The moderation effect of multifunctionality between consumers’ shopping experience and embarrassment leading to non-adoption of innovations

ABSTRACTThis research analyses embarrassment as a barrier to the adoption of new technologies. It evaluates how the level of multifunctionality in technologies moderates the shopping experience of consumers in the technological environment (prior experience with the technology and their social exposure in the consumption environment), leading to feelings of embarrassment and impacting adoption intention. Four experiments were developed to assess the effects of the antecedents cited (multifunctionality and shopping experience) on embarrassment and adoption of new technologies. The results indicate that embarrassment can be generated according to the composition of the consumer's profile – for example, low levels of prior experience with the technology and high social exposure to technological innovation usage. This research also identifies the extent to which embarrassment directly reduces the intention to adopt new technologies and acts as a psychological barrier in the consumption process. Therefore, even if a product is new, exciting, and fun, and has high market potential, if the shopping experience (impacted by prior experience or social exposure) when moderated by the multifunctionality generates embarrassment, the individual will avoid consumption of the product.KEYWORDS: Embarrassmentmultifunctionalitysocial exposureprior experiencetechnological adoption AcknowledgementsThis article was based on Dr. Edgar José Pereira Dias PhD Dissertation developed in Brazil. Dr. Arruda Filho and Dr. Costa worked on planning the research design to develop a robust manuscript based on the study, which was analysed and discussed by both authors throughout the entire review process. We would like to thank the editor-in-chief, and associate editor, for overseeing the process and providing important feedback on the research; we also thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions, which enhanced the quality of the final manuscript. We would also like to thank the University of Amazon – UNAMA and Federal University of Pará – UFPA, for their support throughout the research, and express our gratitude for the financial support received from the Brazilian Government via the CNPq and CAPES institution.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Arruda Filho, E. J. M., upon reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [grant number 405220/2018-9] and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [grant number 15004015005P3].