Title: Functional, hedonic, and social motivated consumer innovativeness as a driver of word-of-mouth in smart object early adoptions: an empirical examination in two product categories

Authors: Zhenzhen Zhao; Marie Haikel-Elsabeh; Patricia Baudier; Damien Renard; Alexander Brem

Addresses: SKEMA Business School, Grand Paris Campus, 92150 Suresnes, France ' LITEM, IMT-BS, Univ. Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91025 Evry-Courcouronnes, France ' Métis Lab., EM Normandie Business School, 92100 Clichy, France ' Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut Langage and Communication, Ruelle de la Lanterne Magique, 14, 1340 Louvain-La Neuve, Belgium ' Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 19, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany; Department of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, Alsion 2, 6400 Sønderborg, Denmark

Abstract: This research aims to consider, in the context of smart objects, the interplay of motivated consumer innovativeness (MCI), satisfaction and word-of-mouth (WOM). Following earlier behavioural research through three phases of attitudes (cognition, affection and conation), the study proposes that functional, hedonic, and social MCI (cognition) are positively related to satisfaction (affection), thus positively influencing WOM engagement (conation). In addition, it is shown that functional and hedonic MCI moderate the relationship between social MCI and satisfaction. Two quantitative studies across two smart object categories (1,129 users of wearables and 511 users of smart home objects) highlight that both functional and hedonic MCI positively relate to satisfaction and WOM. Though the effect of social MCI on satisfaction is non-significant for smart home objects and very low for wearables, our findings confirmed that social MCI has an indirect impact on satisfaction through functional and hedonic MCI in both product categories.

Keywords: consumer innovativeness; early adoption; internet of things; IoT; motivated consumer innovativeness; MCI; product adoption; satisfaction; smart home; smart objects; smart watch; wearable; word-of-mouth; WOM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.137028

International Journal of Technology Management, 2024 Vol.95 No.1/2, pp.226 - 252

Received: 16 Mar 2022
Received in revised form: 24 Oct 2022
Accepted: 06 Dec 2022
Published online: 01 Mar 2024 *

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