The effects of external risk events on consumer acceptance of new products

Purpose The consumer acceptance of new products has been widely studied. Most previous literature has focused on personal and product-related factors influencing new product acceptance. However, consumers do not exist in isolation from their social surroundings, and these studies have neglected the influence of risk events in the external environment. Thus, this study aims to explore the effects of external risk events on consumer acceptance of new products. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops and validates a chain mediation model to examine how external risk events impact new product acceptance. We tested the research model and related hypotheses through a laboratory experiment (Study 1a), an online experiment (Study 1b) and a field study conducted in a real flood situation (Study 2), with a total of 1,110 valid participants. Findings The study finds that external risk events, whether natural or man-made, significantly reduce consumer acceptance of new products, even when these risks are unrelated to the products themselves. Specifically, external risk events amplify consumers’ overall risk perceptions and reduce their overall benefit perceptions through negative emotions, which subsequently decrease acceptance of new products. Originality/value This paper introduces a novel factor from the external environment into the research on new product acceptance, revealing the negative effects of external risk events and clarifying the underlying mechanisms involved.