Consumer behavior regarding wearable technologies:: Google Glass

Purpose – This purpose of this study is to analyze consumer behavior in relation to Google Glass. The study considers the adoption and diffusion of the innovation, aspects related to technological convergence and the theories of utilitarian, hedonic and social value. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative, exploratory study uses the methodological approach of netnography via passive observation. Data collection was conducted using the social network Reddit over a period of about four months. Findings – Three categories and two subcategories of consumers were found, namely, socially satisfied; socially constrained; and early adopters, divided into enthusiasts and visionaries. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of this research pertains to the data collected regarding consumption preferences of users and potential adopters. No questions were created, but rather, discussions were selected, from the social network Reddit, that focused on factors pertaining to the theories studied. Practical implications – The research brings an important insight regarding the launch of new products: to obtain a good market position for new devices, failures or inadequate perceptions that will negatively impact the technology’s dissemination must be minimized. Social implications – This study presents social value of technological consumption as a function of the conspicuousness, status and position of users who own devices that differ from those commonly available on the market. Originality/value – This study reveals which elements exert the greatest influence on intention to consume so-called wearable technology. In particular, it analyzes consumer behavior in relation to Google Glass, evaluating the reasons that were perceived as positive and negative for consumers which blocked the technology launch in the market

Religious consumption: Inside the minds of Apple and Catholic devotees

Cult-like phenomena have been researched widely in the fields of marketing, religion, sociology, and---more recently---in the field of neuroscience, where the exploration between individuals and brands through these lenses begins to offer glimpses into the relationship between brands and their devotees. Religion, a multidimensional influence on human behavior and decision-making, has been under-researched in the marketing discipline due to the sensitivity of religious topics and difficulties in measuring the impact of so potentially broad a field as religion . This research narrows the topic and begins filling in the gap in the religion-brand relationship and explores what constitutes a cult-like allegiance to a brand by examining subjects\u27 relationship to the Apple brand, comparing response to stimuli by subjects who were devotees versus indifferents to Catholicism and to Apple. The author used Ninian Smart\u27s (1989) Seven Dimensions of Religion as a theoretical framework to develop scales of measurement. Two studies were conducted in this research. Study 1 developed Catholic and Apple devotion scales with 708 subjects. Study 2 was an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment that tested the hypothesis with 60 participants. This research found that Catholic devotees produced statistically significant higher Alpha waves than Catholic indifferents in Material, Narrative, and Legal dimensions. Interestingly, Apple devotees produced statistically significant lower Alpha waves than Apple indifferents in Material, Ritual, and Emotional dimensions. Apple devotees did not trigger as high of Alpha waves as Catholic devotees overall. Even though not all the dimensions were statistically different between Catholic (Apple) devotees and indifferents, Catholic devotees did have higher Alpha waves than indifferents overall, while Apple devotees did not trigger higher Alpha waves than indifferents. These results were consistent throughout the Seven Dimensions. This research concluded that Apple devotees did not have transcendent feelings towards Apple based on the foundation of the Seven Dimensions of Religion. Therefore, Apple cannot be considered a religion that triggers the feeling of the divine. The findings can be used as a foundation for business applications. The last section of this research elaborates on the theoretical and practical implications and identifies new questions for future research

The Nature of the Relationships Between Brand Loyalty and Advertising

abstract: In the recent years, more and more products come into the market, which provides thousands of choices for consumers. We live in a world full of brands, all trying to attract our attention. A critical part of this process is the criteria for selection. Research has found that criteria always derive from individuals’ experience, which finally creates a unique identity for certain products and brands that could be considered synonym with the specific product. This is a fast-growing phenomenon since the advent of the commodity economy period. In today’s competitive environment, modern consumers are the decision makers and the heart of a value exchange. They are becoming increasingly informed as they compare the attributes of different brands. Advertising has always been one of the important ways for companies to build strong relationships with consumers. This research aims to study the relationship between brand loyalty and advertising. This research is focused on two kind of advertisements; advertisements through social network and launch events, which have different characters, differences in broadcast frequency, and different promotion methods. Interview and survey were mainly used for this study. Research results conclude that: 1) The impact of the press conference is greater than advertising through social network and the effect of a precise advertisement is greater than repeated advertising for individuals. 2) Advertisements should be launched in a less forceful way than in the past. They should try to affect consumers subconsciously, to disguise the fact that they are advertisements and thus keep in sync with consumers, in order to help create loyalty through certain brand. 3) Consumers also want to have more interactions with firms and other users and to participate in the creation of brand-consumer relationships. 4) Advertisements have positive effect in creating brand image.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Design 201

Valores cross-culturais de consumo para tecnologias inovadoras: preferência e usabilidade

O artigo apresenta uma análise sobre o comportamento do consumidor de inovações tecnologicas, a partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, focando consumidores de cinco países latino-americanos (Argentina, Chile, Colômbia, México e Brasil) como base referencial geográfica. O principio norteador da pesquisa foi avaliar quais fatores permeiam o processo de consumo e adoção de tecnologias inovadoras pelos consumidores presentes nos países pesquisados. Utilizou-se a netnografia como fundamento metodológico para coletar e analisar as informações extraídas dos comentários postados no cyber espaço. Foram comparadas as características e preferências de consumo e desejo dos consumidores, com o intuito de entender quais elementos estão envolvidos no processo de adoção de tecnologias inovadoras, realizando assim, uma pesquisa Cross-Cultural. Os resultados indicaram que para os seis tipos de consumidores encontrados nos cinco países pesquisados, os mesmos apresentam semelhanças com relação aos valores de consumo, apontando que nestes países, o comportamento de consumo dos usuários de tecnologias inovadoras não é afetado pela cultura da região

O dia seguinte para os inovadores tecnológicos do iPhone: hedonismo e devoção1 no iDay2

Um novo conceito de produtos integrados baseado em integração de sistemas e convergência tecnológica tem expandido o mercado de produtos e serviços tecnológicos, possuindo múltiplas utilidades para serem usados na criação de inovações. Utilizando pesquisa netnográfica na preferência e uso do iPhone, este estudo propõe que os consumidores continuem devotos e procurando por inovações em suas adoções após o lançamento da v1 (versão 1). Esses usuários preferem novas tecnologias para experiências hedônicas e posicionamento social, gerando senso de prazer e satisfação interpretados neste artigo pela análise do consumo dos usuários do iPhone no tempo atual de 2010. O primeiro iPhone foi considerado bastante inovador, entretanto após subsequentes atualizações e melhorias, os novos dispositivos foram considerados menos inovadores porque consumidores não perceberam aplicativos novos ou usos de forma diferenciada. Então, estarão os consumidores comprando atualizações baseados em suas devoções pela marca e pelo dispositivo ou baseados em hedonismo para garantir a possessão do dispositivo? Esta pesquisa propõe que os inovadores do iPhone prefiram produtos realmente novos, em vez de produtos atualizados, porque eles não conseguem enxergar a vantagem desta adoção intermediária. Palavras-chave Dispositivo inovador. Consumidor inicial. Comportamento do consumidor. Hedonismo. Presença social. The day after to iPhone technologic innovators: hedonism and devotion in iDay2 Abstract The objective of this article is to present a new concept of integrated products based on system integration and technology convergence which have expanded the market for technological devices and services with multiple features used to create innovative perceptions. By using netnographic research on iPhone preference and usage, this study suggests that the consumers shall continue faithful, but looking for innovations in their choice after the launching of v1 (version 1). The users prefer new technologies for hedonic experiences and social stance, creating a sense of pleasure and satisfaction interpreted in this analysis of the users’ consumption of iPhone at the present time of 2010. The first iPhone was considered as quite innovative. However, after subsequent updates and upgrades, new devices were considered as less innovative because the consumers did not see new application or uses of differentiated form. The question is whether the consumers are buying new updates based on their faithfulness to the trademark and device or based on hedonism for assuring the use of the device. The conclusion of this research is that the innovators of iPhone should prefer really new products, instead of updated products, because they cannot see the advantage of this intermediary use. Keywords Innovative device. Latest consumer. Consumer behavior. Hedonism. Social presence

Asymmetric Peer Influence in Smartphone Adoption in a Large Mobile Network

Understanding adoption patterns of smartphones is of vital importance to telecommunication managers in today’s highly dynamic mobile markets. In this paper, we leverage the network structure and specific position of each individual in the social network to account for and measure the potential heterogeneous role of peer influence in the adoption of the iPhone 3G. We introduce the idea of coreperiphery as a meso-level organizational principle to study the social network, which complements the use of centrality measures derived from either global network properties (macro-level) or from each individual\u27s local social neighbourhood (micro-level). Using millions of call detailed records from a mobile network operator in one country for a period of eleven months, we identify overlapping social communities as well as core and periphery individuals in the network. Our empirical analysis shows that core users exert more influence on periphery users than vice versa. Our findings provide important insights to help identify influential members in the social network, which is potentially useful to design optimal targeting strategies to improve current network-based marketing practices

Conspicuous diffusion: theorizing how status drives innovation in electric mobility

This paper explores how conceptions of luxury and status affect the manner in which a relatively novel technology—an electric vehicle— diffuses across societies. To do so, it combines Veblen’s notion of conspicuous consumption and Roger’s diffusion of innovation by proposing a new theoretical variation, which we term “conspicuous diffusion.” The paper sketches natural connections between the two theories, namely how conspicuous consumption relates to technological and societal development, and how diffusion of innovation is intrinsically connected to status. In combining these approaches, we hypothesize that the success of an innovation is guided by its adherence to the canons of conspicuousness and conspicuous value, which it loses as the innovation diffuses across the population. To illustrate the explanatory power of conspicuous diffusion, we examine the status of electric vehicles in the Nordic region, based on original data from multiple methods, including expert interviews and focus groups. We find that conspicuous diffusion can explain previous failures and current successes of electric vehicle diffusion patterns. The paper concludes with recommendations for policymakers, industry, and academia

Spreading the good word : Toward an understanding of brand evangelism

The objective of this dissertation is to better understand the phenomenon of brand evangelism and the dimensions that are involved in a consumer becoming a brand evangelist. A brand evangelist is a consumer who actively “spreads the good word” of the brand while attempting to influence others’ consumption behavior. Through the development and testing of a model, this study helps to realize the concepts that are involved in a consumer becoming a brand evangelist. To date, little research has examined the dimensions of brand evangelism. It is proposed here that the attributes leading to brand evangelism include brand satisfaction, brand salience, consumer-brand identification, social motivation, and opinion leadership. The results of the study garnered some mixed results. It was found that consumer-brand identification, brand salience, and opinion leadership are all concepts that lead to brand evangelism. However, neither brand satisfaction nor sociability has a statistically significant relationship directly related with brand evangelism. It must be noted, though, that brand satisfaction does have a mediated relationship with brand evangelism through consumer-brand identification. Finally, for the overall proposed model, it was found that there is no statistical difference between males and females, income level of higher/lower than $100,000, ages of 50 years and older versus under 50 years of age, or being a college graduate versus an individual without a bachelor’s degree

Creating a Brand Experience Across Media Channels

This study examines how messages marketed through different media channels impact a consumer’s brand experience. The goal of this study was to explore the extent to which consumers experience brands through media channels. This study relies on four focus group sessions and a thematic content analysis to gather findings. It was discovered that consumers viewed customer service as the leading characteristic in brand loyalty. Consumers were primarily impacted by brands through consumer reviews, reliable sources, convenience and special promotions. Participants chose reliable print mediums as a resource to research products. Online sources were the leading medium for reading consumer reviews and learning more about a product, through larger imagery and product descriptions. Mobile devices were utilized for convenience and immediacy. Lastly, consumers reported their desire for more personalization and target marketing a brands continue to evolve. These findings provide insight into further developing strategies for marketing and mass communication

Apple's iconicity: Digital society, consumer culture and the iconic power of technology

Moving from a theory of iconic power, the article offers an understanding on the ways the iconic power of Apple technologies has emerged since the first Macintosh advertising campaign in 1984. This description of Apple\u2019s iconic power will be the basis for a preliminary reflection concerning the interwoven dimensions that bond together mobile technologies, cultural meanings and consumer experience in today\u2019s capitalist society. The article shows three different processes through which Apple has become a powerful iconic presence in today\u2019s digital society. The first dimension directly refers to the firm\u2019s communicative strategies and the ways in which Apple has developed its iconic status with advertising by mobilizing wider cultural frameworks and symbolic structures in society. The second dimension refers to the processes involving users\u2019 and consumers\u2019 appropriation of Apple\u2019s meanings and images, with specific reference to the way consumers have developed spiritual involvements toward Apple\u2019s brand as well as a sense of sacral participation in Apple\u2019s identity. Finally, a third dimension concerns how Apple\u2019s icon has become \u201creframed\u201d and subverted by fans and media, often as a way to articulate and make sense of very different events in society. The appropriation of Apple\u2019s iconic power for different and alternative purposes reveals the partial autonomy of the iconic power gained by digital technologies, which can become the surface on which to articulate cultural structures, dualities and oppositions in contemporary society