The Effect of Materialism on Perceptions of Innovativeness for Incremental and Radical Innovations

摘要

One of the most distinctive characteristics of materialistic consumers is a heightened valuation of material goods.For materialists,product acquisition and consumption offer a crucial source of meaning,providing an opportunity for happiness,status,and satisfaction.Thus,low and high materialists'consumption diverges in distinct and predictable ways;for instance,high materialists are more likely to purchase luxury goods(Belk 1985).We propose that materialists'desire for product acquisition may have substantive implications for new products.New products offer acquisition potential as well as psychological benefits associated with cutting-edge,novel,or exclusive purchases.Products fall on a continuum of newness,in which incremental(radical)innovations represent minor(major)changes in technology relative to existing products(Chandy and Tellis 1998).