Marketing Research Seminar - Badis Khalfallah, HEC Lausanne

As ‘insideables’—technological devices placed beneath the human skin—become increasingly available, understanding the theoretical mechanism driving consumer adoption of these devices is crucial. We hypothesize that people are strongly averse to insideables compared to wearable alternatives and that this effect is driven by an increased perceived intrusion into their personal space. One field study and five experiments across over 50 products (N= 2,512) provide empirical evidence for these hypotheses, in both consequential and non-consequential settings. The insideable’s restorative (vs. enhancing) outcome moderates this aversion effect such that insideables that restore rather than enhance an ability attenuate the degree of aversion. Consumers also have a stronger preference for insideables that are ingested, rather than implanted. These insights advance our understanding of consumer behavior toward emerging technologies and highlight the importance of personal space perceptions in the adoption of insideables.