Core versus Peripheral Innovations: The Effect of Innovation Locus on Consumer Adoption of New Products

In four experimental studies, the authors investigate the effect of innovation locus—whether the innovation is integrated with the base product (the core locus) or offered as a detachable accessory (the peripheral locus)—on consumers’ adoption intentions. The findings show that offering a really new innovation (RNI) as a detachable peripheral component leads to higher adoption intentions than integrating the same innovation into the core. Innovation locus, however, does not have an effect on incrementally new innovations. The positive effect of peripheral locus (relative to core locus) for RNIs occurs through four mechanisms: (1) reduced schema incongruity, (2) lower risk perceptions, (3) increased benefit understanding, and (4) greater perceived usage flexibility associated with the new product. The authors demonstrate these effects by using stimuli from four product categories and including both attitudinal and behavioral measures of innovation adoption. The findings have implications for product design strategies for RNIs.