A Study of Cognitive Processing and Inhibitions of Adopters and Non-Adopters of Technology Based Products

Abstract

The research investigated consumers' decision-making process during pre-adoption and consumption stages of consumer-based technologies via the context of mobile apps. In an attempt to integrate consumer resistance in predicting the end-decisions to adopt/not adopt or continue/discontinue the use of a technology, the study presented some interesting findings. Employing the theoretical framework of cognitive appraisal theory, the study integrated the TAM, paradoxes of technology, and coping strategies to propose and empirically validate a process-based model of decision-making.Data were collected via a self-administered web-based survey. Two versions of the questionnaire were used to elicit consumers' responses from adopters and non-adopters of mobile apps. A total of 646 smartphone owners responded to the survey, of which, 375 respondents had downloaded apps in the past and 271 respondents had not downloaded any apps. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.Results demonstrated that most part of the TAM3 framework is replicable in a consumer-based setting. Additional findings provided evidence for the strong role of goal relevance in the TAM framework. The study also supported the effect of perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use on different technology paradoxes. The factor structure of the technology paradoxes suggested three distinct dimensions. Consumers' evaluation of control, freedom, newness, assimilation, and fulfillment of need as derived from the use of mobile apps was captured by Perceived Benefits. The construct, Perceived Apprehension, comprised of consumers' assessment of the chaos, enslavement, obsolesce, isolation, and creation of needs as a result of using mobile apps. Finally, the factor, Perceived Obscurity, investigated the confusion and/or ambiguity within individuals by measuring their perceived inefficiency and incompetence in using mobile apps.Most importantly, separate investigations of the pre-adoption and consumption stages highlighted consumers' use of varying degrees of resistance as influenced by their appraisal of the technology. The non-adopters resisted the use of mobile apps by either being indifferent towards it or postponing the decision to adopt. The adopters of mobile apps were also found to reject its use by distancing, abandoning, or neglecting the apps. The role of positive coping investigated the positive behavioral tendencies employed by consumers to overcome the challenges of using mobile apps. Managerial implications are discussed.