Ram_Sheth_1989_JCM_Consumer resistance to innovation.pdf

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CONSUMER RESISTANCE TOINNOVATIONS: THE MARKETINGPROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTIONSS. RamJagdish N. ShethIn this article, ourobjective is to explain whycustomers resist innovations even though they are

considered necessary and de sirable. We will seekto identify the major barriers which create customer resistance to innovations and will suggestmarketing strategies to overcome these barriers.

Wh y is there the need to study and un derstandconsumer resistance to innovations? Primarilybecause most business corporations are facedwith a very high rate of new product failure.1Onlya small fraction of the new p roduct ideas chosenfor market development are commercially suc-Sundaresan Ram is assistant professor of mark eting at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He ea rned hisPh.D.in BusinessAdministration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management atCalcutta, and a Bachelor's Degree in Metallurgy from the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras.Dr.Ram has worked in the Industrial Marketing division of Grindwell NortonLtd.in India, affiliated w ith Norton U .S.A. andthe Consumer M arketing D ivision ofBlueStar Ltd., India, which markets primarily consumer durables and medical equipm ent.Dr.Ram 's research an d teaching interests are in the area of product ma nagem ent, specifically the mana geme nt of new products.His research addresses topics such as wh y consumers resist innovations, and howtodesign an expert system for screening newproduct idea s. Dr. Ram has co-authored w ithDr.JagdishN .Sheth, a book en titled Bringing Innovationt Market:H ow t Break

Corporate and Customer Barriers, published by John Wiley and Sons in the Fall of 1987.Jagdish N. Sheth is the Brooker Professor of Research in the Graduate School of Business at the University of SouthernCalifornia and Director of the Center for Telecommunications Management.Dr. Sheth has consulted for major comp anies, including AT&T, General Motors, Bell Canad a and the W hirlpool Corpora tion;he has also counseled many East Asian and European companies and several government agencies. He ha s conducted over 1,500executive seminars in at least 20 countries in the areas of strategic marketing, market segmentation, and internationalmarketing.Dr. Sheth is the author of numerous books and articles, including, with John Howard,Theoryof Buyer Behavior, and, m orerecently, Winning Back Your Markets, which is receiving broad-based acclaim. He is also founder and editor of the BusinessBook Review. In 1975 Dr. Sheth was rated among the top ten marketing professors in the country; he is one of only threeAmericans honored with the Viktor Mataja medal from the Austrian Research Society forhis contributions to advertising andconsumer research.

Vol. 6 No . 2 Spr ing 1989 5


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THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER MARKETING

cessful. One of the major causes for ma rket failureof innovations is the resistance they encounterfrom consumers.Yet little research h as been doneon this subject. Most studies have focused on su ccessful innovations and their rate of diffusionthrough the market. Some marketing scholarshave emphasized the value of studying innovation resistance;7, 10how ever, ex cept for a fewstudies,3-4 the concept remains neglected.Innovation Resistance

Consumers in industrialized nations are pro-innova tion. They believe that technology, ifproperly harnessed, can benefit them. Why then dothey resist some innovative products or services?Why Innovation Resistance?

First, an innova tion m ay create a high degree ofchange in the consumers' day-to-day existenceand disrupt their established routine s. For example,the videotex, which offers in-home shoppingservices, wh en initially in France , met with h ighconsumer resistance because of the changes itcreated in shopping behavior. Consumers couldnot interact with store personnel to get helpfulinformation; they had to forego their enjoymentof the attractive atmospherics of the store; andthose who loved to go shopping w ith their friendswere deprived of this social interaction. Consumers had to learn how to use this innovativeservice. Further, many were happy with theircurrent mode of shopping and resented the changesposed by the innovation. Thus potential ch angesfrom a satisfactory status quo (or current habit]can cause resistancetothe innovation.8In Europeancountries such as France, where the innovationhas gained success, consumers were given freeterminals to overcome the resistance. Innovations,such as the videotex, which create considerablechange for the consumer are said to be discont inuous . 5 The higher the discontinuity of aninnovation, th e higher the resistance is likely tobe.

Second, an innovation may conflict with theconsumers' prior belief structure. For example,several consumers in the United States believethat goods produced by Third World coun tries areof inferior quality. This is one reason wh y mach inetools produced by India, though high in quality,have not gained widespread acceptance in international markets. Some consumers believe thatbuying foreign goods is unpa triotic and doesadis

service to the native economy. 2, 9 Th e "B uyAm erica" m ovem ent of the 1980s is a m anifestation of the strong beliefs held by such A mericanconsumers, who are likely to resist innovationsthat originate on foreign soil.First, an innovation may crea te ahigh degree of change in theconsumers day-to-day existenceand disrupt their establish edroutines.

From the above discussion, we may no w v enturea definition of innovation resistance. Innov ationresistance isthe resistance offered by consumersto an innovation, either because it poses potentialchanges fromasatisfactory status quo or becauseit conflicts with their belief structure.Characteristics of Innovation Resistance

The re is evidence in the marketing literature toillustrate the existence of innovation resistance.First, innovation re sistance affects the timing ofadoption. Adopters of innovations have beenclassified into five categories: Innovators, EarlyAdopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, andLaggards.5 Each of these groups has a differentlevel of resistance to the innovation, and thisvariation in level affects the timing of adoption.For exam ple, Innov ators exhibit no resistance tothe innovation and are the first to adopt. TheLaggards, on the other hand, have such a highlevel of resistance that they do not adopt theproduct. For the other adopter categories, theresistance to the innovation breaks down overtime.Second, innovation resistance varies in degree.Resistance exists on a continuum, increasingfrom passive resistance or inertia to active resistance.4 Consumers who are aware of an innovation may beh ave in one of the following w ay s: (1)They m ay feel disinclined to adopt the inn ovation(inertia)for example, few men adopted cosmetics when they were first introduced exclusivelyfor the male segment. For a variety of culturalreasons men were not sufficiently motivated tochange their current behavior.(2)Consumers mayfeel that the innov ation is too risky and postpo nethe adoption decision (active resistance)forexam ple, microw ave oven s met with high marketresistance initially since consumers feared that


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the radiation might cause physical risk.(3)Consumers may be convinced that the innovation isunsuitable and decide to launch an attack againstits adoption (very active resistance)for exam ple,when diesel cars were first introduced, the earlyadopters had to cope with high diesel costs andradically new maintenance problems; these dissatisfied consumers raised such a hue and cryabout their prob lems that they diffused resista nceto the innovation through the rest of the mark et.

Third, innovation resistance existsacross product classes. What m atters is not the product classtowhich the innovation belongs, but the two basiccauses of resistance: the degree of change or discontinuity brought abo ut by the innovation,5and/or the extent to which it conflicts with the consumer's belief structure. A highly discontinuousinnovation, such as the first computer, creates agreat degree of change for the consumer and islikely to encounter high resistance. Innovationsbased on new technologies usually create highdiscontinuity. On the other hand, a continuousinnovation, such as the push-button phone, whichimproved on the rotary dial phone, creates hard lyany change for the consumer. Yet, even such aninnovation can meet with resistance for thesecond reason: conflict with belief structure.While the market has readily accepted pu sh-buttonphones made in the United States, not all consumers have switched to the cheaper imitationsmade in Hong Kong, because of the lower qu alitythat they perceive in the latter.The higher the discontinuity of aninnov ation, the higher theresistance is likely to be.

Innovation resistance thu s seems to be a norm al,instinctive response of consum ers. W hat we need,therefore, is to understand the process.Encountering CustomerResistance to Innovations

Customers face several barriers that paralyzetheir desire to adopt innovations, and thesebarriers may be grouped into two categories:functional barriers and psychological barriers.The functional barriers relate to three areas:product usage patterns, product value, and risksassociated w ith product usage . These barriers are

more likely to arise if consu me rs perceive significant changes from adopting the innovation. Thepsychological barr iers arise from two factors:traditions and norms of the customers, and perceived product image. These barriers are moreoften created through conflict with customers'prior beliefs.Functional BarriersU sa ge Barrier

Perhaps the most common reason for customerresistance to an innovationisthat itisnot compatiblewith existing work flows, p ractices, or habits.Innovations that require changes in customers'routine require a relatively long developmentprocess before gaining customer acceptance.For exam ple, one innovation that has met withresistance from some poten tial users is carpool-ing, since it requires a significant ch ang e in theirdaily routine. Carpoolers have to synchronize theirarrival and departure times and can no longerenjoy the freedom of a flexible office schedule.They have to compromise on several things duringthe journey as well: the type of m usic they listento is no long er an individu al choice; the p rivilegeof silence m ay ha ve to be forgone for the sake ofpolite conversation; and smo kers may havetogrittheir teeth an d bravely end ure the urge for nicotine.

Carpooling requires compatibil i ty with fellowcarpoolers' punctuality, manners, and even personal grooming habits Henc e, the resistance tothe innovation.Tofu, an inexp ensive protein substitute, is anotherproduct facing usage barriers from Americanconsumers. Tofu is bland in taste, but otheringredients can be blended with it to add flavorand texture . However, the cooking skills requiredfor using this produ ct are becoming o bsolete withthe changing lifestyles. Few people hav e the timeor patience to hunt for recipes of tofu dishes and

then to learn the different w ays of preparing them .Unless the usage of the product is made easier, itwill continue to face resistance. Tofu manufacturers have partially succeeded in dealing withthis barrier by processing and packaging theproduct in the form of ready-to-eat frozen dessert.Value Barrier

The second functional barrier to an innova tionis based on the value of the innovation. Unless an7


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innovation offers a strong performance-to-pricevalue com pared with produc t substitutes, there isno incentive for customers to change.An innovation that has avoided the valuebarrier (by not charging for usage) is the Automatic Teller Mac hine (ATM).* TheATM isrestrictedin the type s of transactio ns th at it candoforacustomer. It cannot openanew account, issue drafts,provide loans, or perform any of a number ofother services that are provided routinely at aban k cou nter. The ATM do es provide cash at 24-hour locations, but even here there are limitations.The cash canbewithdrawn only in mu ltiplesof$20,there is an upper limit on the dollar amo untthat can be withd raw n duringaday (suchas$300),and som etimes the machine run s out of cash or istemporarily out of service, requiring the frustrated customer to go to an alternative location.Clearly, the ATM provides no value to the customer who seeks complex banking transactions.The innovation does, however, provide value tothe customers in places and at times when accessto human tellers are not available. Retail stores,supermarkets, gasoline stations, and post officesare examples of locations where the ATM willprovide value to the customer, and it is throughthese outlets that the cash-dispensing utility ofthe ATM is increasing.

Resistance affects the timing ofadopt ion .Similarly, the videodisc player introduced byRCA met with high customer resistance. From theconsumer's perspective, the innovation lackedthe value that was promised by a feasible substitute: the videocassette recorder (VCR). Thevideodisc could play but notrecord;the VCR coulddo both. Videodiscs could not be reused, whilevideocassettes could be reused any number oftimes.Finally, videodisc players cost muc h mo rethan VCRs, especially as Japanese producers ofVCRs started to drop their prices. The valuebarriers faced by the videodisc player were sohigh that they even tually led to market failure.

Risk BarrierAll innovations, to some extent, represent un

certainty and po se potentia l side effects t ha t cannot be anticipated. Customers, aw are of the risks,try to postpo ne adop ting an innovation until theycan learn more abou t it. The re are four main typesof risk inherent in an innovation.The first type of risk is physical risk: harm toperson or property that may be inherent in theinnovation. New drugs commonly carry somephysical risk because the y are designed to act onthe body. Farmers are unwilling to experimentwith new insecticides, fertilizers, and herbicidesfor fear of soil damage. Consumers are reluctantto try new h air colors for fear that they may causeperman ent dam age to their hair. Sugar substitutessuch as saccharin have met with con sume r resistance because of possible adverse effects onhea lth. In fact, this fear of phy sical risk exte nds toall processed foods.The second type of risk is economic risk Thehigher the cost of an innovation, as with capitalgoods, the higher the perceived economic risk.For example, with products such as personalcomputers and video cameras, many interestedconsumers are postponing their purchases. Theyreason, quite correctly, that if they wait, a betterproduct w ith a lower price tag will soon be on themarket. Products based on new technologies areespecially susceptible to this risk. For example,even in the corporate world, many companiesdecide to wait for a new generation of productswith a better performance-to-price ratio beforeupgrading their computer systems.The third type of risk is due to performanceuncertainty and is kno wn as functional risk. Thecustomer worries that the innovation may nothav e been fully tested an d that therefore it is possible that it may not function properly or reliably.New cars often generate this uncertainty, sincethey have no performance record whatsoever.The fourth type of risk issocialrisk Customersmay resist an innovation because they feel that

they will face social ostracism or peer ridiculewhen they adoptit.Buying generic bran d foods isstill not acceptable to most people, even in thecase of standardized food items such as frozenvegetables and corn flakes.Psychological BarriersTradition Barrier

The first source of psychological resistance is*Som e bank s are now considering charging for transact ions.This may seriously retard future growth.8


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the cultural change created for the customer by aninnovation. When an innovation requires a customer to deviate from established traditions, it isresisted. The greater the deviation, the greaterthe resistance.Innovat ion resis tance var ies indegree .

For example, not all people find it sociallyacceptable to use computerized dating or toadvertise in the new spape r forapotential spouse.Even singles bars as a meeting place carry astigma. Women executives still encounter dif-ficulties traveling because of the social connotations associated with eating or drinking alonein a hotel. Thus, for the individual consumer,behavior that is contrary to social norms andsocietal and family v alues creates the barrier.

Tradition p lays a more dominantrole,perhaps,in eating habits than in any other form of consumption. This fact has thwarted the innovativeuses of foods and bev erages as well as the introduction of foods new to the culture. For exam ple,consumers tend to think of cranberry sauceprimarily as a Thanksgiving turkey relish, thuscreatingamarketing problem for Ocean Sp ray. Inthe past, instant coffee has had to overcome theimage of a lazy homemaker's product; beer hasbeen, for a long time, considered a blue-collarindulgence; gin and tonic has had the image of asissy drink, unw orthy of thehe-man.The exam plesgo on and on. Attitudes can ch ange overtime,butuntil they do, the barriers are up .Image Barrier

Innovations acquire a certain identity fromtheir origins: the product class or industry towhich they belong, or the country in which theyare manufactured . If any of these associations areunfavorable, the customer develops an un favorableimage abou t the product, and there is a barrier toadoption. Clearly, the image barrier is a perceptua lproblem that arises out of stereotyped thinkingand makes life difficult for the innovation.For exam ple, many p eople believe that the U.S .postal system is really bad. Yet, it is one of themost efficient in the world. Many other com monstereotypes are also false. Small businesses arenot always more entrepreneu rial than large ones.

Decentralized corporations are not always moreefficient than centralized corporations. Privateuniversities are not necessarily more innovativethan state universities.The n egative image of some foreign countries is

a barrier for innovations that originate from suchnations. For example, India is one of the largestproducers of industrial machine tools, but untilrecently it suffered from a negative image unrelated to the quality of its produ cts. How could acountry of roaming cow s and snake charmers produce m achine tools, let alone high-quality tools?It took a considerable am ount of marketing effortfor India to offset this adverse image. Similarly,electronic goods made in Korea, Taiwan, andHong Kong have had to contend with consumerskepticism.Strategies for Breaking theBarriers

Each strategy suggested in this section can beclassified into one of five categories: productstrategy, communication strategy, pricing strategy,market strategy, or coping strategy. A summaryclassification of this schem e is show n in Table 1.As can be seen, most of the strategies relate directlyto the product or the use of com mu nication.Undoing Usage B arriersThe first prob able strategyisto developasystemsperspective to market the innovation. After all,any new product or service interacts with otherproducts used and other activities performed bythe customer. By looking at the whole operation,the innovating firm can estimate how its newoffering will fit into the existing system. Forexamp le, wh en dishw ashers were first introduced,they met with resistance from housewives, whowere the primary target market. When husban dsand teenage children we re around to take care ofthe dishwashing need adequately, a mechanicalappliance to take their place seemed unnecessary.Besides, the dishw asher need ed compatible dishesand detergent. The dishes had to be rinsed anyway, and had to be loaded and unloaded. Theintended custom ers thus faced a significant usagebarrier. The m anufac turers realized that the bestapproachtomarketing the product w as to integrateit with other home appliances that were cons idered essent ia l and provided convenience.Therefore, they sold the dishwashers directly to

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Source ofResistance(Barrier)I FunctionalBarriers

1. UsageBarrier

2. ValueBarrier

3. RiskBarrier

II PsychologicalBarriers1. TraditionBarrier

2. ImageBarrier

Table 1A Classification of Marketing StrategiesTo Overcome Consumer Resistance to InnovationsMarketing StrategyProductStrategy

Develop a systemsperspective(packaging)Integrate innovationwith precedingactivity (packaging)Improve productperformance(modification anddevelopment)Improve producepositioningUse a well-knownbrand name

Borrow a goodimage (brandname)

CommunicationStrategy

Elicitendorsementsand testimonials

EducatecustomersUse changeagents

Make fun ofnegative imageCreate a uniqueimage

PricingStrategy

Reduce priceby loweringcosts

MarketStrategy

Mandateusage (marketdevelopment)

Facilitate trial(increasemarketexposure)

CopingStrategy

Understandand respecttraditions

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home builders, who included them in the designof new kitchen s. Once the product was available,its utility became ap parent, and the usage barrierwas broken.The success of minivans can also be attributed

to this systems approach. Initially designed forcomm ercial use, they could not be parked in thestandard home garage. Chrysler Corporation redesigned the van so that it would fit into existinggarages and broke down the usage barrier.Innovation resistance seem s to be anormal, instinctive response ofconsumers.

A related strategy to usage resistance is tointegrate the innovation into the preceding activityor product.In other wo rds, the innovation m ust besold to an original equipment supplier, who inturn sells it to end-users a s pa rt of a pac kag e. Forexample, many peripheral manufacturers selltheir printers to IBM, DEC, and Hon eywell, w hointegrate these into their comp uter systems. Similarly, some manufacturers of cellular mobilepho nes hav e started to sell the phone s directly toauto manufacturers so that they can be factory-installed just like radios or air conditioners.Finally, it is possible to overcome usage barriersby making the innovat ion mandatory throughgovernment legislation. This strategy works effectively if the lawm akers can be convinced tha tcustomers will benefit from the innovation. Thesuccess of lead-free gasoline can be directly attributed to this strategy. Lead-free gasoline wasan innovation developed by Standard Oil Company of Indiana to replace the polluting leadedgasolines wh ich prevented the knocking of automobile engines. Even though it wa s co mp etitivelypriced with regular leaded gasoline, customerswere no t enthusiastic about it. The primary reasonwa s that the car engines were not designedtotakethis new type of fuel. How ever, when the oil company directly contacted the government and h ighlighted the environmental benefits that could beobtained with this product, the governm ent m andated the design and production of automobileengines suitable for lead-free gasoline. A similarstrategy worked very well for both seat belts andsmoke detectors.Of the three strategies we discussed above, the

first two relate to product packaging while thethird is a market dev elopmen t strategy.Vaporizing alueBarriers

The first strategy for overcoming value barriersis to provide significant performance value overexisting alternatives. For example, electroniccalculators could perform engineering and financial calculations that the electromechanical calculators could not. Similarly, new telephones havefeatures such as redial and memory that weresimply not possible with basic telephones. Customers w ere willing to pay a little more to enjoythe enhanced functional capabilities of these innovations. This strategy is thus based on productdevelopment and modification.

A second strategy is to reduce the manufacturing costs of theinnovation and pass onthe savingsto the customers. Several years ago, Timex wasable to reduce the produ ction costs on its watch esby switching to the pin lever movement, thusliterally creating the mass market for watches.Recently, price reductions through cost savingshave constituted the m ajor thrust in the minicomputer industry. Within a decade, the minicomputers have decreased in size to desktop modelswith better features and at half the cost of theolder-generation machines. This strategy is thusbased on effective pricing.Customers face several barriersthat paralyze their desire to adoptinnovations.

A third stra tegy is to add value to the innova-tion by successful positioning. A good example isthe success of Campbell 's new canned soups.Camp bell's positioning m ove is motivated by somekey demographic shifts. For years, Campbell 'sSoup was the companion to the sandwich forchildren's lunch at home. Today, however, theincrease in single-person households and dual-income families has reduced the frequency withwhich kids get lunch from mom. Home-cookedmeals have become more irregular. As a result,Campbell has positioned its soup as an easy-to-fix, inexpensive item for the adult 's main mealand has emphasized the nutritional quality withmessages such as "Soupisgood food" and "Ch unkysoups eat like a meal." The product is thus perceived as better value (taste, nutrition, con-

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venience) when compared with frozen foods, fastfoods,or even m eals cooked at hom e. This strategyis thus based on effective product positioning.Ripping Risk Barriers

A common solution to overcoming the riskbarrier has bee n to offer the innovation on a trialbasisto potential customers. For exam ple, wh enAm erican farmers were worried about the chemicaleffects of the 2, 4-D prew eed killer on their crop s,they were offered a free trial of the product on afive-to ten-acre field. The trial reassure d the m ofthe utility of the innovation and removed the perceived risk. This strategy is thus market-relatedand increases consumer exposure to the product.A second m ethod of overcom ing risk is to elicitendorsements and testimonials from exp erts wh o

objectively evaluate the innovation. This approach wo rks foravariety of innovations such asnew movies, new restaurants, new pharmaceuticals, and even services offered by brokerage,insurance and legal firms. This is essentially acommunication strategy.Innova t ions tha t r equi re changes incus tomers ' rou t ine requi re are la t ive ly long developmentprocess .

An other m ethod of attacking the risk barriers isto package the innovation under a well-knownname. For example, many offshore manufacturers of clothing and electronic goods sell theirproducts through reputed firms such as Arrowand General Electric. Professional services suchas plumbing, heating, cooling, and roofing areoffered by independent contractors under theSears name, thus guaranteeing quality service.Similarly, imitation ch eese is sold mostly to we ll-kno wn fast food chains, wh ich use the produ ct asan ingredient in their cheeseburgers. This isthus a produ ct strategy, based on using a rep utedbrand name.Thwarting Tradition Barriers

Understanding and respecting cultural traditions is the first ap proa chtooffsetting th e barrie rsthey create. At least some of the new productfailures of U.S. firms in foreign countries can beattributed to the ignorance and arrogance about

their cultures. The failure to establish a beefindu stry in India, for ex am ple, is due to the dominance of the Hindu religion in that country. H indusrevere the cow as a sacred animal and will notpermit the establishment of slaughter houses.Understanding and respecting this religious beliefof the Indian consumer would have saved manyfirms from making the futile effort. Similarly,Betty Crocker encountered difficulties with itsAm erican stylemoist rich dessert cakes in Englandbecause the British tradition is to eat drier cakes,cook ies, and biscuits by han d at tea time. In suchcases, the marketing firm cannot pursue an aggressive strategy to offset the barriers. All it cando is accept the situation; hence this is a copingstrategy.A second strategy for overcoming tradit ionbarriers is market education. Educating the customers can be a slow , laborious process, especiallyin developing nations, and i t often requiresgovernment support. For example, birth controlwas initially resisted by the people of countriessuch as Singapore, India, and China because ofstrong religious and social beliefs against it.However, mass education has helped overcomethe resistanc e. Similar efforts are being used todayto promote computer literacy in the United States.

All inno vat ion s, to som e extent ,r epresen t uncer ta in ty and posepotential side effects that cannot beant ic ipated.

A third strategy for combatting tradition barriers is theuse of change agents. This approach isreferred to as opinion leadership or leading edgestrategy. For exam ple, in farming, the most successful inno vatio ns are first targeted at the univ ersityagriculture extension people, the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture (USDA), and the bigfarmers who are receptive to modernization.Once these industry leaders endorse the innovation, it is easily adop ted. In medicine , the chan geagents are respected hospitals, clinics, and physicians who have reputations for leadership. IBMhas consistently used the leading edge customers,such as large government agencies and corporations, to prom ote its innovations. Similarly,most innovations in consum er products are introduced in metropolitan areas where education andincome levels tend to be high. Urban users then

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act as chan ge agen ts for the rura l ma rke t s . As canbe seen, this s trategy, as w ell as the previ ous on e,i s based on com mu nica t io n .Immobilizing Image Barriers

The first strategy for overcoming a po or imag eis to make fun of the image and sugg est to peop lethat it is silly for people to carry su ch s tereo type s.For example, the prune growers association hadto reckon w ith the image barrier for prun es. Theyhired Stan Freeburg, who came out with suchclassic slogans as "Today the pits, tom orrow thewrin kles" to promote pitless prunes. Honda hadto counter the beatnik image of motorcycles in th eUnited States. It did so with a campaign whichshowed respectable people such as a priest and anold lady in tennis shoes riding on the m otorcycle.The caption: "The nicest people ride on a Honda."Innova t ions acqui re a ce r ta inidentity from their origins.

A second strategy is to create a unique imagefor the product or service. For example, PhilipMo rris positioned the Marlboro cigarettes for themacho h e-man segment and promoted this positionusing the cowboy theme.A third strategy is to associate co nsciously th einnovation with someone or something having a

positive public image. Borrowing a good imagecan be very effective. For examp le, little-know nsoftware manufacturers capitalize on compatibility with IBM. Manu facturers of mac hine toolsin India associate themselves with reputed U.S.distributors, thereby overcoming any negativeimage they suffer with customers.In this case, the first two strategies ar e based onmass communication, while the third strategy isrelated to the product (brand name strategy].ConclusionInnovations have been, and will continue tobe, the major source of corporate progress, yet

successfully innovating is a troublesome task.Customers may resist an innovation because itconflicts with their prior beliefs or because itthreatenstocreate chang es in their well-establishedroutine s. The major barriers that create consu merresistance to innovations are the three functionalbarriers (usage barrier, value barrier, and riskbarrier) and the two psychological barriers (tradition barrier and image barrier). Corporations alsoface their own set of barriers when attempting tobring innovations to the market; that subject isbeyond the scope of this paper and is discussed indetail elsewh ere.8Customer resistance in the form of usage barrierscan be lowered by use of one of three strategies:developing a systems perspective, integrating theinnovation with preceding activity, and mandating usage through governmental legislation. Valuebarriers can be lowered through one of threestrategies: improving prod uct performan ce, positioning the product successfully, and reducingprice to the consumer through cost efficiency.Risk barriers can be reduced with the followingstrategies: using a well-know n brand n am e, eliciting endorsements and testimonials from users,and facilitating product trial. Traditional barrierscan be overcome by educating the consumersand/or us ing agents ; in some ins tances , themarketing firm m ay just have to respect the traditions and norm s of the users and realize that cop

ing wit h the situatio n is the best possible solu tion.Three strategies are available for countering theimage barrier: borrow a good image (such as aknown brand name), make fun of the negativeimage that currently exists, or create a uniqueimage for the innovation. E ach of these strategiesmay be classified into one of five types: productstrategy, communication strategy, pricing strategy,market strategy, and coping strategy.A marketing firm's answer to successful innovation lies not in bowing down to consumerresistance, but rather in understanding the cau ses

of the resistance and making a frontal attackon them.End Notes1. Booz, Allen and Ham ilton, Inc.,New ProductManagem ent for the1980 s,Chicago: Booz, AllenHamilton, Inc., 1982.

2. Daser, Sayeste, and HavvaJ.Meric, "Does Patriotism H ave any M arketing ValueExploratoryFindings for the 'Crafted w ith Pride in U.S.A. Cam paign,"' in Advances in Con sumer R esearch14, ed. Melanie Wallendorf and Paul Anderson. Toronto, Canada: Association for ConsumerResearc h, 1986, 536-537.

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3. Finn, Adam, and Jagdish N. Sheth, "Resistance to New Products," Working Paper, 1984,University of Alberta.4. Ram, S., "M arketing StrategiestoOvercom e Innovation Resistance: A Laboratory Expe rimen t,"Unp ublished D octoral Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham paign, 1985.5. Robertson, Thomas, Innovative Behavior and Communication. New York:Holt, Rinehart and

Winston, 1971.6. Rogers, Everett M., Diffusion of Inn ova tions . Ne w York: The Fre e Press, 1962.7. Sheth, JagdishN.,"Psychology of Innovation Re sistance: The Less Developed C oncept in DiffusionResea rch," Research in M arketing, Jai Press, v.4 ,1981,273-282.8. Sh eth, Jagdish N., and S. Ram , Bringing Innova tion to Marke t : How to Break Corpo rate andCustomer Barriers. N ew York: John W iley Sons, In c., 1987.9. Shimp, Terence A., and Subhash Sharma, "Consumer Ethn ocentrism: Construction and Validationof the CETSCALE," Journal of Marketing Research, 24, (August 1987), 280-289.

10. Zaltman, Gerald, and MelanieWallendorf Consumer Behavior: Basic Findings and M anagementImplications. N ew York: John W iley Sons, Inc., 1983.

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Ram_Sheth_1989_JCM_Consumer resistance to innovation.pdf