The Effects of Two Types of Product Category Knowledge on Consumer Response to New Products: The Moderating Role of Innovation Continuity

摘要

This research examines the effects of two types of product category knowledge on consumer response to new products, focusing on the moderating role of innovation continuity. That is, this research examines whether both existing knowledge (i.e., primary base domain knowledge and supplementarybase domain knowledge) and innovation continuity are major factors influencing the consumer’s adoption process. First, this research predicts that experts in primary base domain knowledge will report higher comprehension for continuous innovations, whereas expertise in primary base domainknowledge will be related to lower comprehension for discontinuous innovations. Second, it is predicted that expertise in the supplementary base domain knowledge will be positively related to comprehension for discontinuous innovations. Consistent with the research predictions, the experimentalresults indicated that experts in primary base domain knowledge report higher comprehension for continuous innovations, whereas expertise in primary base domain knowledge is related to lower comprehension for discontinuous innovations. Moreover, the results indicated that experts are ableto understand and appreciate discontinuous innovations only when this product category knowledge is accompanied by relevant information from a supplementary knowledge base.