Second, this research shows that the situational growth mindset increases con-sumers’ ability to understand the benefits of upskilling communication. In turn, such heightened understanding leads to the higher adoption intention of rad-ical innovations. Accordingly, this research will help marketing managers to design marketing messages that either are compatible with or violate the situ-ational growth mindset of the consumers. For example, people watch thousands of videos on YouTube that can prime a growth mindset; therefore, making the advertising message more relevant to the already activated growth mindset can enhance consumers’ adoption of new products. Overall, this research will inform the extant innovation adoption literature and practicing managers of the nuances involved in using situational mindsets as a segmentation variable for introducing radical innovations.
1.4 Outline of the thesis
The dissertation is structured as follows. Chapter 2 develops a conceptual back-ground and propositions. First, this chapter provides an overview of new prod-uct innovation and what makes new prodprod-ucts really new from a consumer per-spective. Second, a detailed literature review on consumer learning about new products is presented. The concept of upskilling communication is introduced as a new way of motivating consumers to learn about new products. The concept of situational growth is discussed as a mechanism for understanding when up-skilling communication is likely to be effective. Chapter 3 presents an empirical investigation of the proposed conceptual framework. First, I develop testable research hypotheses for each proposition systematically and provide a logical grounding for the overall dissertation. Second, this chapter contains a summary of the findings of each study, general discussions, research contributions, and fu-ture directions. Chapter 4 concludes with a summary of the dissertation.
Chapter 2
Theoretical Background and Propositions
In this chapter, the theories underlying the assumptions of this thesis will be dis-cussed in detail. First, this chapter provides an overview of new product inno-vation and what makes a new product really new from a consumer perspective.
Second, a detailed literature review on consumer learning about new products is presented. The concept of upskilling communication is introduced as a new way of motivating consumers to learn about new products. The concept of situational growth mindset is discussed as a mechanism for understanding when upskilling communication is likely to be effective. Finally, two main propositions and the conceptual framework are presented at the end of the chapter.
2.1 Overview of product innovation
2.1.1 Definition
Although product innovation can be viewed from many perspectives (Garcia and Calantone, 2002), in this dissertation, product innovation refers to discontinu-ities in product benefits, technological capabildiscontinu-ities, and/or consumption patterns (Veryzer, 1998; Gourville, 2006; Ma, Gill, and Jiang, 2015). First, the disconti-nuities in product benefits are based on the new capabilities that an innovation provides in terms of customer need fulfillment (Ali, Krapfel, and LaBahn, 1995;
Rogers, 2003). In other words, product innovation offers entirely novel bene-fits not available from the existing products (Ma, Gill, and Jiang, 2015). Second, the discontinuities in technological capabilities are based on the degree to which an innovation improves technical performance and/or expands technological ca-pabilities beyond existing boundaries (e.g., digital cameras vs. film cameras) (Veryzer, 1998; O’Connor, 1998; Chandy and Tellis, 1998). Third, the disconti-nuities in consumption patterns denote the degree to which customers need to
Chapter 2. Theoretical Background and Propositions
adapt their thinking and behavior to utilize an innovation (Veryzer, 1998). Re-search suggests that innovative products frequently challenge consumers to ac-quire knowledge, give up existing behaviors, and learn new skills and behaviors (Urban, Weinberg, and Hauser, 1996; Gourville, 2006; Castaño et al., 2008). For example, the first digital cameras created a greater need for learning, as well as considerable behavioral changes (Moreau, Lehmann, and Markman, 2001).
In sum, product innovation involves creating new products or improving ver-sions of the existing products by offering greater benefits relative to existing offer-ings, or it can take the form of a new technology, or a new way to do something.
The following section reviews the existing literature on what makes a new prod-uct innovative.
2.1.2 What makes a new product really new?
What makes a new product really new, and how does the degree of newness affect consumers’ behavior? Past research suggests that product newness is de-termined by the extent to which consumer have the existing category knowledge to understand the new product (Moreau, Lehmann, and Markman, 2001; Wood and Lynch, 2002). From a consumer perspective, two broad types of product in-novation are distinguished: incrementally new products (INPs) and really new products (RNPs) (e.g., Hoeffler, 2003; Moreau, Lehmann, and Markman, 2001).
INPs represent minor changes in product benefits, technological capability, and consumption patterns (Zhao, Hoeffler, and Dahl, 2009; Veryzer, 1998). In other words, INPs neither involve dramatically new technology nor provide very new benefits (Veryzer, 1998). Regarding consumption patterns, INPs represent minor changes in consumers’ established ideas or concepts (Dahl and Hoeffler, 2004), routines (Gourville, 2006), norms (Noseworthy and Trudel, 2011), and ways of doing things (Zhao, Hoeffler, and Dahl, 2009; Gourville, 2006) and imply familiar routine tasks (Veryzer, 1998). Consequently, consumers can draw on prior knowl-edge and experience when trying to make sense of an INP (Zhao, Hoeffler, and Dahl, 2012). In turn, it is easier for consumers to fully understand the potential benefits of the INPs (Veryzer, 1998; Jhang, Grant, and Campbell, 2012).
In contrast, RNPs represent major changes in product benefits, technologi-cal capability, and consumption patterns (Veryzer, 1998; Gourville, 2006). In other words, RNPs offer entirely novel benefits not available from existing prod-ucts (Ma, Gill, and Jiang, 2015), new technological capabilities (O’Connor, 1998;
Veryzer, 1998; Chandy and Tellis, 1998), “a completely new way of doing some-thing, or a completely new thing to do, something that was not possible be-fore” (Norman, 2004, p. 77). In such a case, consumers must make greater
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