Factors Influencing Consumers’ Evaluation and Adoption Intention of Really-New Products or Services: Prior Knowledge, Innovativeness and Timing of Product Evaluation

This paper empirically examines factors influencing consumers’ evaluation and adoption intention of really new products. Combining construal level theory with literature on new product evaluation and adoption, we found an asymmetry in the conditional importance of benefit and cost, both as mediators and as antecedents of adoption intention. As mediators, consumer innovativeness does not affect perceived cost, but leads to greater perceived benefit and greater adoption intention. As antecedents, cost is important only if the adoption is highly beneficial, but benefits remain important regardless of cost. Finally, we found that the salience of costs increases as the temporal distance decreases, whilst the salience of benefit remains constant. We discuss implications for marketing of really new products.