This chapter provides a brief background to the problem and spells out objective of the

study, research issues, hypotheses and research methodology. This chapter also gives the

reader the limitations of the study and a disposition of the following chapters.

New product adoption behavior is defined as a degree to which an individual adopts

innovation relatively earlier than other members of his system (Rogers and Shoemaker,

1971). Consumers' new product adoption behavior is of fundamental interest to

marketing managers and researchers alike because of its role in the new product diffusion

processes (Rogers, 1995). Understanding what differentiates visionary customers who

adopt the products earlier in the process from more pragmatic customers in the

mainstream market has been suggested as the key to new product marketing in today's

high-tech era (Moore, 1999). Despite extensive research on new product adoption

behavior, the literature does not contain studies examining the validity of the adoption

paradigms across countries, demographics and cultures. This study will attempt to fill the

gap by studying new product adoption behavior across four countries, namely Australia,

India, China and New Zealand, through consumer surveys in these countries.