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The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of musical tempo on consumer choice of tea in different temperatures.

Across two studies, participants were asked to listen to several musical stimuli with different tempi (i.e. slow or fast). Then, they were asked to evaluate and choose one drink (i.e. iced tea or hot tea).

Results suggest that consumers who listen to fast (slow) tempo music are more likely to choose iced (hot) tea. This effect is robust across different musical modes (i.e. major or minor) (Study 1). However, this musical tempo effect is attenuated when the participants are aware that the music they listened to can influence their judgments (Study 2).

This research is an exploratory study. Thus, further examinations are needed to fully understand the underlying mechanism of this effect. Nonetheless, this research provides an initial evidence of the mediator of this effect.

This research explores how different musical tempi can influence consumer choice of hot or iced tea. Thus, this research adds understanding on how auditory cues (e.g. musical stimuli) can influence consumer choice of other food and drink variables (e.g. temperature).

This paper aims to examine the effect of music tempo on impatience in intertemporal tradeoff decisions. It finds that fast (vs slow) tempo music increases impatience. This occurs because fast (vs slow) tempo music makes temporal distance, and hence the waiting time until the receipt of delayed benefits, feel subjectively longer.

The study tests the hypotheses through four laboratory experiments.

In Studies 1a (N = 88) and 1b (N = 98), the results demonstrate that when participants listen to fast (vs slow) tempo music, they judge temporal distance to be longer. In Study 2 (N = 94), the results demonstrate that when participants listen to fast (vs slow) tempo music, they become more impatient when considering a smartphone purchase. In Study 3 (N = 218), the results demonstrate that when participants listen to fast (vs slow) tempo music, they become more impatient when considering a gift certificate, and that this delay discounting effect is attributable to the change in their temporal distance judgment.

The current research reports a novel factor that influences impatience in intertemporal decisions and temporal distance judgment.

This research provides useful guidelines for retail managers and marketers regarding the effect of background music in stores.

This is the first study demonstrating a music tempo effect on temporal distance judgment and impatience in intertemporal tradeoff decisions.

Drawing on information processing theory, this paper aims to study how consumers’ liking of background music in advertising affects their purchase intention and explore the roles of positive brand attitudes, music mode and music tempo within such a relationship.

We created several radio advertisements that promote two fictitious products: an electric car (EcoCar) and a reusable coffee mug (EcoMug). We study the role of music in these advertisements and examine how it affects purchase intention across multiple experiments.

We confirm the prediction that positive brand attitudes mediate the relationship between music liking and purchase intention. We also show that music moderates such an indirect relationship because major mode music strengthens the effect of positive brand attitudes on purchase intention. Additionally, we find that major mode music with a fast tempo can further strengthen the effect of positive brand attitudes on purchase intention. As a result, the indirect effect of music liking upon purchase intention via positive brand attitudes will be moderated jointly by the music mode and the music tempo.

Limited scholarship explores how the subjective characteristics of music affect consumer buying behaviour in conjunction with the objective characteristics of music. The current research addresses this gap by investigating how music liking (a subjective characteristic of music) and music mode and tempo (objective characteristics of music) affect consumer buying behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review that highlights significant findings from empirical research examining the impact of music within various real and simulated service environments.

The paper examines the results of studies that have manipulated specific musical variables (genre, tempo, volume, and liking), and attempts to identify consistent patterns of findings to guide managers and researchers. The studies focus upon a range of dependent variables including evaluation of the environment, perceived wait and stay duration, consumption speed, affective response, and spending. Possible explanations for apparently inconsistent findings are discussed.

A variety of studies reveal the positive influence of musical congruity upon desired outcomes. Future research proposals identify the need to examine defining‐attribute and prototype theories of musical congruity.

The review highlights a range of implications drawn from the studies that will be of value to service organization managers who use music as a key component of their servicescape in order to enhance desired cognitive and affective responses.

A literature review of relevant empirical research examining the influence of background music within the context of service environments is presented. Studies revealing significant relationships between specific musical variables and desired consumer behavioural outcomes are displayed in a visual framework entitled the Musicscape. This framework draws on Bitner’s model of the Servicescape, which highlights music as just one of a range of ambient conditions influencing behaviour. The Musicscape provides an extended version of Bitner’s Servicescape model by focusing in detail on just one of these elements, the musical variable. Additional figures demonstrate an even more focused breakdown of Musicscape interactions by including arrows which identify the direction of significant relationships revealed in empirical studies. The framework portrays in visual terms the inherent complexity of attempts to influence response and subsequent behaviour by using music within a service environment.

Reports the findings of a controlled field study examining the effects of background music on shopping behavior in a traditional service environment: a supermarket. Finds that musical preference influenced both the amount of time and money shoppers spent in the service environment, although musical tempo and volume had no observable effects. Provides additional insight into the effects of background music on shopping behavior as well as some important considerations for the design of retail and service environments and ambience.

The atmospheric effects of music were tested in a restaurant setting. Four conditions were applied in a type of latin square design with meal duration and expenditure (food and drinks) as dependent variables. The four conditions related volume (loud vs soft), tempo (fast vs slow), style (popular vs unpopular) and the absence of any music. The findings showed that only volume had a significant effect on meal duration and expenditure (both food and drinks), although an additional finding that would require further experimental verification was that the presence of music of any type significantly affected duration and expenditure when compared to the absence of music. To explain the findings a distinction was made between active and passive activities, and it was suggested that different mechanisms explained the atmospheric effects for each. Active activities could be explained by the environment typicality argument whereas the boredom alleviation model could explain passive activities.

This study extends the Mehrabian‐Russell environmental psychology model to include both emotional states and cognitive processing as mediators of the music‐intended behavior relationship. Our model specifically suggests that music affects customers’ perceptions of service quality and merchandise quality as well as feelings of arousal and pleasure, in the context of a women’s fashion store. The effect of music on service quality has not previously received much attention. In addition, it has been suggested that previous results of studies examining the effect of music on consumer responses may have been largely the result of individual music tastes. In the present study, therefore, the effect of music tastes is also examined. Findings indicated that liking of music has a major effect on consumers’ evaluations (pleasure, arousal, service quality and merchandise quality), while the music characteristics (specifically slow pop or fast classical) have an additional effect on pleasure and service quality. Further, pleasure, service quality and merchandise quality affected intended approach behaviors, and arousal contributed to these behaviors when the store environment was considered pleasant. Affiliation behaviors similarly resulted from service quality, pleasure and arousal, but not merchandise quality. Overall results indicate the importance of understanding the effect of music on both consumers’ internal evaluations as well as intended behaviors.

Discusses many of the empirical studies relating to the effects of background music on a wide range of consumer behaviours and outlines the relevant features and limitations of these studies. Suggests that, while research has identified relationships between specific behaviours and specific musical characteristics (e.g. tempo, volume, mode), retailers should practice caution when attempting to manipulate specific aspects of their background music. A safer and potentially more effective strategy would be to select background music that reflects the musical preferences of targeted consumer segments. Presents useful information regarding selection of appropriate background music.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the auditory-sensory characteristics of the digital pop music that is particularly successful on the YouTube website by measuring young listeners’ brain responses to highly successful pop music noninvasively.

The authors conducted a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) experiment with 56 young adults (23 females; mean age 24 years) with normal vision and hearing and no record of neurological disease. The authors calculated total blood flow (TBF) and hemodynamic randomness and examined their relationships with online popularity.

The authors found that TBF to the right medial prefrontal cortex increased more when the young adults heard music that presented acoustic stimulation well above previously defined optimal sensory level. The hemodynamic randomness decreased significantly when the participants listened to music that provided near- or above-OSL stimulation.

Online popularity, recorded as the number of daily hits, was significantly positively related with the TBF and negatively related with hemodynamic randomness.

These findings suggest that a new media marketing strategy may be required that can provide a sufficient level of sensory stimulation to Millennials in order to increase their engagements in various use cases including entertainment, advertising and retail environments.

Digital technology has so drastically reduced the costs of sharing and disseminating information, including music, that consumers can now easily use digital platforms to access a wide selection of music at minimal cost. The structure of the current music market reflects the decentralized nature of the online distribution network such that artists from all over the world now have equal access to billions of members of the global music audience.

This study confirms the importance of understanding target customer’s sensory experiences would grow in determining the success of digital contents and marketing.