A Reexamination of the Relationship between Consumer Status and New Product Adoption

Product diffusion literature asserts that people with high social status have a higher tendency to adopt new products driven by their need for being distinct from low status groups. However, the construct of status is more complex than typically acknowledged in the marketing literature. More specifically, although recent studies have recognized two types of status (dominance- and deference-based status) and suggested differences in underlying psychological processes (e.g., risk preference and openness), the existing literature only pays attention to the effect of deference-based status and has scant knowledge about the effects of dominance-based status on new product adoption. In this dissertation, I compare dominance- and deference-based status effects on innovation adoption decisions. I adopt regulatory focus theory to explain why and how these two status types differentially influence adoption decisions, and examine my hypotheses in five experimental studies.