Cognitive Lock-In to Emerging Technologies: Efficiency, Efficacy and Emotion

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Author(s) / Creator(s)
- Murray, Kyle
SSHRC Awarded IG 2015: Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple have turned emerging technologies into pervasive products by quickly capturing dominant market shares and locking consumers into their eco-systems. Prior research has indicated that "cognitive lock-in" plays a critical role in this process. Put simply, once people have learned to use an emerging technology, they are more efficient with that
technology and are reluctant to switch to competing products that require new skills or allow for only limited transfer of current skills. As a result, consumers become less likely to search for alternative products or services, they are more likely to repeat past behaviours, making it difficult for new firms, products or services to successfully enter the market. The proposed work will examine three theoretically important, yet previously unexplored, linkages between experience with an emerging technology and lock-in to that technology. I am especially interested in better understanding the impact of cognitive lock-in on Canadian consumers. Given the growing power and dominance of platforms ranging from Facebook to Twitter and from Google to Apple, this research has important applied implications for Canadian business competitiveness, government regulation and consumer choice in the ever-evolving digital economy.
Date created

2014-10-07
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Type of Item

Research Material
DOI

https://doi.org/10.7939/R3W26W