Responses to Form-Driven Innovations: The influence of utilitarian and hedonic consumer attributes

Abstract

Aesthetic innovation, or form-driven radical change in product aesthetic, depends upon the consumer’s affective interpretation of product form. As a factor to examine differences in subjective interpretation of form-driven, aesthetic innovation, we applied the consumer attributes utilitarian and hedonic to explore how consumer attributes may influence initial response to and purchase propensity of aesthetic product innovation. 50 individuals, equally divided into utilitarian and hedonic consumer groups, participated in a survey to evaluate six form-driven product innovations. The three dimensions: product attractiveness, newness and uniqueness were used to measure responses to the six product stimuli. Results indicated utilitarian consumers showed more positive responses to form-driven innovations but that this had less influence upon propensity to purchase. In contrast, although less easily stimulated by form-driven innovation, the hedonic participants’ positive responses were more likely to translate into purchase propensity. Implications for innovative, form-driven product development are briefly discussed.