Consumer electronics acceptance based on innovation attributes and switching costs: The case of e-book readers

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Abstract

The predictors of innovative consumer electronics product acceptance range from technology to economic factors. Prior studies assume direct effects from these predictors on acceptance behavior. We study e-book readers as an illustrative technology. We contend that consumers’ perceived innovative attributes (relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity) directly affect their acceptance behavior, and also influence their behavior via their perception of the costs (procedural, financial, and relational switching costs). Our findings reveal that complexity is a key antecedent to switching costs. The empirical results also suggest the full or partial mediating role of procedural and relational switching costs between the innovative attributes and the use of e-book readers. Financial switching costs, however, are not influential for the use of e-book readers.

Highlights

► We examine user acceptance of innovative consumer electronics products. ► Innovation attributes affect acceptance directly and indirectly via switching costs. ► Product complexity is a key antecedent to switching costs. ► Procedural and relational switching costs affect consumer acceptance of e-book readers. ► Financial switching costs are not important in e-book reader acceptance.

Introduction

The booming development of innovative consumer electronics products such as smart phones, flat panel notebooks, and e-book readers in recent years has drawn considerable research attention to the development of user acceptance models (van Rijnsoever et al., 2009, Venkatesh et al., 2003, Weber and Kauffman, 2011). One rich vein of innovation research builds on Rogers’ (2003) innovation diffusion theory. It contends that several innovation attributes – relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity – influence the adoption of an innovation (Rijsdijk and Hultink 2009). Another prominent research stream, however, relies on the technology acceptance paradigm (Venkatesh et al. 2003). It suggests that factors such as performance and effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions determine user acceptance of a technology (Zhou et al. 2010).

Simply attributing an individual’s enduring acceptance behavior to the aforementioned factors appears tautological. The acceptance of innovative consumer electronics products is multi-faceted, involving potential switching behaviors and many context-specific aspects arising from the differences in motivation, the role of the user, and the nature of the enabling technology. Individuals who adopt and use innovative consumer electronics products may consider themselves as both a technology user and a consumer. As a technology user, the individual is likely to consider the effectiveness and usefulness of the technology essential to his/her acceptance behavior (Rogers, 2003, Venkatesh et al., 2003). As a consumer, the potential user may evaluate the service provided by the system based on its benefits and costs, due to switching or adoption, before he/she makes the acceptance decision (Burnham et al., 2003, Kim et al., 2007).

The predictors of innovative consumer electronics products acceptance range from technological elements (Verhoef and Langerak 2001) to economical factors (Chen and Hitt 2002). Nonetheless, extant studies mostly assume these predictors’ direct effects on acceptance behaviors and neglect the potential mediating conditions (Bansal and Taylor, 1999, Plouffe et al., 2001). While some researchers affirm that a peculiar set of technological elements together with other marketing factors alter consumers’ switching cost perception, thereby affecting their acceptance behaviors (Burnham et al. 2003), this research avenue has received insufficient attention. As Rubin (1994) suggested, the acceptance of media or technologies is complex and deserves careful attention to the mediating conditions. In addressing the above deficiency in the literature, we chose the e-book reader as an illustrative technology. We draw on Rogers’s (2003) innovation diffusion theory. We postulate that consumers’ perceived innovative attributes not only directly affect their acceptance behavior, but also influence behavior via their perception of the switching costs.

This study contributes to existing innovation theories by substantiating that the effect of Rogers’s (2003) innovation attributes on consumer acceptance of a target technology that operates directly and indirectly through consumer impressions of switching costs. The present study fills the research gap by examining innovation acceptance according to switching costs and investigating their antecedents based on theoretical parsimony. Such knowledge also helps marketers in predicting the acceptance of their technology-based offerings and formulating their product-positioning strategies.

Section snippets

Consumer switching costs

A number of researchers have adopted the term “switching costs” to investigate the aspects of losing existing benefits or incurred extra efforts when accepting a new product or service (Burnham et al. 2003). Consumers reckon that switching from one service provider to another is analogous to adopting and using a new service: they engage in a similar process of selecting and accepting the new service provider (Keaveney and Parthasarathy 2001). Intrinsically, switching costs arise as a result of

Data collection and sample

Data were collected from consumers who started to use e-book readers over the last three months in Taiwan. We obtained a list of e-book reader purchasers from consumer electronics products retailers and randomly selected and contacted these customers by phone. We first explained the purpose of this study and the confidentiality of the responses. Once the informants demonstrated their willingness to participate, they were asked to complete the first questionnaire pertaining to questions of

Analysis and results

We analyzed our data using AMOS (Version 7.0), following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach: a measurement model and a subsequent structural model. We first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood to estimate the measurement model by verifying the underlying structure of constructs. As Table 3 shows, the level of internal consistency in each construct is acceptable, with Cronbach’s alpha estimates ranging from .83 to .90 (Nunnally and Bernstein 1994).

Theoretical and managerial implications

Considering the burgeoning development of innovative consumer electronics products and their business potential, abundant research investigates the factors affecting the acceptance of these products. Nonetheless, innovation diffusion research needs to be updated by exploring potential facilitators in view of the complexity of acceptance behavior. We have presented a framework based on innovation diffusion theory and switching cost typology to predict consumer acceptance of e-book readers.

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge and are grateful for the research assistance of Yi-Jiun Chen in data collection and analysis.

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      Burnham et al. [43] classified switching costs as procedural, financial, and relational costs. Procedural switching costs include the expenditure of time and effort in adopting or switching to a new service, product or technology, whereas the financial switching costs and the relational switching costs represent economic and psychological costs associated with the process of switching [17,44]. Following the line of thinking outlined previously [45], only procedural and financial switching costs were considered as appropriate types of switching costs in the context of this study.

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