No abstract

According to industry research, the automation of vehicles promises a revolution in traffic safety, mobility, and quality of life. However, the success of such vehicles depends on their acceptance. This study investigates the influence of trust in technology, concerns of giving up control, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, the personality factor innovativeness, and the enjoyment of driving a car on the a priori intention to adopt an autonomous vehicle. By means of an online survey with 369 German participants, our study shows that trust in the technology and the concern about handing over control to a machine go hand in hand as respondents' cognitive and affective perception of this innovation. Moreover, perceived usefulness represents an influential factor, while the enjoyment of driving a car is a barrier to the technology's acceptance. Innovators represent a promising target for campaigns, as they are more likely to adopt an autonomous vehicle.

Transformational value offerings result when marketers bundle products, services, and experiences in ways that provide consumers with opportunities to alter who they are. Examples include universities, healthcare providers, travel and leisure services, and many other businesses that guide individuals to change in some desired and lasting way. Pine and Gilmore (1999) predict that in the emerging economy “…transformation offerings will emerge across almost every industry that today views itself as part of the service sector” (p. 168). By definition, transformational value offerings involve identity development. Thus, it makes sense to use identity related variables to explain transformational value offering choices. This paper tests a model merging social identity theory and multi‐attribute attitude modeling to better understand factors predicting consumers' intentions to select a transformational value offering. A survey sample of United States Army Reserve recruits was used to test the integrated model. Results show that identity‐related perceptions form the basis for evaluating the value offering's benefits and intentions to adopt the offering. The prospective consumer also considers whether his or her self‐concept can accommodate that role. The proposed blending of social identity and multiattribute attitude models provides a promising framework for understanding and investigating consumers' choices to adopt transformational value offerings. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract