How “smart” should smart products look? Exploring boundary conditions of the Most-Advanced-Yet-Acceptable (MAYA) principle

Atsushi Akiike, Sotaro Katsumata, Tohru Yoshioka-Kobayashi and Chris Baumann

Journal of Business Research, 2025, vol. 189, issue C

Abstract: This study examines the effect of smart products’ appearance typicality on purchase intentions and the moderation effect of smart product category knowledge. Previous studies suggest that a moderate degree of appearance typicality is associated with the highest purchase intention. Yet, this relationship is more complicated in the smart product market owing to its hybrid nature such as smartwatches connected to computers. We conducted a multilevel analysis based on survey data from 400 respondents regarding smart eyeglasses and smart speakers. The results revealed that category knowledge of smart products moderates the relationship between appearance typicality and purchase intention. Consumers with high levels of knowledge about smart products showed the highest purchase intention for a smart product-like appearance. In contrast, other consumers preferred an intermediate level of appearance between smart products and pre-existing products. These results demonstrate the importance of consumer segmentation based on category knowledge in smart product development and management.

Keywords: Smart products; Product appearance; Design innovation; Design strategy; MAYA principle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829632400612X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:189:y:2025:i:c:s014829632400612x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115108

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().