Empirical Study on Case-Based Decision Theory (CBDT); The Application of Consumers’ Decision Adoption to a “Really New” Product

Abstract

This study applied Case-Based Decision Theory (CBDT) to the consumers’ decision to adopt a “really new” product, which can be depicted as an uncertain situation. Based on an experimental survey on the adoption of “Google Glass,” study 1 showed the findings that the CBDT model performed better than the multi-attribute decision (MAD) model in shaping the decision to adopt the product. Furthermore, current research on new product adoption recognizes the importance of “learning” acquired from external information, study 2 extended the CBDT by including the possibility of getting information about product positioning, as this represents the fastest phase in the process of “learning”. I developed a hypothesis that consumers utilize the product positioning information to identify the “case” to take into account within the CBDT. Also, assuming the product innovativeness could affect the hypothesis, I tested by giving two different types of the product category (HMD and smartphone, implying product innovativeness was high and low) to “Google Glass” by advertising. As a result of the experiment, the hypothesis was verified only when the new product was positioned as innovative.