Adopter categories in the acceptance process for consumer durables

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Abstract
Seeks to determine the adopter categories for a new product using an innovation diffusion model which assumes that the potential adopters of an innovation are influenced by two means of communication, namely the mass media (external influence) and word of mouth (internal influence). The literature contains many examples of studies devoted to the analysis of the diffusion of innovations, where an attempt is made to explain the characteristics of the different adopters according to the moment in time at which they acquire the innovation, the type of product (consumer durables, habitual) and the number of categories. The majority of these studies try to explain the behavior of the innovator as compared to that of the imitator, and very few of them differentiate between two or more adopter categories. Concentrates on a study of the diffusion of the glass‐ceramic hob unit and attempts to explain the differences which exist between different categories of adopters.