Which consumers are willing to pay for smart car healthcare services? A discrete choice experiment approach

Abstract

The technology adoption lifecycle model categorizes consumer groups in the new concept products and services market, based on different characteristics and needs, into innovators, early adopters, early majority, late ma-jority, and laggards, in order of adopting new products and services. This study aims to estimate heterogeneous consumer preferences and willingness to pay for a new concept convergence service, the smart car healthcare service, using a choice experiment questionnaire and a hierarchical Bayesian mixed logit. We found that con-sumers were willing to pay an additional 3000 to 6000 KRW/month (2.65-5.29 USD/month) for a service that measured both physical movement and vital signs compared to either the former or the latter. It was also found that they were willing to pay about 3000 KRW/month (2.65 USD/month) more for a service that provides health condition predictions compared to one that provides only the current health condition. In addition, customers who were young, innovative, and favored the utility of healthcare services showed a lower sensitivity to service fees than those who were not. Thus, they were found to have a greater willingness to pay for advanced smart car healthcare services.