Attribute perceptions of Colorado homebuilders segmented by innovativeness

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to segment Colorado's single-family homebuilders into adopter groups on likelihood of using wood products derived from restoration thinning activities in Colorado's forests based on their personality characteristics and to compare the groups across various dependent variables related to "green" building materials, substitute building materials, and quality of life principles. The results were obtained from 112 mail surveys conducted in Colorado in spring 2004. The adopter categories used in this study were adapted from Roger's (1995) "diffusion of innovation" model. The adopter groups for the study were (1) early adopters, (2) early majority, (3) late majority, and (4) laggards. Respondents were placed into adopter groups based on how they responded to a question that asked them the likelihood of using wood products. The responses to the question represented the adopter groups. The adopter groups were discriminated by four personality and eight socio-economic variables using discriminant function analysis. The discriminant function analysis revealed that the twelve predictor variables accounted for 27% of the absolute variance in the discrimination of the adopter groups. Function 1 accounted for 88 % of the relative variance in the discriminator variables that predicted the groups and 24 % of the absolute variance in the predictor variables. The discriminant model correctly classified 73.3 % of the originally grouped cases. Earlier adopters placed more importance on the environmental and social images of wood, the natural environment to their quality of life principles, and the importance of "green" building materials to their business practices than did laggards. The results of this study demonstrate the ability to segment Colorado single-family homebuilders into discrete audience segments based on their personality related to environmental tendencies. The major implication for planners and managers when dealing with marketing green building materials is the value of segmenting homebuilders into adopter categories. This provides a more thorough and accurate view of the different groups and their unique characteristics. Recognition that each group has different characteristics leads to devising a variety of communication strategies to more effectively interact with them. In the past, managers and planners have used intuition and experience to make decision concerning audience characteristics and needs. This study and future efforts can help provide useful information into the diverse characteristics and needs of each adopter group and provide a systematic way to understand audiences in order to assure the success of marketing Colorado forest products.