Smart clothing is believed to have an enormous growth potential, but at present, it is not so attractive in terms of sales. This study identified various obstacles affecting consumers’ interest in smart clothing. Interviews were conducted with consumers who are resistant to innovation, those who would continue to use their phones and wearable devices of which safety and functionality have already been proven but reject smart clothing. Availability, which refers to the extent to which consumers can use a product or service, is also a significant factor influencing the innovation resistance of smart clothing. It was also observed that consumers reject smart clothing as an act of resisting innovation; many stated that they would not buy smart clothing unless a trustable brand produces it with appropriate functions and lower prices. Some people said that they refuse to purchase smart clothing due to aesthetic dissatisfaction despite the improved quality and performance. These results indicate that manufacturers should consider what functionality or technology would be appropriate to incorporate in clothing while ensuring fashionable styles and availability in many sizes.
Despite positive expectations from different organizations, smart clothing has not spread to the public. This study surveyed 320 adults to identify multiple obstacles arising from the adoption of smart clothing. As a result, perceived risks and unavailability of smart clothes, which are innovative products, have increased innovation resistance to smart clothes. On the other hand, smart clothing improvement expectations have been shown to lower innovation resistance to smart clothing. This suggests that interest and goodwill in a particular technology or function have significant impact on consumers’ willingness to accept it. Next, we validated the moderating effect of consumer characteristics in the relationship between innovative characteristics of smart clothing and innovation resistance. As a result, consumers’ fashion innovativeness has been shown to play a role in strengthening innovation resistance to smart clothing that is affordable. It can be inferred that the more fashion-conscious consumers are, the more burdened they are to continue to purchase relatively expensive smart clothes as the trend changes. In conclusion, to spread smart clothing, it is necessary to decrease the consumers’ perceived risk and improve the performance, durability, and availability of smart clothing.
Despite the positive outlook of various organizations on the prevalence of eco-friendly cars, Korea’s electric vehicle market is small, and growth is slow. To identify factors that hinder consumer awareness and the spread of eco-friendly vehicles, news articles and online postings on eco-friendly vehicles from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2020 were collected and analyzed using text mining techniques. This study found that Korean consumers thought hybrid vehicles were fuel-efficient and quiet; however, there were concerns about battery life and safety due to poor battery performance and complaints about battery replacement. Nevertheless, consumers thought electric cars were sophisticated, luxurious, youthful, clean, and that technical problems would be resolved in the future. The inconveniences of charging and short-distance driving, the expenses and the lack of various dispute settlement measures have been shown to lower the intention to purchase electric vehicles.
Despite recent significant advances in technology and medicine, the number of patients who undergo amputation of body parts for various reasons continues to increase. Assistive devices such as prosthetic arms can enable limited activities in upper limb amputees and improve their quality of life. This study aims to help in the development of user-centered prosthetics by identifying user requirements and key considerations during selection of prosthetics. This study conducted a questionnaire survey after obtaining prior consent for persons with disabilities with upper limb amputation who visited orthosis companies, rehabilitation centers for the disabled, veteran’s hospitals, and labor welfare corporations. A modified questionnaire was conducted to upper limb prosthetic users and results were analysed using descriptive statistics and t-test. Results of the study showed that the main reasons for discontinuing the use of prosthetics were discomfort (discomfort in wear, weight, and difficulty of detachment) and complaints regarding design and function. Regardless of the prosthesis type, the color and design of the prosthesis were key considerations in prosthesis choices. Respondents indicated that they needed various prostheses designed according to the purpose and situation, such as for sports like golf and cycling as well as everyday use. Most of the respondents answered that buttoning shirts, tying knots, and using chopsticks were challenging or impossible to do on their own. Based on the results of this study, the quality of life of upper limb amputees can be improved if a prosthetic arm with various functions that can satisfy both the user’s needs and wants is developed.
language (Version 3) was used for algorithm development. CONCOR analysis and network visualization were conducted using UCINET for Windows (Borgatti et al., 2002). ResultsThe number of publications per year grew exponentially with the highest number of publications (n=114) in 2020 and the USA was the most productive country (n=63). Keyword frequency analysis showed that research has been most active in the area of consumer ( 408) usage (375) and design/development (86) of products (143) and services(259), especially in the context of chatbot (67) and robots (75). This finding is corroborated by the results of the network analysis. An examination of closeness centrality, which identifies central words in the network (i.e., core keywords that relate to all other words in the network), revealed that keywords such as 'chatbot,' 'robot,' 'fashion,' 'device,' and 'algorithm' were of high importance. Together, it can be concluded that a large proportion of research has been on the development of algorithms of chatbots and robots to facilitate consumer purchase of fashion products. The importance of keywords in the overall network of themes was examined through betweenness centrality of a node, the number of times the node is included in the shortest paths of any pair of nodes in the keyword network (Radhakrishnan et al., 2017). The most diagnostic keyword among the top 30 keywords was "social". Further examinations of the literature revealed that social was an important word in service/product development and in the innovation acceptance process of consumers. Phrases such as 'social-robot,' 'social-service,' 'social-oriented,' and 'social-role,' reveal that the development of AI-enabled services/products with social functions is actively progressing. In addition, through words such as 'social-consideration,' 'social-perception,' 'social-influence,' and 'social-contextual,' it was found that social is an important factor when AI-related products or services are evaluated by consumers. Then, CONCOR analysis was conducted to reveal concurrently appearing words because this technique can reveal hidden subgroups and the semantic structure of text (Breiger et al., 1975). Four themes emerged from the analysis: 'System development & application,' 'Perception of robots,' 'Role of AI,' and 'Healthcare.' The greatest number of articles on AI dealt with the system development and application. Popular keywords ('machine-learning,' 'management,' 'algorithm,' 'system,' 'application,' 'design') suggest that attention has been given to the development of AI-based systems and applications. Another notable topic was consumer perception of robots and chatbots ('social', 'robot', 'trust', 'chatbot', 'perceived.'), suggesting the research interests in the level of consumer trust in AI. Meanwhile, words such as 'consumer,' 'market,' 'service,' 'marketing,' 'role, ' 'retail,' 'fashion,' and 'IoT,' indicate that research on the diverse role of AI creates another stream of research. Lastly, the heightened anticipation and excitement for AI-enab...
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