“Why Don't You Just Adopt?”

Abstract

This article introduces two theoretical perspectives on users' creative appropriations of new products which underline that product adoption goes beyond the moment of buying a product. It points out that successful and sustainable product adoption arises from enabling users' concrete action to creatively adopt and integrate a product into existing or emergent practices. Within the discipline of design, users' everyday life has been acknowledged to be full of hacks and workarounds. Everyday life has been recognized as a highly variable and complex unit of analysis which, according to some sociologists, gets continuously shaped and re-shaped by materials, images and skills within the boundary of what is called ‘a practice'. This paper will elaborate on two perspectives – design in-use and practice theory – to articulate an extended view on product adoption that could take into account the dynamics and the relevance of users' creative efforts in their everyday lives. It will suggest some guidelines for innovation managers, product developers and others who deal with issues related to product adoption.