CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

LESSON 33:
ADOPTION PROCESS

Introduction Stages in the adoption process:

In this chapter we explore factors that encourage and discourage Usually we have seen that the consumer moves through five
acceptance or rejection of new products and services. Specifically, stages in arriving at a decision to purchase or reject a new
we will understand the process of adoption of innovation that product:
is taken by consumers and also study the stages of adoption • Awareness
process
• Interest
Objectives • Desire
After studying this lesson, you should be able to:
• Action
• Understand the adoption process
• Discuss the five stages in the consumer adoption process. Awareness Interest Evaluation Trial
• Profile the consumer innovator.
• List and explain the personality traits of the consumer
innovator
Adoption Process Adoption
After studying the last lesson you have a fair idea about the
process of diffusion of innovation. Now let us concentrate on
the adoption process. Fig 12.1 Stages of adopting new products
The focus of this process is the stages through which an WE have already learnt about the stages in the adoption process
individual consumer passes although arriving at a decision to try in marketing management course in the earlier semester.
or not to try or to continue using or to discontinue using a new
product.
What exactly is adoption of innovation?
Customer acceptance of the innovation for continued use!
We can thus define the adoption process as the mental process
through which an individual passes from first hearing an
innovation to final adoption. (Philip Kotler).
Activity 1
A large manufacturer of drug and personal grooming products
wants to introduce a new toothpaste brand in addition to the
three already marketed. Evaluate for the firm what information
might be used for innovation studies to guide introduction of
the product.

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276 11.623.3
But, nevertheless, we are discussing the main characteristics of Activity 2

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
each stage and I am depicting the same in the form of a table as
given in figure 12.1 Tick the correct choice
Name of What happens Example 1. The shortest adoption process would be the adoption of
Stage during this stage _____.
Awarenes Consumer is first Rajesh sees an a. fashion
s exposed to the ad for a new
product digital camera b. fads
innovation in the c. product classes
newspaper d. brands
Interest Consumer is Rajesh reads
interested in the about the
product and camera on the 2. When Hewlett-Packard introduces its latest microchip at a
searches for manufacturer’s very high price to consumers who are willing to pay top
additional web site, and dollar for the latest technology, then gradually lowers the
information then goes to a
price in a stepwise fashion to attract additional market
camera tore
near his office segments, it is practicing a _____ strategy.
and has a a. market penetration
salesperson b. market skimming
show him the
camera. c. diffusion
Evaluatio Consumer decides After talking d. product obsolescence
n whether or not to with a
believe that this knowledgeable
product or service friend, Rajesh 3. According to the five stages of the adoption process, a
will satisfy the decides that consumer goes through the stages, starting out with the
need his camera first stage which is _____.
should be able
to provide him a. need recognition
with the b. awareness
photos he c. interest
needs to use in
PowerPoint d. trial
presentations.
He also likes
4. The stages in the adoption process end:
the fact that it
uses a. with consumer trial of the product.
“standard” b. with consumer adoption of the product.
floppy disks
for storage. c. with consumer rejection of the product.
Trial Consumer uses Since a camera d. either b or c
the product on a cannot be
limited basis “tried” like a
bottle of new 5. Personal and interpersonal sources become most
moisturising important in the _____ stage of the adoption process.
lotion, Rajesh a. awareness
buys the
camera from a b. trial
dealer offering c. adoption
a 14-day full
d. evaluation
refund policy.
Adoption If trial is Rajesh finds
/Rejectio favourable, that the 6. Which of the following is not a characteristic of the
n consumer decides camera is easy consumer innovator?
to use the product to use and the
on a full. Rather results are a. dogmatic
than a limited excellent; b. have a need for uniqueness
basis-if consequently,
unfavourable, the he keeps the c. are inner-directed
consumer decides digital camera. d. are variety seeking
to reject it.

Fig 12.1 the stages in the Adoption process

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11.623.3 277
 7. _____ is the degree of uncertainty or fear about the Non-innovators would be defined as those who purchase none
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

consequences of a purchase that a consumer feels when
considering the purchase of a new product.
a. Perceived risk
b. Variety seeking
c. Inner directedness
d. Venturesomeness
8. Consumer innovators are likely to have all the following
media habits except:
a. they have a greater total exposure to magazines.
b. they are more likely to read general interest magazines.
c. they are less likely to watch television.
d. all the above are characteristics of consumer innovators
9. Demographics of consumer innovators are different from
non-innovators. Which of the following is not necessarily
a characteristic of a consumer innovator?
a. relatively young
b. more likely to be formally educated
or only one of the new fashion products.
Interest in the Product Category
Consumer innovators are much more interested than either
later adopters or non-adopters in the product categories that
they are among the first to purchase.
Consumer innovators are more likely than non-innovators to
seek information concerning their specific interests from a
variety of informal and mass media sources.
They are more likely to give greater deliberation to the purchase
of new products or services in their areas of interest than non-
innovators.
The Innovator is an Opinion Leader
You will see that there is a strong tendency for consumer
opinion leaders to be innovators.
Consumer innovators provide other consumers with informa-
tion and advice about new products. Those who receive such
advice frequently follow it.
The consumer innovator often influences the acceptance or
rejection of new products.

c. are financially more secure When innovators are enthusiastic about a new product and
encourage others to try it, the product is likely to receive broader
d. more mail than female and quicker acceptance.
Because motivated consumer innovators can influence the rate
of acceptance or rejection of a new product, they influence its
Stages in the mental processing of an innovation: eventual success or failure.
Here again we take a cursory glance at the processing that
happens inside our brain regarding any innovation. To identify Personality Traits
the stages in such processing, we can say that the following are Consumer innovators generally are less dogmatic than non-
the stages: innovators.
• Exposure Consistent with their open-mindedness, it appears that
• Information gathering innovative behavior is an expression of an individuals’ need
• Evaluation for uniqueness.
• Trial adoption Still further, consumer innovators all differ from non-innova-
• Acceptance or rejection tors in terms of social character.
Consumer innovators are inner-directed.
A Profile of the Consumer Innovator
In contrast, non-innovators are other-directed.
Who is a consumer innovator? The initial purchasers of a new line of automobiles might be
Consumer innovators can be defined as the relatively small inner-directed, whereas the later purchasers of the same
group of consumers who are the earliest purchasers of a automobile might be other-directed.
new product. This suggests that as acceptance of a product progresses from
The problem with this definition is the concept “earliest”! early to later adopters, a gradual shift occurs in the personality
Innovators are defined as the first 2.5 percent of the social type of adopters from inner-directedness to other-directedness.
system to adopt an innovation. There also appears to be a link between optimum stimulation
In many marketing diffusion studies, however, the definition level and consumer innovativeness.
of the consumer innovator has been derived from the status of Individuals who seek a lifestyle rich with novel, complex, and
the new product under investigation. unusual experiences (i.e., high optimum stimulation levels) are
Other researchers have defined innovators in terms of their more willing to risk trying new products, to be innovative, to
innovativeness, that is, their purchase of some minimum seek purchase-related information, and to accept new retail
number of new products from a selected group of new facilities.
products. Variety-seeking consumers tend to be brand switchers and
purchasers of innovative products and services.

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278 11.623.3
Perceived Risk
Perceived risk is the degree of uncertainty or fear about the
consequences of a purchase that a consumer feels when
considering the purchase of a new product.
Research on perceived risk and the trial of new products
overwhelmingly indicates that the consumer innovator is a low-
risk perceiver; that is, they experience little fear of trying new
products or services.
Purchase and Consumption Characteristics
Consumer innovators are less brand loyal.
Consumer innovators are more likely to be deal-prone.
Consumer innovators are also likely to be heavy users of the
product category in which they innovate.
Specifically, they purchase larger quantities and consume more
of the product than noninnovators.
Finally, for products like VCRs, PCs, microwave ovens, 35-mm
cameras, and food processors, usage variety is likely to be a
relevant dimension of new product diffusion.
To sum up, a positive relationship exists between innovative
behavior and heavy usage.
Media Habits
Comparisons of the media habits of innovators and
noninnovators across such widely diverse areas of consumption
as fashion clothing and new automotive services suggest that
innovators have somewhat greater total exposure to magazines
than noninnovators, particularly to special-interest magazines
devoted to the product category in which they innovate.
Consumer innovators are also less likely to watch television
than noninnovators.
Studies concerning the relationship between innovative
behavior and exposure to other mass media, such as radio and
newspapers, have been too few, and the results have been too
varied to draw any useful conclusions.
Social Characteristics
Consumer innovators are more socially accepted and socially
involved than noninnovators.
This greater social acceptance and involvement of consumer
innovators may help explain why they function as effective
opinion leaders.
Demographic Characteristics
It is reasonable to assume that the age of the consumer
innovator is related to the specific product category in which he
or she innovates.
Research suggests that consumer innovators tend to be younger
than either later adopters or noninnovators.
Probably because many of the products selected for research
attention are particularly attractive to younger consumers.
Consumer innovators have more formal education, higher
personal or family incomes, and are more likely to have higher
occupational status (to be professionals or hold managerial
positions) than later adopters or noninnovators.
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Are There Generalized Consumer Innovators?
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Do consumer innovators in one product category tend to
be consumer innovators in other product categories?
Not necessarily!
The overlap of innovativeness across product categories, like
opinion leadership, seems to be limited to product categories
that are closely related to the same basic interest area.
Such a pattern suggests that it is generally a good marketing
strategy to target a new product to consumers who were the
first to try other products in the same basic product category.
There is evidence that suggests that a new type of more
generalized “high-tech” innovator does exist, that is, the
“change leader.”
Such individuals tend to embrace and popularize many of the
innovations that are ultimately accepted by the mainstream
population.
They tend to have a wide range of personal and professional
contacts representing different occupational and social groups;
most often, these contacts tend to be “weak ties” or acquaintan-
ces.
Change leaders also appear to fall into one of two distinct
groups:
A younger group can be characterized as being stimulation-
seeking, sociable, and having high levels of fashion awareness.
A middle-aged group is highly self-confident and has very high
information-seeking needs.
Similar to change leaders, “technophiles” are individuals who
purchase technologically advanced products soon after their
market debut.
Such individuals tend to be technically curious people.
Another group responding to technology are adults who are
categorized as “techthusiasts”—people who are most likely to
purchase or subscribe to emerging products and services that are
technologically oriented.
These consumers are typically younger, better educated, and
more affluent.
Desirable Characteristics of Innovations
Now, let us see in brief, what should be the main characteristics
that are desirable in any innovation.
• Relative advantage–Is it better than existing products?
• Perceived risk–How likely is it that the relative advantage
will accrue?
• Complexity–How easy is the innovation to comprehend?
• Communicability–Is the innovation socially visible?
• Compatibility–Is it consistent with existing behaviours/
values?
• Trialability–Can it be tried on a smaller scale?
Identifying Opinion Leaders and Innovators
A very important part of our discussion on innovators and
opinion leaders is how to identify them? Do they have any
features or characteristics, which make them, stand out in
public? Not always!
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 But, for the purpose of making a category, we can definitely Activity 3
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

identify some characteristics. With the advancement of digital technology, some companies
plan to introduce interactive TV systems that will allow viewers
Innovator characteristics include to select films from “video libraries” and view them on
• Risk taking demand. Among people you know, identify two who are likely
to be the innovators for such a new service and construct
• Variety seeking
consumer profiles using the characteristics of consumer
• Being in the upper socio-economic strata innovators discussed in the text.
• Less well integrated socially
• Opinion leader characteristics include:
• High involvement with the product
• Socially well integrated
• More exposed to a variety of media sources
• In leadership positions in social, political and
community organisations
Resistance to innovation
We pause here to ask a question. If innovation is so good, why
do people resist innovation? This happens mainly because of
two reasons: out of habit or because of some perceived risk.
• Habit
A learned sequence of responses to previously encountered
stimuli
• Perceived risk
Performance risk•The product does not perform or has
harmful side effects.
Social risk•Significant others might not approve of
innovation adoption.
In figure 12.2 below we show a typology of innovation
resistance and try to see how on the basis of these parameters
we can have different types of innovation resistances.

A typology of innovation resistance

Risk
Low High
Weak 1. No 3. Risk-resistance
resistance innovations
innovations (discontinuous and
(new and replacement
improved innovations)
versions of
Habit established
product;
fads and
fashions)
Strong 2. Habit- 4. Dual resistance
resistance innovations (social
innovations programs)
(continuous
and
replacement
innovations)

Fig 12.2 Innovation resistance

Source: Jagdish N. Sheth, ‘Psychology of innovation resistance:
The less developed concept’, Research in Marketing 4, 1981, pp.
273-82.

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Key Terms
• Adopter categories
• Adoption process
• Stages in the adoption process
• Innovators
• Laggards
• Compatibility
• Complexity
• Triability
• Observability
• Usage barriers
• Value barriers
• Risk barriers
• Relative Advantage
• Discontinuous innovation
• Continuous innovation
• Dynamically continuous innovation
Article 1
Media Innovation Can Overcome AD
Clutter
IN an era marked by advertising clutter, a rethink on strategies
to make television advertising sizzle and sparkle is needed,
according to Mr. Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director,
Madison Communications Pvt Ltd.
“Conventionally, brand building copy plus media efficiency
resulted in brand power. Today, we additionally need media
innovation to these inputs, which will result in Nuclear Power,”
Mr Balsara told a delegation to Ad-Wise 2002, TV Airtime
Selling, Planning and Buying Forum, organised by
Indiantelevision.com.
Because of the brand clutter, advertising has failed to make an
impact. Therefore, television’s share of the advertising pie may
not go to 60 per cent from the current 40 per cent. However,
press advertising has begun to respond very well in the face of
competition from television.
Mr. Balsara cited the example of the popular TV show ‘Rajni’,
sponsored by Godrej. “The results were miraculous. Over one
year, Godrej’s ad spend increased from Rs 1 crore to Rs 4 crore,”
Mr. Balsara said.
Similarly, in 1989, Cinthol Lime achieved 5.3 per cent share of
the premium soap market in one month with media efficiency.
“We just took eight spots on Mahabharat over four consecutive
Sundays and we achieved this.’’
Earlier, advertising was confined to prime time television. In
2001, there were 32 lakh spots for 6.57 crore seconds as
compared to 24 lakh spots and 5.22 crore seconds in 2000.
Mr. Balsara suggested six methods to achieve Nuclear Power -
Invest in Programming, Maximise Salience, Push Brand Values,
Attack Competition, Create Opportunities and Take Risks.
According to Mr. Balsara, conventionally, companies were not
averse to risk. “Now companies are becoming risk averse when
it comes to media decisions,” he said.
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Choosing Your Entry Strategy
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Pioneering is associated with innovation. Companies
that desire to pioneer need to invest their resources to
innovate their products and processes.
A human-like robot developed by Sony Corporation. The
company has constantly innovated its product offering and has
pioneered a few categories.
PIONEER or follow? This discussion has already taken up
three issues in this column. It’s time now to decide which fits
your organization.
In the previous issue, it was pointed out that the choice of
strategy is not an absolute. Of course, it will depend to some
extent on the industry features. More important, the correct
strategy in any given case depends upon a company’s competen-
cies, and how aligned they can be to a particular strategy.
Let’s begin with pioneering. If you think about it, this is closely
linked to innovation, the current buzzword. Almost every
company we talk to wants to be more ‘innovative’. But what
does this word really mean? Does it mean just adding more
useful features to existing products (like pilfer proof caps)? Or
does it mean coming out with ‘first time’ products (like
mosquito mats)? What about continually improving existing
processes (like using hand-helds for the sales force)? And how
about a new media buying model?
All these are innovations. But, the resources, processes and
values needed to maximize the return from each of these are
widely different, and companies rarely excel at more than one
type of innovation. Indeed, it is very difficult to do so. So, if
you want to pioneer a market, the first reality check is to
understand your product innovation abilities. This is a complex
topic (and we will come back to it in future articles), but for
now, ask yourself this question: Can we, year after year, come up
with a series of truly new products (like 3M and Gillette), or is
our product innovation process more suited to incremental
improvements in existing products (like a new soap perfume,
or a powdered drink with better solubility)? If the answer is the
latter, pioneering is obviously not for your organization. Unless
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 you can make a determined effort to alter mindsets and abilities Points To Remember
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

towards innovation.
Closely related, and of particular importance in consumer
marketing, is the level and type of marketing skills. For an
innovation in an industrial product, the benefits are, or should
be, obvious to the end-user. In consumer goods, they have to Adoption process
be communicated strongly and convincingly. For example, a
new industrial coating that lasts twice as long as existing ones at
a small premium will practically sell itself. But in house paints, We can thus define the adoption
convincing consumers to pay a premium for a new technology process as the mental process
exterior paint is far more difficult, and needs a different type of through which an individual passes
marketing skill. The question here is: Can we effectively educate from first hearing an innovation to
the consumer and create a new market by communicating the final adoption. (Philip Kotler).
advantages of a totally new concept, or are we better at commu-
nicating the benefits of our product vis-à-vis competing
products?
The fact is that for a majority of companies, pioneering as a
strategy is not an easy option. This does not mean that they can
never have a ‘killer’ idea, but rather, that such an idea will be the
exception rather than the rule. Actually, the 3M or Gillette level
of pioneering is extremely demanding, and very few companies
can sustain the pace. Most of them fall into the second category,
with processes geared towards incremental improvements,
enlivened by occasional flashes of disruptive product innova-
tion.
If you are to follow, the obvious question is - how best can you
enter a market as a follower? This is where a complex interplay
between your resources and innovation ability, and that of the
dominant incumbent comes in. Further, it is easier to mount a
successful attack if there is dissatisfaction with the current leader,
than if it is perceived to be of high quality. In a framework for
late entrant strategies, Shankar and Krishnamurthi have
proposed eight options. These range from a niche strategy to an Stages in the adoption process
innovation-led strategy, with the applicability depending on the
challenger’s level of resources, ability to innovate, and the
• Awareness
dominant incumbent’s perceived product quality.
• Interest
Being a late entrant is not a bad idea - business history is replete
with cases where late entrants have eventually outsold pioneers. • Evaluation
The point is that what works for one company may be disas- • Trial
trous for another. In fact, the key issue in developing an entry • Adoption/Rejection
strategy is a dispassionate appraisal of your own weaknesses, a
process that is far more difficult than it sounds.

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 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Stages in the mental processing
Innovator characteristics
of an innovation
• Exposure • Risk taking
• Information gathering • Variety seeking
• Evaluation • Being in the upper socio-economic strata
• Trial adoption • Less well integrated socially
• Acceptance or rejection

Desirable characteristics of
Resistance to innovation
innovations
• Relative advantage • Habit
• Perceived risk
• Complexity • Perceived risk
•Communicability
• Compatibility
• Trialability

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

A typology of innovation
resistance
• No resistance innovations
• Habit-resistance innovations
• . Risk-resistance innovations
• Dual resistance innovations

Notes

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