Passive innovation resistance: The curse of innovation? Investigating consequences for innovative consumer behavior

Empirical research reveals that many new products fail as a result of consumers' passive resistance to innovation. Moreover, extant research suggests that high levels of stimulation induced by radical innovations even enhance negative effects of passive innovation resistance. However, empirical evidence for these propositions is still rare. Consequently, this study strives to enhance the current understanding (1) by investigating the inhibitory role of passive innovation resistance for different kinds of innovative consumer behaviors and (2) by examining the moderating role of perceived stimulation for effects of passive innovation resistance. Based on a large-scale empirical study (n = 681), we provide first empirical evidence that passive innovation resistance inhibits both consumers' tendencies to engage in innovative behavior and actual new product adoption. Furthermore, the results confirm that perceived stimulation increases the negative effects of passive innovation resistance. Our findings contribute to the ongoing discussion on a possible pro-change bias in adoption literature and to the current understanding on how to develop and market innovations to reach market success.