Incorporating Network Externalities into the Technology Acceptance Model*

Research on network externalities has identified a number of product categories in which the market performance of an innovation (e.g., unit sales and revenues) is an increasing function of that innovation's installed base and the availability of complementary products. Innovation scholars have attributed these findings to the positive impact of network externality variables on consumer perceptions of innovation attributes. This paper provides the first empirical examination of these perceptual linkages by extending the Technology Acceptance Model to include consumer perceptions of network externality variables. The authors hypothesize that, when direct and indirect network externalities exist, consumer purchase intentions and consumer perceptions of an innovation's usefulness and ease of use will positively reflect perceptions of installed base size and the availability of complementary products. To test this reasoning, the authors developed new measures of consumer perceptions of network externality variables. These measures were incorporated into a survey that explored the attitudes in Japan of potential adopters toward digital music (DM) players at an early stage in the product life cycle. Findings reveal a direct positive relationship between ease of use and the perceived availability of digital music. The authors also find positive and significant relationships between both purchase intention and perceived usefulness and (1) the perceived size of the DM player installed base and (2) the perceived availability of digital music. An application of the Baron‐Kenny test for mediating variables reveals that (1) ease of use partially mediates the relationship between the perceived availability of digital music and perceived usefulness and (2) perceived usefulness partially mediates the relationship between the perceived availability of digital music and purchase intention. The research has important implications for future research on new product adoption and for the management of innovations that involve network externalities. The conceptual model provides a framework for testing alternative explanations of observed variations in the impact of network externalities within and across product categories. The empirical analysis provides guidance for managers who wish to manage the impact of network externalities on adoption. In addition to stimulating the size of the installed base and the variety of complementary products, executives must also manage consumer awareness of network externality variables and consumer understanding of the relationship between those variables and innovation attributes. Finally, traditional adoption models link consumer adoption decisions to perceptions of innovation attributes. The findings provided here imply that predictive accuracy of these models can be improved by including consumer perceptions of network externality variables.     

Using Product Bundling to Facilitate the Adoption Process of Radical Innovations*

Generally, radical innovations are not easily adopted in the market. Potential adopters experience difficulties to comprehend and evaluate radical innovations due to their newness in terms of technology and benefits offered. Consequently, adoption intentions may remain low. This paper proposes bundling as an instrument to address these problems. More specifically, this paper examines how consumer comprehension, evaluation, and adoption intention of radical innovations may be enhanced by bundling such products with existing products. In addition, it is argued that the proposed effects are contingent upon the level of fit perceived to exist between the radical innovation and the product that accompanies it in the bundle. Furthermore, consumers' prior knowledge may affect the influence of bundling on the innovation adoption process as the interpretation of the meaning of new products may be strongly related to prior knowledge. This study therefore investigates whether consumer prior knowledge has such a moderating effect. Hypotheses are tested by means of an experimental study with three different radical innovations and distinguishing among offering the radical innovation separately, offering the radical innovation in a bundle with moderate perceived fit between the products, and offering the radical innovation in a bundle with high perceived fit between the products. Results show that product bundling enhances the new product's evaluation and adoption intention, although it does not increase comprehension of the radical innovation. Moreover, the results show that comprehension, evaluation and adoption intention of the innovation significantly decrease when consumers perceive a moderate fit between the products in a bundle. Taken together, these findings contribute to the bundling literature by showing not only that product bundling may indeed be an effective instrument to introduce a radical innovation but also that product bundling may be counterproductive when ignoring the critical role of perceived product fit as core characteristic of a product bundle. In addition, the notion that product bundling helps to enhance the evaluation and purchase intention of new and relatively complex products suggests a suitable strategy for new product managers to enhance benefits and reduce learning costs for radical innovations. Moreover, the effects of bundling on consumer appraisals of radical innovations are also shown to depend on the level of knowledge respondents possess regarding the product category of the radical innovation. More specifically, if bundled with a familiar product, novices tend to evaluate the innovative product more positively, but for experts no such effect can be detected. As such, these results provide additional specific implications for managers when introducing radical innovations in the market. Offering a radical innovation in a product bundle could be a fruitful strategy for companies that target customers with little or no prior knowledge in the product domain.     

Being Innovative While Being Green: An Experimental Inquiry into How Consumers Respond to Eco‐Innovative Product Designs

Eco‐innovations are an effective way for companies to strategically align themselves with customers’ growing environmental concerns. Despite their crucial role, scant research has focused on eco‐innovative product designs. Drawing from the sustainability and innovation literature, this article proposes that in the design of an eco‐innovation, its degree of innovativeness, level of eco‐friendliness, and detachability significantly affect consumers' adoption intentions. This article develops various conceptual models tested through three independent online experiments with U.S. consumers. The findings support the hypotheses and provide useful insights into the underlying mechanisms of how and why consumers respond to eco‐innovative product designs across various high‐tech product categories. Specifically, the results show (1) a positive effect of innovativeness degrees of eco‐innovative attributes on consumers' perceptions of product eco‐friendliness and on their adoption intentions as well as a significant moderating role of consumers' need for cognition (Study 1); (2) a positive influence of eco‐friendliness levels of eco‐innovative attributes on consumer adoption intentions in the case of high‐complexity products but not for low‐complexity products, emphasizing the need to adopt different approaches when developing eco‐innovations to ensure favorable consumer reactions (Study 2); and (3) a significant impact of the detachability of eco‐innovative attributes on consumers' perceptions of trade‐offs between environmental benefits and product functionality and on their intentions to adopt eco‐innovations (Study 3). These findings add to existing theoretical knowledge, provide actionable managerial implications, and identify fruitful avenues for future research.     

Consumer Response to Product Form in Technology‐Based Industries

Product design is a key driver of competitive advantage and new product success. Relative to its importance, product design remains an underresearched area. The authors address this issue by examining the moderating effects of consumer innovativeness and design acumen on consumer response to product form—i.e., the product's visual appearance. Using subjects from the United Kingdom, these effects were tested with a technology‐based product that is expected to be introduced to market in the near future. A technological innovation was chosen because such products are often characterized by an accelerating pace of innovation and shortening life cycles. In such contexts, the product's visual appearance is often critical to success because it drives inferences about the technical capabilities and functional novelty. Our findings indicate that for more innovative consumers, an innovative product form can further enhance perceived value, product liking, and purchase intention. Furthermore, for consumers who possess more design acumen, an innovative product form can increase perceived value and product liking. An innovative product form was not found to enhance purchase intention for consumers with higher levels of design acumen. A primary implication of the study is to consider target market characteristics such as consumer innovativeness and design acumen when selecting a product form strategy. Additional implications include involving consumer innovators in the development and evaluation of product forms and involving consumers with greater design acumen early in the product's introduction so that they may influence other buyers.     

The Effect of Personal and Virtual Word‐of‐Mouth on Technology Acceptance

This paper extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to incorporate the impact of personal and virtual word‐of‐mouth (pWOM and vWOM). The authors hypothesize that both types of word‐of‐mouth will be positively related with consumer perceptions of innovation usefulness and perceived ease of use. In addition, the authors examine two competing hypotheses regarding the relative impact of pWOM and vWOM on perceptions of innovation attributes. One hypothesis argues that potential adopters place more weight on pWOM sources because they perceive relatively more similarity between themselves and pWOM sources. The alternative hypothesis argues that potential adopters place more weight on vWOM sources because those sources (relative to pWOM sources) expose potential adopters to a wider variety of information and a larger number of experts. Finally, the authors argue that symbolic product usage will enhance the relationship between word‐of‐mouth and consumer perceptions of innovation attributes. These hypotheses are tested using data collected in Japan from over 600 potential adopters of Blu‐ray DVD recorders and smart phones. Findings indicate that, in both product categories, pWOM and vWOM are positively and significantly related with perceived ease of use. Moreover, in both samples pWOM is positively and significantly related with perceived usefulness, while vWOM is significantly related with perceived usefulness only in the smart phone sample. With regard to the relative impact of pWOM and vWOM on perceptions of innovation attributes, results indicate that vWOM has a larger impact on potential adopter perceptions of ease of use. Finally, the estimated model provides support for the hypothesis that symbolic consumption increases the impact of word‐of‐mouth on perceptions of innovation attributes. In particular, findings indicate that the impact of pWOM on perceptions of innovation usefulness is higher among potential adopters of smart phones than among potential adopters of Blu‐ray DVD recorders. Similarly, the impact of vWOM on perceptions of ease of use is higher among potential smart phone adopters than among potential adopters of Blu‐ray DVD recorders.     

The Role of Suppliers in Market Intelligence Gathering for Radical and Incremental Innovation*

Drawing on transaction cost economics theory, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) Does supplier involvement in market intelligence gathering activities have a greater impact on innovation success in predesign or commercialization activities? and (2) Does supplier involvement in market intelligence gathering activities have a greater impact on success in radical or incremental product innovation? Hypotheses are tested using both subjective and objective measures of success from a study of 205 incremental and 110 radical new product development projects. Results from the estimation of a two‐group path model suggest that this theoretical framework is useful in providing guidance as to when product developers should emphasize the gathering of market intelligence through suppliers. Consistent with conventional wisdom, the findings suggest that supplier involvement in market intelligence gathering activities are positively related to success in incremental innovations across predesign and commercialization activities. However, supplier involvement in market intelligence gathering activities is found to have no significant impact on market share and is negatively associated with perceived product performance in radical innovations in predesign tasks. Also, while there was no significant difference in market share for supplier involvement in market intelligence gathering activities between radical and incremental innovation in commercialization activities, supplier involvement in these activities did have a greater impact on perceived product performance in radical innovation than it did in incremental innovation. Although current practice suggests that teams allocate fewer resources to the gathering of market intelligence through their suppliers during predesign activities in incremental innovation projects compared with radical innovation projects, the findings in this study suggest that they should do the opposite. Shifting resources allocated for engaging suppliers in market information gathering activities in predesign activities from radical innovation projects to incremental innovation projects could increase the return on these investments. Alternatively, these resources currently allocated to the gathering of market intelligence through suppliers in predesign activities of radical innovation projects could also provide greater benefits if allocated to commercialization activities of radical innovation projects, where they have the greatest positive impact.     

The Role of Product Originality,Usefulness and Motivated Consumer Innovativeness in New Product Adoption Intentions

Prior research has posited that product attributes are primary drivers of success that a firm must consider to develop a competitive advantage. Two product attributes, originality and usefulness, have been identified in the literature as significant dimensions of new product success. Customer demands differ, and more purchase intentions toward a new product depend on how consumers connect the product attributes to their own individual characteristics. Studying motivated consumer innovativeness as a personality trait may improve our understanding of the motivations for adopting innovations; however, questions remain regarding whether the effects of originality and usefulness on consumers' intentions to adopt are different when levels of these attributes are matching or dissimilar and what the relationship is between these effects and motivated consumer innovativeness. This study seeks to empirically investigate these effects and their relations by collecting data from 560 potential consumers in China. This paper uses hierarchical regression analysis to test hypotheses in four product domains as representative of higher or lower levels of usefulness and originality. The research shows that new product originality affects consumers' intentions to adopt new products only if it matches the level of new product usefulness. The results also reveal that motivated consumer innovativeness has a positive moderating role on the relationship between new product originality and consumers' new product adoption intentions when both attributes are at a lower level. The theoretical and practical implications for new product development and marketing communications are discussed.     

Seeking the Ideal Level of Design Newness: Consumer Response to Radical and Incremental Product Design

To develop successful new products, new product development managers need to have a thorough understanding of the consumer adoption process, specifically in how consumers evaluate new products. This research examines the value of product design for consumers' evaluation of radical and incremental innovations. The primary goal was to empirically test how design newness affects consumer response to product innovations. Design newness (also referred to as novelty or atypicality) is defined as the deviation in a product design from the current design state of a certain product category. Although prior research has suggested that higher levels of design newness may have a positive effect on consumers' evaluations of new products, higher levels of design newness may also have negative consequences for consumer response to radical innovations. An experimental context (n = 130) using systematically designed products for three product categories was used to test how consumers respond to high and low levels of design newness for both radical and incremental innovations. The findings show that for radical innovations, embodying the product in a design with a low (versus high) level of design newness led to more positive evaluations and less learning‐cost inferences. Because the functional attributes of a radical innovation are incongruent to existing products, consumers find it difficult to access the relevant product category schema in order to transfer knowledge to the new product. Because of this poor knowledge transfer, consumers may feel that they lack the ability to make effective use of the radical innovation, resulting in greater learning costs. In this case, a product design with a low level of design newness can provide consumers with a frame of reference for understanding the radical innovation. Contrasting this result, no difference was found between a low and a high level of design newness for incremental innovations. For incremental innovations, by definition the functional attributes characteristic to the innovation are highly comparable with those products that are already stored in consumers' memory. Thus, there is no need for an additional reconfirmation of the preexisting schema through product design, and consumers are able to access the relevant schema regardless of the level of design newness inherent in the product. These findings are integrated into a discussion of the managerial implications and the potential avenues for future research.     

企业社会责任行为与消费者响应——消费者个人特征和价格信号的调节

本文从捐助慈善事业、保护环境以及善待员工三个层次,对企业承担社会责任行为与我国消费者响应的关系进行了实证研究。数据分析结果表明,三个层次的企业社会责任行为对消费者购买意向和产品质量感知均有显著影响。本文发现,企业社会责任行为与消费者响应之间的复杂关系,既受到消费者个人特征(如消费者是否支持企业社会责任行为(CSR-support))的影响,也受到产品自身特征(如价格信号)的影响。另外,本文也发现消费者对不同层次的企业社会责任行为的响应存在差别。     

A Manager's Perspective on Virtual Customer Integration for New Product Development

Despite the high potential of virtual customer integration (VCI) methods for new product development (NPD) mentioned in the literature, practical use is still limited. This paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of managers’ perspectives on VCI and their intentions to use these methods for NPD. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) served as basis for developing a research model, which considers managers’ cognition, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as important factors affecting their intention to apply VCI. Because more recent literature has expressed doubts about the explanatory potential of the rather simple TPB model, a more complex alternative model was proposed for comparison. The alternative model included the market orientation of the company, the hierarchical position of the innovation manager as well as the manager's level of innovativeness as additional explanatory variables. An empirical online study was conducted in the field of consumer goods and services. Based on a sample of 216 German‐speaking innovation managers, the results show that the model derived from the TPB explains 68% of the variance in the managers’ intention to apply VCI compared with 69% of variance explained by the model containing additional explanatory variables. An extension of the model does not significantly improve its explanatory power. Managers show high interest in virtually integrating customers in NPD processes. Managers consider identification of future customer needs, a broader decision basis, increased efficiency in gathering and use of customer information, and increased customer retention as major advantages of VCI. Disadvantages considered by managers in making their overall judgment are the lack of secrecy and only incremental innovations. The perceived potential contribution of VCI to NPD, the assessment of its general acceptance within the company, and the perceived ability of innovation managers to successfully implement VCI mainly influence the adoption decision. Managers’ attitudes toward VCI have no significant influence on their intention to use VCI. The results suggest that strong promotion of VCI through senior management would enforce the positive effect of subjective norms on applying VCI. Measures such as including VCI on innovation managers’ personal scorecard, trainings offered, and cross‐functional meetings could help speed up VCI in NPD processes by increasing innovation managers’ perceived behavioral control toward VCI.     

Purchase Intentions and the Dimensions of Innovation: An Exploratory Model

The ultimate success of new product R&D depends as much on customer acceptance as on technological breakthroughs. In this article, Susan Holak and Donald Lehmann focus on customer acceptance by exploring the manner in which the general attributes of Rogers (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility and communicability) plus perceived risk combine to form the intention to buy an innovation. Results demonstrate a causal structure among these attributes and lead to various implications for R&D guidelines and product design.     

Package Graphic Design: Investigating the Variables that Moderate Consumer Response to Atypical Designs

Designers and marketing managers often agree that visual codes, in terms of product and package design, typify certain product categories. These “category‐based visual codes” refer to the formal and graphic characteristics most frequently seen in a given category, like specific shapes, colors, materials, typefaces, layouts, and illustrations. Given that the concept of “category‐based visual codes” seems to be connected with the concepts of “perceived typicality,” “cognitive categories,” “family resemblance,” and “design newness,” this research examines the impact of typicality/atypicality judgments regarding the visual appearance of a product on consumers' aesthetic appreciation and purchase intent. Several studies have sought to determine the relationships among design perceived typicality, aesthetic appreciation, and purchase intent. However, the literature indicates contradictory results. While some studies have shown a preference for the most typical design, others have demonstrated that consumers prefer moderately atypical design. This paper offers an explanation for this discrepancy by providing evidence that the relationships among design perceived typicality, aesthetic appreciation, and purchase intent are a case of moderated mediation. An empirical study using wine labels was conducted with 780 respondents. The results indicate that the relationships among perceived typicality, aesthetic appreciation, and purchase intent are linear and positive, although several individual variables have a moderating effect. Thus, it appears that certain consumer segments are more likely to appreciate atypical packages. Moreover, the level of perceived risk at the time of purchase also plays an essential role. Consumers are more apt to accept atypical packaging when the perceived risk is low. Several theoretical and managerial implications are drawn from these results.     

Customer‐Perceived Positioning Effectiveness: Conceptualization,Operationalization, and Implications for New Product Managers

An extensive body of literature documents that positioning is a central success factor for the launch and overall performance of new products in the marketplace. Under certain circumstances, however, the measurement of positioning success can be problematic. Specifically, the application of attribute‐based measurement methods, which are frequently used in practice for this purpose, is subject to limitations in certain situations. For example, these methods can be problematic in product categories where products are evaluated as a whole or where they even lack attributes that create valuable differentiation. Their application can also be difficult in product markets in which the importance of product attributes is constantly shifting or in a cross‐national context where the importance of various attributes is likely to differ across countries. This paper introduces a new approach for measuring positioning effectiveness that helps overcome some key limitations of extant approaches and serves as a support tool for positioning‐related decisions. Positioning effectiveness is modeled as a customer‐based multidimensional construct capturing conceptually relevant dimensions of positioning success (namely dissimilarity, uniqueness, favorability, and credibility) at the holistic product level rather than the individual attribute level. Altogether seven studies show that the proposed positioning effectiveness measure is reliable, valid, and viable to be used across various types of branded products and distinct product categories. The results of the studies indicate the measure's ability to successfully predict important consumer behavior variables such as overall superiority or purchase intentions and demonstrate superior predictive performance compared with common attribute‐based approaches. The recognition of the relevance of different dimensions of positioning effectiveness should also enable new product managers to detect strengths and weaknesses of a product's current positioning, and thus serve as a tool to develop more effective product strategies. The general nature of the measurement instrument makes it particularly suitable for application in (1) longitudinal product‐tracking studies; (2) cross‐national studies involving comparisons of positioning effectiveness between products in different countries; (3) product categories characterized by technological turbulence (and hence attribute instability); and (4) studies aimed at comparing the positioning effectiveness of different products in a portfolio. Boundary conditions for the application of the measure and potential areas for further study are finally considered.     

How Today's Consumers Perceive Tomorrow's Smart Products*

This paper investigates consumer responses to new smart products. Due to the application of information technology, smart products are able to collect, process, and produce information and can be described as “thinking” for themselves. In this study, 184 consumers respond to smart products that are characterized by two different combinations of smartness dimensions. One group of products shows the smartness dimensions of autonomy, adaptability, and reactivity. Another group of smart products are multifunctional and able to cooperate with other products. Consumer responses to these smart products are measured in terms of the innovation attributes of relative advantage, compatibility, observability, complexity, and perceived risk. The study shows that products with higher levels of smartness are perceived to have both advantages and disadvantages. Higher levels of product smartness are mainly associated with higher levels of observability and perceived risk. The effects of product smartness on relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity vary across product smartness dimensions and across product categories. For example, higher levels of product autonomy are perceived as increasingly advantageous whereas a high level of multifunctionality is perceived disadvantageous. The paper discusses the advantages and pitfalls for each of the five product smartness dimensions and their implications for new product development and concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.     

Individual antecedents to consumer intention to switch to food waste bioplastic products: A configuration analysis

Food waste management remains a significant economic and sustainability problem and is being actively addressed by scholars, governments, and organizations around the world. Bioplastics, which are biodegradable plastics derived from food waste, are a recent innovation that might contribute to managing this waste in a more sustainable manner. Unfortunately, many of today's consumers are not necessarily ready to consider such alternatives. Consumer switching to sustainable products is a tenuous topic, as consumers often value other product attributes (i.e., cost, quality, and associated prestige) more than their sustainability attributes (i.e., fewer natural resources expended, lower carbon footprints, and end-of-life recoverability). A greater understanding of consumers' intention to switch to bioplastic products provides opportunities for firms to develop state-of-the-art, profitable, and sustainable food systems. Considering the complex set of inter-relationships surrounding consumer involvement in sustainable innovations and associated supply chain strategy, this research leverages complexity theory and a qualitative comparative analysis research approach to uncover eight different, yet equifinal, configurations of antecedents that motivate consumer intention to switch from new plastic products to equivalent products made from bioplastics.     

A Study of the Attitude toward Convergent Products: A Focus on the Consumer Perception of Functionalities

The convergent product is an increasingly important phenomenon in the marketplace. The convergent product allows the developer to include more and more diverse functionalities into their products, which can satisfy a broad range of consumer needs. However, failures of convergent products arouse the need to understand its functionalities, and the optimal combination of functionalities and their relationships to attitude and purchase intention. In addition, because convergent product has the potential to offer more diverse functionality, we consider if this will have impacts on instrumental and emotional needs fulfillment and attitude and purchase intention. Additionally, consumer innovativeness was examined to ascertain if there were differences among consumers on their classification of the functionalities, or if it will moderate functional diversity, needs fulfillment, and product attitude. Using the Kano model, this study examined the nature of these relationships by examining the functionalities of a smartphone. Overall, our results show that the convergent products that include functionalities from two of the three categories of the Kano model, must‐have and attractive, were rated more positively. Consumer innovativeness differences were found. Consumers with high innovativeness considered must‐have and one‐dimensional functionalities the most important, and consumers with low innovativeness considered all three important, although one‐dimensional functionalities were considered significantly less important. Although increasing functional diversity positively raises product attitude and purchase intention, it tends to raise emotional needs fulfillment only once instrumental needs have been met, especially for respondents showing low innovativeness. The findings should arouse interest about factors that should not be overlooked when developing new convergent products.     

Study on the influencing of B2B parasocial relationship on repeat purchase intention in the online purchasing environment: An empirical study of B2B E-commerce platform

With the meteoric progress of digital technology and the advent of network economy, there has been increasing interest in the business model of purchasing with B2B network among B2B e-commerce platforms and customer firms. Based on the perspective of parasocial relationship and dual-process theory, this study constructs a model of cognitive and emotional influences on customer firms' behavior, and analyzes the influence of features of entrepreneur endorser and online purchasing platform on B2B parasocial relationship, and how this relationship can affect repeat purchase intention. Furthermore, this paper examines the moderating effect of trust in the relationship between B2B parasocial relationship and repeat purchase intention. Findings indicate that perceived interactivity and trustworthiness of entrepreneur endorser and the service and product quality of online purchasing platform have a positive impact on B2B parasocial relationship. B2B parasocial relationship has a significant and positive impact on repeat purchase intention, while trust moderates the relationship between B2B parasocial relationship and repeat purchase intention.     

Enhancing Concept Test Validity by Using Expert Consumers

In standard concept testing practice, consumers may be invited to participate in a test if they use or possess the product. However, merely using or possessing a product is no guarantee that a consumer has the level of product knowledge that is necessary for judging the concept. Conducting a concept test with consumers who lack the necessary product knowledge may jeopardize the validity of the test results. That is, the results of such a concept test may not accurately indicate how consumers will evaluate the real product. To ensure the validity of concept test results, Jan Schoormans, Roland Ortt, and Cees de Bont suggest that consumers who are invited to participate in a concept test should possess a degree of product knowledge. When a consumer is asked to evaluate a concept, their product expertise allows them to understand product information faster, fill in missing information, and learn more easily. Consumers with product expertise are better able to discriminate between important and unimportant aspects of a product. They are also better able to infer benefits from a product's physical attributes. To explore the effects of consumer expertise on the quality of the evaluations provided by concept tests, the authors conducted two experiments, both of which resemble actual concept tests. The first experiment examines the effect of consumer expertise on the results of a concept test for a major innovation, Videotext. This experiment tests the hypothesis that the similarity between the evaluations of a concept and an actual product will be greater for consumers with a high level of product-category expertise than for consumers with low product-category expertise. The results of the experiment clearly support the idea that product-category expertise enhances a respondent's ability to evaluate concepts in a test of major innovations. From this, it is concluded that only respondents with high product-category expertise should be used for concept tests of major innovations. The second experiment explores the effects of product expertise on consumers' evaluations of a minor innovation, a redesigned coffee maker. This experiment tests two hypotheses. First, it is proposed that consumers with high product expertise give more consistent evaluations in a concept test than consumers with low product expertise. Second, it is suggested that consumers with product expertise generate more stable evaluations over time than consumers without product expertise. The results of this experiment clearly indicate that using consumers with moderate to high levels of product expertise is beneficial to the validity of the results from concept tests of minor innovations.     

Modeling the factors affecting rural consumers’ purchase of organic and free-range produce: A case study of consumers’ from the Island of Arran in Scotland,UK

This paper investigates the roles of personal, product related and economic factors in predicting rural consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards organic and free-range produce. A conceptual model is derived and tested via structural equation modeling on a sample of 222 rural consumers. The results show that attitude is explained by consumers’ food safety concern, ethical lifestyle and price perceptions. Attitude partially mediates the effects of ethical lifestyle and price on intention to purchase organic produce as well as the effect of ethical lifestyle on intention to purchase free-range produce. Attitude assumes a more central role in fully mediating the effect of food safety concern on intention to purchase organic produce, as well as the effect of price on intention to purchase free-range produce. Overall the conceptual model of consumer decision making performs well in both organic and free-range contexts yielding similar results.     

Genetically modified food labeling: The impacts of message and messenger on consumer perceptions of labels and products

We analyze responses to a survey designed to elicit consumer reaction to various approaches to labeling genetically modified (GM) foods. Consumers were shown sample labels that differed with respect to claims concerning the presence and potential effects of GM ingredients and the agency that certified these claims. A sample of 1898 US consumers rated 3681 labels with regard to the credibility and adequacy of the information content, with regard to perceived health and environmental impacts of the product and with regard to purchase intent. Simple claims that a product contains GM ingredients are viewed as most credible while simple claims of no GM content are viewed as most adequate. Label claims certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are, in general, viewed as most credible and adequate and products with FDA certified claims are perceived to have fewer long-term health problems. Several practical policy implications of the results are discussed, including how different label messages may impact consumer reactions in markets involving GM products.