The Role of Defaults in Preventing Innovation Rejection

Innovation rejection remains a serious problem for companies introducing new products, as customers may overvalue products they already own and underestimate the innovation's advantage. Choice data from two experiments demonstrate that innovation rejection is determined by (dis)satisfaction with the status quo and that defaults are powerful instruments to overcome the status quo effect in innovation decision making. Innovation rejection decreases significantly if the innovation is implemented as a default, an option customers select unless they actively opt out. Furthermore, it is observed that implementing the innovation as the default significantly increases the perceived value and decreases the perceived risk of the innovation. Taking into account customer expertise, the authors detect that defaults are more effective in reducing innovation rejection for novices. The study derives managerial implications for new product launch management that aims at preventing innovation rejection.