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The adoption of hyped technologies: a qualitative study

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Abstract

The introduction of new consumer technology is often greeted with declarations that the way people conduct their lives will be changed instantly. In some cases, this might create hype surrounding a specific technology. This article investigates the adoption of hyped technology, a special case that is absent in the adoption literature. The study employs a consumer research perspective, specifically the theory of consumption values (TCV), to understand the underlying motives for adopting the technology. In its original form, TCV entails five values that influence consumer behavior: functional, social, epistemic, emotional and conditional. The values catch the intrinsic and extrinsic motives influencing behavior. Using a qualitative approach that includes three focus groups and 60 one-on-one interviews, the results of the study show that emotional, epistemic and social values influence the adoption of hyped technologies. Contrary to expectations, functional value, which is similar to the widely used information system constructs of perceived usefulness and relative advantage, has little impact on the adoption of technologies that are surrounded with significant hype. Using the findings of the study, this article proposes a model for investigating and understanding the adoption of hyped technologies. This article contributes to the literature by (1) focusing on the phenomenon of hyped technology, (2) introducing TCV, a consumer research-based theoretical framework, to enhance the understanding of technology adoption, and (3) proposing a parsimonious model explaining the adoption of hyped technology.

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Acknowledgments

This work was in part supported by the DREAMS project via a grant from the Danish Agency of Science and Technology (grant number 2106-04-0007) and by Copenhagen Business School. We also thank the reviewers and special issue editors for their constructive comments and the field study participants for their involvement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Applied ICT, Copenhagen Business School, Howitzvej 60, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Jonas Hedman & Gregory Gimpel

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  1. Jonas Hedman
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  2. Gregory Gimpel
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Correspondence to Jonas Hedman.

Additional information

The authors contributed equally. This article is forthcoming in Information Technology and Management, in a guest-edited special issue by Robert J. Kauffman and Angsana A. Techatassanasoontorn.

Appendix 1: Focus group script

Appendix 1: Focus group script

  1. 1.

    Could everyone take 1 min or so and let me know what they think of the study thus far?

  2. 2.

    I want to know about what values/motives/reasons are important to you when deciding to use a mobile device or to use a new feature on it? What is important to you? What characteristics give it value?

  3. 3.

    There are five specific types of values I’d like to explore. The first is functional value. What makes a smart phone useful to you?

  4. 4.

    What make a smart phone useful and valuable to you socially?

  5. 5.

    What kinds of emotions are satisfied or aroused by having and using a smart phone?

  6. 6.

    How is a smart phone useful to you to get knowledge, arouse curiosity, or to aid in some kind of learning?

  7. 7.

    Are there certain situations in which a smart phone gains value that it usually doesn’t have? What are specific situations that make a smart phone more useful (or less useful) than an alternative…? An alternative could be a regular mobile phone, a laptop computer, or anything else you might want to compare it to.

  8. 8.

    Look at the five values you’ve written down. Rank them in order from 1 to 5, with 1 being the most important. Write it down.

Are there any other important values that we should have discussed but didn’t?

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Hedman, J., Gimpel, G. The adoption of hyped technologies: a qualitative study. Inf Technol Manag 11, 161–175 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10799-010-0075-0

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