Motivated Consumer Innovativeness:
Concept, Measurement and Validation
Abstract
Functional, hedonic, social and cognitive motivations, which are incorporated in a new
Motivated Consumer Innovativeness scale, underlie consumer innovativeness. These
reliable and valid scale dimensions predict innovative purchase intentions better than
traditional and recent innovativeness scales. Moreover, the scale disproves the consensus
that age is always negatively related to innovativeness.
Extended abstract
Since the early seventies, several researchers have tried to predict consumers’
innovative buying behavior by means of different scales intended to measure
innovativeness as a personality trait. However, most previous research disregards the
consumer-product relation (Gatignon and Robertson 1985; Goldsmith and Flynn 1992)
and ignores the different motivation sources. By constructing a new Consumer
Innovativeness scale which incorporates a diversity of underlying goals and motivations
for buying an innovation, we take the notion of product-consumer interactions in
Consumer Innovativeness one step further: Consumers differ not only in level of
innovativeness (i.e., personality trait of consumers) but also in type of innovativeness
(i.e., motivations to buy the innovation).
Consumer innovativeness is “the tendency to buy new products in a particular
product category soon after they appear in the market and relatively earlier than most
other consumers in the market segment” (Foxall, Goldsmith, and Brown 1998, 41). This
personality trait should provide an explanatory basis for innovative buying behavior,
however, predictive validity still is problematic with the existing innovativeness scales
(Im, Bayus, and Mason 2003). By including a wider spectrum of motivations, we are able
to construct an innovativeness scale that performs better both in terms of content validity
and predictive validity. Moreover, it may help marketing researchers and managers to
identify and reach the motivated innovative consumer for their innovation more
effectively.
We base our conceptualization on general motivation, goal and value taxonomies
(Ford and Nichols 1987; Schwartz 1992) and can conclude that at least four motivational
dimensions are of importance for Consumer Innovativeness: (1) Functionally Motivated
Consumer Innovativeness (fMCI) is Consumer Innovativeness motivated by the
functional performance of innovations which focus on task management and
accomplishment improvement. (2) Hedonically Motivated Consumer Innovativeness
(hMCI) is Consumer Innovativeness motivated by an affective or sensory stimulation and
gratification. (3) Socially Motivated Consumer Innovativeness (sMCI) is Consumer
Innovativeness motivated by the self-assertive social need for differentiation. And finally,
(4) Cognitively Motivated Consumer Innovativeness (cMCI) is Consumer Innovativeness
motivated by stimulation of the mind. These four motives often recur in general
consumer behavior literature (Rossiter and Percy 1997; Sweeney and Soutar 2001),
innovativeness literature (Arnould 1989; Fisher and Price 1992; Simonson and Nowlis
2000; Voss, Spangenberg, and Grohmann 2003) or different innovativeness scales
(Baumgartner and Steenkamp 1996; Roehrich 1994; Venkatraman and Price 1990),
however, hardly any innovativeness scale has been developed that includes a wider array
of potential consumer motives.
We develop a 20-item 4-dimensional MCI scale based on a combination of eight
studies (with about 2,600 respondents in total).
We start with an item pool of 254 items, based on literature review, existing
Consumer Innovativeness scales, exploratory interviews and an exploratory quantitative
study with 279 respondents who had to indicate to what extent 135 human motives
(Chulef, Read, and Walsh 2001) are applicable to the purchase of innovations. Based on
expert and consumer judgments of all items, taking content validity, representativeness,
dimensionality, comprehensibility, and unambiguousness into account, 90 items remain.
These 90 items are included in an online survey with 452 respondents. Based on principal
component analyses and confirmatory factor analysis taking scale development
procedures of Netemeyer, Bearden, and Sharma (2003) into account, we can reduce the
pool to 30 items, and can confirm the 4 MCI factors. These factors prove to possess high
2
internal validity, sufficient discriminant validity, composite reliability, and average
variance extracted. Furthermore, the 4-factor correlated model results in an acceptable
overall fit and proves to be the best model. Moreover, we can prove convergent validity
with Roehrich’s (1994) Hedonic and Social Consumer Innovativeness scale, and
discriminant validity with Baumgartner and Steenkamp’s (1996) Exploratory Acquisition
of Products scale and Eysenck, Eysenck, and Barrett’s (1985) Extraversion scale.
We further refine the scale with a new survey including the 30 MCI items. Based
on similar procedures, we have to remove 10 extra items, resulting in the 20 final MCI
items. Again, the fit indices indicate a good model, which outperforms other models. In
addition, MCI proves to be stable over time, as we can prove test-retest reliability.
Moreover, MCI is not sensitive to social desirability bias.
Finally, an innovativeness scale also needs to predict innovative consumer
behavior in everyday life. We check this with two studies: First, a predictive validity
study is set up with fictitious innovations, which are manipulated towards the four
innovativeness motivations. Moreover, as we add two existing general innovativeness
scales to the survey, we can verify whether MCI performs better in predicting innovative
behavior than existing scales. Second, we have another study with a list of existing
innovations. Both studies prove that there is a unique relation between each motivation
dimension and the attitude, the buying intentions or buying behavior of consumers
regarding innovations that satisfy these specific functional, hedonic, social or cognitive
needs. Moreover, we prove that MCI predicts innovation buying behavior better than the
traditional Cognitive and Sensory Innovativeness scale of Venkatraman and Price (1990),
and the recently developed Global Consumer Innovativeness scale of Tellis, Yin, and
Bell (2009).
To conclude, this four-dimensional Consumer Innovativeness scale consisting of a
hedonic, functional, social, and cognitive dimension is useful for several reasons. First,
the eight studies show that the dimensionality, reliability, convergence, discriminant, and
predictive validity of MCI prove satisfactory. Second, MCI measures more than existing
Consumer Innovativeness scales: (1) MCI not only measures the intensity of Consumer
Innovativeness, but also its origin. (2) MCI keeps the middle ground between existing
general innovativeness scales, which are unimpressive in predicting innovative buying
behavior, and the domain-specific innovativeness of Goldsmith and Hofacker (1991),
which is product-specific and thus not very practical, leading to a better performance in
terms of predicting innovative behavior. (3) Moreover, MCI disproves the general
consensus that younger people are more innovative than older people: Older people are as
innovative as younger people as far as functional innovations are concerned. As most
existing innovativeness scales focus on hedonic and social innovativeness, and older
people are less hedonically and socially motivated to buy innovations, these scales are not
able to capture the innovativeness of older people.
3
Full references
Arnould, E. J. (1989), “Toward a broadened theory of preference formation and the diffusion of
innovations - Cases from Zinder-province, Niger-Republic,” Journal of Consumer Research, 16(2),
239-67.
Babin, B. J., W. R. Darden, and M. Griffin (1994), “Work and or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian
Shopping Value,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20(4), 644-56.
Ballard, R. (1992), “Short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale,” Psychological Reports,
71, 1155-160.
Baumgartner, H. and J.-B. E. M. Steenkamp (1996), “Exploratory consumer buying behavior:
Conceptualization and measurement,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 13(2), 121-37.
Bruner, G. C., K. E. James, and P. J. Hensel (2001), Marketing Scales Handbook: A Compilation of Multiitem Measures. Volume III, Chicago: American Marketing Association.
Chesson, D. (2002), The Impact of Value Systems on Consumer Innovativeness across Three Countries in
the Asian Pacific Region. PhD Dissertation.
Chulef, A. S., S. J. Read, and D. A. Walsh (2001), “A hierarchical taxonomy of human goals,” Motivation
and Emotion, 25(3), 191-232.
Churchill, G. A. (1979), “Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs,” Journal of
Marketing Research, 16(1), 64-73.
Citrin, A. V., D. E. Sprott, S. N. Silverman, and D. E. Stem Jr (2000), “Adoption of Internet Shopping: The
Role of Consumer Innovativeness,” Industrial Management and Data Systems, 100(7), 294-300.
Cotte, J. and S. L. Wood (2004), “Families and Innovative Consumer Behavior: A Triadic Analysis of
Sibling and Parental Influence,” Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 78-86.
Daghfous, N., J. V. Petrof, and F. Pons (1999), “Values and Adoption of Innovations: a Cross-Cultural
Study,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 16(4/5), 314-31.
DeVellis, R. F. (2003). Scale Development: Theory and Applications (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dickerson, M. D. and J. W. Gentry (1983), “Characteristics of Adopters and Non-Adopters of Home
Computers,” Journal of Consumer Research, 10(2), 225-35.
Eysenck, S. B. G., H. J. Eysenck, and P. Barrett. (1985), “A revised version of the psychoticism scale,”
Personality and Individual Differences, 6(1), 21-9.
Fisher, R. J. and L. L. Price (1992), “An investigation into the social-context of early adoption behavior,”
Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 477-86.
Ford, M. E. and C. W. Nichols (1987), “A taxonomy of human goals and some possible applications,” in
Humans as Self-constructing Systems: Putting the Framework to Work, ed. M.E. Ford and D. H. Ford,
New York: Erlbaum, 289-311.
Fornell, C. and D. F. Larcker (1981), “Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables
and measurement error,” Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39-50.
Foxall, G. R., R. E. Goldsmith, and S. Brown (1998), Consumer Psychology for Marketing, London:
Thomson.
Gatignon, H. and T. S. Robertson (1985), “A propositional inventory for new diffusion research,” Journal
of Consumer Research, 11(4), 849-67.
Goldsmith, R. E. and L. R. Flynn (1992), “Identifying innovators in consumer product markets,” European
Journal of Marketing, 26(12), 42-55.
Goldsmith, R. E. and C. F. Hofacker (1991), “Measuring consumer innovativeness,” Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 19(3), 209-21.
Hardesty, D. M. and W. O. Bearden (2004), “The use of expert judges in scale development: Implications
for improving face validity of measures of unobservable constructs,” Journal of Business Research,
57(2), 98-107.
Hirschman, E. C. (1980), “Innovativeness, novelty seeking, and consumer creativity,” Journal of Consumer
Research, 7(3), 283-95.
Hirschman, E. C. (1984), “Experience seeking - a subjectivist perspective of consumption,” Journal of
Business Research, 12(1), 115-36.
Huffman, C., S. Ratneshwar, and D. G. Mick (2000), “Consumer Goal Structures and Goal-Determination
Processes,” in The Why of Consumption, Ed. S. Ratneshwar, D.G. Mick, and C. Huffman, New York:
Routledge, 9-35.
Im, S., B. L. Bayus, and C. H. Mason (2003), “An Empirical Study of Innate Consumer Innovativeness,
Personal Characteristics and New-Product Adoption Behavior,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 31(1), 61-73.
Joseph, B. and S. J. Vyas (1984), “Concurrent Validity of a Measure of Innovative Cognitive Style,”
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 12(2), 159-75.
Le Louarn, P. (1997), “La tendence à innover des consommateurs: Analyse conceptuelle et proposition
d'une échelle de mesure,” [The tendency to consumer innovativeness: Conceptual analyses and
proposal of a measurement scale], Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 12(1), 3-20 (in French).
Leavitt, C. and J. Walton (1975), “Development of a scale for innovativeness,” Advances in Consumer
4
Research, 2(1), 545-52.
Lynn, M. and B. D. Gelb (1996), “Identifying Innovative National Markets for Technical Consumer
Goods,” International Marketing Review, 13(6), 43-57.
Manning, K. C., W. O. Bearden, and T. J. Madden (1995), “Consumer innovativeness and the adoption
process,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 4(4), 329-45.
Midgley, D. F. and G. R. Dowling (1978), “Innovativeness - concept and its measurement,” Journal of
Consumer Research, 4(4), 229-42.
Midgley, D. F. and G. R. Dowling (1993), “A longitudinal-study of product form innovation - the
interaction between predispositions and social messages,” Journal of Consumer Research, 19(4), 61125.
Netemeyer, R. G., W. O. Bearden, and S. Sharma (2003), Scaling procedures - Issues and applications.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Oppenheimer, D. M., T. Meyvis, and N. Davidenko (2009), “Instructional Manipulation Checks: Detecting
Satisficing to Increase Statistical Power,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 867-72.
Ostlund, L. E. (1974), “Perceived innovation attributes as predictors of innovativeness,” Journal of
Consumer Research, 1(2), 23-9.
Richins, M. L. (2005), “What Consumers Desire: Goals and Motives in the Consumption Environment,” in
Inside Consumption: Consumer motives, goals, and desires, Ed. S. Ratneshwar and D. G. Mick, New
York: Routledge, 340-48.
Roehrich, G. (1994), “Innovativités hédoniste et sociale: Proposition d'une échelle de mesure,” [Hedonic
and social innovativeness: A measurement scale], Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 9(2), 19-42
(in French).
Roehrich, G. (2004), “Consumer innovativeness - Concepts and measurements,” Journal of Business
Research, 57(6), 671-77.
Roehrich, G., P. Valette-Florence, and J.-M. Ferrandi (2003), “An exploration of the relationship between
innate innovativeness and domain specific innovativeness,” CERAG, 02-11.
Rogers, E. M. (2003), Diffusion of innovations, New York: The Free Press.
Rossiter, J. R. (2002), “The C-OAR-SE procedure for scale development in marketing,” International
Journal of Research in Marketing, 19(4), 305-35.
Rossiter, J. R. and L. Percy (1997), Advertising Communications and Promotion Management, London:
McGrawHill.
Schwartz, S. (1992), “Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and
Empirical Tests in 20 Countries,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1-65.
Sheth, J. N., B. I. Newman, and B. L. Gross (1991), “Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption
values,” Journal of Business Research, 22(2), 159-70.
Simonson, I. and S. M. Nowlis (2000), “The role of explanations and need for uniqueness in consumer
decision making: Unconventional choices based on reasons,” Journal of Consumer Research, 27(1),
49-68.
Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M. and H. Baumgartner (1992), “The role of optimum stimulation level in exploratory
consumer-behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 434-48.
Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M., F. Hofstede, and M. Wedel (1999), “A cross-national investigation into the
individual and national cultural antecedents of consumer innovativeness,” Journal of Marketing, 63(2),
55-69.
Steiger, J. H. (1980), “Tests for Comparing Elements of a Correlation Matrix,” Psychological Bulletin,
87(2), 245-51.
Sweeney, J. C. and G. N. Soutar (2001), “Consumer perceived value: The development of a multiple item
scale,” Journal of Retailing, 77(2), 203-20.
Tellis, G. J., E. Yin, and S. Bell (2009), “Global consumer innovativeness: Cross-country differences and
demographic commonalities,” Journal of International Marketing, 17(2), 1-22.
Tian, K. T., W. O. Bearden, and G. L. Hunter (2001), “Consumers' Need for Uniqueness: Scale
Development and Validation,” Journal of Consumer Research, 28(1), 50-66.
Uhl, K., R. Andrus, and L. Poulsen (1970), “How Are Laggards Different? An Empirical Inquiry,” Journal
of Marketing Research, 7(1), 51-4.
Venkatraman, M. P. (1991), “The impact of innovativeness and innovation type on adoption,” Journal of
Retailing, 67(1), 51-67.
Venkatraman, M. P. and L. L. Price (1990), “Differentiating between cognitive and sensory innovativeness:
Concepts, measurement, and implications,” Journal of Business Research, 20(4), 293-315.
Voss, K. E., E. R. Spangenberg, and B. Grohmann (2003), “Measuring the Hedonic and Utilitarian
Dimensions of Consumer Attitude,” Journal of Marketing Research, 40(3), 310-20.
5