Consumer innovativeness and perceived risk: implications for high technology product adoption

Abstract

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.