Search results

This paper aims to examine how olfactory imagery, triggered by scent brand names prior to smelling, influences scented-product purchase intention.

Five studies were conducted. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict likelihood of olfactory imagery formation. ANOVA and t-test analyses were used for scent brand name group comparisons, and serial mediation analysis was used to test how scent brand names impact purchase intention through olfactory imagery vividness and the (dis)confirmation between imagined (i.e. expected) and experienced scents.

Scent name familiarity stimulates olfactory imagery formation. Scent brand name specificity (e.g. “Lavender Bouquet” vs. “Floral Bouquet”) influences purchase intention, with specific names leading to lower purchase intention, because they generate vivid olfactory imagery and induce a disconfirmation between imagined and experienced scents.

Branding scents on products should be a strategic product design decision. Surprisingly, although specific scent brand names trigger vivid olfactory imagery and precise scent expectations, they mitigate purchase intention and thus are riskier. General scent brand names are safer.

This research contributes by extending the literature on the effect of verbal cues on scent perception by considering the role of scent brand name specificity on purchase intent. It also adds to work on how olfactory imagery influences purchase intention by incorporating olfactory imagery vividness. Finally, it proposes and tests an underlying cognitive mechanism to explain the relationship between scent brand names and purchase intention.

This paper aims to explore the influence of four types of imagery stimuli (i.e. visual, olfactory, gustatory and auditory) on food craving intensity based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory and the central role of mental imagery in the food craving experience. The roles of overall perception of sensory imagery attributes and perceived availability in moderating this process were also tested. The aim is to extract the positive aspects of food cravings by increasing them and shifting them toward healthy foods.

In an online experiment, 314 participants were randomly primed with each imagery condition. After being exposed to either healthy or unhealthy food pictures, participants completed a questionnaire measuring their craving state, trait food craving, imaging ability, BMI, dietary restraint, hunger and mood. At the end, the impact of food craving intensity on marketing outcomes (i.e. willingness to pay, price sensitivity and food intake) were tested.

As predicted, visual imagery was found to be the strongest stimulus inducing food craving followed by olfactory, gustatory and auditory stimuli. Furthermore, the results indicate that perceived availability of food is the only important variable moderating this process. Additionally, the results show that hunger makes consumers more susceptible to food cravings than mood. Moreover, food craving intensity showed significant impact on the two marketing outcomes: willingness to pay and food intake.

First, the authors used a cheeseburger as unhealthy food and salad as healthy food, future studies can increase the generalizability of the findings by using other types of food. Second, physiological and psychological disorders should be considered and studied as influential factors on food cravings in future studies. Third, future studies should include some behavioral measures besides the analysis of state and trait craving. Fourth, although the main objective of this study was to compare the effect of different imagery stimuli on consumers’ food craving, there was no control (no-stimulus) condition.

Marketing strategists may benefit from the fact that encouraging consumers to visualize some specific type of food product along with informing them about its availability will elevate their craving for that food product. Hence, using this strategy in shopping environments could be beneficial. In the context of improving people’s diet, our results showed that encouraging people to visualize healthy foods (e.g. fruits and vegetables) might be more helpful than priming them with the benefits of eating healthy.

There has been a recent enthusiastic interest in identifying the role of food related mental imagery and stimuli in consumers’ decision making and their final consumption (Christian et al., 2016). Nevertheless, very few studies in marketing have paid attention to these underpinning stimuli driving food craving and the significant influence of this food craving phenomenon on marketing outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of visual and verbal information presentations on mental imagery, perceived informativeness and purchase intention. The study assesses two types of product-related information: (1) visual information: static product images and augmented reality (AR) and (2) verbal information: abstract and concrete product reviews.

A total of 320 mobile consumers participated in the experiment. To increase external validity, this study was conducted in an existing digital shopping environment.

The results suggest that AR has a greater effect on consumers' shopping outcomes than static images. The findings further reveal that concrete product reviews are important in increasing mental imagery, perceived informativeness and purchase intention when visual information does not provide an AR function.

This study contributes to the current literature by providing empirical support for AR effects and concrete reviews on consumer responses. The results further provide an important perspective for retailers seeking ways to develop effective information presentations in digital retailing.

Despite entrepreneurial linguistic style gaining increased attention in entrepreneurship studies, the field for digital vlogger entrepreneurs still lacks a comprehensive understanding of how linguistic patterns enhance audiences attitude and behaviour. This study aims to propose a conceptual model of “language-mental imagery-attitude-behaviour model” that leads to the examination of rich sensory language style of food travel vlogger entrepreneurs and its persuasive effect on audiences' attitude and behavioural intention.

The present study utilises a stimulus-based survey method that involves a sensory-rich vlog script extracted from a high social media engagement authentic vlog. Data are collected through an online questionnaire distributed to a sample of 355 participants via the Amazon Turk mechanism. The study employs confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses, with the aim of contributing to the advancement of theories of embodied cognition in entrepreneurial language by examining the attitudes and behaviours of audiences exposed to sensory-rich language. The findings of this research provide valuable insights into the effects of sensory-rich language on audience responses and can inform future research on the role of embodied cognition in entrepreneurial communication.

The findings demonstrate that vlogger entrepreneurial sensory-rich linguistic communication style positively influence audiences' attitude, behavioural involvement with food and intention to taste. Visit intention will be enhanced via the mediating effects of attitude, behavioural involvement with food and intention to taste.

This research highlights the significance of sensory-rich language for vlogger entrepreneurs in entrepreneurial communication, digital storytelling and for destination marketing enterprises in creating a digital sensory engagement marketing strategy.

The study contributes to the literature by elucidating the theories of embodied cognition in entrepreneurial communication. By examining the relationships between vlogger communication evoked mental imagery, audiences attitude and behaviours, this study provides novel insights into the effectiveness of sensory-rich language in vlogger entrepreneurial communication and its impact on audience engagement. These findings have important implications for communication scholars and practitioners alike, shedding light on the role of embodied cognition in entrepreneurial language and the potential of sensory-rich language to enhance audience engagement.

A current technological trend, which has gained even more traction recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the use of augmented reality (AR) in shopping environments. AR is addressing contemporary challenges rooted in online shopping (e.g. in terms of experientiality and try-on) and is fundamentally reshaping consumers' experiences. The purpose of this study is to provide a synthesized and structured overview of the state-of-the-art research focused on AR shopping.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of the empirical academic corpus focused on shopping via AR technology.

The review reveals the diverse psychological (cognitive, affective, and social) as well as behavioral outcomes related to the use of AR in the shopping context. The authors integrate the results into a framework for AR induced consumer behavior in shopping, thereby providing an important overview of the dynamics in AR-related shopping and the factors influencing the adoption of the technology by consumers. Specifically, the authors encountered that the technological abilities of AR (e.g. in terms of interactivity, vividness, informativeness, etc.) are a source for enhanced utilitarian and hedonic shopping experiences that can support intentions to purchase a product, reuse an AR app, or recommend it to others. Importantly, our review reveals the demand for several avenues for future research.

The authors provide an overview and synthesis of how and where AR is employed in shopping contexts, what theories and technological characteristics of AR are commonly analyzed, and what psychological and behavioral outcomes AR has been found to evoke. Based on our findings, the authors derive a framework that illustrates the dynamics in AR shopping and give an in-depth discourse on 13 future research agenda points related to thematic, theoretical, methodological, and technological matters.

Consumers’ needs are satisfied by the pleasurable experience from a product’s promotional environment (e.g. store setting, advertisement, or catalogue page). The present paper examined whether components of experiential pleasure from a catalogue page influenced approach responses towards the featured fashion apparel product. Most hypotheses were supported. Specifically, sensory and cognitive pleasure from a catalogue page positively affected approach responses of global attitude, multi‐attribute attitude, and willingness to buy the featured product, but not price willing to be paid for the product. Statistically significant multiple regression analyses revealed that “experiencing oneself in the imagery involving the product” was the component of cognitive pleasure that affected the dependent variables, as hypothesized. Implications for marketing/consumer behavior research and promotional environments are provided.

Drawn from the concepts of processing fluency and mental imagery, the present study aims to fill the void by developing the mechanism underlying consumers' cognitive processing of visually appealing digital content in social media (i.e. Instagram) of retail brands.

Data were gathered using a web-based survey method with consumers residing in the USA (N = 328). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to investigate the proposed hypotheses. In addition, measurement invariance and multigroup analyses were conducted to test the moderation effect of need for cognition (NFC).

The results supported the pivotal role of mental imagery when consumers process visual messages in the context of a retail brand's Instagram. Both comprehension fluency and imagery fluency positively influence mental imagery, which in turn cultivates positive attitude towards the brand. The mediating role of mental imagery is confirmed. Furthermore, individuals' NFC interacts with imagery fluency but not with comprehension fluency such that high NFC strengthens the effect of imagery fluency on mental imagery. That is, when high-NFC consumers process information on Instagram, their perceptions of ease of generating imagery likely evoke visual representation of the brand's messages on Instagram in their minds.

This research provides feasible ways for brands to increase the effectiveness of digital marketing communications in social media (e.g. optimising of the contextual features of visual information and employing interactive features such as filters of social media to enhance processing fluency).

Within the context of digital retailing, this study provides a new perspective of consumers' imagery processing to investigate the effectiveness of visual-focussed messages.

Retail marketing is in the midst of an evolution. The paradigm is shifting from a product-centric to a consumer-centric focus, with a particular emphasis on understanding how consumers transition from harboring an interest in a product to actually purchasing that product. In response, shopper marketing, and in-store marketing (ISM) in particular, have emerged as important mechanisms to influence shopper behavior in brick & mortar and online retail environments. The academic literature is replete with work on what factors of ISM influence shopper behavior. In this chapter, we categorize prominent streams of findings on ISM into firm, customer, competitor and product characteristics of ISM and examine how the notion of a “store” is evolving from bricks to clicks – namely from physical formats to online shopping experiences. Insights from this chapter will help retailers and store managers identify what their customers respond to within a physical store, how technology is changing the way they can capture information on customers, and how shopper behavior is evolving in response to brick & mortar and online retail environments.

This paper aims to generate knowledge of the impact of different virtual reality (VR) set-ups in tourism promotion regarding destination image, place attachment and behavioural intention.

The paper presents a comparative study of the impact of different visualisation technologies (video, immersive VR and multisensory immersive VR) to promote tourism destinations. The study’s dependent variables are destination image, place attachment and behaviour intention.

Results show that VR content impacts these variables. Multisensory immersive VR is the preferred content type for destination promotion. It is also evidenced that female participants scored each variable higher than male participants. Males reported higher scores on the video set-up for destination image and place attachment. Behavioural intention reported higher values in the video when compared to immersive VR in both sexes.

This paper concludes that there is a preference towards multisensory set-ups, which suggests that incorporating audiovisual and sensory elements can significantly enhance the effectiveness of VR experiences in attracting and engaging potential tourists.

The paper contributes to the scarce body of knowledge regarding the impact of different VR factors on tourism promotion, including the multisensory VR component.

本文旨在探讨不同虚拟现实（VR）设备在旅游推广中对目的地形象、地方依恋和行为意图的影响, 并增加对此方面的认识。

本文对不同可视化技术（视频、沉浸式VR和多感官沉浸式VR）在旅游目的地推广中的影响进行了比较研究。研究的依赖变量包括目的地形象、地方依恋和行为意图。

研究结果表明, VR内容对这些变量有影响。多感官沉浸式VR是目的地推广的首选内容类型。研究还证明, 女性参与者在每个变量上的评分高于男性参与者。男性在视频设备上对目的地形象和地方依恋评分较高。无论是在男性还是女性中, 视频在行为意图方面的得分都高于沉浸式VR。

我们得出结论, 人们更偏好多感官设备, 这表明将视听和感官元素纳入虚拟现实体验可以显著提高吸引和吸引潜在游客的效果。

本文对不同虚拟现实因素对旅游推广的影响, 包括多感官VR组成部分, 做出了有益的贡献。

The use of extended reality (XR) to create memorable experiences has attracted considerable attention, especially in tourism. Multisensory XR offers a new way of virtually previewing a destination before physical holidays. This study aims to explore how multisensory XR can be used at each stage of the tourism experience journey. This study established a model for how destination-image formation is affected by multisensory XR in each phase of tourism experience.

The authors followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines to review studies published between 2013 and 2020, gathered from four research databases. The authors identified the predominant XR technology and sensory stimuli based on the characteristics of various tourism domains. The authors synthesized the previous studies to explain destination-image formation by using multisensory XR.

This study summarized the XR study distribution among the three stages of the tourism experience journey. The authors identified the predominant sensory stimuli and dominant XR application and developed a destination-image formation model by using multisensory XR.

This study highlights the holistic approach of multisensory XR in the tourism experience journey in relation to various tourism domains. It also contributes to destination-image formation in the virtual environment by providing multisensory experiences of predominant sensory stimuli at each stage.

多感官扩展现实对旅游体验的影响

运用扩展现实（XR）来创造令人印象深刻的体验在旅游领域得到了瞩目。多感官XR提供了用虚拟方式预览景区的新途径。本研究探讨了多感官XR是怎样在旅游体验的各个阶段进行运用。我们建立了一个关于目的地形象行程是怎样收到多感知XR在每一个旅游体验阶段影响模型。

本研究遵循了系统评价的首选的报告项目对由四份数据库综合提取的2013 到2020 年间发表的文章用系统文献综述和荟萃分析方法进行了梳理。基于不同旅游领域我们发现了首要的XR技术和感官刺激因素。本研究综合了之前文章用多感官XR来解释目的地形象的产生的文章。

我们总结了XR 基于旅游体验三个阶段的研究的分布. 我们确定了主导的感官刺激因素和主导的XR应用技术并且用多元感知XR研发了目的地形象形成的模型。

本研究突出了多元感官XR在旅游体验跨越多层旅游领域的整体性方式。本研究并且通过提供每阶段的主打感官刺激元素在多感官体验过程中对虚拟环境下的目的地形象产生做出了贡献。