Global consumer innovativeness and consumer electronic product adoption

Purpose - Despite the importance of the diffusion of new products, there is not yet a single scale to measure consumer innovativeness and new product adoption behavior efficiently and effectively across countries. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between consumer innate innovativeness, vicarious innovativeness, domain specific innovativeness, the desire for unique consumer products, and the adoption of consumer electronic products across three countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Australia, China, and Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected through a survey in Melbourne, Australia, Shanghai, China and Taipei, Taiwan. The conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings - This study finds that domain specific innovativeness primarily influences the adoption of such products across the three countries. The study further suggests that vicarious innovativeness affects Australians new product adoption behavior. In contrast, the desire for unique consumer products is a predictor of new product adoption for customers with a Chinese cultural background. Surprisingly, the authors find that consumer innate innovativeness has a negative effect on vicarious innovativeness. Research limitations/implications - This study provides further insights into relationships between consumer innovativeness measures. Practical implications - This study enhances marketers capabilities to develop various launching strategies in different countries and providing further insights into relationships between consumer innovativeness measures. Originality/value - This study highlights the importance of relationships among various types of consumer innovativeness in order to expand our understanding of relationships and approaches to measure innovativeness and adoption.