Serendipitous Bloom or Inevitable Fruit? How Product Innovation Narratives Shape New Product Purchase Intention

In electronic markets, consumers often form purchase intentions for unfamiliar products under conditions of information asymmetry. How firms portray the origin of a product idea may therefore shape new-product purchase intention. Serendipitous innovation narratives describe how creators recognize the value of an unexpected discovery and subsequently develop it into a new product. This study examines whether, how, and when serendipitous innovation narratives influence new-product purchase intention relative to planned innovation narratives. Three between-subjects, scenario-based experiments using self-reported measures tested the proposed model across three new-product contexts. Study 1 showed that serendipitous innovation narratives elicited higher new-product purchase intention than planned innovation narratives. Study 2 showed a significant indirect effect through customer inspiration. Study 3 showed that this indirect effect became stronger as construal level increased. These findings suggest that serendipitous innovation narratives can function as signals about innovation origin that evoke customer inspiration, particularly among consumers with higher construal levels. This research extends the literature on innovation communication and digital storytelling and offers practical guidance for new-product communication in electronic markets.