CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: AN
EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION


Mark J. Arnold
Assistant Professor of Marketing
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida

James E. Fisher
Associate Professor of Marketing
Director, Emerson Electric Center for Business Ethics
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, Missouri


Abstract

	Communication technology has advanced rapidly in the past
several years, and consumers throughout the U.S. and across the world
are becoming more "connected" through the ownership and usage of the
newer communication technology.  Yet, speculation persists that the
benefits of this "revolution" are unevenly distributed, and the lack
of access to communication technology contributes to the widening gulf
between socioeconomic classes.  The proliferation of communication
technology, which plays a powerful role in the access to and control
of information, thus appears to have a distinct social dimension.

	This study examines consumer acceptance of interactive
household communication technology through the social stratification
prism.  Drawing upon the rich traditions of diffusion theory and
social class research, the research presented here compares the
explanatory power of a consumer's occupational prestige with income
for the detailed patterns of ownership and usage of communication
technology.

	The guiding research thesis is relatively straightforward:
technology that facilitates the flow of information and improves
interpersonal communication will find greater acceptance among
consumers of higher social standing (Fisher and Boughton 1991).  This
is in part due to the reality that higher social standing suggests
wider, more heterogeneous, and more geographically dispersed social
networks than does lower social standing, which is typically
characterized by networks that are largely kin-oriented and
geographically restricted (Coleman 1983).  Consumers of higher social
standing maintain social networks of larger size and greater
heterogeneity in large part because of the "merging" of their work and
leisure spheres (Gilbert and Kahl 1982), typically resulting in
patterns of interpersonal communication that are as much
business-oriented as they are social.  Consumers of higher social
standing are also better prepared to effectively utilize this
technology because they possess resources above and beyond those
considered financial (Fisher 1987).  Better access to and control of
the flow of information further perpetuates social class divisions and
limits social mobility.  Thus, ownership and usage of certain
communication technologies can disproportionately benefit those of
higher social standing by facilitating social participation, which
itself further solidifies class position and limits social mobility of
those in lower classes.

	We suggest that the interactivity inherent in certain
communication technologies is the mechanism that facilitates
interpersonal communication and the flow and control of information.
Thus, rather than examine a broad variety of consumer goods, we focus
our attention on one specific class of goods--interactive
communication technologies.   If consumption of these technologies is
driven in part by a consumer's social standing, and not by income as
is so commonly assumed in other research, then we have evidence of the
role communication technology may play in a growing social inequality
between the information "haves" and "have-nots."

	Development of the survey instrument entailed extensive
background research and consultation with several research
institutions, input from the Workgroup on Economics and Social Issues
commissioned by the Emerson Electric Center for Business Ethics, and
one local and one nationwide pretest.   Data for the main sample were
collected from a nationwide consumer mail panel in January 1997, by
Market Facts, Inc., a professional research firm.  The data were then
coded and purified, and subjected to a variety of analysis of
covariance techniques.

	Results support the research hypotheses, suggesting that the
prestige construct is considerably more important than income as a
predictor of consumption of these technologies.  The strong
relationship between prestige and consumption of communication
technology, after controlling for education and age effects, suggests
that communication technology, as a specific class of goods,
reinforces the privileged position of those higher on the social
hierarchy, and contributes to the growing rift between the information
haves and have-nots.


Note:

Additional details about this research will be presented at the
upcoming Second Annual Ethics and Technology Conference.


This research was made possible by the generous financial support of
the Emerson Electric Center for Business Ethics, GTE Laboratories, and
the Direct Marketing Policy Center at the University of Cincinnati.