THE EFFECT OF CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS ON ADOPTION OF LOCATION-BASED SERVICES

Abstract

This study applies the view of domain specific innovativeness (DSI) to examine the relationships between consumer innovativeness, lifestyle, knowledge, exploratory buying behavior tendencies, and the intentions to adopt location-based services (LBS). It is found that consumers with different levels of innovativeness toward LBS have different lifestyles and adoption intentions for LBS. Specifically, innovators have higher willingness to adopt LBS, and they tend to be leaders, price-oriented, and stylish. Consumers’ knowledge of LBS partially mediates the relationship between their innovativeness toward LBS and the intentions to adopt the service. However, consumers’ exploratory buying behavior tendencies do not play the mediating role between consumer innovativeness toward LBS and the intentions to adopt the service. The study not only explains the role of consumer innovativeness as the antecedent of LBS adoption, but suggests that the characteristics of consumer personality could be more important than expected in the adoption of LBS.