Consumer adoption of technological innovations
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2011) |
Consumer adoption of technological innovations is the
In the context of technological innovations, the adoption process is also influenced by one or several
Paradox of Technology
Donald Norman in his book, The Design of Everyday Things, outlines the idea of "Paradox of Technology". Norman's paradox states that when a new functionality is added to a technology, it also increases its complexity. Thus, a technology intended to make life easier by providing more functionality, also makes it more complex by making things harder to learn. A good design must reduce the difficulties in use of the ever-growing technology.[1]
Information and communications technologies such as Facebook experienced this phenomenon when they released the News Feed functionality to all users. The new groundbreaking feature was met with mass upheaval with only one in 100 messages about News Feed being positive.[citation needed] Now, News Feed is an essential feature of Facebook which users today would be outraged if removed.
Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic interactionism, the concept that people act toward things based on the meaning they have for them; and these meanings are derived from social interaction and modified though interpretation), plays a key in role in the consumer adoption of technological innovations. People have personal meanings for certain aspects of the technology; when these technologies are changed or modified it can greatly affect how the user interacts with the technology.
A good example of this concept is the controversial removal of the
Social influences
When a new technology is introduced a user evaluates if the perceived benefits (functionality, aesthetics etc.) outweigh any negative social nuances it may introduce. New technology not only changes the way that the user interacts with it, but often also asks users to embrace new behaviors.[3] However, as our technologies are increasingly becoming more mobile, these new behaviors frequently take place in a public location and become an integral part of a user's social appearance.[4]
It is often the case that every new technology introduces public discomfort. While the first handheld cellular phone was developed in 1973, it was not until the early 2000s that they technology became truly ubiquitous. While a part of the slow growth of cellular phones can be attributed to its design, another big part was the technology being considered esoteric by many.
Sandra Vannoy and Prashant Palvia developed a theoretical model called the "Social Influence Model" that investigates technology adoption at a societal or communal level.[5] They postulate that social influence consists of four overlapping phenomenon:
- Social Computing Action: actions performed through use of technology such as Web browsers and cell phones.
- Social Computing Consensus: agreement from all people that it is right to carry out the action.
- Social Computing Cooperation: participating in a way that is in the best interests of the group.
- Social Computing Authority: recognizing that the authority imposed by the group supersedes traditional authority.
Technology adoption is typically measured on two factors: embedment and embracement in daily life.[6] Social influence deals with the embedment of technology. Embedment in daily life is evaluated by examining how other members of the society present in the same environment utilize the technology, and how the technology is perceived by these members.
Existing functionality and existing interface
These innovations are incremental in nature since they offer an existing functionality and an existing interface; however, they are usually characterized by esthetic changes that affect the product's appearance. Smart phones, for example, are usually black or silver when first introduced into the market but are available in multiple colors several months later.
Existing functionality and new interface
These innovations provide benefits available by existing products but result in a new set of actions for the consumer. Voice recognition software is one example of this type of innovation. Consumers create documents or emails, for example, by dictating (instead of typing) to a computer.
New functionality and existing interface
These innovations do not change consumer interaction with a device; they offer, however, a new functionality. Multi-mode cellphones, for example, operate in more than one frequency and enable roaming between different countries.
New functionality and new interface
Impact of privacy concerns
As technologies have improved in the past years privacy has become a major concern among consumers because the data revolution and
References
- ^ Norman, Donald A. "The Design of Everyday Things."
- ^ Wilson, Mark. "Did Microsoft get it wrong with the Start button in Windows 8.1? (opinion) Written by Mark Wilson on October 21, 2013, 09:28AM." Microsoft news and more. 21 Oct. 2013. WinBeta. 01 May 2014 <http://www.winbeta.org/news/did-microsoft-get-it-wrong-start-button-windows-81-opinion Archived 2014-05-02 at the Wayback Machine>.
- ^ Rico J, Brewster S. Gestures all around us: user differences in social acceptability perceptions of gesture based interfaces. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services 2009 Sep 15 (p. 64). ACM.
- ^ Rico J, Brewster S. Usable gestures for mobile interfaces: evaluating social acceptability. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2010 Apr 10 (pp. 887-896). ACM.
- ^ Vannoy SA, Palvia P. The social influence model of technology adoption. Communications of the ACM. 2010 Jun 1;53(6):149-53.
- ^ Baron S, Patterson A, Harris K. Beyond technology acceptance: understanding consumer practice. International Journal of Service Industry Management. 2006 Mar 1;17(2):111-35.
- ^ Solove, Daniel J., Understanding Privacy. Daniel J. Solove, UNDERSTANDING PRIVACY, Harvard University Press, May 2008; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 420; GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 420. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1127888
- ^ Eli Pariser. 2011. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You. Penguin Group, The.