인터넷 정보습득 과정이 얼리어답터의 혁신준비도에 미치는 영향

Abstract

The role of Early Adopters in the Internet Electronic Commerce is very important. They play the role of opinion leader who attain product information in the early period of the product life-cycle and spread the information and review on the product to the following consumers. Their behavioral pattern is so different from the Late Adopters that the analysis of their characteristics and communication type will shed light on how promote the current product as well as the next product. Consumers who purchase the innovative product or service have been known for experiencing three stages of information processing such as Knowledge, Persuasion, and Decision. This research will investigate the difference between Early Adopters and Late Adopters in their choice of information channels, the speed of each stage and the extent of innovation readiness, and hence deliver insights to developers and marketers of new innovative products or services. The findings shows that there is no difference between EA and LA in that both of them choose the Internet as the main source of product information. However, EA preferred direct observation of the product and LA preferred the interpersonal channel for gathering information. In addition, EA spent shorter time in each stages of information processing and showed clearly different extent of innovation readiness than LA. The conclusion and implication of the results will be discussed.