An extension of the Gadget Loving model to include cultural dimensions

Abstract: Gadgets are novel products that have software applications loaded into hardware and software platforms. Their development and marketing costs companies hundreds of millions of dollars, yet the failure rate in the marketplace is very high. Central to gadget marketing is the notion that, when consumers are reached via technologically and socially influential people, the rate and speed of adoption of new innovations increases. The seminal research of Bruner & Kumar (2007a) defined a scale for Gadget Lovers, those technologically and socially influential people. Shoham & Pesämaa (2013) later extended the Gadget Loving research. Both studies did not include cultural dimensions. Research from a number of authors support that cultural factors have an influence in the process of adopting innovations. This Thesis proposes and quantitatively tests an extension to the Gadget Loving model that includes cultural dimensions. Following mainly Tolba & Mourad (2011), the extended model proposed in this Thesis adds Individualism and Uncertainty Avoidance as the two key cultural antecedents to Gadget Loving. The quantitative research is focused in Sweden and Finland. The results of this Thesis provide strong support for Individualism being a key antecedent to Gadget Loving. Only weak support is found for Uncertainty Avoidance at p<0.1.