Search results

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.

Marketers are increasing their use of digital strategies and prioritizing digital tactics, although the effectiveness digital video advertising (DVA) has not been examined empirically. The purpose of this research is to suggest that it is useful for advertisers to consider theories of the past to understand the link between product, advertising format and message processing.

To examine DVA effectiveness, this study utilized a 2-product type (utilitarian vs hedonic) × 2-product involvement (low vs high) x 2-platform (laptop vs mobile) mixed-design. Participants were recruited from a research company, who invited members of their panel to participate in an online experiment.

DVA for hedonic products resulted in stronger attitudes toward the ad and brand, and intentions to purchase. DVA for low involvement products resulted in stronger purchase intentions and likelihood to opt-in for more information. Moreover, there was an interaction between product category and involvement across all five measures of DVA effectiveness.

Like TV commercials, DVA is more effective when used with low involvement, hedonic products than with high involvement, utilitarian products. Additionally, the device on which the advertisement is viewed impacts the effectiveness of DVA.

Companies promoting high-involvement utilitarian products may consider alternative advertising strategies (e.g. MDAs, apps, websites and advergames), as DVA may not be the most effective ad format.

As technology continues to develop and marketers continue to pursue growing numbers of consumers through digital means and on mobile devices, understanding how device type influences advertising effectiveness is important for media strategy, message placement and marketing metrics. This research takes one step in that direction.

This paper aims to investigate how product positioning affects the influence of product gender on consumers’ product evaluations.

Using experimental designs, this research investigates how hedonic versus functional consumption goals affect consumers’ choice between feminine and masculine products (Study 1) and how positioning products as either hedonic or functional influences consumers’ evaluations of feminine and masculine products (Studies 2 and 3).

When pursuing hedonic consumption goals, consumers are more likely to choose feminine (vs masculine) products, whereas when pursuing functional consumption goals, consumers are more likely to choose masculine (vs feminine) products. Further, consumers evaluate feminine products more favorably when the products are hedonically (vs functionally) positioned, whereas they evaluate masculine products more favorably when the products are functionally (vs hedonically) positioned. Perceptions of product credibility mediate this effect.

Connecting theories of gender identity, product positioning and congruity, this study extends previous literature by demonstrating that the effects of product gender are context-dependent.

Many companies use visual design cues (e.g. shape, color) to promote their products’ gender. The findings of this study suggest that companies promoting their products as feminine should highlight the products’ hedonic benefits, whereas companies promoting their products as masculine should highlight the products’ functional benefits.

Applying a conceptual congruity approach, this research is the first to demonstrate that the effects of product gender on consumers’ product evaluations depend on the product’s positioning.

Past research on cause-related marketing (CRM) suggests that these socially beneficial initiatives are more effective when linked with hedonic than utilitarian products. Little is known, however, about the process underpinning this effect. This paper aims to investigate why and under what circumstances CRM enhances the appeal of hedonic products by testing the mediation of guilt and introducing the moderating role of cause-product fit.

The authors test a model of moderated mediation in two studies. Study 1 shows that the effectiveness of combining CRM with hedonic consumption is explained by the mediating role of feelings of guilt. Study 2 demonstrates that this mediation depends on the level of fit or congruency between the cause and the product.

Results suggest that CRM campaigns offer the opportunity to improve the consumption experiences of hedonic products by reducing the feelings of guilt intrinsically connected with these options. Moreover, fit moderates the emotional processes activated by CRM initiatives. When fit is high, CRM reduces guilt and improves consumers’ experiences when purchasing hedonic alternatives.

The study extends current understanding of how CRM can promote hedonic consumption and contributes further to research on guilt as an emotion able to promote responsible consumption decisions. Moreover, the study introduces and tests the impact of cause-product fit in predicting consumers’ ethical purchase intention. For managers of hedonic brands, the study offers important implications on how to deploy CRM campaigns to foster better customer experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the product type (hedonic product and utilitarian product) and reward type (hedonic gift and utilitarian gift) influence customer referral likelihood in referral reward program.

The authors test the effect of the product type and reward type on referral likelihood through two studies. Study 1 produces a 2 (product type: hedonic product and utilitarian product) × 2 (reward type: hedonic gift and utilitarian gift) factorial design to test H1, H2 and H3, that is, the effect of the product type and reward type on referral likelihood and their interaction effect. On the basis of study 1, study 2 will select different subjects, different products and different incentive allocation schemes to test H1, H2 and H3 again.

The results are as follow: first, the product type has significant influences on referral likelihood. Compared with a utilitarian product, customers are more likely to make referrals when consuming a hedonic product. Second, the product type and reward type have significant interactions to referral likelihood. When rewarded a hedonic gift, customers who consumed the hedonic product have great willing to make referrals; however, when rewarded the utilitarian gift, customer who consumed the utilitarian product have great willing to make referrals.

The authors’ findings contribute to the literature of consumers’ recommendation in the following aspects. First, from the perspective of enterprises which launch referral reward program, the present research demonstrates the product type (hedonic product and utilitarian product) and reward type (hedonic gift and utilitarian gift) influence customer referral likelihood. Previous studies discuss attributes of product that influence consumers’ referral likelihood, such as product sensitivity (Kornish and Li, 2010), product involvement (Zhu et al., 2011), brand strength (Ryu and Feick, 2007) and price (Xiao et al., 2011). However, few studies focus on the hedonic and utilitarian attributes of products and explore their impact on the willingness to recommend. This paper makes a useful supplement to the research gap. Most previous studies simply divide the type of reward into tangible and intangible (Shi and Wojnicki, 2007), cash and coupon (Wang, 2010) or cash and gift (Huang et al., 2013). This paper enriches the research on reward types and refines the types of gifts in a referral reward program. The present research divides the type of reward into hedonic gifts and utilitarian gifts, and applies benefit congruency frameworks (Chandon et al., 2000), attitude theory (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993) and over-justification effect (Deci and Ryan, 1985).

This paper aims to investigate the influence of consumer reviews on the evaluation, post-experience, of products with a combination of sustainable, hedonic and utilitarian properties.

In the first instance, consumer reviews for organic and non-organic cosmetics posted on the French Web site beauté-test.com were analyzed. Second, a full-factorial two product types (organic and non-organic) × three reviews (positive, negative and no reviews) experiment was conducted. Sixty French women tested a beauty product and evaluated it on hedonic and utilitarian (ambiguous and non-ambiguous) properties. In a second experiment, 132 English-speaking students evaluated an herbal tea at home, along a full-factorial two product types (fair-trade and non-fair-trade) × three product properties (hedonic, utilitarian ambiguous and utilitarian non-ambiguous) × two reviews (negative review and no review) between-subject design.

First, consumers are significantly less influenced by reviews for hedonic products compared to utilitarian products. In particular, they rely on reviews when evaluating utilitarian ambiguous properties (e.g. anti-aging properties) which they find difficult to judge on their own. Second, consumers are more resistant to the persuasive effect of reviews when the product focus is on sustainable (organic or fair-trade) credentials, in particular when judging ambiguous properties.

This paper explores a topic neglected in the literature so far: the moderating role of product properties and sustainability, in particular, on consumers’ responses to persuasion and consumer reviews in the context of this paper. Its originality lies in the demonstration that consumers learn through product testing for hedonic and utilitarian unambiguous product properties and through consumer reviews for utilitarian ambiguous product properties. Additionally, it highlights the resistance of sustainable products (organic and fair-trade in this research) to negative product reviews.

We examine how social exclusion and temporal distance (i.e. being socially excluded in the present or the anticipation of exclusion in the future) shape whether people choose hedonic or utilitarian products.

We conduct four experiments to test the hypotheses. Study 1a and study 1b provide the initial evidence that consumers strategically engage in differentiation in response to social exclusion in the present and in the future. Study 2 and study 3 replicate the basic interaction effect of social exclusion and temporal distance on product choices and test the underlying mechanism.

We find that temporal distance affects consumer product choices through people’s coping strategies. When consumers are socially excluded, they are more likely to have a problem-solving tendency and more likely to choose utilitarian products. In contrast, when consumers imagine being socially excluded in the future, they are more likely to have to use emotions to solve problems and choose hedonic products.

Our study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it deepens our understanding of the psychological drivers of social exclusion in consumer research. Second, it offers insights into understanding prior findings that document both problem-solving and emotion-regulating behavior in response to social exclusion. Third, by showing that social exclusion and temporal distance can influence the type of products selected, our findings contribute to a new stream of work that examines the impact of people’s fundamental desire for control on consumer behavior.

This paper aims to build on research on the art infusion effect (Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2008a). It investigates the effect of using fine art in advertising and addresses additional factors that have not been assessed to understand and describe the process of art infusion more thoroughly. Thereby, the moderating role of the art interest of individuals and its interplay with the hedonic value of the product is studied. Effects on attitude and willingness to pay are revealed and the perceived value for money as a further mediating variable that drives the art infusion effect under some conditions is investigated. Moreover, the study examines the effect of the artwork’s familiarity.

The experimental study follows a 3 (ad picture: photo, unknown painting, well-known painting) × 2 (art interest: low, high) × 2 (product type: highly hedonic, moderately hedonic) between-subjects-design. In total, 447 consumers were surveyed in museums, art exhibitions and neutral public spaces.

For a clearly hedonic product, the art infusion effect is independent of consumers’ art interest. For an only moderately hedonic and more ambiguous product, this effect only occurs for highly art interested individuals. Moreover, different mediating processes are revealed for these two product types in a moderated mediation model. An effect of familiarity cannot be verified.

Research on effects of art on consumer responses to brands and products is still very limited. In addition to existing research, this paper adds to the identification of boundary conditions and the explanation of drivers of the art infusion effect. Moreover, this is the first study that provides insights on how an artwork affects consumers’ willingness to pay.

This paper aims to investigate whether customer satisfaction varies when presented with different types of omnichannel promotions (shopping goal-congruent vs shopping goal-incongruent and monetary vs non-monetary promotions) and if the effect on satisfaction is mediated by service excellence. In addition, this paper examines whether consumers respond differently to these promotions when shopping for utilitarian or hedonic products or when they have an inherent utilitarian or hedonic shopping motivation.

Two online shopping scenario experiments are conducted. Study 1 (n = 1,034) differentiates effects of omnichannel promotions between hedonic and utilitarian product categories. Study 2 (n = 345) contrasts hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivation in the same product category.

The findings in this paper demonstrate positive effects from both presenting a shopping goal congruent and a monetary promotion in an omnichannel setting on customer satisfaction. The positive effects are explained by service excellence and are demonstrated to be attenuated in the hedonic product category and for consumers with a hedonic shopping motivation.

The effect of omnichannel promotions was demonstrated using a scenario-based experimental approach, future research should use field experiments.

The findings in this paper demonstrate practical implications for a retailer who wishes to optimize its omnichannel promotion strategy across channels and touchpoints.

To date there is little directions for retailers on how to optimize their omnichannel promotion strategy. This paper contributes to research and practice by demonstrating that shopping goal-congruent promotions (vs in-congruent) and monetary promotions (vs non-monetary) increase customer satisfaction more in an omnichannel context. The effects are enhanced for utilitarian (vs hedonic) products/shopping motivation.

This paper aims to investigate the redemption of promotional offers in a mobile service context. It specifically studies how mobile coupon redemption depends on the type of product offered, the convenience of accessing a retailer and the consumer’s shopping motivation. Retailers increasingly use mobile coupon services as a complementary channel to send promotional offers to consumers.

Two studies examine how the three factors interact in determining coupon redemption. Both involve a scenario-based experiment. Participants are over 750 members of an online panel in the USA.

The results show that when the retailer offers a hedonic product, consumers’ shopping motivation matters more, whereas when the retailer offers a utilitarian product, consumers’ location dominates their redemption intentions.

One limitation of this research is the use of hypothetical scenarios. Although this limitation was addressed by conducting a quasi-experiment, future research could be carried out using a field experiment.

Results suggest that in a mobile channel, personalization of promotions is more important for utilitarian shoppers than for hedonic shoppers.

Drawing on the theories of regulatory focus and preference for the status quo, this paper posits that mobile coupon redemption is determined by whether the offer requires consumers to divert from their focal shopping motivation (i.e. their status quo). The authors explain this difference by showing the mediating role of regulatory fit.