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Previous research in the context of feature fit has examined the effects of congruence (i.e. more specifically, the extent to which a new feature and the product are similar in the hedonic-utilitarian benefits they provide to consumers). The purpose of this paper is to examine a second dimension of feature fit: complementarity (i.e. the extent to which a new feature is related and contributing to the main functionality of the product).

The role of feature fit is examined in two experimental studies (n=593) in the context of feature additions, and also for feature deletions.

The results showed that complementarity adds value to a product as an additional dimension of feature fit beyond congruence, complementarity matters more for a hedonic than for a utilitarian product, and complementarity can compensate for lack of congruence.

For a product developer, adding new features to a product offers an array of choices in terms of what feature(s) to include. Although having a large pool of potential features to choose from is attractive it can also prove problematic, as products may become overly complex and features do not fit well together. The results demonstrate the importance of both congruence and complementarity as predictors of feature fit when features are added to or deleted from products.

Hedonic and utilitarian shopping values have been researched since the mid-1980s in the fields of marketing, retail and specially on consumer behaviour. A number of studies have found evidence of their effects on satisfaction, buying intention and loyalty, but others have found no such effects or negative results. The purpose of this study is to apply a meta-analytic review on the shopping values.

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the relationship between hedonic and utilitarian value on shopping response, using 190 studies. The authors also limited their search to the past 19 years (1995-2014).

The findings are as follows: hedonic shopping value is positively associated with utilitarian, ρ = 0.56; hedonic and utilitarian exhibit positive main effects on satisfaction, buying intention, loyalty, perceived benefits and search for information; in general, these associations are stronger (vs weaker) for utilitarian value; the effect size for the association between utilitarian and buying intention is stronger in the experimental condition and the indirect effect of hedonic on value, loyalty and word-of-mouth by the mediating effect of value.

The authors proposed and found support for the parallel mediating effect. They also observed that not only hedonic and utilitarian shopping values had indirect effects on loyalty and word-of-mouth through perceived value and satisfaction but also both shopping values had different effects depending on the respective mediator. The indirect effects of hedonic values occur because the emotional and psychological circumstances of experience increase the perceived value, influencing consumers’ responses.

Retailers can create specific stores for consumers to attend to their shopping values. For example, the Adidas brand centre in Beijing/China provides the consumer with a unique and interactive retail experience. This kind of concept store and its experience (e.g. tunnel entry and team room) are congruent with shoppers’ hedonic value. Conversely, Nike Factory Store in the USA provides the consumer with a simple and fast retail experience.

The authors provide sufficient evidence that the two dimensions, hedonic and utilitarian value, are positively associated. This result is congruent with Batra and Ahtola (1991), Babin et al. (1994) and Spangenberg et al. (1997). The results support Chiu et al.’s (2005) argument that utilitarian and hedonic are positively associated based on Fishbein and Ajzen’s affect–cognition link and suggested that the instrumental and functional values are related to spontaneous responses that are more subjective and personal.

In the existing literature on crowdfunding project performance, previous studies have given little attention to the impact of investors’ hedonic value and utilitarian value on project results. In a crowdfunding setting, utilitarian value is somehow hard to satisfy due to information asymmetry and adverse selection problem. Therefore, the projects with more hedonic value can be more attractive for potential investors. Lucky draw is a method to increase consumer hedonic value, and it can influence investors’ behavior as a result. The authors hypothesize that projects with hedonic treatment (lucky draw) may have higher probability to win their campaign than others. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A unique self-extracted two-year Chinese crowdfunding platform real data set has been applied as the analysis sample. The authors first employ propensity score matching methods to control for the endogeneity of hedonic treatment adoption (lucky draw). The authors then run OLS regression and probit regression in order to test the hypotheses.

The analysis suggests a significant positive relationship not only between project lottery adoption and project results but also between project lottery adoption and project popularity.

The results suggest that an often ignored factor – hedonic treatment (lucky draw) – can play an important role in crowdfunding project performance.

While consumers did not previously have information on detailed housing features via traditional media, such as magazines, nowadays, due to the progress in information technology, they can access detailed information on various housing features via housing information websites. Therefore, detailed housing features may affect current rents to some extent. This paper aims to identify the effects of detailed housing features on rent and on omitted variable bias in Tokyo, Japan.

This paper applies the hedonic approach. To identify the effects of features which are not observed previously, we use a unique data set that contains various housing features and over 200,000 housing units. This data set enables to simulate the situations when the researcher cannot get some variables, and this simulation shows which variables cause omitted variable bias.

The analysis shows that housing features significantly influence housing rent. If significant housing feature variables are not included in the hedonic model, the estimated coefficients show omitted variable bias. Additionally, unit-specific features such auto-locking door can cause omitted variable bias on location-specific features such accessibility to downtown.

This paper shows empirical evidence that detailed housing features can cause omitted variable bias on other features including variables which are often used in previous searches. The result from our unique data set can be a guide for variable selection to reduce omitted variable bias.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of ethnically targeted ads in developing consumer–brand relationships through an application of social identification theory and elaboration likelihood model among African American consumers in the service sector.

Study 1 used a 2 (service type: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (strength of ethnic identification: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design. Study 2 used the same experimental design, procedure and ads as Study 1.

Taken together, the findings from these two studies demonstrate how ethnically targeted advertising, in conjunction with service type, can influence consumer–brand relationships. The results showed that those with high strength of ethnic identification had more brand love, as well as higher intentions to spread positive word-of-mouth, purchase intention and brand loyalty for hedonic services, but that this effect was not significant for utilitarian services.

The environments in which advertisements appear (e.g. in an in-store display or a magazine advertisement) is important, and consumers’ reactions to targeted ads in various environments should be considered in future research. Future studies should also examine the role of individuals’ personality traits and level of acculturation in determining their relationships with brands.

Across two studies, the authors demonstrated that ethnic ads are more effective for African American individuals with high level of ethnic identification especially for hedonic services.

Mobile banking or m-banking enables consumers to carry out their banking affairs with the help of mobile devices. Mobile-user banking interactions in the context of technology services create opportunities for positive experiences that can nurture trust, foster brand equity and eventually lead to long-term relationship building. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concepts of m-banking customer flow experiences and their role in affecting customer intention in the continued use of m-banking.

To achieve this main objective, a research model was developed by taking theoretical backgrounds and specific characteristics of m-banking into consideration for testing. The study to test this model was carried out in Iran, a developing country in the Middle East.

Results of the PLS-SEM analysis of 927 bank customers showed that the flow experience is positively influenced by both hedonic and utilitarian features. While, flow experiences influence trust and brand equity, individual mobility has a stronger effect on the intention to continue the use of m-banking compared with trust, flow experience and brand equity.

The current research provides various useful insights into customer engagement for conducting banking tasks via mobile technologies. Managers and decision makers can take into account the following insights to enhance positive flow experiences and loyalty intention of customers toward m-banking.

Cause-related marketing (CrM) is one of the effective marketing concepts which draw high public exposure and make the cause and the organization known in the market. Further, it develops a higher inclination of the customers associating themselves with CrM-related campaigns. In this regard, CrM campaigns generally take hedonic products into consideration. The purpose of this paper (comprises two studies) is to: study 1, examine the attributes leading to successful CrM campaign and afterward when the results of Study 1 were found in line with the existing literature; and, Study 2, empirically examine the consumer preference for hedo-utilitarian products type in the CrM context.

A total of 316 respondents participated in the survey. For selecting the appropriate research technique under the CrM study, the systematic review was conducted to arrive at a decision. Finally, conjoint analysis, a decompositional approach, was used for its ability to provide real-world setup to the respondents and keeping the social desirability bias at the minimum while assessing the consumer preference in the context of CrM.

Much literature is available in favor of using hedonic products for successful CrM activities. However, none has conceptualized the hedo-utilitarian products that have an equally fair chance to succeed under CrM strategy. The present study confirmed the relevance of hedo-utilitarian products (utilitarian products having hedonic features) for attracting the consumers having cognitive and affective responses altogether.

The novel concept of hedo-utilitarian product is introduced and empirically examined. The propositions and findings will facilitate the organizations in developing the products and marketing strategies in the context of CrM, giving them the option beyond the two product categories, i.e. hedonic and utilitarian. Accordingly, the companies may also focus and strategize for the “causmers,” i.e. the consumers who pay heed to the cause of the campaign during the purchase.

While several of the dimensions in marketing have been explored, CrM is the least explored area in the Asian region. The attributes that may affect CrM were taken all together as another product feature/attribute under conjoint analysis exploring the attributes affecting CrM most, eventually, leading to higher consumer preference. Further, the concept of hedo-utilitarian products was introduced, empirically examined and recommended to future researchers for bringing it forward.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how an advertising campaign incorporating an ecological message affects heuristic structure of consumer preferences for hedonic (design and aesthetics) and utilitarian benefits (functionality and performance) provided by the product advertised. Also, the second objective is to reach an understanding of how brand equity moderates these relationships.

The paper proposes a two-stage study: a qualitative and exploratory part, in which the authors seek to determine the most important hedonic and utilitarian attributes as well as strong and weak brands, and a quantitative and causative part to test the hypothesis proposed.

The results show that when the brand advertised incorporates an ecological message, consumers show a greater preference for hedonic attributes than when the advertisement does not incorporate this message. On the other hand when the brand incorporating the sustainable message is weaker, consumers show a greater preference for hedonic attributes than when it is stronger.

The result shows important managerial implications for companies with weaker brands, since it indicates that it is much more profitable, in terms of consumer’s perceived usefulness, to invest in social and ecological actions than stronger brands.

Analyse how the used of ecological messages can modify consumer’s heuristic according to utilitarian and hedonics attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate various factors that shape young adult consumers’ smartphone-based service app involvement and their subsequent development of brand loyalty for the app.

A survey was conducted to test the hypothesized relationships. The survey data were analyzed using SPSS-based PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013).

The study results show that consumer can perceive an app to be largely hedonic or utilitarian, and the perceived app design (hedonic vs utilitarian) impacts consumers’ involvement with a particular service app category. Further, the findings elucidate that the impact of app hedonism on app category involvement is moderated by consumer’s surfing task orientation and the extent to which app arouses their imagination. On the other hand, the impact of app utilitarianism on app involvement is moderated by consumer’s information-seeking task orientation and perceived relevance of the information. Finally, app category involvement predicts loyalty toward a particular brand in the service app category. The effect of app involvement on brand loyalty is moderated by hot and cold brand relationship quality in cases of hedonic and utilitarian apps, respectively.

The value of this research lies in identifying relevant managerially actionable moderators that shape the relationships between perceived dominant app design (hedonic vs utilitarian), app category involvement and app brand loyalty.

Cheerful emotions are associated with achievement goals and quiescence emotions are associated with protection goals. The compatibility between consumer's goal orientation and the types of emotions can be extended to linking the types of emotions with the types of the product attributes used in advertisement. Previous studies have kept silent about the roles of differences between types of feelings induced from different advertisements on evaluating target advertised. The purpose of this paper is to explore the different effects of emotions triggered by the advertising information on evaluating the target.

Restaurant attributes were classified into hedonic and performance and reliability attributes. In total, three types of scenarios and advertisements were developed to induce the specific affect and 165 undergraduate students were assigned to one of three groups, each group consisting of 55 participants. Different scenarios and advertisements were provided to different group members and participants filled out the questionnaire. ANOVA was used to verify differences of feeling types (cheerful and quiescent) induced from each scenario and advertisement. Multiple regression analysis was used to verify the effects of feeling types induced from each scenario and advertisement on restaurant evaluations.

The appeals created by using each attribute induce positive emotions differently between the types of attributes which have a strong influence on restaurant appraisal. That is, the appeal using hedonic and performance attributes helps consumers feel cheerful more than quiescence. In addition, the appeal by using reliability attributes helps consumers feel more quiescence than cheerful. Also the cheerful emotions have more positive influences on restaurant appraisal than quiescence emotions do when appealed by using hedonic and performance attributes. Furthermore, quiescence emotions have more positive influences on restaurant appraisal than cheerful emotions when appealed by using reliability attributes.

It is of great importance for restaurant marketers to induce positive affects useful for customers' evaluation in a competitive environment. This research provides the insights into the roles of specific emotions induced from three types of restaurant attributes on the evaluation. Marketers should examine what types of goals consumers have and make an effort to trigger emotions by carefully using product attribute to be advertised to be consistent with the goals.

The main theoretical contribution of this paper is to extend prior affect‐as‐information researches to the effects of specific feelings compatible with certain types of restaurant attributes on evaluation.