Approach-avoidance disposition effects on adoption of a new premium product/Brand: A direct product experience study

The success of an innovation often relies on the marketer's ability to identify and understand the inherent characteristics that attract buyers to their new product. This study adopts an approachavoidance conflict framework to examine the influence of three coexisting dispositions, namely consumer innovativeness (an approach mechanism) with brand loyalty and deal proneness (as avoidance mechanisms) on the adoption of an innovative premium consumer product/brand. Data were collected from a panel of 493 consumers from 132 households participating in a one-week trial of an innovative premium consumer product. Using structural equation modeling, the results show that deal proneness has a stronger influence, albeit an unexpected positive one, on new product adoption than consumer innovativeness and brand loyalty. Moreover, multiple-group analyses between consumer age and sex groups revealed no significant differences in these influences. These results provide insights to managers and generate directions for future research.