Half of Americans Say They’d Rather Wait For Something To Catch On Before Trying It

October 31, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Boomers & Older | Global & Regional | Household Income | Innovation | Men | Women | Youth & Gen X

Ipsos-Consumer-Inclination-to-try-new-Things-Oct2013Americans appear to be more cautious than citizens of other countries when it comes to trying out new things, according to newly-released survey results from Ipsos OTX. 48% of US respondents agreed (top-2 box on a 5-point scale) that they’d rather wait for something to catch on before trying it, compared to 37% of respondents across the 25-country sample. Just 20% of US respondents disagreed (bottom-2 box) with that statement, versus 32% of the respondents globally. Within the US, caution tends to be higher among men and older age groups.

Among male respondents, 53% agreed that they’re prefer to wait for something to catch on while just 16% disagreed. By comparison, 43% of females were more conservative, while 25% tend to be willing to wade in early.

While one might expect youth to be more at the leading edge, the gap between the youngest and oldest age brackets was not that great. 45% of the 18-34 group agreed that they’d wait for something to catch on, versus 22% who disagreed. The corresponding figures for the 50-64 group were 51% and 17%, respectively.

In other US breakouts, respondents from high-income households, those with high levels of education attainment, business owners and senior executives appear to be a bit more conservative, although not all are outside the average when taking into account the margin of error.

Not everyone can be an early adopter, of course, but respondents in some countries certainly appear more likely than others to be willing to try new things out before they catch on. In particular, a sizable proportion of respondents in Norway (62%) France (61%), Brazil (57%), and Sweden disagreed that they would rather wait for something to catch on before trying it. On the other end of the spectrum, 63% in Italy agreed that they would rather wait, as did 57% in Turkey and 55% in Indonesia.

About the Data: The research was conducted on the “G@48” wave between August 6-20th, 2013. The monthly Global @dvisor data output is derived from a balanced online sample in 25 countries around the world via the Ipsos Online Panel system. For the results of the survey, an international sample of 18,503 adults aged 18-64 in the US and Canada, and age 16-64 in all other countries, were interviewed.

Approximately 1000+ individuals participated on a country by country basis via the Ipsos Online Panel with the exception of Argentina, Belgium, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey, where each have a sample approximately 500+. The precision of Ipsos online polls are calculated using a credibility interval. In this case, a poll of 1,000 is accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and one of 500 is accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points in their respective general populations. In countries where internet penetration is approximately 60% or higher the data output is weighted to reflect the general population.

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