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There has been an increased interest in marketing literature in understanding the role of sensory experience. However, few researchers have addressed multisensory interaction of visual and tactile evaluation for products salient in single sensory modality. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap and investigate how multisensory evaluation influences overall attitude and purchase intentions. Further, the role of individual personality variable in influencing the interrelationship between sensory evaluation and behavioral outcomes are examined.

The data for this study were collected from 126 students who responded to attitude towards the product and purchase intentions after evaluating three experimental tasks. Repeated measures analysis of variance was carried out to test the multisensory interaction hypotheses.

The multisensory interaction of tactile and visual information was found to significantly increase the consumer attitudes for products dominant on single sensory modality of touch. Further, the multisensory evaluation led to greater purchase intentions than visual or tactile evaluation.

The paper is perhaps first to investigate multisensory interaction of tactile and visual sensory information in evaluation of products that are salient in touch properties. The current study further examines the role of individual personality variables in influencing interrelationship between sensory evaluation and purchase intentions.

Online shopping has become a commonplace thing nowadays as people can buy products from the comfort of their home. But such environments do not offer a complete sensory interaction as consumers are unable to touch products which is quite important for certain categories of products such as apparels. Therefore, in order to find whether every individual seeks touch equally, the purpose of this paper is to deal with the differences in an individual’s preferences for touch. The study also evaluates customer responses towards the introduction of touch-enabling technology which can, to some extent, compensate for the lack of touch. Lastly, the study includes customers’ views regarding showrooming and webrooming.

A total of 203 responses were received through online and offline questionnaires. The data were analysed using ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis through SPSS version 23.

The results revealed that gender influenced the Need for Touch (NFT) with women having higher NFT. The people who were high in NFT preferred to buy in-store, whereas their low NFT counterparts were comfortable with both online and in-store options. Lastly, it was found that there was a significant impact of NFT on online buying behaviour. The new technology when used by online retailers would break the barriers that exist between real touch and virtual touch.

Although previous authors have given several options like mental representations, verbal details and brand image as alternatives to touch but the use of touch-enabling technology can revolutionise the way online products are perceived. The study adds value by relating NFT with online preferences, showrooming and webrooming.

This paper aims to analyze the effects of web communities vs company websites in providing tactile information considering different types of product in terms of touch diagnosticity (low- vs. high-touch products).

Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the effect of online information sources (i.e. web communities vs. company websites) in providing tactile information on consumer responses, considering the moderation role of product type in terms of touch diagnosticity (low- vs. high-touch products, Study 1), the moderating role of type of information (tactile vs. generic, Study 2a); and the moderating role of need for touch (NFT) (Study 2a and 2b).

While previous research converges on the idea that the provision of a written description of tactile properties deriving from the product usage is particularly effective for products for which tactile information is diagnostic and for individuals high in NFT, the results demonstrated that the presence (vs. the absence) of the description of the tactile properties provided by web communities (vs. company websites) matters for those products for which touch is not diagnostic and for individuals low in NFT.

The findings have particular relevance for emerging brands intending to commercialize their products in the digital environment. These companies should be present in web communities to describe a product’s tactile characteristics, especially if not diagnostic.

This paper significantly contributes to a better understanding of a little studied area, namely, consumer responses toward haptic compensational strategies providing haptic cues (e.g. written description of tactile information along with pictures of products) aiming at compensating for the absence of touch, underlining the differential influence of online sources of tactile information on consumer responses across different types of products.

A major factor hampering the continuing and explosive rise of e-commerce, particularly for experience goods, is the lack of tactile information that could help to reduce uncertainty in consumer purchase decision making online. The purpose of this paper is to identify the specific touch-related properties worthwhile to enable in online retailing and the type of customer value that can be provided, as well as the drivers and barriers for consumer acceptance toward touch-enabling technologies for online shopping.

By means of consumer focus groups, the authors address the research questions regarding touch-related properties, their value to consumers, and the drivers and barriers for consumer acceptance by taking into consideration two specific touch-enabling technologies.

The study reveals that touch-enabling technologies can provide utilitarian and hedonic value to consumers, mainly at the pre-purchase stages in the path-to-purchase. Valuable applications conceived by consumers primarily pertain to offering information on material and geometric product properties. A hurdle for consumer adoption seems to be the necessity of a dedicated output device, such as a glove.

Due to the early development stage of the new technologies under investigation, this study is exploratory in nature. The findings should be validated in the future, once these technologies actually get introduced for online marketing purposes.

This study aims to raise awareness among online retailers about marketing opportunities comprised of touch-enabling technology.

The authors provide a first outlook with regard to future consumer acceptance of touch-enabling technologies in online shopping and how and when such technologies can provide consumer value.

The purpose of this paper is to address the potential impact of need for touch (NFT) on perceived product quality and the possible roles of purchasers’ social (subjective norms), personal (buying impulsiveness) and epistemic (e-commerce orientation) factors, as well as the likely interaction effect of the shopping channel.

The empirical study is based on 540 observations, analysed in a partial least squares structural equation model.

The link between the NFT and perceived quality tends to be negative, especially for online purchases. E-commerce orientation reduces the need to touch products, but subjective norms and buying impulsiveness have no significant effects.

The NFT scale might be improved by adding more items. Some of the structural model coefficients indicate a low effect size. Finally, the results are limited to Spanish purchasers of the focal product.

Firms should appeal to purchasers’ e-commerce orientation to reduce the negative implications of a need to touch products among consumers shopping online.

The need to touch a product may be an obstacle to online purchases, yet few studies deal with its impact in online, relative to offline, contexts to evaluate product quality. This study also integrates personal, social and epistemic factors.

Touch plays an important role in the evaluations of products. However, prior quantitative touch research does not present a holistic perspective of haptics. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of haptic information that consumers attain from touch.

Adopting a qualitative research approach, semi-structured, depth interviews were conducted with industry experts.

Based on the findings, this research proposes a conceptual model of consumer haptic perception consisting of seven key influences, namely, the effects of haptic sensation, haptic perception, the influence of individual factors, the influence of external environmental factors, the multi-dimensionality of haptics, haptic cue congruity and haptic dominance.

This study suggests firms to understand the importance of consumers’ haptic perception as an opportunity to engage an individual’s heart and mind through information attained through touch.

This is the first study in marketing to propose a conceptual model of haptics comprising several new haptic influences. This model contributes to the emerging literature of sensory marketing by providing directions for future touch research by capturing the dynamic nature of haptics.

El tacto desempeña un papel importante en nuestras evaluaciones de los productos. Sin embargo, las investigaciones cuantitativas anteriores sobre el tacto no presentan una perspectiva holística de la percepción táctil. Este artículo pretende ofrecer una comprensión más completa de la información táctil que los consumidores obtienen del contacto.

Adoptando un enfoque de investigación cualitativa, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas en profundidad con expertos del sector.

A partir de los resultados, esta investigación propone un modelo conceptual de la percepción táctil del consumidor que consta de siete influencias clave: Los efectos de la sensación háptica, la percepción háptica, la influencia de los factores individuales, la influencia de los factores ambientales externos, la multidimensionalidad de la sensación táctil, la congruencia de las pistas táctiles y la dominancia de la sensación táctil.

Este estudio sugiere a las empresas que comprendan la importancia de la percepción táctil de los consumidores como una oportunidad para captar el corazón y la mente del individuo a través de la información obtenida mediante el tacto.

Este es el primer estudio en marketing que propone un modelo conceptual de la percepción táctil que incluye varias influencias táctiles nuevas. Este modelo contribuye a la literatura emergente del marketing sensorial proporcionando direcciones para la futura investigación táctil al capturar la naturaleza dinámica del sentido del tacto.

触摸在我们对产品的评价中起着重要作用。然而, 在先前定量的触觉研究中并未呈现触觉的整体视角。本文旨在更全面地了解消费者通过触摸获得的触觉信息。

本文采用定性研究方法, 与行业专家进行了半结构化的深度访谈。

本研究提出了一个消费者触觉感知的概念模型, 其中包括七个关键影响因素：触觉的影响、触觉感知、个人因素的影响、外部环境因素的影响、触觉的多维性、触觉线索的一致性和触觉的主导性。

这项研究建议企业了解消费者触觉感知的重要性, 并将触觉信息传达作为吸引消费者心灵的机会。

这是营销领域首次提出触觉概念模型的研究, 该模型包含几种新的触觉影响因素。这个触觉概念模型通过捕捉触觉的动态特性为未来的触觉研究提供方向, 从而为新兴的感官营销文献做出了贡献。

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the management of the use of knowledge in interfaces stretching across company and organizational borders, including the negotiated monetary dimension.

The research approach is the IMP framework on resource interaction (Håkansson and Waluszewski, 2002), and the distinction among heterogeneous economic resources and a homogeneous monetary dimension, (Håkansson and Olsen, 2015; Perna et al., 2015). A case study on use of science based knowledge in business is utilized.

The management regime behind the creation of a user setting including a substantial monetary flow is can be characterized as “managing collective entities” (Håkansson, Bakken, Olsen, 2013) and it is argued that the knowledge management regime assumes away the most important process related to use of knowledge.

The paper stress the theoretical need for approaching managment in general and managing use of knowledge in particular as an interactive issue.

The paper stress the practical need for approaching managment in general and managing use of knowledge in particular as an interactive issue.

The paper questions the knowledge management regime, which has a strong influence on public policy.

With the growth of online shopping, during which consumers are not able to touch products, there is much for researchers and marketers to learn about the underlying role of the need for touch (NFT) in driving online shopping decisions. Consumers' emotional state prior to purchase is considered a situational variable that affects their attitude and behaviour. This study explores the effects of consumers' NFT and pre-purchase emotional states on their online decision-making behaviour, examining perceived quality, confidence in product judgment and intention to purchase.

A field experiment was conducted using a scenario presenting buying a sweater as a real purchase opportunity available to participants. A convenience sample of two hundred ninety-eight university students at a university in the southeast of France was used in this study. A 2 (NFT: high/low determined by a median split) × 2 (emotional states: high/low level) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to further examine the interaction of NFT and emotional states in consumer decision making.

The results indicate that autotelic NFT and positive emotional states experienced before shopping have an impact on consumers' decisions in relation to perceived quality, confidence in product judgment and intention to purchase. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that instrumental vs autotelic NFT affects consumer decision making, with mixed support found for negative emotional states acting as possible moderators.

This study advances the NFT field and leads to insights regarding online consumer purchase decision making by exploring instrumental vs autotelic NFT and pre-purchase emotional states as antecedents of consumer decisions.

This study was designed to investigate how the material properties of the tea-drinking receptacle interact with a participant's motivation and preference for extracting and using information obtained via haptic perception, namely the need for touch (NFT), to influence his or her tea-drinking experience.

72 blindfolded participants were instructed to sample room temperature tea beverages served in a cup that was made of ceramic, glass, paper or plastic. They were then asked to rate how familiar they were with the taste of the beverage, to rate how pleasant the taste was and to specify how much they would like to pay for it (i.e. willingness-to-pay ratings).

The material of the receptacles used to serve the tea exerted a significant influence over the pleasantness ratings of the tea and interacted with the participants' NFT, exerting a significant influence over their willingness to pay for the tea. Specifically, high-NFT participants were willing to pay significantly more for the same cup of tea when it was served in a ceramic cup rather than in a paper cup, whereas the low-NFT participants' willingness to pay for the tea was unaffected by the material of the receptacles.

Our findings suggest that consumers may not be equally susceptible to the influence of the receptacle in which tea, or any other beverage, is served. Our findings also demonstrate how the physical properties of a receptacle interact with a consumer's motivation and preference to influence his or her behavior in the marketplace.

This study aims to strengthen implications about hotel cleaning outcomes by comparing guests’ perception of the amount of contact they have with cleanliness of hotel surfaces.

This study used two data-collection methods, a survey and an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) test. Data were collected from recent hotel guests using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Guests were asked to identify hotel surfaces that they touch most frequently. Actual hotel cleanliness was measured using empirical data collected with ATP meters. The two data sets were used to compare guests’ perceptions about the amount of contact they have with actual cleanliness measurements of those hotel surfaces.

This study found that amount of guest contact was related to cleanliness of surfaces in guestrooms. Significant differences were found in guest perception between high- and low-touch areas and between guestrooms and hotel public areas. More high-touch areas and higher ATP readings were found in guestrooms than in hotel public areas.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge this study is the first to compare guest contact with hotel surfaces to a scientific measure of hotel cleanliness. In addition, this study is unique because it assesses guest contact and cleanliness of public areas to provide a holistic view of hotel-cleaning needs. The study offers industry empirically based results from guest perception and scientifically based data that can be used to improve hotel housekeeping programs.