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.