Consumer Preference for the Latest Technological Offering: The Impact of Chasing Technology on Consumer Purchase Behavior

Prior research has shown that when making high tech purchase decisions, consumers consider not only the relative advantage afforded by currently available products, but also the relative advantage expected from future generation products. Additionally, empirical evidence suggests that prices for high tech products often decline faster than the technology advances. This chapter takes both these findings into account and investigates the antecedents of expectation formation and how consumer purchase decisions for highand low-tech products are impacted by asymmetrical rates of technological advance and price decline. Although consumers generally prefer the latest technological generation of a product, level of technological sophistication (highvs. low-tech), rate of technological change and price decline, and expectations regarding future product introductions, based on familiarity with past product introductions, were found to moderate the effect of technological generation on preference.

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