Joann Peck

Hedonic and utilitarian motivations for online retail shopping behavior

Motivations to engage in retail shopping include both utilitarian and hedonic dimensions. Business to consumer e-commerce conducted via the mechanism of web-shopping provides an expanded opportunity for companies to create a cognitively and esthetically rich shopping environment in ways not readily imitable in the nonelectronic shopping world. In this article an attitudinal model is developed and empirically tested integrating constructs from technology acceptance research and constructs derived from models of web behavior. Results of two studies from two distinct categories of the interactive shopping environment support the differential importance of immersive, hedonic aspects of the new media as well as the more traditional utilitarian motivations. In addition, navigation, convenience, and the substitutability of the electronic environment to personally examining products were found to be important predictors of online shopping attitudes. Results are discussed in terms of insights for the creation of the online shopping webmosphere through more effective design of interactive retail shopping environments.

To Have and To Hold:The Influence of Haptic Information on Product Judgments

Haptic information, or information attained through touch by the hands, is important for the evaluation of products that vary in terms of material properties related to texture, hardness, temperature, and weight. The authors develop and propose a conceptual framework to illustrate that salience of haptic information differs significantly across products, consumers, and situations. The authors use two experiments to assess how these factors interact to impair or enhance the acquisition and use of haptic information. Barriers to touch, such as a retail display case, can inhibit the use of haptic information and consequently decrease confidence in product evaluations and increase the frustration level of consumers who are more motivated to touch products. In addition, written descriptions and visual depictions of products can partially enhance acquisition of certain types of touch information. The authors synthesize the results of these studies and discuss implications for the effect of haptic information for Internet and other nonstore retailing as well as for traditional retailers.

The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership

This research finds that merely touching an object results in an increase in perceived ownership of that object. For nonowners, or buyers, perceived ownership can be increased with either mere touch or with imagery encouraging touch. Perceived ownership can also be increased through touch for legal owners, or sellers of an object. We also explore valuation of an object and conclude that it is jointly influenced by both perceived ownership and by the valence of the touch experience. We discuss the implications of this research for online and traditional retailers as well as for touch research and endowment effect research.

Category Attitude Measures: Exemplars as Inputs

The role of exemplars in formation of attitudes toward a category has, surprisingly, been ignored in prior consumer research. In the present research we seek to develop a better understanding of the relationship between category exemplars (e.g., the products in a brand category) and overall attitudes toward the category. Attitude measures that incorporate evaluations of individual branded products may be useful, both conceptually and practically, and can complement more traditional multi-attribute measures of attitude. Across 3 studies we present evidence that a composite index of attitudes toward category exemplars, weighted by exemplar typicality, is related to overall category attitudes, sometimes more strongly than a traditional multi-attribute index. We also demonstrate that elaboration upon the individual exemplars further strengthens the relationship between category attitudes and this composite index. Theoretical implications for attitude theory, as well as managerial implications, are discussed.

Please Touch: Object Properties that Invite Touch

Touch has received increasing interest in marketing, given research indicating that contact with products influences evaluation and the tendency to purchase. However, little is known from the marketing or psychophysical literature about visible attributes of objects that elicit touch for hedonic purposes. In these studies, participants rated the tendency of pictured objects to invite touch, or “touch-ability.” Rated touch-ability varied reliably with structural attributes of objects, and the structural influences were distinct from those on other ratings such as attractiveness and apparent expense. Although the trends varied across object sets, touch-ability generally declined as surface textures became markedly rough and shape complexity became extreme. Holding stimulus factors constant, touch-ability also varied with the specific hand movements that were anticipated. Finally, mean touch-ability ratings were correlated across participants with the “Need for Touch” scale, which measures an individuals tendency to touch products. The studies point to touch-ability as a potential factor that might be incorporated into product design.

Textual paralanguage and its implications for marketing communications

Both face-to-face communication and communication in online environments convey information beyond the actual verbal message. In a traditional face-to-face conversation, paralanguage, or the ancillary meaning- and emotion-laden aspects of speech that are not actual verbal prose, gives contextual information that allows interactors to more appropriately understand the message being conveyed. In this paper, we conceptualize textual paralanguage (TPL), which we define as written manifestations of nonverbal audible, tactile, and visual elements that supplement or replace written language and that can be expressed through words, symbols, images, punctuation, demarcations, or any combination of these elements. We develop a typology of textual paralanguage using data from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We present a conceptual framework of antecedents and consequences of brands’ use of textual paralanguage. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Do Specialized MBA Programs Cultivate Alumni Relationships and Donations

A recent trend among universities shifts from traditional MBA programs to specialized MBA offerings. Specialized programs are believed to cultivate stronger relationships with students, which lead to stronger alumni relationships and increased donations. This research tests this empirically by examining relationship perceptions and donation behavior among alumni of both traditional and specialized MBA programs from a university. The findings suggest that graduates of specialized programs are more likely to perceive relationships with their MBA programs than their traditional program counterparts. These graduates are also more likely to donate to their universities and to direct their donations toward their specialized MBA programs.

Informational and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product Evaluation Is What I Say How I Feel

Preface and Acknowledgments. A. Krishna, Introduction. Part 1. Haptics. J. Peck, Does Touch Matter? Insights from Haptic Research in Marketing. R.L. Klatzky, Touch: A Gentle Tutorial with Implications for Marketing. A.C. Morales, Understanding the Role of Incidental Touch in Consumer Behavior. T.L. Childers, J. Peck, Information and Affective Influences of Haptics on Product Evaluation: Is What I Say How I Feel? Part 2. Olfaction. M. Morrin, Scent Marketing: An Overview. R.S. Herz, The Emotional, Cognitive and Biological Basics of Olfaction: Implications and Considerations for Scent Marketing. M.O. Lwin, M. Wijaya, Do Scents Evoke the Same Feelings Across Cultures?: Exploring the Role of Emotions. M. Morrin, J. Chebat, C. Gelinas-Chebat, The Impact of Scent and Music on Consumer Perceptions of Time Duration. Part 3. Audition. J. Meyers-Levy, M.G. Bublitz, L.A. Peracchio, The Sounds of the Marketplace: The Role of Audition in Marketing. E. Yorkston, Auxiliary Auditory Ambition: Assessing Ancillary and Ambient Sounds. D.W. Dahl, Understanding the Role of Spokesperson Voice in Broadcast Advertising. M. Carnevale, D. Lerman, D. Luna, Hear is the thing: Auditory Processing of Novel Non-word Brand Names. Part 4. Vision. P. Raghubir, Visual Perception: An Overview. A. Chattopadhyay, G.J. Gorn, P. Darke, Differences and Similarities in Hue Preferences between Chinese and Caucasians. E.A. Greenleaf, Does Everything Look Worse in Black and White? The Role of Monochrome Images in Consumer Behavior. B.E. Kahn, X. Deng, Effects on Visual Weight Perceptions of Product Image Locations on Packaging. Part 5. Taste. A. Krishna, R.S. Elder, The Gist of Gustation: An Exploration of Taste, Food, and Consumption. P. Rozin, J. Hormes, Psychology and Sensory Marketing, with a Focus on Food. P. Chandon, Estimating Food Quantity: Biases and Remedies. A. Krishna, N. Aydinoglu, B. Wansink, Do Size Labels Have a Common Meaning Among Consumers? Part 6. The Future. R.S. Elder, N. Aydinoglu, V. Barger, C. Caldara, H.E. Chun, C.J. Lee, G. Mohr, A. Stamatogiannakis, A Sense of Things to Come: Future Research Directions in Sensory Marketing.The exciting exploration on sensory marketing presented in this book is just the foundation upon which to build future research. There are myriad unexplored questions and innumerable directions in which to take this research. Our goal in this chapter is not to provide an exhaustive array of these future directions, but rather to stimulate the reader into exploring new ideas. We present possible future directions for each sense individually (vision, audition, smell, touch, taste), and conclude with ideas for future research addressing the interplay among multiple senses within consumer behavior.

The History of Psychological Ownership and Its Emergence in Consumer Psychology

This chapter is about the history of the construct psychological ownership and its migration into consumer psychology. The emergence of the construct in the organizational sciences is largely one of “serendipity” followed by our ability to “stand upon the shoulders of giants” whose prior reflections on the concept of ownership, and especially its manifestation as a psychological phenomenon, were extremely illuminating. We start with comments on what we believe to be the origins of the construct psychological ownership. This is followed by an overview of the theory of psychological ownership as both an individual and collective phenomenon. Finally, we conclude this chapter with a discussion of the emergence of the construct into the realm of consumer psychology.

Solving Stewardship Problems with Increased Psychological Ownership

Publicly owned or shared items can often suffer from a lack of stewardship due to a diffusion of responsibility, a dilemma sometimes known as the tragedy of the commons. We propose that even when an item is publicly rather than privately owned (e.g., a local pond or community park), there can still be high levels of psychological ownership. The benefit of high psychological ownership for public goods is that the individual then takes a stronger responsibility for care (stewardship) of the object, thus reducing the tragedy of the commons. We discuss interventions designed to increase ownership for shared and public goods, including the use of social identity to drive engagement, and offer experimental evidence for such approaches.