The effect of innovativeness on different levels of technology adoption

Abstract In this article, we look at the personality characteristic “global innovativeness” as a predictor for the adoption of consumer electronics; the latter being termed “actualized innovativeness.” Global innovativeness is tested as a predictor for three levels of actualized innovativeness: at the domain‐specific, cluster‐specific, and product‐specific levels. Our theoretical propositions are tested using two different surveys, one consisting of adolescent bachelor students ( n = 138) and the second consisting of a heterogeneous broad sample ( n = 450). The results of these studies show that the higher the level of abstraction of actualized innovativeness, the stronger the effects of global innovativeness. The implications of these findings are discussed.