Drivers of consumers’ resistance to smart products

ABSTRACT

The Internet of Things (IoT) market is set to grow rapidly. Although IoT offers new opportunities, it nevertheless raises challenges. The objective of this research is to develop a better understanding of the reasons underlying consumer resistance to smart and connected products. To this end, a quantitative survey was carried out to understand resistance to smartwatch. Structural equation modelling was used to test the conceptual model. The findings show that perceived uselessness, perceived price, intrusiveness, perceived novelty and self-efficacy have an impact on consumer resistance to smart products. Moreover, privacy concerns have an effect on intrusiveness and dependence impacts privacy concerns. To our best knowledge, this is the first research studying smart products through a resistance approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Resistance
• innovation
• Internet of Things
• smart and connected products
• smartwatch

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Accenture ‘Igniting Growth in Consumer Technology’ (2016) https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-3/Accenture-Igniting-Growth-in-Consumer-Technology.pdf.

2. https://medium.com/wristly-thoughts/dissatisfaction-learnings-48c26d564bc1#.z9ldmhvu3.

3. http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/09/gartner-thinks-the-apple-watch-will-trigger-more-consumer-interest-in-the-wearables-space-in-2015.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zied Mani

Zied Mani is an associate professor of marketing at Nantes University, IUT Saint Nazaire (France). His research interests include consumer behaviour, relationship marketing, green marketing, Internet marketing and Consumer Culture Theory. He has published in top French marketing journals.

Inès Chouk

Inès Chouk holds a PhD degree in marketing from Paris-Dauphine University (France). Her research interests include consumer behaviour, relationship marketing, Internet marketing and social marketing. She is an associate professor of marketing at Cergy-Pontoise University (France). In 2013, she joined the chair of ‘Digital Economy’ of Paris-Dauphine University as an associate researcher. She teaches Internet marketing and has published in Advances in Consumer Research and in top French marketing journals.