Consumer adoption of technological innovations

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Consumer adoption of technological innovations is the process consumers use to determine whether or not to adopt an innovation. This process is influenced by consumer characteristics, such as personality traits and demographic or socioeconomic factors, the characteristics of the new product, such as its relative advantage and complexity, and social influences, such as opinion leaders.

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In the context of technological innovations, the adoption process is also influenced by one or several new technologies that are incorporated in the new product. New technologies are likely to significantly affect the innovation's functionality or interface. Functionality refers to the set of potential benefits that a product can provide the consumer. Interface refers here to the specific means by which a consumer interacts with a product to obtain a particular functionality. Specifically, new technologies suggest four types of innovations with unique characteristics that are likely to affect the adoption process. Alternatively it can be looked at as a Paradox of Technology.

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 Start Menu from Microsoft's Windows 8. A major reason this was so controversial is this concept of symbolic internationalism. Critique Mark Wilson writes, "I grew up on Windows 3.1 and the introduction of the Start button/menu in Windows 95 was a revelation. Windows 8 was a step in the wrong direction." [2] Similar critiques and reactions was a major issue and Microsoft even brought it back the next release of Windows. Many including Microsoft will argue the start menu was dated and that the newer metro start screen is an improvement upon the start menu but that is still up to debate and preference.

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:

  1. Social Computing Action: actions performed through use of technology such as Web browsers and cell phones.
  2. Social Computing Consensus: agreement from all people that it is right to carry out the action.
  3. Social Computing Cooperation: participating in a way that is in the best interests of the group.
  4. 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

Car GPS navigation systems, for example, fall under this category. These products provide the consumer with novel functionality, such as door-to-door navigation and real-time traffic information. The novel interface implies a new set of actions for using the device, such as using a touch-screen and voice recognition interfaces. Innovations that incorporate a novel interface require significant learning cost from the consumer since they imply learning a new set of tasks. High learning cost is likely to hinder the adoption of such innovations, unless the functionality provided is new and provides significant benefits to the consumer. Furthermore, innovations incorporating a novel interface often result in fear of technological complexity leading to feelings of ineptitude and frustration. Conversely, innovations that provide the consumer with a new functionality are characterized by a high relative advantage, which is likely to facilitate adoption.

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 Big Data. Technological innovations more recently have seriously been affected by these concerns and changes how people interact with these new technologies. Privacy is a very broad concept, it is very hard to define in simple manners and is still a controversial subject, and because of this confusion, consumers reject many innovations or unknowingly give their personal data to third parties. Daniel J. Solove is an expert in the topic of Privacy and in his recent book Understanding Privacy he lays out the problems and frameworks of privacy in the era of technology and the data revolution. [7] Another good example is Eli Pariser's concept of The Filter Bubble that he lays out in his book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. [8] Innovations like personalized search from Google are very controversial mainly because most consumers have no idea that it is even occurring.

Related Research Articles

Graphical user interface User interface allowing interaction through graphical icons and visual indicators

The graphical user interface is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, instead of text-based user interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard.

Pointing device gesture

In computing, a pointing device gesture or mouse gesture is a way of combining pointing device or finger movements and clicks that the software recognizes as a specific computer event and responds to accordingly. They can be useful for people who have difficulties typing on a keyboard. For example, in a web browser, a user can navigate to the previously viewed page by pressing the right pointing device button, moving the pointing device briefly to the left, then releasing the button.

Wearable computer Small computing devices worn with clothing

A wearable computer, also known as a wearable or body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body.

Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Beyond the digital aspect, interaction design is also useful when creating physical (non-digital) products, exploring how a user might interact with it. Common topics of interaction design include design, human–computer interaction, and software development. While interaction design has an interest in form, its main area of focus rests on behavior. Rather than analyzing how things are, interaction design synthesizes and imagines things as they could be. This element of interaction design is what characterizes IxD as a design field as opposed to a science or engineering field.

WIMP (computing)

In human–computer interaction, WIMP stands for "windows, icons, menus, pointer", denoting a style of interaction using these elements of the user interface. Other expansions are sometimes used, such as substituting "mouse" and "mice" for menus, or "pull-down menu" and "pointing" for pointer.

Social computing is an area of computer science that is concerned with the intersection of social behavior and computational systems. It is based on creating or recreating social conventions and social contexts through the use of software and technology. Thus, blogs, email, instant messaging, social network services, wikis, social bookmarking and other instances of what is often called social software illustrate ideas from social computing.

Interactive media

Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio.

Tangible user interface

A tangible user interface (TUI) is a user interface in which a person interacts with digital information through the physical environment. The initial name was Graspable User Interface, which is no longer used. The purpose of TUI development is to empower collaboration, learning, and design by giving physical forms to digital information, thus taking advantage of the human ability to grasp and manipulate physical objects and materials.

Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) is an application programming interface (API) for user interface accessibility. MSAA was introduced as a platform add-on to Microsoft Windows 95 in 1997. MSAA is designed to help Assistive Technology (AT) products interact with standard and custom user interface (UI) elements of an application, as well as to access, identify, and manipulate an application's UI elements. AT products work with MSAA enabled applications in order to provide better access for individuals who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments, or disabilities. Some examples of AT products are screen readers for users with limited sight, on screen keyboards for users with limited physical access, or narrators for users with limited hearing. MSAA can also be used for automated testing tools, and computer-based training applications.

A voice-user interface (VUI) makes spoken human interaction with computers possible, using speech recognition to understand spoken commands and answer questions, and typically text to speech to play a reply. A voice command device (VCD) is a device controlled with a voice user interface.

In artificial intelligence, an embodied agent, also sometimes referred to as an interface agent, is an intelligent agent that interacts with the environment through a physical body within that environment. Agents that are represented graphically with a body, for example a human or a cartoon animal, are also called embodied agents, although they have only virtual, not physical, embodiment. A branch of artificial intelligence focuses on empowering such agents to interact autonomously with human beings and the environment. Mobile robots are one example of physically embodied agents; Ananova and Microsoft Agent are examples of graphically embodied agents. Embodied conversational agents are embodied agents that are capable of engaging in conversation with one another and with humans employing the same verbal and nonverbal means that humans do.

Paul Dourish British-American computer scientist

Paul Dourish is a computer scientist best known for his work and research at the intersection of computer science and social science. Born in Scotland, he is a professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, where he joined the faculty in 2000, and where he directs the Steckler Center for Responsible, Ethical, and Accessible Technology. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the British Computer Society, and winner of the CSCW 2016 "Lasting Impact" award. Dourish has published three books and over 100 scientific articles, and holds 19 US patents.

Multi-touch Technology

In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface to recognize the presence of more than one point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CERN, MIT, University of Toronto, Carnegie Mellon University and Bell Labs in the 1970s. CERN started using multi-touch screens as early as 1976 for the controls of the Super Proton Synchrotron. Capacitive multi-touch displays were popularized by Apple's iPhone in 2007. Plural-point awareness may be used to implement additional functionality, such as pinch to zoom or to activate certain subroutines attached to predefined gestures.

Organic user interface

In human–computer interaction, an organic user interface (OUI) is defined as a user interface with a non-flat display. After Engelbart and Sutherland's graphical user interface (GUI), which was based on the cathode ray tube (CRT), and Kay and Weiser's ubiquitous computing, which is based on the flat panel liquid-crystal display (LCD), OUI represents one possible third wave of display interaction paradigms, pertaining to multi-shaped and flexible displays. In an OUI, the display surface is always the focus of interaction, and may actively or passively change shape upon analog inputs. These inputs are provided through direct physical gestures, rather than through indirect point-and-click control. Note that the term "Organic" in OUI was derived from organic architecture, referring to the adoption of natural form to design a better fit with human ecology. The term also alludes to the use of organic electronics for this purpose.

In computing, a natural user interface, or NUI, or natural interface is a user interface that is effectively invisible, and remains invisible as the user continuously learns increasingly complex interactions. The word "natural" is used because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices whose operation has to be learned. Examples include voice assistants, such as Alexa and Siri, touch and multitouch interactions on today's mobile phones and tablets, but also touch interfaces invisiblly integrated into the textiles furnitures.

Mobile interaction

Mobile interaction is the study of interaction between mobile users and computers. Mobile interaction is an aspect of human–computer interaction that emerged when computers became small enough to enable mobile usage, around the 1990s.

Human–computer interaction Academic discipline studying the relationship between computer systems and their users

Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design technologies that allow humans to interact with computers in novel ways.

DiamondTouch Multiple person interface device

The DiamondTouch table is a multi-touch, interactive PC interface product from Circle Twelve Inc. It is a human interface device that has the capability of allowing multiple people to interact simultaneously while identifying which person is touching where. The technology was originally developed at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in 2001 and later licensed to Circle Twelve Inc in 2008. The DiamondTouch table is used to facilitate face-to-face collaboration, brainstorming, and decision-making, and users include construction management company Parsons Brinckerhoff, the Methodist Hospital, and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).


A smart speaker is a type of speaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and hands-free activation with the help of one "hot word". Some smart speakers can also act as a smart device that utilizes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other protocol standards to extend usage beyond audio playback, such as to control home automation devices. This can include, but is not limited to, features such as compatibility across a number of services and platforms, peer-to-peer connection through mesh networking, virtual assistants, and others. Each can have its own designated interface and features in-house, usually launched or controlled via application or home automation software. Some smart speakers also include a screen to show the user a visual response.

Virtual assistants are software technology that assist users complete various tasks. Well known virtual assistants include Amazon Alexa, and Siri, produced by Apple. Other companies, such as Google and Microsoft, also have virtual assistants. There are privacy issues concerning what information can go to the third party corporations that operate virtual assistants and how this data can potentially be used.

References

  1. ↑ Norman, Donald A. "The Design of Everyday Things."
  2. ↑ 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 >.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ Vannoy SA, Palvia P. The social influence model of technology adoption. Communications of the ACM. 2010 Jun 1;53(6):149-53.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ 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
  8. ↑ Eli Pariser. 2011. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You. Penguin Group, The.
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