Entrenched Knowledge Structures and Consumer Response to New Products

Abstract

Although diffusion models have been successfully used to predict the adoption patterns of new products and technologies, little research has examined the psychological processes underlying the individual consumer's adoption decision. This research uses the knowledge transfer paradigm, studied often in the context of analogies, to demonstrate that both existing knowledge and innovation continuity are major factors influencing the consumer's adoption process. In two experiments, the authors demonstrate that the relationship between expertise and adoption is relatively complex. Specifically, their findings indicate that, compared with novices, experts report higher comprehension, more net benefits, and therefore higher preferences for continuous innovations. However, for discontinuous innovations, experts' entrenched knowledge is related to lower comprehension, fewer perceived net benefits, and lower preferences compared with that of novices. Only when this entrenched knowledge is accompanied by relevant information from a supplementary knowledge base are experts able to understand and appreciate discontinuous innovations. These findings have implications for segmentation, media planning, and the creation of product/brand loyalty.

Consumer knowledge of functional foods

“…Objective knowledge is a measure of how much factual knowledge a consumer has about a particular topic, and entails knowledge about products, their attributes, and linkages between differing product attributes and their relationship to performance (Moreau, Lehmann and Markman 2001).…”

Adopter segments, adoption determinants and mobile marketing

“…Other important issues to keep in mind when approaching this early majority will be their pricesensitivity (1,5) and their worries about the technological compatibility (30,13): they are less interested in the application if it implies investing in a new mobile device, and they would like the application to be part of a ' larger extensive application package ' .…”

“…Also, the look / feel ( tangibles ) (24,15) and cost (1,5,22) of the device / service should not be neglected when targeting this specifi c segment. As this segment has a limited product knowledge (19) of mobile television, they certainly also need additional information.…”

“…1 indicate in the abovementioned quote: effi cient targeting ( ' it is critical to target innovation-prone consumers effectively ' ) will be key to tackle that challenge. The high penetration rates of ' personal ' mobile devices may be a valuable asset to do that, but the main prerequisite to make that targeting more effi cient is an accurate identifi cation of those consumers ( ' it will be critical to identify innovation-prone consumers ' ) and an accurate insight into their ' attitudinal ' adoption determinants ( ' a clear understanding of the factors affecting consumers ' adoption processes ' ).…”

Psychological Factors and Reference Potential of Market Mavens

“…Consumer knowledge is an important construct in understanding consumer behavior (Brucks 1985;Rao and Sieben 1992;Moreau 2001). Knowledge in the primary base domain is used to learn about and to develop a representation of the new product.…”