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2. Theoretical background1) InnovativenessSome people often tend be distinctive in following the latest trends and fashions. They apparently lead others in adopting new ideas or objects while the rest of members in a society or group are ignorant or hesitant to accept them. This clearly shows that there are variations in people's attempts to stay ahead in the realm of adopting new products or services. The concept of innovativeness, therefore, is central to theories that have been postulated to predict the adoption of new products. Rogers(1983) defined innovativeness as the degree to which an individual is relatively earlier in adopting an innovation than other members of a social system." This is, however, an operational definition, which becomes less helpful to understand an individual's adoption behavior. Midgley & Dowling(1978) indicated that this earlier definition is a tautology because individuals are innovative if they are innovative. Since then, the concept has been moved toward a higher level of abstraction, resulting in the differentiation between the trait of innovativeness and adoption behaviors. It has been viewed as a latent underlying propensity to approach novel experiences, whether they are ideas, goods, or services. We, therefore, conceptualize consumer innovativeness as the predisposition to purchase new and different products and brands in comparison to the previous choices(Steenkamp, Hofstede, & Wedel, 1999). Consumer innovativeness has also been shifted from a uni-dimensional construct to a multi-dimensional one. Venkatraman & Price(1990), for example, posited that innovativeness is comprised of cognitive and sensory components. These types were introduced mostly on the basis of categories of motives and modes of information processing. Cognitive innovativeness refers to the preference for engaging in a sense of meaning via logical thinking while sensory innovativeness represents the need of feeling states to be satisfied through visual and holistic information processing. This typology inherently appeals to researchers in that innovators can be segmented in more details along the two dimensions. Nevertheless, it has not been widely utilized and we raise the following problems as potential explanations to the lack of popularity. First, when most of attempts to classify a concept into cognitive and affective components such as involvement, they tend to confound the paths of information processing with its types. Though the dimensions were suggested as potential determinants of a concerned dependent variable in most cases, they became self-evident to predict the modes of information processing. This results in the lack of parsimony of a proposed hypothesis or theory. Second, if research focuses on developing marketing strategies as a general framework, it might be helpful to make use of these categorization. For the types can be applied to the variety of products. However, most of research are interested in finding the causal relationship, choosing one type of product. Henceforth, it does not need to categorize the types. These aforementioned reasons make this study to explore the innovativeness concept in a different approach. Though a recent attempt to determine the antecedents of consumer innovativeness in cross national settings treated the concept as unidimensional(Steenkamp, Hofstede, & Wedel, 1999), this paper proposes that this concept can be better understood from the following aspects. The innovativeness is partly rooted in novelty seeking literature(Hirschman, 1980; Raju, 1980; Venkatraman & Price, 1990). Novelty seeking, like innovativeness, suggests that consumers are not homogeneous in terms of a tendency seeking novel objects. Why are consumers venturesome? Hirschmann(1980) presents three possible explanations: (1) to search for novel stimuli inherently, (2) to create a bank of potentially useful knowledge and experience, & (3) to improve problem-solving skills. Regardless of sources of engaging in novelty seeking, this behavior at least contains two aspects. One aspect is more reactive in that consumes rotate their choices from previous purchases to reduce boredom or fatigue. Another aspect is relatively proactive, seeking thrilling and adventurous activities to fulfill innate curiosity. Psychologists have also suggested that these exploratory tendencies are related to a person's need for stimulation. There are individual differences in the amount of stimulation considered optimal and people with higher optimal stimulation levels(OSL) engage in exploratory behaviors such as drinking alcohol, using drugs, seeking variety in sexual experience, gambling, attending movies, and exhibiting innovative behaviors(Zuckerman, 1979). OSL is different from innovativeness because the former deals with the desire for sensations or arousal while the latter focuses on the motivation to advance in accepting or taking new ideas or behaviors. The concept of OSL, however, supports the notion of innovativeness in that it reflects a consumer's tendency to seek sensory stimulation in product purchase through innovative product choices. Likewise, Sensation Seeking Scale was developed to tap into the personal trait of exploration(Baumgartner and Steenkamp, 1994). The 40 items included the following four factors: (1) thrill and adventure seeking through physically risky activities, (2) experience seeking through a nonconforming lifestyle, (3) disinhibition via social and sex stimulation, (4) boredom susceptibility. This suggests that the component of risk taking cannot be ignored in shedding light on the concept of innovativeness since the product purchase, regardless of new or routine, entails risks. Overall, this review suggests that innovativeness entails multi-dimensional characteristics.
2) Communication effectsThe relationship between innovativeness and adoption behavior is mediated by various product-related and situational factors, resulting in diverse approaches. For example, the likelihood of adoption of a new product depends on the products nature(Rogers, 1983): (1) relative advantage, (2) compatibility, (3) simplicity, (4) observability, & (5) trialability. Frequently purchased packaged goods, however, neither necessarily entail in-depth information seeking nor central route to persuasion. This suggests that the effects of perceived features of a new product may be contingent upon the type of products or level of involvement. Since this study uses a cola, a relatively low level of involvement, the perceived features of a new product will not moderate the impact of a new feature on brand choice(cf. Nowlis and Simonson, 1996). This paper, therefore, limits its attention to the situational factors. This parsimonious approach may be more fruitful than covering all relevant factors. These factors, however, could also range from a specific brand related dimension to an industry dimension. The adoption has been studied by examining the influence of external consumption or purchase environment. The choice context, for instance, could influence the desire for seeking variety in brand choice(Menon & Kahn, 1995). Some of the studies even explore the determinants of new product successes in macro terms(Song & Parry, 1997). In contrast to these studies, this study focuses on communication factors as primary external factors to influence consumersadoption. The reason why communications are chosen as major determinants are presented as follows. First, consumers are directly surrounded by these communication generated environments. Their perceived reality through these communications have immediate impacts on their choice behaviors. Second, the effects of these communication activities have been found to be strong influentials of subsequent responses such as brand awareness and purchase behavior. Nevertheless, they have been mostly validated in foreign market circumstances or in Korean experimental studies. The data, supporting the empirical validity of these effects, have rarely been reported in Korean context. Thus, it becomes essential to confirm the effects of communication in a field study. The increasing importance of all marketing communications can be put in better perspective if we look at its costs. Ad spending was 4912 billion won whereas sales promotion reached 722 billion won in 2000(Cheil, 2001. 3). The ratio of advertising and sales promotion is 6.8 to 1, which is quite opposite to that of the United States. In Korea, sales promotions such as contests or sweepstakes did not take place to any significant degree until recently. In addition, about 70% of advertising spending is dominated by television and newspapers. When the product being advertised is the low level of involvement such as carbonated beverage and is targeted toward teens, the favorite medium would be television. Advertising effects can be classified into intermediate effects on consumer cognition, affect, which relate to purchase behavior(Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999). The mostly cited paths leading to brand choice are brand awareness and brand attitude(Aaker, 1991). One of major research streams in advertising effects is the mere exposure theory, supporting the notion that the main role of advertising is to make the brand being exposed to consumers. The repetitive exposure will eventually lead the consumers to prefer and adopt the product(Batra, Myers, and Aaker, 2001; Zajonc, 2000). When the product is a kind of low involvement, a minimum repetition is enough to attract consumers to try the product. Another research stream can be found in attitude toward the ad. The concept has been introduced to explain the effects of advertising in 1980s. When Mitchell & Olson(1981) formulated it as additional determinant of brand attitude, they conceptualized it as a uni-dimensional construct, an overall evaluation of advertising. Since then, the concept has been expanded to encompass various antecedents, including affective and cognitive responses to ad(Edell & Burke, 1987; Madden, Allen, and Twible, 1988). The accumulated research such as Brown & Stayman(1992) clearly indicates that attitude toward the ad contributes positively to the formation of brand attitude. Interpersonal influences like word-of-mouth are also operative in the adoption process. Consumers learn about new products from their friends and other reference groups. In the earlier studies of diffusion, it has been found that mass media was effective in disseminating the innovative ideas, enhancing the level of awareness and knowledge whereas the interpersonal channel was required to induce the persuasive effects such as attitude or behavioral change(Rogers, 1983). Two step theory, for instance, was proposed to reinforce the importance of human communication in accepting new behaviors. It described that the innovative ideas were transmitted to the mass audiences through opinion leaders. In public communication campaigns, acquiring accessible and credible personal agents was one of major tasks to be accomplished in creating the desired change. Family planning program in the third world countries was one of such examples to represent the effects of interpersonal communication(Rice & Paisley, 1981). Valente and Saba(1998), for instance, found that mass media and personal network exposure were associated reproductive behavioral change in Bolivia. The influence of human communication equally applies to the business section. Word of mouth communication(hereafter WOM) exert a strong influence in shaping consumers' attitudes and behaviors. The evidence has been found in purchasing household goods and food products(Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955), in adopting automotive diagnostic center(Engel, Blackwell, & Kegerreis, 1969), & in referring piano teachers(Brown and Reingen, 1987). Recently, Money, Gilly, & Graham(1998) examined the effects of WOM in exploring the referral behavior of the United States and Japan for industrial services such as advertising, banking, and accounting. Theoretical background for WOM is based on the following notions(Brown & Reingen, 1987): (1) a consumer is in social relations with individuals ranging from strong to weak ties, (2) the level of ties are related to the transfer of information, the information seeking, or perceived influence. Though in an experimental context, Herr, Kadres, & Kim(1991) found the greater impact of WOM on product judgment relative to printed information. Overall, nearly 80 percent of all purchases can be traced to word-of-mouth influence(Assael, 1995). Specifically, adolescents who strive to be independent from their parents, become more dependent upon their peers(Moschis & Moore, 1979). and are generally considered to be most influenced as they are still learning to behave in society attend to schools for a certain number of years, they experience social pressure to conform to group norm or try certain product categories. The conformity predisposition, defined as restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others(Schwartz & Bardi, 2001), is dominant among the teen age groups. Its orientation will contribute to the adoption. Exposures to these communications will increase brand awareness, which eventually lead to the adoption of a new product. |
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