Trust Based Adoption of Innovative New Products and NPD Process

The objective of the research was to develop a framework of New Product Development Process (NPDP) for commercial organizations, which enhanced the probability of commercial success. The limitations of the existing NPDP frameworks stemmed from the assumption that satisfaction of consumer needs would translate into demand for the product. Similarly, the assumptions of rational choice and information based decision making by consumers, did not hold. The literature in the area of psychology suggested that under condition of risk and uncertainty, the construct of trust became operational and might have applications in improving the rate of commercial success of NPDP frameworks. A trust based innovative new product adoption framework was developed and empirically tested. The results indicated that overall trust in the new product offer did explain the purchase intention of the consumers. The study also indicated that the overall trust was formed by the disposition to trust commercial communication, trust based on direct experiences and vicarious learning. Thus the challenge based NPDP framework was improved by incorporating the measures to build consumer trust.