Rejuvenating Design

Bikes, Batteries, and Older Adopters in the Diffusion of E-bikes

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5337000
AutoresAlexander Peine (0000-0002-2395-8487, Utrecht University, autor de correspondencia), Vivette Van Cooten (Utrecht University), Vivette JC van Cooten (0000-0002-6990-0694, Avans University of Applied Sciences), Louis Neven (Avans University of Applied Sciences, Research Group Active Ageing, Breda, the Netherlands)
Año2017
Volumen42
Número3
Páginas429-459
Fecha de publicación2017-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0162243916664589
OpenAlexW2509587353
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas61

Old age is not normally associated with innovativeness and technical prowess. To the contrary, when treating age as a distinct category, policy makers, innovation scholars, and companies typically regard younger people as drivers of innovation, and the early adoption of new technology. In this paper, we critically investigate this link between age, ineptness, and technology adoption using a case study of the diffusion of electric bikes in the Netherlands. We demonstrate how, during the first wave of e-bike acceptance, old age was constructed as an arena in which important learning processes took place, and where older persons became early adopters of e-bikes. Theoretically, this paper speaks critically to the prolific literature on innovation diffusion and its treatment of adopter categories as generic concepts. Using age as a central dimension, our research highlights the situated and constructed nature of adopter categories, and thus challenges age-based assumptions about innovation and technology use by younger and older persons. These insights about what we term the rejuvenation of e-bikes help us rectify existing biases of older persons as an inherently problematic group of technology users

Business · Demographic change · Early adopter · Situated · Sociology · Computer Science · Demography · Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Psychology · Technology Use by Older Adults · Marketing