Consumer Experience in the Internet of Things: Conceptual ......Consumer Experience in the ....

© Hoffman and Novak 2015 | http://postsocial.gwu.edu

Consumer Experience in the Internet of Things:

Conceptual Foundations

Donna Hoffman Tom Novak

The George Washington University Center for the Connected Consumer

SCP Conference Vienna 2015 June 25-27, 2015

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http://postsocial.gwu.edu


© Hoffman and Novak 2015 | http://postsocial.gwu.edu 2

IoT and the Smart Home




Ready or Not, The Smart Home is Coming Soon!

http://www.jklossner.com/TechToons/

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What’s Different about the IoT?

Internet Phase 1 Internet of Information

(Web)

Nature of Interactivity

Many to many interaction between people and content via Web interfaces. Google

Identity of the Internet

Shop online, browse web pages, search for information are all largely static. Global Collective Identity






(Web)

Internet Phase 2 Internet of People

(Social)



Many to many interaction directly between people via social networks. Facebook



Shift to smarter apps to enable more sophisticated and complex interactions. Balance of power shifts from marketer to consumer. Global and Personal Collective Identity






(Web)

Internet Phase 2 Internet of People

(Social)

Internet Phase 3 Internet of Things

(Post-Social)



Many to many interaction directly between people via social networks. Facebook

C2M, M2M, M2P, C2C interactions; device interactions autonomous; Digital → physical. Interactions highly heterogeneous, ongoing and evolve over time. ??



Shift to smarter apps to enable more sophisticated and complex interactions. Balance of power shifts from marketer to consumer. Global and Personal Collective Identity

C2C interactions recede compared to evolving heterogeneous interactions of C2M, M2M, M2P in overlapping assemblages. New Personalized Consumer Experiences Will Emerge in the Context of the Unique Identity of the Smart Home Assemblage




The Consumer Internet of Things (IoT)

“The collection of everyday objects and devices in the physical environment that are embedded with technology including sensors, actuators that are programmable and have the ability to communicate wirelessly with the Internet. These “smart products” interact and communicate with themselves and each other – and with humans - by sending and receiving data through the Internet that is stored and organized in a database.”

Hoffman and Novak (2015)




Research Goal: Understand the nature of consumer experience in the smart home, one important consumer instantiation of the IoT. The IoT represents complex, interactive systems with unique characteristics. These interactions create a whole that is more than the sum of the parts. Just as the web needed new frameworks for understanding consumer experience (Hoffman and Novak 1996), the IoT will need new frameworks to understand the consumer experience that emerges from these interactions.

The Need for a New Framework

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Assemblage Theory and the Smart Home

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The Smart Home Consumer Starts with A Device or Two




The Consumer’s Focus Shifts Once There Are 3-4 Devices




People Start to Want the Devices to Talk to Each Other




Focus on emergent experience in the smart home using assemblage theory - a comprehensive theory from the neo-realist school of philosophy which explains the processes by which the identity of a whole - a whole that is more than the sum of the parts - emerges from on-going interactions among its components (Deleuze and Guattari 1988; DeLanda 2002, 2006, 2011; Harman 2008). Recently, assemblage theory has been applied to a range of consumer behavior and marketing problems:

› dissipation of a brand’s audience (Parmentier and Fischer, 2015) › consumption experiences (Canniford and Shankar, 2013) › outsourced family caregiving (Epp and Velageleti, 2014) › long-distance family practices (Epp, Schau and Price, 2014) › heterogeneous consumption communities (Thomas, Price and Schau,

2013) › consumption-driven market emergence (Martin and Shouten, 2014) › Doppelganger brand images (Geisler 2012)

Our Approach is Based on Assemblage Theory

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› IoT smart products interact to create a dynamic whole - an assemblage - that is irreducible to its component parts.

› Components are heterogeneous and can be removed or added.

› Components are themselves sub-assemblages of lower level components. All entities are assemblages at one level or another.

› All entities (components, assemblages) have properties, capacities and tendencies.

› Capacities specify what a component can do, or what can be done to it.

› Interaction operates through paired capacities (to affect + to be affected).

› Through interaction of components, new capacities can emerge.

› Ongoing change. Assemblages are always in a process of change. They become stabilized over time through processes of territorialization and coding.

Basics of Assemblage Theory for Smart Home Interaction

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Within-Assemblage Smart Home Interactions

CONSUMER

SMART HOME (whole) The smart home

assemblage emerges, over time, from the on-going interactions among its heterogeneous components.

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Part-Whole Interaction of Consumer & Smart Home

(part)

CONSUMER

SMART HOME (whole)

CONSUMER

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The Smart Home Has Emergent Properties, Tendencies and Capacities

Properties (a defining characteristic of an

assemblage; finite)

density of connections in a mesh network






assemblage; finite)


Tendencies (what an assemblage can

become; finite)

smart home becomes cheaper and better over time






assemblage; finite)


Tendencies (what an assemblage can

become; finite)

smart home becomes cheaper and better over time

Capacities (how an assemblage affects or

is affected by other entities; affordances; practically

limitless)

can alert homeowner if there is a malfunction




Consumer Interaction with the Smart Home

Consumer Smart Home Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Interaction

Interaction of the consumer and smart home can lead to new emergent properties, capacities, and tendencies of

the consumer and the smart home.

consumer affects home

home affects consumer




Consumer Identity

Consumer Smart Home

Consumer Identity

Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Interaction




Smart Home Identity

Consumer Smart Home

Smart Home Identity

Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Interaction




Consumer Experience of the Smart Home

Consumer Smart Home Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Properties

Tendencies

Capacities

Capacities

Consumer Experience of

the Smart Home

Interaction




New Capacities Emerge From Interactions

Consumer Smart Home

remotely control camera

stream live video view video live stream

move camera time 1





Consumer Smart Home



feel secure

move camera

enable security time 2

time 1





Consumer Smart Home



feel secure

move camera

enable security

grant delivery person entry open front door time 3

time 2

time 1




Interactions Occur in a Broader Context

Smart Home Other People Consumer Other People

Other Things Other Things




Consumer Identity



Consumer identity emerges from the consumer’s capacities that are exercised in and emerge from interactions with all other entities. How the consumer affects and is affected by.




Smart Home Identity



Smart home identity emerges from the smart home’s capacities that are exercised in and emerge from interactions with all other entities. How the smart home affects and is affected by.




Consumer Experience of the Smart Home



Consumer experience of the smart home consists of paired capacities that emerge from the consumer’s part-whole interactions with the smart home over time.




Research Directions

Consumer Behavior

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Strategy

Modeling




Consumer and Marketer Perspectives on Smart Home Territorialization


Strategic Implications of Smart Home Evolution Paths





Modeling and Topological Data Analysis (TDA)




Consumer Experience

Consumer experience of the smart home emerges from the consumer’s part-whole interactions with the home, as exercised through paired capacities. The paired capacities explain how consumers and the home have the capacity to affect and to be affected during interactions with each other. Similar to Connell and Schau (2013), we link self-extension theory (Belk 1998; 2013; 2014) with self-expansion theory (Aron, et.al. 1991; Aron, Aron and Norman 2001) in a larger conceptual framework that encompasses our paired capacities to affect and capacities to be affected, respectively. Our approach also integrates concepts from brand experience (Brakus, Schmitt and Zarantonello 2009), brand-consumer relationships (Belk 1988; Fournier 1989; Reimann and Aron 2009) and anthropomorphism (Epley, Waytz and Cacioppo 2007).




Consumer Capacity Smart Home Capacity

Consumer- Initiated Interaction

Capacity of consumer to affect the home

Self-extension

invest devices with meaning and extend one’s identity

into the home

Capacity of home to be affected by the consumer

Home-expansion

envelope or absorb the inhabitants’ resources,

perspectives and identities into the home’s identity

Home- Initiated Interaction

Capacity of consumer to be affected by the home

Self-expansion

envelope the home’s resources, perspectives and

identity into one’s self

Capacity of the home to affect the consumer

Home-extension

give more meaning to consumers’ behaviors in the

home




Framework For Consumer Experience

Consumer Smart Home

Consumer Experience of

the Smart Home

Home-Expansion Capacities

Self-Extension Capacities

Interaction

Home-Extension Capacities

Self-Expansion Capacities




Anthropomorphism: A Key Mediating Emergent Experience

Self-Extension Process Self-Expansion Process

Home-Expansion Capacities

Home-Extension Capacities

Self-Expansion Capacities

Self-Extension Capacities

Home has the capacity to affect the consumer through ambient interaction. Anthropomorphic experience: Home as my robot partner Autonomous. Hedonic objectives. Sociality motivations.

Consumer has the capacity to affect the home through direct interaction. Anthropomorphic experience: Home as cyborg appendage of me Long finger. Instrumental objectives. Effectance motivations.




The Value of the Assemblage Theory Approach

Shows that multiple research methods ranging from qualitative to quantitative will be needed to understand consumer experience in the IoT. Provides fundamental insight into the nature of interaction in the IoT. Highlights the importance and evolution of changes over time. Emphasizes emergent experiences and identity and the processes that underlie them.



Consumer Experience in the Internet of Things: Conceptual ......Consumer Experience in the ....

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