Adoption of New and Really New Products: The Effects of Self-Regulation Systems and Risk Salience

Abstract

This article explores how consumers’ self-regulation affects the likelihood of purchase of new and really new products. A mall-intercept field study shows that consumers with a chronic disposition to be promotion focused own more new high-technology goods and newly launched repeat-purchase items than prevention-focused consumers. There is no difference in ownership of products that have been available for many years. Two laboratory experiments further investigate these findings. In Study 2, the authors manipulate regulatory focus and find that when risks associated with a really new product are not specified to consumers, promotion-focused consumers state higher purchase intentions than prevention-focused consumers. However, when the judgmental context makes the risks salient, prevention- and promotion-focused participants are equally unlikely to purchase the product. Study 3 demonstrates that consumers’ self-regulation is unrelated to purchase intentions for products that are not portrayed as new. Mediation analyses in both laboratory studies show that the effect of regulatory focus on purchase intentions for new products is due to concerns about the performance of the new technology, which are more pronounced among prevention-focused consumers. Finally, the authors discuss managerial implications.