Fashionable Consumer Technology, IT Fashion, and Consumer Behavior

This research examines the intersection of fashion and consumer technology, introducing the concept of “IT fashion” to describe how individual perceptions of technology as fashionable influence consumer behaviors. The paper introduces novel constructs associated with IT fashion and fashionable consumer technology, particularly perceived societal-level IT fashion (PSITF, reflecting a person’s perception of society’s views on a technology) and perceived fashionableness of IT (PFIT, capturing a person’s perception of the technology’s fashionableness). Through two empirical studies, we demonstrate that IT fashion significantly impacts consumer behaviors by enhancing the symbolic values associated with technology use. These findings suggest that marketers and technology developers should not only focus on the utilitarian aspects of technology but also on its aesthetic and symbolic appeals to boost consumer acceptance and market success. The paper contributes to policy by highlighting the need for a nuanced understanding of the sociocultural dimensions of technology adoption, encouraging stakeholders to consider these factors in strategy development and communication. Traditionally thought of as “uncomfortable bedfellows,” consumer IT and fashion are becoming increasingly intertwined, which has given rise to a unique phenomenon termed “consumer IT fashion”—the collective enthusiasm in society for consumer technology. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain how IT fashion is perceived by individual consumers and subsequently influences consumer behavior. Our research aims to bridge this gap. By differentiating between societal-level and individual-level perceptions of IT fashion, the paper introduces novel constructs associated with IT fashion and fashionable consumer technology, particularly perceived societal-level IT fashion (PSITF, reflecting a person’s perception of society’s views on a technology) and perceived fashionableness of IT (PFIT, capturing a person’s perception of the technology’s fashionableness). Moreover, we identify drivers underlying PSITF and PFIT: collective adoption and social endorsement are the drivers of PSITF, whereas the novelty of IT and IT-identity congruity are the drivers of PFIT. A research model is developed to illustrate how IT fashion influences consumer behaviors, such as adoption and purchasing decisions. We conducted two empirical studies to assess our research model. In Study 1, we focused on consumers’ adoption decision of fas