Beyond Simple Innovativeness: A Hierarchical Continuum and Thinking and Feeling Processing Modes

We tested a model of consumer innovativeness composed of two critical features. The first constituted a hierarchy ranging from cardinal personality traits to manifest behavioral innovativeness, and the second encompassed the distinction between the functional and experiential aspects of innovativeness. Cellular phones and MP3 players were the two innovative products we used to conduct a test of our proposed model. The results revealed that the hierarchy was manifested throughout the trait-behavior continuum but, was at least partially fractured in the link between marketplace traits and domain-specific innovativeness. The results supported a distinction between functional and experiential facets of innovativeness.