Earticle

In the new era of IoT, a deeper and richer understanding of consumer characteristics is required to accelerate the acceptance and popularization of different types of smart home services (e.g., hedonic or utilitarian smart home services). In the current research, self-regulation systems are considered one of the consumer characteristics. Therefore, this research examines the role of consumers’ regulatory focus (promotion focus vs. prevention focus) in their responses to smart home services, particularly when they are not familiar with the services. Specifically, this research examines whether consumers’ attitudes toward utilitarian/hedonic smart home services differ according to their regulatory focus, particularly when they are not familiar with the services. The results indicate that consumers who are not familiar with smart home services have more favorable attitudes toward hedonic smart home services when they are promotion-focused (vs. prevention-focused). In contrast, there is no significant difference in their attitudes toward utilitarian smart home services between promotion- and prevention-focused consumers. Our findings imply that regulatory focus may be an effective marketing and segmentation tool in promoting new smart home services and facilitating low-familiarity consumers’ receptiveness to the services.