THE LINK BETWEEN PERSONALITY, INNOVATIVENESS PREDISPOSITION, AND ADOPTION: A MODEL OF INTERNET PURCHASING.

The marketing literature suggests that a predisposition toward innovativeness may serve as a predictor of actual innovative behavior, especially within a given product domain. Past research has also shown relationships between a consumer's psychological traits (or personality characteristics) and innovative product/service adoption behavior. Previous studies, though, have left many gaps in this research stream. Although some research has examined the linkage between selected psychological constructs and innovative behavior, studies have typically only examined one or two personality variables at a time. Since consumers are more complex and are a composite of a myriad of traits, it is only appropriate that a variety of personality factors be examined concurrently. Research has also postulated that early adopters of new products and services have an innate innovativeness. That is, a psychological propensity to innovate, particularly in a specific product category. Yet, almost all of the studies to date, particularly those that marry innovativeness with personality traits, have focused solely on delineating which psychological variables best describe an innovator on a post-hoc basis (either based on a time-of-adoption or cross-sectional approach). A gap exists in determining the relationship between a consumer's psychological make-up and his or her innovative predisposition. Additionally, the empirical studies examining consumer innovativeness have typically lacked methodological rigor. This study addresses these issues through the use of a structural model which hypothesizes that (a) innovativeness predisposition is directly related to adoption behavior within a product class and (b) personality variables (specifically, fatalism, cognitive complexity and perceived risk) are directly related to innovativeness predisposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]