Technology and Consumption: Understanding Consumer Choices and Behaviors

222 Pages·2012·3.226 MB·English

by  Ruby Roy Dholakia (auth.)

International Series on Consumer Science
Series Editor
Jing Jian Xiao, University of Rhode Island, USA
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/8358
Ruby Roy Dholakia
Technology and
Consumption
Understanding Consumer Choices
and Behaviors
123
RubyRoy Dholakia
College ofBusiness Administration
Universityof RhodeIsland
Lippitt Rd. 7
Kingston,RI 02881
USA
ISSN 2191-5660 ISSN 2191-5679 (electronic)
ISBN 978-1-4614-2157-3 ISBN 978-1-4614-2158-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-2158-0
SpringerNewYorkHeidelbergDordrechtLondon
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(cid:2)SpringerScience+BusinessMediaNewYork2012
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Preface
I started myteaching career in India when the middle class and the consumption-
dominantlifestylewasstillnascent.Oneoftheearliestcasestudiesdiscussedina
class on consumer behavior was that of the gas-powered cooking stove that was
ill-suited to the round-bottom cooking utensils owned by most traditional house-
holds. The question was whether consumers should change their behaviors or
manufacturers modify the design of the stove? Similar problems characterize
affluent markets as well.
Such issues have been the topic of classroom discussions over the many dec-
ades of my academic career. Standard texts on consumer behavior and marketing
communications, courses that I teach regularly, attempt to incorporate some of
these issues, but primarily from the perspective of the marketer using new tech-
nologiestoinfluenceandchangeconsumerbehavior.Ifoundthereisagapinour
understanding of how consumers are acquiring and utilizing these technologies.
Atthesametime,choiceisanexplicitconditionofthemarketplaceandchoice
of technologies has come to dominate consumer behaviors. It is quickly apparent
that there is very little discussion of the choice context and how the choice of
household technologies has evolved over time or shaped by macro forces such as
regulations. As affluent markets become saturated and marketers start to look at
emerging markets internationally, the global differences in the choice contexts
make the critical gaps in our understanding of technology choices and consumer
behaviors even more salient.
This book is aresponse tothese gaps. Thefocus ofthe book is toelaborate on
how technologies have entered the domestic space, how they have evolved, and
what factors influence consumer relationships with them. While there are innu-
merabletechnologiesthataffectourdailylives,Ihavedeliberatelyfocusedonfour
consumeractivities—shopping,entertainment,communicationandpayment—and
associated technologies. These activities account for a large share of consumer
resources—timeandmoney—andhavebeengreatlyaffectedbyrecentinnovations
in various information-based technologies. Cooking and cleaning—activities that
consume a large portion of time as well—have been deliberately excluded even
though technologies have affected them as well. My observations and available
v
vi Preface
research suggest that these two activities are often not performed at home, out-
sourced (e.g. cleaning services) or performed with a very limited set of technol-
ogies (e.g. vacuum cleaners or washing machines).
This book starts with a historical and macro perspective (Chaps. 1 and 2) on
householdtechnologiessothatwegetanappreciationofhowthetechnologiesand
their places within the household have changed. Wherever possible, international
comparisons are made to highlight the similarities and differences in the experi-
ence of consumers over time and space. Chapter 3 provides a framework to
understand the individual-level consumer characteristics that influence their
behaviors. Specifically, the emphasis is on utilization of technology since acqui-
sition and evaluation processes are more brand and price specific.
For each of the selected consumer activities (Chaps. 4–7), the evolution of the
choicecontextandtechnologiesisdescribed.Today’sconsumer,forinstance,has
choicesregardingat-homeaswellasout-of-homeshoppingbutalsoamongalarge
number of formats within at-home shopping. These choices have evolved over
timeanddifferenttechnologiesarerequiredtobenefitfromtheincreasedchoices.
Similar evolutions have occurred in the choices regarding entertainment,
communication,andpaymentactivities.Thefinalchapter(Chap.8)focusesonthe
macro-leveltransformationsinconsumerandmarketerbehaviorsandraisesissues
affected by the pervasive use of technology, highlighting both the positive and
negative effects.
The book draws upon our existing understanding of consumer behavior and
extends that specifically to household technologies. I have attempted to integrate
diverse points of view from varied disciplines but always with a focus on
increasing our understanding of consumer relationships to technology. Data, col-
lected by a range of government and private sources, have been used to describe
the historical changes. While we get richness in details, the rapid changes in
technologies mean that the data provide a snapshot of behaviors only for specific
pointsintime.Hopefully,thiswillincreaseourappreciationofthedynamicnature
of the choice context and encourage the reader to consider not only how we
consumers behave in the present and now, but more critically evaluate how the
future would look like.
Acknowledgments
Thisbookhasbeenmanyyearsinthemakingandthegermoftheideaforthebook
was sown very early in my life when I observed changes in the household pro-
duction system as I moved from a middle class home in Kolkata, India, to be a
student in California. Several people played a part, some without realizing they
were contributing to the ideas taking hold in my head. These included my late
father, Mr. Somendranath Roy, who was one of the first in our neighborhood to
own a fridge, a telephone, a TV set; Mrs. Mary Gran of Gilroy, California,
Mrs. Gertrude Mankin of Berkeley, California, and Mrs. Jeannette McGill of
Evanston, Illinois, who introduced me to the life of affluent Americans, whose
homeswerefilledwithmultipleandlatestappliancesandgadgetsandwhohelped
melearnhowtooperatethem;myhusband,Dr.NikhileshDholakia,whoisoften
thefirsttobuyanewgadget,onlytohaveitdisappeartosomecornerofthehouse,
nevertobeusedagain;mysonRitikwhoisattemptingtokeephislifesimple,by
minimizing the technologies he owns; my daughter Nishita who has consistently
exceeded the statistical averages for voice and data minutes used on a cell phone
planandvariousotherfriends,relatives,andcolleagueswhodemonstrate through
their everyday practices their relationships with various household technologies.
Moreformally,overthedecadesofteachingmarketingandconsumerbehavior,
many students have shaped my ideas as successive generations revealed their
changing relationships with technologies. I would like to mention the direct
contribution of past doctoral students that I have supervised—David Fortin,
Kwan-pinChiang,MiaoZhao,PatriciaNorberg,SyagnikBanerjee,AdrianaBovéé
Lambert, and Kathleen Ferris-Costa—at the University of Rhode Island who
investigated selected relationships between technologies and consumer behavior.
After the outline of the book started to take a more definable shape, I benefited
from using it as resource material for an advanced consumer behavior course I
taught in MBA programs in Kolkata and Ahmedabad, India, and Jyveskala,
Finland,andbenefitedfromthediscussionswiththestudentsinthoseclasseswho
brought in varied international perspectives.
Over the years, I have had discussions with many colleagues about domestic
life,theroleofwomen,therelationshipsbetweenfamilymembersandinfluenceof
vii
viii Acknowledgments
market and technological forces. I have co-authored many research papers with
severalofthemonselectedaspectsandmanyideashavenowbeenincorporatedin
thisbook.IspecificallywanttomentionProfessorsNikhileshDholakia,FuatFirat,
Norbert Mundorf, Outi Uusitalo, Meera Venkatraman, and Alladi Venkatesh.
IspecificallywanttothankRobertClagett,whocameasDeanfromAT&Tand
sparked my formal research into technologies and helped me create Research
Institutefor Telecommunications and Marketing (RITIM) thatsupported muchof
myresearchandhelpedbuildanetworkofscholars.MatsSamuelsson,previously
of AT&T, has continued to spark interest in new technologies.
I also want to thank Professors Edward Mazze and Mark Higgins, past and
current Dean of the College of Business Administration for supporting my sab-
baticals during which much of the thinking and writing has occurred. Professor
Nikhilesh Dholakia, my husband, acted asan occasional assistant, referring many
articles of interest that I may not have found on my own. Laura Goroza, Leila
Donohue, andKathy Huot ofthe College of Business Administration helpedwith
innumerable tasks such as word processing, proofing, printing that were required
for creation of this manuscript.
ProfessorJingJianXiaoasEditorinchiefofthisserieshasbeenverykindand
supportive. I am particularly indebted to Professor Russell W. Belk, York Uni-
versity, Canada, Professor Kathleen Debevec, University of Massachusetts—
Amherst, USA, and Professor Outi Uusitalo of Jyveskyla University, Finland for
having read the entire manuscript and providing suggestions for improving it. I
haveattemptedtoaddressseveraloftheissuestheyhadraised,butomissionsand
mistakes are solely mine.
Iwouldliketodedicate thisbook tomylate father Mr.SomendranathRoy for
havingfaithinmeandtomyelderbrotherMr.DipakRoyforsupportingmyearly
education in California. They unknowingly started me on this long journey.
Contents
1 Technology in the Household: Looking Back,
Looking Forward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ownership of Household Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Classifying Household Durables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Priority Patterns in Acquiring Household Durables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Changing Positions in the Observed Hierarchies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Entry Paths into Households. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Technological Availability: Structural and Macro Factors. . . . . . . 15
Technology Environment: Supply Side Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Regulatory Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
International Differences in Regulatory Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Industry Structure and Competitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Technologies Old and New. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Demand-Side, Macro Level Orientations to Technology. . . . . . . . . . . 25
National and Cultural Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Macro Ideological Orientations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3 Technology in the Household: Individual-Level Explanations. . . . . 31
A Framework to Understand Consumer Acquisition
and Utilization of Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Demographic Factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Sex and Gender Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Family Size, Family Composition, and Family Life Cycle . . . . . 37
Home Ownership and Tenancy Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
ix
x Contents
Geographic Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Psychographic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Innovativeness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Money as Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Time as Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Skill as Resource. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Space as Resource. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Control as Resource. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Hedonic Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Materialism Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Goods-Service Bias Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Technology Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Consumer Ubiquity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Technology Evaluation, Acquisition and Utilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Use Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Domestication Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4 Shop Till We Drop?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Retail Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Retail Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Shopping Behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Household Technologies and Transformations
of Shopping Behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Refrigeration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Automobile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Telephone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Digital Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Wireless Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Summary of Shopping Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Household Acceptance of Shopping Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Demographic Explanations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Sex and Gender Role. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Psychographic Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Innovativeness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Money Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Time and Skill Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84