Warmth or competence? The effects of cool and cuteness on the perceived quality of digital products
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
ISSN: 1355-5855
Article publication date: 17 November 2021
Issue publication date: 9 September 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of cuteness and cool on the perceived quality of digital products, the mediating effect of brand perception (warmth and competence) and the moderating effect of the individual perception level.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilizes experimental design and survey methods to collect data and the ANOVA, independent sample t-test and bootstrap analysis methods to verify the assumed hypotheses.
Findings
Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that cuteness (vs cool) is more likely to promote the perception of brand warmth (vs competence), and the brand perception plays a mediating role between cuteness (cool) and the perceived quality. Study 3 replicates the findings of Study 2 and indicates that people with high-cuteness (vs low-cuteness) perception are the same to perceive the brand warmth to promote the perceived quality of digital products, but people with high-cool (vs low-cool) perception are more likely to perceive the brand competence to promote the perceived quality of digital products.
Practical implications
Based on the conclusions in this paper, marketers could emphasize the cool information of digital products in advertisements to promote the perceived quality to promote younger consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Furthermore, firms could shape warm brand images by the perception of cuteness because cuteness is positively associated with the warmth of brand perception (e.g. the logo of Three Squirrels, a Chinese nut business brand that consists of three cute squirrels).
Originality/value
From a theoretical standpoint, this paper contributes to the brand perception when consumers accept product information with the characteristics of cuteness or cool. Second, a model of perceived quality of digital products is built based on the stereotype content theory. Third, this paper considers individual perception levels on cuteness and cool as the boundaries to conduct further conceptual model.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the paper significantly. This work was supported by (a) the National Social Science Fund of China (No. 19BGL108), (b) the Liaoning Social Science Planning Fund Project (No. L20BGL028) and (c) the Project of Educational Department of Liaoning Province (No. LJ2020JCW007).
Citation
Li, B., Nan, Y. and Yao, R. (2022), "Warmth or competence? The effects of cool and cuteness on the perceived quality of digital products", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 34 No. 9, pp. 1880-1904. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-06-2021-0413
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited