Habit slips: when consumers unintentionally resist new products

Abstract

Consumers' existing habits are a key driver of resistance to new product use. In an initial survey to identify this role of habit, consumers reported on products that they had purchased intending to use. They also reported whether or not they actually used them. For one-quarter of the products they failed to use, consumers slipped back into old habits despite their favorable intentions. However, consumers effectively used new products when integrating them into existing habits. A four-week experiment with a new fabric refresher confirmed that habit slips impeded product use, especially when participants thought minimally about their laundry and thus were vulnerable to habit cues. However, slips were minimized when the new product was integrated into existing laundry habits. Thus, in launching new products, managers will want to consider consumer habits that conflict with product use as well as ways to embed products into existing habits.

Consequences of mandated usage of innovations in organizations: developing an innovation decision model of symbolic and forced adoption

“…Passive innovation resistance represents a generic predisposition to resist innovations that is derived from the degree of change entailed in the adoption of the innovation Heidenreich and Spieth 2013). It evolves from individuals' inclination to resist change (Oreg 2003) and their satisfaction with the status quo (Heidenreich and Handrich 2015) in the moment of awareness, which separately or in combination induces a generic disposition to resist innovations Labrecque et al 2016). Active innovation resistance represents an attitudinal response that evolves from innovation-specific factors during the evaluation of the innovation (Labrecque et al 2016;Talke and Heidenreich 2014).…”

A Cocriação Na Perspectiva Dos Consumidores: Um Estudo Exploratório Do Caso Natura

“…Contudo, pesquisas têm demonstrado que pode ser difícil atingir as expectativas dos consumidores no desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Prova disso é que mais da metade dos itens falham ao serem inseridos no mercado (Andrew, & Sirkin, 2003) e uma dessas causas é a resistência do consumidor em adotá-los (Labrecque, Wood, Neal, & Harrington, 2017).…”

“…Nesse caso, se o risco social for muito alto, o sujeito será impelido a não proceder com a compra. Além disso, as preocupações quanto ao valor também entram em análise, pois é possível que, após mensurarem os benefícios e custos, os consumidores concluam que as vantagens do novo produto não compensam seu preço (Labrecque, 2017). Outra barreira também pode ser o número de atributos do item, capaz de tornar sua utilização difícil e fatigosa para os consumidores (Thompson, Hamilton, & Rust, 2005) -influenciando negativamente até mesmo o valor em uso, que pressupõe que os sujeitos devam conseguir lidar com os produtos.…”

Are conservative approaches to new product selling a blessing in disguise?

“…In contrast to the first three risk dimensions, psychological risk and physical risk may be salient for some products (e.g., popular brands, luxury goods, food or health products), but are absent for most other products (Labrecque et al 2016). …”

“…In our study context, psychological and physical risk dimensions are less of a concern because the newly introduced products do not pose risk to a salesperson's health or self-identity (cf. Labrecque et al 2016).…”