Am Happy With What I Have!

Why consumers resist innovation?

- Dr Kumkum Bharti And Mohd. Sadiq

From CRT to flat screen TV, from slim wall-mounted to LED, from OLED to IoT, millennials have seen it all when it comes to witnessing a change in the way the idiot box has turned into a smart screen. Innovations, undoubtedly, have become a strategy for survival and sustained competitive advantage. New technology pushes back existing technology, and this pace has seen a sharp increase in the last decade. The reflex to a change is seen in the form of resistance.

According to a Nielsen report, 14,509 products were launched in India in 2011 in the FMCG category alone, of which only 31 were well received; the rest sank. Cisco, Unilever, P&G, Philips, and 3M, to name a few, but not limited to, have acknowledged the continual need for innovation. All these organisations acknowledge India as a hub of innovations, but there exists a gap between the launch of an innovative product and its acceptance by consumers. This gap is called ‘resistance’. It is derived from the Latin word ‘resistere’, meaning to resist, stand back, withstand, take a stand, and stand firm. In marketing, customer resistance is observed as an opposition to a certain brand, an organisation, marketing images, norms, and devices that represent a system of domination. (Cherrier, Black, and Lee, 2011).

The resistance of a consumer to adopting an innovative product depends on a subjective superior value system, which is a normative framework for good versus bad practices. As soon as customers perceive an organisation as behaving against their value system, they are motivated to resist its offerings. Also, consumption of an innovative product challenges a satisfactory status quo, and also conflicts with an individual’s belief system (Ram and Sheth, 1989).