Reluctance to use technology‐related products: Development of a technophobia scale

Many consumers feel overloaded by the complexity of technology‐related products. This renders consumers less open to them and may even lead to an aversion or anxiety toward these kind of products: in other words, so‐called technophobia. This article aims to establish an instrument that measures technophobia. Following a literature review and in‐depth interviews with experts, a scale is developed and tested in seven different countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, India, Mexico, and Austria; total sample size = 1,503 respondents). The three underlying dimensions of the scale—“Personal Failure,” “Human vs. Machine Ambiguity,” and “Convenience”—are discussed, and future research avenues to strengthen the cross‐national usability of the scale are identified. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.