Over the hill? Exploring the other side of the Rogers' innovation diffusion model from a consumer and business model perspective

The Rogers model of innovation diffusion, first proposed in 1962, has long featured in accounts of the penetration of new product technologies into society. The contention in this paper is that this model is in fact only half complete, for it deals exclusively with the uptake of new technologies rather than their retention or abandonment. Taking the Rogers model as a point of departure, this paper seeks to draw on the literature on nostalgia to characterize consumers who retain a specific technological artefact in the form of the car, then identify business models designed for those consumers. The paper therefore analyses the relatively neglected contribution of extended product lifetimes within circular economies and within the broader concept of socio-technical transitions for sustain ability. The relevance of this contribution is that product longevity is one means by which lifestyles characterised by material affluence are reconciled with resource scarcity. Product longevity has the potential to contribute to slowing down the 'velocity' of material flows within the circular economy, and hence to the deferment of the investment of further energy (and materials) into the next cycle of consumption. Taking examples from the automotive industry and cars, the paper argues that the 'post-peak' (or post production) retention of technologies may offer insights into both the viability and character of business opportunities, and a possible transition pathway into a post-consumer economy. The attraction of the post-production economy is in turn attributed to the concept of consumer nostalgia through which emotional engagement is translated into alternative forms of production and consumption. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.