Digital Technology Adoption and Consumer Behavior Analysis Report

This report examines the adoption of digital technologies, focusing on the interplay between innovation, consumer behavior, and marketing strategies. It begins by defining digital technology and its applications in business, emphasizing its role in streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency. The report then delves into the innovation process, distinguishing between invention, innovation, and diffusion, and highlights the importance of understanding consumer responses to digital technologies. It outlines the five stages of the innovation adoption process: awareness, acceptance, trial, adoption/rejection, and future patterns of use, providing examples and explanations for each stage. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is discussed, including its key components (perceived usefulness and ease of use) and its role in predicting user intentions. Furthermore, the report analyzes the factors influencing adoption decisions, such as consumer risk and adopter categories. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings, emphasizing the importance of digital marketers understanding consumer behavior and adapting strategies to encourage the acceptance and adoption of new technologies.

Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Digital technology in turn is considered to be electrical systems, devices and tools which
in turn generates and process information (Nambisan, 2017). It is very useful for the individual
to work in a collaborated manner and it also helps in streamlining the working operations of the
business. It is useful in reducing the cost, increasing employee satisfaction, improves skills and
streamlined business process.
MAIN BODY
A digital technology adoption might relate to a new device (digital phone), a new platform
(adoption of web 2.0 over web 1), a new channel (adoption of Facebook or Snapchat) or a new
process (process of sharing information using the cloud technology). Every individual tends to
use different set of innovative and advanced technology such as artificial intelligence, block
chain, virtual reality, cloud storage, machine learning, robotics, digital platforms, etc. This helps
in carrying out the business with high degree of efficiency and accuracy. Invention is the
formation of the new idea or process that may have economic value (Henderson, Selwyn and
Aston, 2017). On the contrary, Innovation is considered to be one of the effective measure which
tends to involve various information and resources in order to generate new range of products.
Moreover, diffusion is referred to as the difference of the improvement so that it is established,
adopted and constantly applied. However, not all the digital innovations are considered to be
prosperous and fruitful (Hill, Betts. and Gardner, 2015). The digital marketers need to
understand the responses of the individuals related with digital technology which helps in
planning an appropriate marketing promotion which in turn encourages consumers to adapt to
newer innovation. There are 5 phases in the innovation agreement procedure:
1. First stage is to effectively be aware of the various operations of existing technology. One
of the key role of innovation awareness was first and foremost projected in diffusion of
various innovation concept (Drijvers, 2015). At the awareness phase the person becomes
completely conscious of the innovations existence and gets some insight into how the
technology works. Awareness can be gained either actively or passively. Passive
awareness is usually gained by understanding the messages received from sales and also
by reading marketing communications and meeting sales people. Active awareness is
gained when an individual seeks for solution to a particular problem which has been

identified. As per to Rogers (1995) there is a complex relationship between innovation
awareness and formation of need state associated with the innovation. The need state is
considered to be as the actual state of consumers which differs from their ideal or desired
state. This eventually results in feelings of dissatisfaction and frustration which prompt
action to resolve the difference (Solomon et al,2011). In some situations the need state
occurs and then the consumer will seek information about whether an innovation will
provide a solution to a particular problem, in other situations the knowledge of the
innovation creates a need state. Example – most of us own a normal wrist watch but not a
apple smart watch while some individuals must have felt the need for a smart watch for
its features and the others experienced the need state when they saw celebrities wearing
them in magazines (Price, 2015).
2. The second stage is acceptance, where the individual mentally rehearses innovation use.
It tends to focus on forming specific individual expectations of benefits, risks and
outcome of technology. There is an significant distinction between adopting a
technological innovation and accepting a technological innovation (Renaud and Van
Biljon, 2008). Technology adoption occurs when the consumer makes full use of the
technology, when they will replace the technology when it’s broken and would feel lost
without access to the technology. Example – UK survey shows 45% of the 18 year olds
check their phones after they have gone to bed as they would feel stressed about missing
out if they do not have access to mobile phone. A core model that focuses on predicting
accepting TAM by evaluating attitudinal influences by using intentions. This model is
useful in predicting person accepting various influencing factors. It focuses on two key
areas:
Perceived usefulness is usually stated as the subjective probability of the user. Using a
specific application system is useful in increasing the job performance of the customers.
Perceived ease of use is the degree to which the user tends to expect the target system to
be free of power.
Technology Acceptance Model enables researchers to measure individual’s
response to digital technology in order to predict the intention to use an innovation
(Legris at al, 2013). There is evidence that Technology Acceptance Model has
illuminating power and is able to account for over 40 percent of the differences between

individual intentions to use technology (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000). There is also
criticism that Technology Acceptance Model is developed within a organizational context
and is not applicable to individual use situations where technology is voluntarily used and
there might not be any training or support. The last criticism is that technology
acceptance varies according to whether the task being undertaken is intrinsic or extrinsic
(Gefen and Straub, 2000). Perceived usefulness is very crucial for extrinsic programs
and operations where technology is considered to be effective mode to attain the primary
product.
3. The third stage is trailing the innovation that is the trail or testing of the technology to see
if actual use matches rehearsal. Before adoption Rogers proposes that an individual will
wish to trail an innovation to assess the risks and benefits (Giones, and Brem, 2017). A
divisible element is an aspect of the complete innovation like in the case of online
banking adoption the information search acts as a divisible element to assess the bank
website functionality (Waite and Harrison, 2002). Trial ability is considered to be an
extent to which an innovation can in turn be experimented on a narrow basis (Rogers,
1995). Trial ability does not always predict an individual’s adoption theory (Agarwal and
Prasad,1998).
4. The fourth stage involves an adoption/rejection decision that is the assessment of
outcomes leading to intention to incorporate technology into routines and tasks. As per
the diffusion innovation model theses are classified into five innovation attributes
facilitate adoption . This includes relative advantage, Trial ability, compatibility,
complexity, and Observability. There are six specific types of consumer risks which are
financial risk, performance risk, physical risk, psychological risk, social risk and
convenience risk. Now if we talk about website functionality the risks can website is too
slow to download, information may be difficult to locate etc, the website providers may
also introduce privacy risk where the consumers have to register an interest and supply
personal details before being able to view information. Digital technology is very useful
for the individual to work in a collaborated manner and it also helps in streamlining the
working operations of the business. Individuals can have different attitudes towards risk
and they can be classified into five discrete adopter categories:

 The first to adopt are namely innovators and early adapters, they tend to be risk
seeking and enjoy new experiences.
 Those later to adopt are the early majority, they are less tolerant to risk and make
sure the product is tried and tested before committing to it.
 The last final group is the laggards; they are very traditional and suspicious to
change.
Digital marketers need to remember that within the any consumer group there
will be those who reject an innovation due to the risk concerns.
5. The final stage is the future patterns of technology use either maintaining regular patterns
of use or discontinuing use. It is important to remember that patterns of technology use
can change over time with intensity of use fluctuating and sometimes use discontinuing.
Technology continuance occurs when technology use transcends conscious behavior and
becomes a part of normal routine activities (Bhattacherjee, 2001). Technology
discontinuance occurs when an individual decides to stop using a website or an app and
does not return to using it. One of the key reasons for discontinuance of specific digital
technology is technology wastes time or it also results in distraction etc. To ensure
continuance, a marketing mix might contain certain place elements that make difficult to
remove or deactivate a user profile from a site or promotion elements that feature an
email campaign to remind and encourage repeated use after a period of inactivity.
CONCLUSION
This study summarizes that, a digital technology such as artificial intelligence, block
chain, virtual reality, cloud storage, machine learning, robotics, digital platforms, etc. helps in
carrying out the business with high degree of efficiency and accuracy. There are 5 stages of
innovation adoption, first is awareness, second is acceptance, third stage is trailing, fourth stage
comprise of rejection and lastly fifth stage includes future patterns. Digital marketers remember
that within the any consumer group there will be those who reject an innovation due to the risk
concerns.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Drijvers, P., 2015. Digital technology in mathematics education: Why it works (or doesn’t).
In Selected regular lectures from the 12th international congress on mathematical education (pp.
135-151). Springer, Cham.
Giones, F. and Brem, A., 2017. Digital technology entrepreneurship: A definition and research
agenda. Technology Innovation Management Review, 7(5).
Henderson, M., Selwyn, N. and Aston, R., 2017. What works and why? Student perceptions of
‘useful’digital technology in university teaching and learning. Studies in Higher
Education, 42(8), pp.1567-1579.
Hill, R., Betts, L.R. and Gardner, S.E., 2015. Older adults’ experiences and perceptions of digital
technology:(Dis) empowerment, wellbeing, and inclusion. Computers in Human Behavior, 48,
pp.415-423.
Nambisan, S., 2017. Digital entrepreneurship: Toward a digital technology perspective of
entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(6), pp.1029-1055.