a significant effect. H5, H6, and H10 hypotheses have been developed in this context: H 5 : Death anxiety has a positive and significant effect on attitudes towards online shopping. ...
Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the impact of the coronavirus (covid19) disease on economic activities. However, few studies have investigated its effects on emotions and consumer behavior. The main aim of this study is to examine the effects of the fear of coronavirus (covid-19) on online shopping attitudes and intentions, as well as death anxiety. This paper analyses two different dimensions of consumer reaction to the coronavirus (covid-19): the emotional reaction and the symptomatic reaction. This research employs a twostage research design. First, it examines the effects of the emotional and the symptomatic reactions (variables) on death anxiety and online shopping attitude. Second, it analyses the effects of death anxiety and online shopping attitude on online shopping intention. This paper also compares different groups using control variables such as age, gender, income, and shopping attitude. Data for this study is based on a snowball sampling of 318 respondents and collected using the online questionnaire. Regression and nonparametric tests (Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test) are performed using SPSS. The research findings show that 1-) consumers reactions to the coronavirus (covid-19) have a significant and positive effect on death anxiety; 2-) death anxiety has a significant and positive effect on online shopping attitudes; 3-) the attitude towards online shopping has a significant and positive effect on online shopping intention.
Also according to the results of the analysis; females' emotional coronavirus (covid-19)
reactions are higher than males'. Individuals in the low-income group have more symptomatic coronavirus (covid-19) reactions and death anxiety. Finally, individuals who turned to online shopping during the pandemic period due to coronavirus (covid-19) have lower attitudes and intentions towards online shopping than individuals who have been using online shopping for a longer period. And also the highest income group appears to have more online shopping intentions.
... These threats can (a) affect individuals' preference towards luxury goods (e.g., Rolex watches) versus nonluxury goods (e.g., Pringles chips; Mandel & Heine, 1999), (b) affect preference for materialism and conspicuous consumption when consumers have the perception of being observed (vs. not) by others (Choi, Kwon, & Lee, 2007), (c) make individuals indulge more in impulsive consumption (Choi et al., 2007;Ruvio, Somer, & Rindfleisch, 2014), (d) make individuals prefer brands that are in line with their cultural belongingness (i.e., domestic brands vs. foreign ones; Liu & Smeesters, 2010), (e) lead to higher preferences towards vintage products (Sarial-Abi et al., 2017), (f) result in resistance to product innovation (Boeuf, 2019), and (g) lead to greater propensity to use products and services designed to maintain a youthful image (Moschis, 1994). Taken together, these findings reiterate that mortality threats impact an individual's psychological state and everyday consumer behavior in a number of important ways. ...
Mortality threats are among the strongest psychological threats that an individual can encounter. Previous research shows that mortality threats lead people to engage in unhealthy compensatory consumption (i.e., overeating), as a maladaptive coping response to threat. In this paper, we propose that reminders of heroes when experiencing mortality threat increases perceptions of personal power, which in turn buffers the need to engage in unhealthy compensatory consumption. We test and find support for our predictions in a series of four studies that include real-world Twitter data after a series of terrorist attacks in 2016-2017, and three experimental studies conducted online and in the field with behavioral measures after Day of the Dead and during COVID-19 pandemic. These findings advance the literature on compensatory consumption, mortality threats, and the psychological functions of heroes.
... Given the associated costs, innovation failures can erode a company's long-term competitiveness or even lead to bankruptcy . Therefore, understanding consumers' innovation adoption behaviour is of the utmost importance for the success of companies (Boeuf, 2019;Heidenreich and Kraemer, 2015;Nabih and Poiesz, 1997). ...
Developing and marketing innovations is a major challenge for organisations. Thus, a large body of research has analysed factors influencing innovation adoption and identified passive innovation resistance (PIR) as a crucial inhibitor. However extant studies failed to examine whether predictors and consequences vary for the two different types of PIR-cognitive and situational PIR. This research strives to address this gap by analysing data of 238 consumers using PLS structural equation modelling. With respect to predictors, corresponding results show that cognitive PIR is strongly enhanced by neuroticism and increases with age, while it is reduced by openness to experience. Situational PIR is reduced by openness to experience and is lower among men. The results also highlight that cognitive and situational PIR substantially differ with respect to consequences. Cognitive PIR represents a strong inhibitor for behavioural innovations, whereas situational PIR is a strong inhibitor of functional innovations.
Tarih boyunca ölüm insanların hayatlarında var olan, insanların yaşam tarzını, tutum ve davranışlarını önemli derecede etkileyen önemli bir kavram olmuştur. Günümüzde birçok alanda yaşanan gelişmelerde ölümü ve ölüme karşı duyulan korkuyu silememiştir. İnsanların ölüm kavramını algılayış şekli verilen her kararda yönlendirici bir rol oynamaktadır. İnsanların hayatlarında verdikleri önemli kararlardan biride yatırım kararlarıdır. Kişisel, çevresel ve finansal faktörlerin yanı sıra ölüm ve ölüme karşı duyulan kaygınında insanların yatırım kararlarını etkilemesi beklenmektedir. Bu çalışmada bireylerinin ölüm kaygılarının yatırım kararları üzerindeki etkisi incelenmektedir. Anket yöntemiyle 394 katılımcıdan toplanan veriler ile SPSS 22 ve AMOS 23 programlarında istatistiki analizler yapılmıştır. Analiz sonucunda ölümün belirsizliğinin bireylerin aşırı güven, pişmanlıktan kaçınma ve sürü psikolojisi davranışı gösterme eğilimleri üzerinde anlamlı bir etkiye sahip olduğu tespit edilmiştir.
Purpose: This study enhances the understanding of impulse buying in grocery stores, where such purchases are pervasive and consumers face greater decision fatigue and diminished willpower than in more frequently examined retail environments. The intent is to: (1) demonstrate the influence of variables known to affect impulse buying in other environments on grocery-shopping behavior, (2) identify and profile segments that vary along those constructs, and (3) reveal how those segment characteristics help to explain impulse-buying differences.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A purposive sample of 234 grocery shoppers approached at the point of purchase in a metropolitan area in Northeastern United States completed scales for theoretically derived variables and reported on their impulse purchases.
Findings: Anxiety, Perceived Financial Pressure, Novelty/Variety Seeking, and Shopping Enjoyment positively influenced, whereas Need for Cognition had a negative effect on, impulse-purchase activity. Two distinct segments of impulse buyers emerged: Anxious and Innovative Shoppers. Anxious Shoppers were higher in Anxiety, Perceived Financial Pressure, and Compulsive Buying, while Innovative Shoppers had higher levels of Need for Cognition and Novelty/Variety Seeking.
Originality/Value: The evidence for the dominance of Anxiety and Novelty/Variety Seeking as key motivators of distinct segments of impulse buyers in grocery stores is unique to this study. Results yield new insight on tension between the effects of motivational variables on the immediate impulse-buying decision and post-purchase evaluation and add precision to marketers’ efforts to encourage spontaneous in-store decision making.
Specialist digital platforms are enabling unprecedented opportunities for changing routines in the context of health self-management. The emergence of app features for self-management of chronic conditions is transforming the use of digital platforms. In this respect, many developers struggle to understand how diverse users use different features for health self-management. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between user characteristics and their use of three common features in specialist healthcare platforms, namely app exercises, app lessons, and app messages. The results indicate that the use of each platform feature may be associated with particular user characteristics. Specifically, pain intensity is positively related to the use of exercises, lessons, and messaging features for health self-management, while the relationships between app use and physical activity, fear of movement, and other chronic conditions vary with the app feature. Thus, our findings highlight the complexity of the use of digital platform features for self-management of chronic conditions.
The Status Quo Bias (SQB) describes an individual's preference to avoid changes and maintain the current situation. In today’s world, technological advances require nearly constant change within organizations. Thus, SQB can become an issue when it hinders progress. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how this effect can be reliably measured and, even more importantly, what countermeasures to employ. Prior research has focused more on individual measuring approaches and less on countermeasures. As researchers across different research fields have studied this bias, we conduct a literature review spanning different scholarly fields. This broader research focus allows us to identify four measurement approaches and 13 countermeasures along the three aspects of cognitive misperception, rational decision making, and psychological commitment of SQB. Our overview consolidates existing knowledge and will hopefully be the starting point for researchers to start combating this bias where needed. Successful and proven countermeasures can, for example, increase the acceptance and adoption of digital innovations and technology in general and thereby allow organizations to capitalize on their investments.
Dünyada yıllarca yaşanan aşırı tüketim eğilimi, doğal çevrenin yıpranmasına sebep verdiğinden insanoğluna büyük bir tehdit oluşturmaktadır. Söz konusu tahribatın her geçen gün artıyor olmasının olumsuz sonuçları günümüzde iyice hissedilir hale gelmiştir. Covid-19 salgını, iklim krizi, vb., felaketler tüketicilerde eskiden olmadığı kadar fazla bir şekilde gelecek kaygısı yaratmaya başlamış ve buna bağlı olarak sürdürülebilirlik konusunda daha duyarlı hale gelmelerine sebep olmuştur. Tüketicilerin sürdürülebilirlik konusundaki beklentileri sadece devlet ve işletmeler ile sınırlı kalmamış, ayrıca kendi bireysel tüketimlerini ve yaşam tarzlarını da gözden geçirmelerine sebep olmuştur. Tüm bunlar dikkate alındığında gelecek kaygısının akademik çalışmalarda yeterince ele alınmamış olması şaşırtıcı bir durumdur. Gelecek kaygısının ayrıca tüketim, marka tutumu ve satın alma niyeti ile ilişkilerinin incelenmemiş olması literatürde büyük bir boşluk yaratmaktadır. Buradan hareketle çalışmanın amacı, gelecek kaygısının sürdürülebilir tüketim bilincine ve her ikisinin marka tutumu ve satın alma niyetine etkilerinin incelenmesidir. Çalışmada 414 Arçelik kullanıcısı üzerinden kolayda örnekleme yoluyla, çevrimiçi anket uygulanarak veri toplanmıştır. Yapısal Eşitlik Modellemesi analizi sonucuna göre gelecek kaygısının sürdürülebilir tüketim bilinci üzerinde, sürdürülebilir tüketim bilincinin marka tutumu üzerinde, marka tutumunun ise satın alma niyeti üzerinde anlamlı etkileri bulunmuş fakat gelecek kaygısı ve sürdürülebilir tüketim bilincinin satın alma niyeti üzerinde doğrudan bir etkisi saptanmamıştır.
The Terror Management Health Model (TMHM) suggests that when one is exposed to death information, the individual’s defensive behavior about health will produce two results: the health behavior-oriented outcomes and the threat avoidance-oriented outcomes. Focusing on food choice, this paper examined the interaction effect of exposure to death information and perceived personal control on the choice of healthy food. The results showed that, for individuals with high perceived personal control, exposure to death information (vs.no) promotes healthy food choices. For individuals with low perceived personal control, exposure to death information (vs.no) can’t promote healthy food choices anymore.
Nostalgia—defined as sentimental longing for one’s past—is a self-relevant, albeit deeply social, and an ambivalent, albeit more positive than negative, emotion. As nostalgia brings the past into present focus, it has existential implications. Nostalgia helps people find meaning in their lives, and it does so primarily by increasing social connectedness (a sense of belongingness and acceptance), and secondarily by augmenting self-continuity (a sense of connection between one’s past and one’s present). Also, nostalgia-elicited meaning facilitates the pursuit of one’s important goals. Moreover, nostalgia acts as a buffer against existential threats. In particular, it shields against meaning threat, and buffers the impact of mortality salience on meaning, collective identity, accessibility of mortality-related thoughts, and death anxiety. Finally, nostalgia confers psychological benefits to individuals with chronic or momentary meaning deficits. These benefits are higher subjective vitality, lower stress, and regulation of meaning-seeking in response to boredom. Taken together, nostalgia helps people attain a more meaningful life, protects from existential threat, and contributes to psychological equanimity.
The growing sales of private labels (PLs) pose significant challenges for national brands (NBs) around the world. A major question is whether consumers continue to be willing to pay a price premium for NBs over PLs. Using consumer survey data from 22,623 respondents from 23 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas across, on average, 63 consumer packaged goods categories per country, this article studies how marketing and manufacturing factors affect the price premium a consumer is willing to pay for an NB over a PL. These effects are mediated by consumer perceptions of the quality of NBs in relation to PLs. Although the results do not bode well for NBs in the sense that willingness to pay decreases as PLs mature, the authors offer several managerial recommendations to counter this trend. In countries in which PLs are more mature, the route to success is to go back to manufacturing basics. In PL development countries, there is a stronger role for marketing to enhance the willingness to pay for NBs.
Choice of an appropriate branding strategy is a critical determinant of new product success. Prior work on fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) prescribes that new products carry new (vs. existing) brand names to appeal to earlier adopters - a critical target for new products. However, such a prescription may not be prudent for high-technology (HT) products, as they often involve considerably more consumer perceived risk than FMCG. By drawing on Dowling and Staelin's (1994) framework of perceived-risk handling, we propose that both earlier and later adopters will favor existing brands to cope with the elevated risk associated with an innovative HT product. Two studies - one conducted in an experimental setting and the other in a field setting - support the proposition that both earlier and later adopters respond more favorably to existing (vs. new) brands on innovative HT products.
The present research investigates how consumer choice is affected by Terror Management Theory’s proposition of Mortality Salience increasing one’s cultural worldview defense and self-esteem striving. The study builds empirically upon prior theorizing by Arndt, Solomon, Kasser and Sheldon (2004). During an experiment, we manipulated Mortality Salience and measured product preferences for conspicuousness and familiarity. Participants primed with death were more likely to choose conspicuous products, corroborating previous research of mortality salience raising materialistic tendencies. In addition, participants showed a tendency to prefer familiar brands. These results are in line with the Terror Management Theory framework.
Programming that depicts or implies death constitutes a vital component of daily television broadcasts, yet the impact of such programming on the evaluation of embedded advertising remains unexplored. Using terror management theory, we propose that exposure to routine and commonplace death-related television programming will lead to the differential evaluation of ensuing advertisements depending on whether they are perceived to be of domestic or foreign origin, and that this effect is contingent on the nature of the death-related cognitions at play at the time of ad exposure. Further, the death-related program context effects on embedded advertising are unique—ads at the end, not the beginning, of the embedded pod are affected by programming content. Based on the empirical findings from four studies we identify the cognitive processes underlying consumers' ad evaluation, isolate the pod positions when context effects are observed, and suggest a framework for television commercial scheduling.
Thoughts about one’s death can not only induce death anxiety but also activate death-related semantic concepts. These effects of mortality salience have different implications for judgments and behavior. We demonstrate these differences in an investigation of variety-seeking behavior. Four experiments showed that the anxiety elicited by thinking about one’s own death decreased the variety of participants’ choices in an unrelated multiple-choice decision situation, whereas activating semantic concepts of death without inducing anxiety increased it. Moreover, inducing cognitive load decreased the anxiety-inducing effect of mortality salience, leading its concept-activation effect to predominate. The accessibility of death-related semantic concepts spontaneously induces a global processing style that increases the range of acceptable choice alternatives in a variety-seeking task, and this occurs regardless of how mortality salience is induced. However, the effect of inducing death anxiety, which is driven by a desire for stability, may override the effect of semantic concept activation when participants think about their own death.
A plethora of definitions for innovation types has resulted in an ambiguity in the way the terms 'innovation' and 'innovativeness' are operationalized and utilized in the new product development literature. The terms radical, really-new, incremental and discontinuous are used ubiquitously to identify innovations. One must question, what is the difference between these different classifications? To date consistent definitions for these innovation types have not emerged from the new product research community. A review of the literature from the marketing, engineering, and new product development disciplines attempts to put some clarity and continuity to the use of these terms. This review shows that it is important to consider both a marketing and technological perspective as well as a macrolevel and microlevel perspective when identifying innovations. Additionally, it is shown when strict classifications from the extant literature are applied, a significant shortfall appears in empirical work directed toward radical and really new innovations. A method for classifying innovations is suggested so that practitioners and academics can talk with a common understanding of how a specific innovation type is identified and how the innovation process may be unique for that particular innovation type. A recommended list of measures based on extant literature is provided for future empirical research concerning technological innovations and innovativeness.
Behavioral research shows that reasons for and reasons against adopting innovations differ qualitatively, and they influence consumers’ decisions in dissimilar ways. This has important implications for theorists and managers, as overcoming barriers that cause resistance to innovation calls for marketing approaches other than promoting reasons for adoption of new products and services. Consumer behavior frameworks in diffusion of innovation (DOI) studies have largely failed to distinctly account for reasons against adoption. Indeed, no study to date has tested the relative influence of adoption and resistance factors in a single framework. This research aims to address this shortcoming by applying a novel consumer behavior model (i.e., behavioral reasoning theory) to test the relative influence of both reasons for and, importantly, reasons against adoption in consumers’ innovation adoption decisions. Based on two empirical studies, one with a product and a second with a service innovation, findings demonstrate that behavioral reasoning theory provides a suitable framework to model the mental processing of innovation adoption. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.
Who is the nostalgia-prone person? The 'sociality view' sees an individual who frequently recalls meaningful memories rich in social content. The 'maladaptation view' sees an emotionally unstable, neurotic individual. In four studies, we integrated these contrasting views. We hypothesized that the link between neuroticism and nostalgia proneness arises because (a) neuroticism is associated with the need to belong and (b) the need to belong triggers nostalgia, with its abundant social content. Consistent with this hypothesis, Studies 1-2 found that the correlation between neuroticism and nostalgia proneness was eliminated when controlling for the need to belong. The need to belong predicted increased nostalgia proneness, above and beyond neuroticism. Specifically, Study 2 revealed that a deficit-reduction (rather than growth) belongingness orientation predicted increased nostalgia proneness. When the role of this deficit-reduction belongingness orientation was controlled, the positive correlation between neuroticism and nostalgia disappeared. Studies 3-4 showed that experimental inductions of a belongingness deficit augmented nostalgia, providing support for its compensatory role.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence and existence of retro-industries. The paper proposes using a multidisciplinary approach to define the concept of retro-industries and to identify its specificities.
Design/methodology/approach
– Literature reviews in marketing and economics were used to create a model of innovation adoption and diffusion in retro-industries.
Findings
– The paper provides theoretical insights about the factors that foster retro-industries such as heritage, tradition, nostalgia and revival. The paper suggests that these factors influence innovations mechanisms and explain the use of the past to manage the challenges of the future.
Originality/value
– The paper enriches an identified need to analyse industry from retro perspective; and to identify the factors that foster the emergence of such industries.
Although family socialization is a rich field in consumer behavior, to date no research has been done to disaggregate family influences on behavior into separate parent and sibling components. Here we use triadic analysis (parent and two siblings) to explore the influence of family on consumer innovativeness. We develop hypotheses that postulate parental influence, and, based on conflicting views of sibling similarity in the recent behavioral genetics and developmental psychology literature, set competing hypotheses about sibling influence on innovativeness and innovative behavior. Using a model tested with triads from 137 families, we find that both parents and siblings influence innovativeness, but that parental influence is stronger than sibling influence. We discuss the implications of our work for the study of family influence in consumer behavior.
This article describes the concept of posttraumatic growth. its conceptual founda- tions, a/id supporting empirical evidence. Posttraumatic growth is the experience of positive change that occurs as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life cri- ses. It is manifested in a variety ofways, including an increased appreciationfor life in general, more meaningful interpersonal relationships, an increased sense ofpersonal strength. cha/lged priorities, and a richer existential and spiritual life. Although the term is ne..", the idea that great good can come from great suffering is ancient. We pro- pose a nlOdelfor understanding the process ofposttraumatic growth in which individ- ual characteristics, support and disclosure, a/Id more centrally, significant cognitive processing involving cognitive structures threatened or nullified by the traumatic events, play an important role. It is also suggested that posttraumatic growth mutually interacts with life wisdoma,1d the development of the life narrative, and that it is an on- going process, not a static outcome. In his memoir, No Such Thing as a Bad Day, Hamil- ton Jordan (2000) described some of the changes he experienced following his battle with cancer:
In the last few decades, scholars and practitioners have increasingly tried to understand the factors that influence technology acceptance. Theories and models developed by scholars have tended to focus on the role of cognition and have rarely included affect. The few studies that have incorporated affect have tended to measure a single emotion rather than modeling it comprehensively. This research addresses that inadequacy in our understanding of technology adoption by merging two previously unrelated models: TAM (the Technology Acceptance Model) and PAD (the Pleasure, Arousal, and Dominance paradigm of affect). This study also examines an enhanced view of cognition. The product of this unified theoretical framework is referred to as the Consumer Acceptance of Technology (CAT) model. The results of a test using structural equation modeling provide empirical support for the model. Overall, the CAT model explains over 50% of the variance in consumer adoption intentions, a considerable increase compared to TAM. These findings suggest that substantial improvement in the prediction of technology adoption decisions is possible by use of this model with its integration of affect and cognition. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
a b s t r a c t Three studies tested and supported the proposition that nostalgia buffers existential threat. All studies measured nostalgia proneness and manipulated death awareness (mortality salience; MS). In Study 1, at low, but not high, levels of nostalgia proneness, participants in the MS condition responded less pos-itively to an identity threat than participants in the control condition. In Study 2, at low, but not high, levels of nostalgia proneness, participants in the MS condition evidenced greater levels of death anxiety than participants in the control condition. In Study 3, at high, but not low, levels of nostalgia proneness, participants in the MS condition indicated greater feelings of state nostalgia than participants in the con-trol condition.
The author presents a conceptual model of brand equity from the perspective of the individual consumer. Customer-based brand equity is defined as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. A brand is said to have positive (negative) customer-based brand equity when consumers react more (less) favorably to an element of the marketing mix for the brand than they do to the same marketing mix element when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the product or service. Brand knowledge is conceptualized according to an associative network memory model in terms of two components, brand awareness and brand image (i.e., a set of brand associations). Customer-based brand equity occurs when the consumer is familiar with the brand and holds some favorable, strong, and unique brand associations in memory. Issues in building, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity are discussed, as well as areas for future research.
The Internet of Things is expected to be the next phase of the Internet revolution and to transform consumers' service experience. It nevertheless raises challenges on innovation in services. Based on the Ram and Sheth model (1989), this work attempts to provide a better understanding of the barriers that lead to consumers' resistance to smart services as an innovation. To this end, our research adopts an integrative framework that combines functional barriers, psychological barriers and individual barriers to explain consumer resistance to smart services. Structural equation modelling was used to test this theoretical framework. Our research enriches the existing literature by (1) adapting the Ram and Sheth model (1989) to the evolution of digital technologies (technological vulnerability barriers), (2) taking into account the ideological aspect of resistance (ideological barriers) and (3) considering dispositional variables (individual barriers). Moreover, it highlights the key role of skepticism towards IoT devices as a mediator between technological vulnerability barriers and individual barriers on the one hand and consumer resistance to smart services on the other. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Despite extensive research on diffusion and adoption of innovations, late adoption of digitized products has
received little attention. This study explores the determinants of late adoption of digital innovations and selects
five variables: a) attitude toward a technology, b) negative word of mouth about the technology, c) global brand
image, d) consumer innovativeness, and e) lead-user profile.The results of a binary logistic regression with late
adopter as the target variable show that with exception of negative word of mouth, all the variables have a
negative effect on the probability of moving on the adoption scale from late to early adopter. Furthermore,
increasing the positive attitude of consumers toward a technology (i.e. reducing consumers'skepticism) could be
more effective to accelerate the rate of adoption than projecting the global image of the company. Understanding
the determinants of late adoption will allow companies to develop technologies that diffuse faster and will help
them to follow NPD, marketing, and sales strategies, which could accelerate the rate of adoption of digital
innovations.
Active innovation resistance is considered to be a main driver of innovation rejection, and traditionally related to five product-specific adoption barriers driving this negative attitude formation. While recent literature introduced a more comprehensive typology encompassing nine functional and eight psychological barriers driving active innovation resistance, an empirical validation of this framework is still missing. In order to close this research gap, we employed a two-study design. First, we conducted a qualitative study to empirically evaluate whether the typology including 17 adoption barriers encompasses all possible negative, product driven reactions of consumers within new product evaluations. Second, we used a quantitative large-scale study to assess the relative importance of each single product-specific adoption barrier within new product evaluations in the context of product and mobile service innovation. Overall, the results of both studies confirm that innovations are commonly rejected owing to these 17 product-specific adoption barriers. However, our results also highlight that functional and psychological barriers vary in their effect on adoption intention depending on whether a new product or service gets evaluated. In conclusion, this study provides first empirical evidence in favor of applying a more comprehensive typology of product-specific barriers when assessing effects of active innovation resistance on consumers’ adoption behavior in future research.
This research examines how incidental exposure to death-related information in the media affects consumers' value orientation and scope sensitivity to marketing stimuli. Five studies demonstrate that, in contrast to thoughts about one's own mortality, exposure to death-related information in the media can shift consumers' focus from extrinsic to intrinsic values. This leads them to pay less attention to the marketing stimuli, which are generally associated with extrinsic values, and consequently results in lower sensitivity to the magnitude of products and services. These effects are reversed when the marketing stimuli are associated with intrinsic values. Moreover, we found that exposure to death-related media information will generate effects similar to those of mortality salience when the information is perceived to be self-relevant and thus could induce death anxiety. The authors discuss implications and possible extensions.
Purpose
More research is required into the underlying reasons for passive innovation resistance. This paper aims to propose that consumers who passively resist innovation may merely be conservative in nature and explore a conceptual framework that could explain and predict such behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
Theories from the political sciences, social psychology and marketing were studied in trying to understand why some consumers are more conservative in nature and how their attitudes may affect their thoughts, feelings and actions in the marketplace.
Findings
Consumers may develop conservative attitudes, such as a need for cognitive closure, nostalgia, authoritarianism, a social dominance orientation, ethnocentrism and an anti-hedonic approach towards life to combat their fear of ambiguous situations and chaos associated with deviance from in-group values. Ultimately, these attitudes may influence consumer behaviour, such as being brand loyal, unwilling to try new options and preferring nostalgic products that would lead to lower levels of ambiguity and less disruption of the status quo. Conservative consumers may also act as authoritarian parents, prefer to purchase durable materialistic products, support locally manufactured goods and refrain from purchasing products for purely hedonic pleasure in an attempt to preserve their in-group values.
Originality/value
The proposed framework offers more insight into the nature and consequences of passive innovation resistance and may serve as a starting point for further exploration on the fundamental characteristics of conservative consumers. The research findings may also assist marketers in managing their new product innovations strategies more successfully.
The development and adoption of eco-friendly innovations needs to be enhanced to reduce emissions caused by industry and transportation. Companies have been heavily investing in technologies and manufacturing processes to improve the development of eco-friendly innovations such as alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). While the long-term viability of AFVs will be determined by consumer demand, only few consumers are willing to adopt these eco-friendly innovations. To increase the diffusion of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), it appears crucial to reach a critical mass of adopters and thus the point at which an innovation spreads exponentially through a target market. In this respect, previous research points to the importance of using external policies to turn the early majority into early adopters, which are primarily distinguished by their extent of innovativeness. However, diffusion theory suggests that consumer innovativeness as an innate trait is fairly stable over time and is thus not externally changeable. Yet, external measures might still be effective in strengthening effects of consumer innovativeness, turning the early and perhaps also the late majority into early adopters. Unfortunately, current research on consumer adoption behavior in general and on AFV adoption still lacks studies of the effectiveness of different external measures to turn potential adopters into early adopters by fostering positive effects of consumer innovativeness. This article addresses this shortcoming by empirically analyzing data from 1,080 consumer evaluations in the domain of AFVs. Results from structural equation modeling confirm that AFV adoption relates positively to consumer innovativeness and that this effect can be intensified by providing external policies such as infrastructure, incentives, and communication policies.
We investigated a novel avenue for buffering against threats to meaning frameworks: vintage consumption. Although the appeal of vintage goods, defined as previously owned items from an earlier era, is strong and growing, this paper is among the first to examine the possible psychological ramifications of vintage consumption. Six studies found that vintage items mitigated the typical reactions to meaning threats. Four of these studies also showed that vintage consumption facilitates mental connections among the past, present, and future. As a result, people whose meaning structures had been threatened, for example by being reminded of their own eventual death, preferred vintage products more than others who had not experienced a meaning threat, and more than similar non-vintage products. These findings suggest that meaning disruptions stimulate a desire for intertemporal connections, a desire that vintage products—as existing and continuing symbols of bygone eras—seem to satisfy.
The impact of globalization on consumer behavior across demographic cohorts remains important for international marketers balancing standardization–adaptation challenges. The purpose of this paper is to compare young-adult consumers in the Western Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia) and China. The study focuses on consumer innovativeness and consumer ethnocentrism, as two critical aspects for marketers catering to young-adult consumers (18–30 years). Despite cultural differences, young-adult consumers in all four markets display high levels of consumer innovativeness and low levels of consumer ethnocentrism. The results show a weak but significantly positive pair-wise correlation between consumer innovativeness and consumer ethnocentrism in Slovenia and Macedonia, contrary to empirical evidence from adults. The study offers theoretical implications related to Global consumer acculturation theory and Social identity theory, as well as implications for marketers seeking to utilize growing China–CEE cooperation.
This study posits that all innovations meet consumer resistance, and overcoming this opposition must occur prior to product adoption. Factors driving service innovation resistance remain unclear. To better understand this behavior, the present study examines how five theory-driven adoption barriers—usage, value, risk, tradition, and image – as well as three consumer demographics—gender, age, and income—influence consumer adoption versus rejection decisions in Internet and mobile banking. Data from two large nationwide surveys conducted in Finland (n = 1736 consumers) test hypotheses using binary logit models comparing mobile banking adopters versus non-adopters, mobile banking postponers versus rejecters, and Internet banking postponers versus rejecters. Study results find that the value barrier is the strongest inhibitor of Internet and mobile banking adoption. In addition, the image barrier slows mobile banking adoption, and the tradition barrier explains the rejection of Internet banking. Gender and age significantly predict adoption and rejection decisions. The results demonstrate notable differences between these seemingly similar service innovations.
This research examines the positive role of consumer education in diffusing innovative, sustainable products (ISPs). To enhance the effectiveness of a consumer education campaign, this study explores the type of message framing that can best facilitate product adoption among three different approaches: positive, negative, and hybrid framing. This study also investigates consumer traits and retailer attributes that facilitate or deter product adoption. The empirical application using biofuels shows that a negatively framed educational message highlighting the negative impact of gasoline (versus biofuels) is most effective in leveraging the social desirability of product adoption against its economic disadvantages. Consumer traits positively associated with the adoption of biobutanol are environmental consciousness, prosocial behavior, and openness to new experiences, whereas vertical individualism discourages such adoption. Furthermore, retailer choice attributes of location and payment convenience facilitate adoption, while retailer choice attributes based on price and servicescape cleanliness discourage such adoption.
Every company is buzzing “innovation” these days, while continuously launching new products. Yet previous studies point to high failure rates and suggest that most innovations get rejected due to consumers' innovation resistance. Within this respect, prior research acknowledges the role of passive innovation resistance as significant inhibitor for the adoption of new products. However, empirical evidence on whether and how different types of passive innovation resistance (i.e., cognitive and situational passive resistance) affect new product adoption still lacks. Using a scenario-based experiment (n = 307), this study delivers first empirical evidence that both resistance types are strong inhibitors for new product adoption. Results show that consumers with high cognitive or situational passive resistance show negative effects that are similar in their magnitude, whereas consumers with high levels of both dimensions exhibit the strongest predisposition to resist innovations. Hence, these consumers represent the most critical segment when launching new products.
Empirical research reveals that many new products fail as a result of consumers' passive resistance to innovation. Moreover, extant research suggests that high levels of stimulation induced by radical innovations even enhance negative effects of passive innovation resistance. However, empirical evidence for these propositions is still rare. Consequently, this study strives to enhance the current understanding (1) by investigating the inhibitory role of passive innovation resistance for different kinds of innovative consumer behaviors and (2) by examining the moderating role of perceived stimulation for effects of passive innovation resistance. Based on a large-scale empirical study (n= 681), we provide first empirical evidence that passive innovation resistance inhibits both consumers' tendencies to engage in innovative behavior and actual new product adoption. Furthermore, the results confirm that perceived stimulation increases the negative effects of passive innovation resistance. Our findings contribute to the ongoing discussion on a possible pro-change bias in adoption literature and to the current understanding on how to develop and market innovations to reach market success.
Consumers can experience relatively low prices with the dramatic diffusion of online shopping even with customized products, which are commonly more expensive than regular products, due to unique functions of customized product order processes in online environments. This paper investigates how two psychological antecedents, (1) need for uniqueness and (2) status aspiration, can influence consumers' attitude with regard to forming procedures toward e-customized products and how perceived risk, another psychological factor, on purchasing e-customized products plays a role of moderating factor. A self-administered online survey of 321 Japanese consumers is conducted to examine a proposed conceptual model with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The analysis using results indicates that the need for uniqueness directly impacts on attitude toward e-customized products while it mediates the effect of status aspiration. A multi-group analysis to test a moderating effect of the perceived risk on purchasing e-customized products highlights the significant effects of psychological factors. The result also provides potential guidelines to e-tailors on. possibility of segmenting markets as well as promoting their customized products using these psychological criteria of their target consumers. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc.
The sustained development and successful introduction of innovations continues to be of major concern for companies’ long-term success. However, empirical research points to high failure rates of innovations, indicating that most new products fail as they are rejected by consumers due to their resistance to innovation. Several studies have confirmed the importance of passive innovation resistance as dominant barrier, which has to be overcome before new product adoption can start. However, empirical evidence on how to overcome passive innovation resistance is still lacking. This study intends to address this gap by evaluating the effectiveness of marketing instruments (i.e. mental simulation and benefit comparison) to reduce negative effects of passive innovation resistance on new product adoption. The results of a scenario-based experiment (n=679) confirm high effectiveness for both instruments. However, the effectiveness varied with the type of passive innovation resistance present. More specifically, mental simulation was found to be the most effective instrument in case of cognitive passive resistance, whereas benefit comparison was found to be most effective in case of situational passive resistance. Thereby, the effect of both marketing instruments was stronger the more radical the new product was perceived. Hence, companies should assess the type of passive innovation resistance that is predominant in their target market, and align their choice of marketing instruments that accompany a new product launch to most effectively overcome passive innovation resistance. Employing such new product launch tactics should decrease initial market resistance and thus help companies in reducing innovation failure rates.
Terror attacks targeting civilians are becoming more frequent and affecting more places around the globe. Given the increasing intensity of terrorism and the threat of terrorism, consumer behavioral manifestations may occur. We conducted three studies with diverse methodologies and populations to explore how concerns with terrorism affect individuals' behavior. Two studies were conducted in Israel, a Western country that in the last decade experienced frequent terror attacks targeted at civilians. Results show that concerns with frequent terrorism increase people's desire for control and may lead to avoidant behaviors. The extent of the avoidance response depends on consumers' perceptions of whether they have some control over the odds of becoming a casualty should a terror attack occur. When individuals perceive their control to be low (but not high), they exhibit more avoidant behavior, changing their preferences and consumptions. We further find that individuals' general desire for control increases when they are primed with terrorist activities compared with general mortality. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Building on terror management theory, three experiments tested whether advertisements with a mortality reminder increase purchase intentions for products that provide an (un)important source of self-esteem. Study 1 tested the effects of mortality salience in advertisements (mortality reminder: yes vs. no) for art library and newspaper subscriptions. Study 2 used a 2 (mortality reminder: yes vs. no) × 2 (brand familiarity: low vs. high) between subjects design for newspaper subscriptions. Study 3 used a 2 (mortality reminder: yes vs. no) × 2 (product type: healthy vs. unhealthy) between subjects design for a beverage with importance of the product for consumers’ self-esteem as a continuous moderator. Main dependent measures were mood; death-related thoughts; attitudes toward the ad; and purchase intentions. Across studies advertisements with a death reminder increased unconscious thoughts about death (Experiments 1–3), which, in turn, increased purchase intentions (Experiments 2 and 3). These effects occurred independent of mood, brand familiarity, product type, product relevance to self-esteem, and ad liking. Findings suggest that “killer ads” trigger unconscious consumer fears that may be alleviated by the urge to buy.
This research investigates how the adoption of new high-tech consumer products can be stimulated by communicating product-related information in launch messages. In an initial pilot study, the authors find that for making an adoption decision, consumers require different types of product-related information, i.e., technical information, financial information, and personal/social information. In three experiments, the authors then examine how adoption intention and behavior is affected by communicating these information types. The first experiment shows that communicating personal/social information results in the highest adoption intention. This effect is moderated by the way in which the information is represented in the message. Adoption intention is highest when personal/social information is communicated in an abstract manner, while financial and technical information are most effective when communicated in a concrete manner. The second experiment shows that the effects hold for actual adoption behavior. In addition, visual imagination is found to mediate these effects. In the last experiment, visual imagination is directly manipulated by thematic priming and has a direct effect on adoption behavior. The results emphasize that activating the imagination in a product-relevant situation stimulates adoption behavior.
Purpose
– Understanding a prima facie attraction of retro pop-rock by a broad spectrum of people and the role of technology innovation in driving the importance of this genre. A key idea of this paper is that ongoing popularity of retro pop-rock music is associated with a confluence of demand-side and supply-side factors. The demand side is thought to be characterized by a combination of psychological factors contributing to individuals’ desires to enjoy, reflect on, or even “live in” the past. On the supply-side, technology has roles in the production, distribution and consumption of music.
Design/methodology/approach
– The approach of this paper is to provide an extensive search and synthesis of relevant literature and to present and analyze findings from online surveys.
Findings
– The literature supports the idea that attraction to retro music is heavily influenced by psychological factors as well as technology innovation. The survey provides supporting evidence. Of particular interest are findings related to correlations between nostalgia and technology.
Originality/value
– This study is, to the authors’ knowledge, one of the first to provide a survey-based link between the attraction to retro music to nostalgia and technology.
This study compares the new product performance outcomes of firm-level product innovativeness across a developed and emerging market context. In so doing, a model is constructed in which the relationship between firm-level product innovativeness and new product performance is anticipated to be curvilinear, and in which the nature of this relationship is argued to be dependent on organizational and environmental factors.The model is tested using primary data obtained from chief executive officers and finance managers in 319 firms operating in the United Kingdom, an advanced Western market, and 221 firms from Ghana, an emerging Sub-Saharan African market. The model is assessed using a structural equation model multigroup analysis approach with LISREL 8.5.In the United Kingdom and Ghana, the basic form of the relationship between firm-level product innovativeness and business success is inverted U-shaped, but the strength and/or form of this relationship changes under differing levels of market orientation, access to financial resources, and environmental dynamism. While commonalities are identified across the two countries (market orientation helps firms leverage their product innovativeness), differences are also observed across the samples. In Ghana, access to financial resources enhances the relationship between product innovativeness and new product performance, unlike in the United Kingdom where no moderation is observed. Furthermore, while U.K. firms leverage product innovativeness to their advantage in more dynamic environments, Ghanaian firms do not benefit in this way: here, high levels of innovation activity are less useful when markets are more dynamic.If the study's findings generalize, there are a number of implications for managers of both emerging and developed market businesses. First, managers in both developed and developing market firms should focus on determining and managing an optimal balance of novel and intensive product innovativeness within the context of their unique institutional environments. Second, for emerging market firms, a market orientation capability helps businesses leverage local market intelligence, enabling them to compete with multinational giants flocking to emerging markets, but typical developed market learning approaches may be insufficient for multinational firms when seeking to compete in emerging markets. Third, for emerging market firms, access to finances helps deliver product innovation success (although this is not the case for developed market firms, possibly due to strong financial institutions). Finally, unlike developed market firms, burdened by institutional voids at home, emerging market firms appear to be less capable of competing on an innovation front in more dynamic market conditions. Accordingly, policymakers in emerging markets should consider identifying ways to help businesses raise market orientation levels, and seek to create conditions that enhance access to financial capital (e.g., direct financing, matching grants, tax rebates, or rewarding firms that innovate creatively and intensely). Likewise, since environmental dynamism is likely to be a growing issue for emerging markets, efforts to help firms become more adept at keeping up with more agile developed market counterparts are needed.
Prior research has posited that product attributes are primary drivers of success that a firm must consider to develop a competitive advantage. Two product attributes, originality and usefulness, have been identified in the literature as significant dimensions of new product success. Customer demands differ, and more purchase intentions toward a new product depend on how consumers connect the product attributes to their own individual characteristics. Studying motivated consumer innovativeness as a personality trait may improve our understanding of the motivations for adopting innovations; however, questions remain regarding whether the effects of originality and usefulness on consumers' intentions to adopt are different when levels of these attributes are matching or dissimilar and what the relationship is between these effects and motivated consumer innovativeness. This study seeks to empirically investigate these effects and their relations by collecting data from 560 potential consumers in China. This paper uses hierarchical regression analysis to test hypotheses in four product domains as representative of higher or lower levels of usefulness and originality. The research shows that new product originality affects consumers' intentions to adopt new products only if it matches the level of new product usefulness. The results also reveal that motivated consumer innovativeness has a positive moderating role on the relationship between new product originality and consumers' new product adoption intentions when both attributes are at a lower level. The theoretical and practical implications for new product development and marketing communications are discussed.
Adoption literature has been dominated by a novelty-seeking paradigm, whereas resistance to innovation has received considerably less attention as a means to explain and predict adoption-related behaviour. The lack of a good metric to assess consumers’ predisposition to resist innovations has prevented the establishment of a common ground for empirical research and thus hampered progress to date. This article develops and empirically validates a scale to measure individual differences in consumers’ predisposition to resist innovations (hereafter, passive innovation resistance, or PIR). The proposed instrument entails a personality-specific and situation-specific measure that assesses individual differences in consumers’ predisposition to resist innovations, emerging from their inclination to resist changes and exhibit status quo satisfaction. The scale represents a measure of the generic tendency to resist innovations and thus captures the notion of a general disposition to act in a consistent way in various situations.
The results of multiple studies show that the PIR scale has good psychometric properties, and its relationships with other constructs conform to theoretical expectations. Furthermore, the PIR scale explains and predicts adoption-related behaviours beyond the variance accounted for by traditionally investigated constructs such as innate innovativeness, big-five personality dimensions or demographic variables. These results clearly reveal the importance of PIR for determining adoption-related behaviour but contest a conceptualisation of constructs that tap only novelty seeking at a high level as the direct antecedent of adoption. Research that attempts to explain and predict adoption-related behaviour can benefit from taking a resistance perspective as well.
Innovation literature reports high failure rates for innovations, ranging from 50% to 90%. Hence, most new products fail as they are rejected by consumers due to their resistance to innovation, indicating that innovations remain a critical challenge for managers. In order to expand our current knowledge of consumers' new product adoption behaviour, we propose to consider the concepts of passive and active innovation resistance. Within a large scaled empirical study, we show that passive innovation resistance evolves from an individual's resistance to change disposition and status quo satisfaction, while active innovation resistance is primarily driven by product-specific barriers. Our results indicate that both passive and active innovation resistance represent strong inhibitors within new product evaluation, significantly reducing consumers' intention to adopt new products.
Adoption literature is largely subject to a pro-change bias; researchers mainly assume that consumers are open to change and thus interested in evaluating new products. However, consumers often reject innovations without considering their potential, such that the adoption process ends before it really has begun. The present study instead argues that innovation resistance, prior to product evaluation, is a regular consumer response that must be recognized and managed to facilitate new product adoption. The authors suggest differentiating passive from active innovation resistance. While passive innovation resistance results from a consumer's generic predisposition to resist innovations prior to new product evaluation, active innovation resistance is an attitudinal outcome that follows an unfavorable new product evaluation. This study also extends extant innovation decision models by describing how passive and active innovation resistance emerge and how they affect decision-making in later stages of the process.
Development of alternative fuels and engines in the automotive sector is a requirement for building a sustainable energy policy. However, private consumers' acceptance of technological alternatives to internal combustion engines is still minimal. This study has two objectives. Based on theoretical and empirical findings, this study examines risk-related adoption barriers and their impact upon innovation resistance to sustainable solutions in the automotive sector. In the next step, a cluster analysis leads to various groups of private drivers with reference to the risk dimensions as perceived by consumers in the context of a possible purchase of an NGV. The paper concludes with research and managerial implications as opportunities to address and overcome risk-related adoption barriers and individual consumer's innovation resistance.
Purpose
To investigate consumer innovativeness (CI) from a hierarchical perspective and examine the simultaneous impacts of hierarchical perspective of CI and perceived risk on new product adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
An extended innovativeness and perceived risk model was developed. A structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses using empirical data from 746 respondents in a high technology product context.
Findings
The results provide support for the hierarchical perspective of CI; domain specific CI mediates the relationship between global CI and new product adoption. Specifically, cognitive and domain‐specific innovativeness enhances the actual adoption of new products; whereas sensory innovativeness and perceived social and physical risks enhance consumers' propensity to acquire novel information about new products. Financial risk, on the other hand, has a negative impact on the propensity to acquire novel information about new products. Time, performance, psychological, and network externalities risks show no significant relations with the tendency to acquire novel information about new products.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide an explanation to the less than consistent relationship between consumer innovativeness and new product adoption. However, a single research context of high tech consumer goods may be a limitation and future studies need to replicate this hierarchical perspective of CI as a predictor of new product adoption in different research contexts for greater generalizability.
Practical implications
The findings of the study provide some guidelines to marketers on how to increase the new product commercialization success. Marketers should tap into the cognitive and domain‐specific innovativeness to enhance the new product adoption. The sensory part of CI and perceived social and physical risks have implications for the promotion and communication aspects of new product marketing.
Originality/value
Provides new insights about consumer innovativeness trait as a useful predictor of new product adoption.
This article provides a commentary on Arndt, Solomon, Kasser, and Sheldon's (2004) article on terror management theory and materialism. We focus our response on the two key linkages in their article: (a) the link between death anxiety and materialism and (b) the link between materialism and well-being. Based on our own research, as well as concepts and findings from other scholars across a broad domain of disciplines, we offer a set of ideas and questions in regard to both linkages. In addition, we point to the changing nature of materialism and the implications that these changes hold for consumer psychologists.
Though a commitment to innovation is the key to successful growth, the level of uncertainty involved and the concomitant risk deter companies from committing themselves totally to its implementation. Contributing to managers’ reluctance to face innovation are an ignorance and fear of what exactly it represents. This article lists ingredients of and directions for successful innovation, which can lead to real competitive advantage if followed correctly. However, senior management must assimilate the message fully before it can possible cascade down the organisation.
Research on innovation adoption focuses on voluntary adoption, although non-voluntary or prompted adoption decisions are prevalent in real life, especially for high-tech products and services. This study aims to investigate the effect of social influence on consumers' innovation adoption in the context of prompted adoption. In particular, the present paper models the duration of voluntary adoption as a function of social norms, attractiveness of the prompter, number of prompters, and so on. Prior knowledge is not only a control variable, but also a moderating variable for a few social factors. This paper validates models relying on the illustrative application of a mobile gift service called Gifticon. The results provide much insight for marketing practitioners on how to accelerate consumers' adoption behavior and therefore the diffusion of innovative products.
This article reports the development and validation of a 10-item international Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) in English. A qualitative study (N = 18) and then an exploratory quantitative study (N = 407), each using informants from a range of cultural backgrounds, were used to identify systematically which 10 of the original 20 PANAS items to retain or remove. A same-sample retest study (N = 163) was used in an initial examination of the new 10-item international PANAS's psychometric properties and to assess its correlation with the full, 20-item, original PANAS. In a series of further validation studies (N = 1,789), the cross-sample stability, internal reliability, temporal stability, cross-cultural factorial invariance, and convergent and criterion-related validities of the I-PANAS-SF were examined and found to be psychometrically acceptable.
Many studies emphasize the importance of government support in technology development. However, this study is among the first to provide empirical findings of the relevance of government roles for the performance of technology development projects. Based on earlier research and the strategic management literature, a theoretical model and hypotheses are developed to study the relevance of government roles and project teams’ strategic behavior for technology development projects. Our results show that government championship is an important positive factor for the performance of technology development projects. Government championing behavior overcomes regulatory barriers, enthusiastically promotes the technology’s advantages, and gets key decision makers involved. As such, government championship has more impact than government financial/technical assistance on both project performance and benefits to customers. The findings also show that both the proactiveness and defensiveness dimensions of project teams’ strategic behavior contribute positively to project performance and benefits to customers. The paper concludes with implications for practice: From a policy perspective, government should extend its technology policies by taking on the role as a champion, while companies should invest in building professional relations with champions in government.
Discusses five barriers to new product adoption by older people.
Offers marketing solutions to these barriers: sell value, communicate
through children, segment the elderly market, design intergenerational
products, utilize relationship marketing and promote product trial.
Concludes that marketing innovations to the elderly is different than
for other age groups, with a requirement to focus specifically on need,
not newness.
Nostalgia (i.e., individuals' yearning for the past) has become an increasingly popular theme with advertisers and marketers. Nonetheless, little academic research has attempted to determine whether nostalgia has a positive influence on consumers. The current study addresses this situation in the context of advertising by examining whether nostalgic reactions to an advertisement affect attitudes toward the advertisement (Aad), brand attitudes (Ab) and likelihood of purchase (Lpur). The results provide support for the hypothesized relationships between ad-evoked nostalgia and consumers' responses. Further tests of the data indicated that nostalgia's effects are mediated by attitudinal (Aad and/or Ab) variables. Practical and theoretical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.
This article presents terror management theory (TMT) as a way to understand how the human awareness of death affects materialism, conspicuous consumption, and consumer decisions. The pursuit of wealth and culturally desired commodities are hypothesized to reinforce those beliefs that function to protect people from existential anxieties. Following a brief overview of TMT and research, evidence is reviewed that explicates how intimations of mortality increase materialism as a way to enhance self-esteem and affects consumer decisions that support one's cultural worldview. Adverse consequences of materialistic and consumeristic worldviews are described and the challenges for future research to discover ways to alleviate them are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)