Consumer Innovation Adoption Stages and Determinants

Abstract

Existing research on innovation adoption is divided into two main streams: organizational innovation adoption and individual (consumer) innovation adoption. Proponents of both perspectives approach the topic in a variety of ways. Contrary to the organizational adoption, research on the consumer adoption investigates the determinants of adoption/non-adoption without considering the innovation-decision as a process. Particularly, for high involvement innovations that require efforts in terms of cost, money, and resources to switch to a new routine and behavior, innovation adoption as a multi-stage process is most relevant. In line with Rogers' (2003) multi-stage individual adoption process, this study aims to first explore the existence of distinct stages of innovation adoption and then identify the different determinants of each stage of adoption. To address both research questions, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique were used. Data was collected from individuals using two different online surveys on smartwatch and alternative engine cars (AECs). Data from the first survey was used to extract factors using EFA. The results confirmed the existence of five distinct stages: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. Based on these results, data from the second online survey was used to identify the predictors of each stage. Different determinants in terms of perceived innovation characteristics of AECs were analyzed using a structural model. In line with temporal distance theories and loss aversion theory, the findings show that perceived benefits of an innovation explain variation in persuasion stage, while perceived losses impact implementation stage. Decision and confirmation stages on the other hand are less explained. The study contributes by confirming the existence of distinct stages of consumer adoption of high involvement innovations and developing a framework which not only determines the direction but also the strength of the relationships between different determinants and adoption stages.