The development of neural implants to increase people's memory is enabling the creation of cyborgs (human-machine hybrids) with superior capacities. This paper aims to advance new technology acceptance models by analyzing the moderating effect of ethics on an integrative Cognitive-Affective-Normative (CAN) model to understand the acceptance of brain implants to increase capacities. The model is tested on a sample of 900 individuals segmented by their ethical assessment of these insideables: ethically in favor, ethically against, or ethically indifferent. The results show that an individual's ethical assessment of memory implants explains differences in his or her intention to use them but does not moderate the influence of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, positive emotions, negative emotions, or social influence on the intention to use them. The results have theoretical implications for technology acceptance models and open new lines of research concerning the future cyborg society.
Today, technological implants are being developed to increase innate human capacities, such as memory or calculation speed, and to endow us with new ones, such as the remote control of machines. This study’s aim was twofold: first, to introduce a Cognitive-Affective-Normative model of technology acceptance to explain the intention to use this technology in the field of consumer behavior; and second, to analyze the differences in the intention to use it based on whether the intended implant recipient is oneself or one’s child (i.e., the moderating effect of the end user). A multi-group analysis was performed to compare the results between the two groups: implant “for me” (Group 1) and implant “for my child” (Group 2). The model largely explains the intention to use the insideable technology for the specified groups (variance explained (R2) of over 0.70 in both cases). The most important variables were found to be “positive emotions” and (positive) “subjective norm.” This underscores the need to broaden the range of factors considered to be decisive in technology acceptance to include variables related to consumers’ emotions. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found between the “for me” and “for my child” models for “perceived ease of use” and “subjective norm.” These findings confirm the moderating effect of the end user on new insideable technology acceptance.
The aim of this study is to analyze how certain voice features of radio spokespersons and background music influence the advertising effectiveness of a radio spot from the cognitive, affective and conative perspectives. We used a 2×2×2×2 experimental design in 16 different radio programs in which an ad hoc radio spot was inserted during advertising block. This ad changed according to combinations of spokesperson's gender (male–female), vocal pitch (low–high) and accent (local–standard). In addition to these independent factors, the effect of background music in advertisements was also tested and compared with those that only had words. 987 regular radio listeners comprised the sample that was exposed to the radio program we created. Based on the differences in the levels of effectiveness in the tested voice features, our results suggest that the choice of the voice in radio advertising is one of the most important decisions an advertiser faces. Furthermore, the findings show that the inclusion of music does not always imply greater effectiveness