Technological Innovation

Question:

Write an essay on Impact of Emerging Technological Innovation on Consumer Trust Factor.

Answer:

This research project will be based on the topic “Impact of Emerging Technological Innovation on Consumer Trust Factor”. In order to make the study concise, the case study of eBay will be used in the research. During this study, the focus will be made on the identification of the relationship between the two variables – one is technological innovation and the other variable is the consumer trust. This research proposal will try to elaborate the rationale, aim, objectives and questions of the research and at the same time proposal will discuss about the existing literature. Along with these, the proposal will also state about the methodology and expected outcomes of the study.

Background of the study

Innovation is one of the most emerging words in the current global business word. Presently, more or less every company in each country is trying to bring innovation in their products or services. According to Claudy et al. (2015), market competition is the main factor behind the innovation in products and services. In support of that, Bergek et al. (2015) stated that the companies are trying to bring innovation in order to satisfy the customers more. Among all kind of innovations, the technological innovations are the most popular in the countries. Due to the technological innovations, the companies became able to bring more and more new products in the market, which are very much useful in today’s busy schedule of people (Unesdoc.unesco.org 2016). 

However, in this context Gosens et al. (2015) mentioned that technological innovation sometimes creates difficulties for the people, which actually affect the trust of the customers from the negative side. For example, in case of online payment, sometime the money is deducted from the customer’s bank account but due to the technological failure, the actual payment remains incomplete. This creates panic among the customers. However, this study will try to identify the extent to which the technological innovation affects the trusts of the consumers positively and negatively.

Research rationale

The main issue that the business organizations are facing currently regarding their technological innovation is the less awareness among the people. Cho et al. (2012) commented that there are many people those are unaware of the techniques of using the technologically innovative products. This is an issue because due to the less awareness among the people, the sales of the companies those are fully dependent on the new technologies, are being hampered. At the same time, as in the present business world the competition is too high, the less awareness of the customers regarding the products is becoming a vital issue. However, this study will help to identify the ways by which the companies can increase their revenue or sales by making the customers more aware regarding the use of technologies.

Research aim and objectives

The aim of this study will be to analyze the relationship between technological innovation and consumers’ trust in order to identify the impact of technological innovation on consumers’ trust.

Objectives:

• To identify the reasons for which the companies are becoming more attracted towards technological innovation

• To evaluate and analyze the relationship between the customers’ trusts and technological innovation

• To identify the positive and negative results that eBay got by entering into the technology oriented business

• To recommend some possible ways of gaining more consumers’ trusts by using technological innovation

Research questions

The questions of this research will be as under:

• Why the companies are more, will to bring technological innovation in their businesses?

• What is link between the consumers’ trust and technological innovation?

• How much eBay is successful in technology-oriented business?

• How the companies can earn more customers’ trusts in technology oriented products and services?

Significance of the study

This study will create more value to the business by disclosing the relationship between their technological innovation and the trusts or satisfactions of their customers. By using the results of the study, the companies will be able to improve their ways to handling their customers in case of technology related products and services. The companies will know how they can make the customers aware regarding the use of the technologies. 

Literature Review

This will be the secondary source of data for the research. This data will be gathered from various journals, books, articles and websites.

Previous studies

In the previous study namely “Impact of Innovations on Consumers’ Behavior: A Case Study of Pak Election Limited”, Prof. Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Awan and Syeda Zuriat-ul-Zahra have identified that technological innovation has changed the behavior of the consumers. At the same time, the researchers have also identified that the technological innovation has also improved the lifestyle of the consumers (EA Journals 2016).

On the other side, in the study namely “Impact of Technology in E-Retailing Operations: A Consumer Perspective”, Achit agarwal and Vinod Kumar Yadav have identified that the e retailing has improved the consumers’ experience in the retail section (Ac.els-cdn.com 2016).

Conceptual framework

 Identification of the factors that affect the trust of the consumers

According to Axsen and Kurani (2012), consumers’ trust is that factor, which creates the loyalty in the minds of the consumers towards the products and services of the companies. There are some factors those actually affect the trusts of the consumers. These factors are stated below:

Quality of the products: It is the main factor, which builds trust in the minds of the consumers. In case of the technology oriented products, the consumers always want that the products must be user friendly (Nyas.org 2016).

Value to the money: This is another important factor that influences the trusts of the consumers. Consumers are generally agreed to pay money for the product that gives worth to their money.

Affordable price: Another factor is the price of the product. In order to achieve the trust of the consumers, the companies must set the price level of the products and services at an affordable price range.

After sales service: This is also an important factor that creates trust in the minds of the people. In order to achieve the trusts, the companies must provide good after sales service to the customers (Hannaford 2007).

Current trend of technological innovation in the international market

The current world of business is very much technology oriented. The companies are using technology not only in production, but also in selling, distribution and after sales services (Dresden 2016). For example, Apple is manufacturing the high quality Smartphone by using advanced technologies, distributing, and selling the products online by using technology and providing after sales service guidance through online. Currently, the technological innovations can be mostly seen in the western countries than the Eastern and Middle-East countries. 

In the words of McCrorey (2012), the most important technological innovation can be seen in the online selling companies. The numbers of online selling companies are increasing day-by-day and at the same time, the numbers of customers are also growing. This indicates the demand for technologically advanced services are also increasing. However, on the contrary, Axsen and Kurani (2012) stated that these online services are available to a limited number of people. These systems are very complicated for many people. In this context, Avasilcai and Avram (2015) argued that technological innovation has changed the lifestyle of the people in today’s scenario.

Theories behind consumers’ trust

The trust of the consumers is reflected by the behavior of the consumers. Therefore, the theories of consumers’ behavior can be considered as the theories of consumers’ trust. Below the discussion is made on some theories of consumers’ behavior:

Economic man theory: According to this theory, the trust or the positive behavior of the consumers depends on the maximization of utility in exchange of minimum effort. This indicates that a consumer always wants to maximize the utility of the products and services by spending minimum money and physical or mental effort (Claudy et al. 2015).

Behaviorist approach: This is another theory or approach of consumers’ behavior. This theory of consumers’ behavior states that the behavior of the consumers is influenced by the external activities or events.

Gap between the previous researches and the current study

In the previous researches, it has been identified that those researcher were mainly focused on the positive outcomes of technological innovation. The researchers only talked about how the technological innovation improved the lifestyle of the people and how this improved the businesses of the companies. However, this particular study will focus on the negative impacts of the technological innovations along with the positive impacts. At the same time, this study will disclose the actual relationship between the consumers’ trusts and technological innovation.

Research Methodology

This research paper will follow a particular methodology to reach to the aim of the research. This methodology will include some specific philosophy, approach and design of research. At the same time, the methodology will also specify about the data collection and analysis techniques along with the ethical considerations.

 Types of investigation

This portion of research methodology will disclose the particular philosophy, design and approach of research based on which this research will go on. In case of research philosophies, there are mainly three types of research philosophies and those are – positivism, realism and interpretivism. Among all the research philosophies, the study will select the positivism philosophy (Kitchin. and Tate 2013). The main reason behind this is the positivism philosophy follows such a structure that minimizes the chances of variance or huge change in the variables. This philosophy follows some strict laws and rules, which make the study more structured. At the same time, the positivism philosophy helps to analyze the research data in a logical and quantitative way (Novikov and Novikov 2013). Therefore, by using the positivism philosophy this research will be able to analyze the data mathematically.

On the other side, the research paper will use the deductive research approach among the two available research approaches those are – deductive and inductive research approaches. The main reason behind choosing the deductive research approach is the deductive research approach helps to get to the point result of research (Kitchin and Tate 2013). At the same time, the deductive approach is very much site and cost saving, which is not possible in case of inductive approach or research. Therefore, by using the deductive research approach, it will be possible to complete the study within the limited time and costs.

In case of research design, the research will focus on the descriptive research design than the explanatory and exploratory designs. This will be because the descriptive research design helps to conduct the study based on the existing literature and theories (Novikov and Novikov 2013). Along with that, the descriptive research design helps in detailed investigation during the research. Therefore, by using the descriptive design the research will get result that is more prominent within minimum time.

Data collection methods

This research will use both the primary and the secondary data. The primary data will be collected by survey and interview methods. Survey will be done with the customers of eBay and the interview will be taken from the managers of the same organization. On the other side, the secondary data will be collected from various websites, journals, articles and books.

3.3 Sampling technique and sample size

The study will follow the probability and non-probability sampling methods. Under probability sampling, the simple random sampling method will be followed. Probability sampling will be followed to choose the sample for survey because the in case of survey, the population will be too vast. However, in case of interview, the non-probability sampling technique will be followed.

The survey questionnaire will be sent to 110 customers of eBay and it is expected that at least 70 will respond. Therefore, the expected sample size is 70 customers of eBay. On the other side, in case of interview, the expected sample is 4 managers of eBay.

 Data analysis technique

The research paper will use the quantitative and qualitative techniques of data analysis in order to analyze the data in detail. The survey data will be analyzed with the help of quantitative data analysis technique and the interview data will be analyzed with the help of qualitative data analysis technique.

Ethical consideration

Ethics is the most important part that needs to be followed at the time of conducting a research (Taylor et al. 2015). During this study also some steps will be taken in order to avoid any ethical issue. Before starting the research, proper permission will be taken from the authority and at the same time the reliability and viability of the data will also be considered. On the other side, the confidentiality of the survey and interview participants will also be maintained during the study.

Research Limitation

The research paper will face few limitations at the time of carrying on the study. Time is the one of those limitations. The available time for this research study will not be that much sufficient. However, it will be tried to complete the study within that limited period only, which will problematic. Another limitation will be the limited availability of cash. The available cash for the research project will be also much less than the required cash, which will a big limitation for the study.

Timeframe

Activities Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9

Studying the existing literature

Identifying the gap of the literature

Setting the aim, objective and question of the study

Collecting the primary data

Analyzing the data

Finding the solution

Draft submission

Table 1: Gantt chart

(Source: Created by author)

4. Expected outcome

It is expected that this study will be able to reach to the aim of the research. It is expected that the research will identify that there is a positive relationship between the technological innovation and the consumers’ trusts. At the same time, it is also expected that the study will identify that the quality of service and products and their prices are the most important factors those have direct impact on the consumers’ trusts. On the other side, it may also be identified that excessive advancement and innovation in the technologies have created many problems for some customers those are less aware about the use of technologies. Therefore, it cannot be said that technological innovation has only the positive impact on the consumers’ trust, it also has some negative impacts also.

Conclusion

In this proposal, it has been identified that the research will try to focus on the relationship between the technological innovation and consumers’ trusts. There are different factors those influence the trust of the consumers. The study will be based on the positivism philosophy, deductive approach and descriptive research design. At the same time, the research will be based on primary and secondary data. There are chances that the study will identify the positive as well as negative impacts of technological innovation on the consumers’ trusts.

Reference List

Ac.els-cdn.com. 2016. [online] Available at: http://ac.els-cdn.com/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2016].

Avasilcai, S. and Avram, E. 2015. PRO-ACTIVE CONSUMERS ENGAGEMENT AS DRIVER OF CO-INNOVATION – THE CASE OF ELECTROLUX (B). ANNALS OF THE ORADEA UNIVERSITY. Fascicle of Management and Technological Engineering., XXIV (XIV), 2015/1(1).

Axsen, J. and Kurani, K.S., 2012. Social influence, consumer behavior, and low-carbon energy transitions. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 37, pp.311-340.

Bergek, A., Hekkert, M., Jacobsson, S., Markard, J., Sandén, B. and Truffer, B., 2015. Technological innovation systems in contexts: Conceptualizing contextual structures and interaction dynamics.Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 16, pp.51-64.

Cho, Y., Hwang, J. and Lee, D., 2012. Identification of effective opinion leaders in the diffusion of technological innovation: A social network approach. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 79(1), pp.97-106.

Claudy, M.C., Garcia, R. and O’Driscoll, A., 2015. Consumer resistance to innovation—a behavioral reasoning perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(4), pp.528-544.

Dresden, S. 2016. Qucosa: Startseite. [online] Qucosa.de. Available at: http://www.qucosa.de/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2016].

EA Journals. 2016. Welcome to European/American Journals – EA Journals. [online] Available at: http://www.eajournals.org/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2016].

Gosens, J., Lu, Y. and Coenen, L., 2015. The role of transnational dimensions in emerging economy ‘Technological Innovation Systems’ for clean-tech. Journal of Cleaner Production, 86, pp.378-388.

Hannaford, S. 2007. Market domination!. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Kitchin, R. and Tate, N., 2013. Conducting research in human geography: theory, methodology and practice. Routledge.

McCrorey, D. 2012. Innovation in a reinvented world. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Novikov, A.M. and Novikov, D.A., 2013. Research methodology: From philosophy of science to research design (Vol. 2). CRC Press.

Nyas.org. 2016. The New York Academy of Sciences. [online] Available at: http://www.nyas.org/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2016].

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Unesdoc.unesco.org. 2016. [online] Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2016].

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