Oliver B. Büttner

Hard to Ignore Impulsive Buyers Show an Attentional Bias in Shopping Situations

This research focuses on the attentional processes that underlie buying impulsiveness. It was hypothesized that impulsive buyers are more likely than nonimpulsive buyers to get distracted by products that are unrelated to their shopping goal. The study applied a 2 (buying impulsiveness low vs. high) × 2 (shopping vs. nonshopping context) × 2 (product vs. nonsemantic distractors) mixed design. Participants’ attention allocation was measured via eye tracking during a visual distraction paradigm. The results support the distraction hypothesis. Impulsive buyers allocated less attention to a focal product than nonimpulsive buyers. The effect was context-specific and emerged only when the task was framed as a shopping situation. The results show that distraction is not limited to attractive products and suggest that it is driven by a general attentional openness for products in shopping situations.

How shopping orientation influences the effectiveness of monetary and nonmonetary promotions

Purpose – This research aims to examine whether shopping orientation (experiential vs task-focused) influences how consumers react toward nonmonetary and monetary promotions. It was predicted that promotions are more effective if the promotional benefits are congruent with consumers’ shopping orientation. Moreover, consumers’ financial budget was assumed to moderate the influence of shopping orientation on promotion effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses were tested in three experiments. Study 1 used a measure of shopping orientation as a consumer disposition and examined its influence on promotion attractiveness. Two further studies used an experimental manipulation of shopping orientation and examined its influence on promotions attractiveness and retailer choice. Findings – The results supported the hypotheses. Task-focused shoppers evaluated monetary promotions as more attractive than nonmonetary promotions. Experiential shoppers evaluated both types of promotions as comparably at...

Shopping orientation as a stable consumer disposition and its influence on consumers’ evaluations of retailer communication

Purpose – The present aims to examine whether interindividual differences in consumers’ shopping orientations reflect a stable consumer disposition (i.e. chronic shopping orientation; CSO). Furthermore, it examines whether this disposition influences consumers’ evaluations of retailer communication. Consumers may shop under an experiential or a task-focused shopping orientation. Design/methodology/approach – This research builds on four studies; three were conducted online and one was conducted in the laboratory. Study 1 applied a longitudinal design, Studies 2 and 3 applied a cross-sectional design and Study 4 applied an experimental design. Findings – Study 1 shows that CSO is stable over time. Study 2 finds that interindividual differences in CSO are stable across different retail domains. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrate that experiential shoppers prefer stimulation-oriented claims, whereas task-focused shoppers prefer efficiency-oriented claims. Originality/value – The value of shopping orientation for cu...

Visual Attention and Goal Pursuit Deliberative and Implemental Mindsets Affect Breadth of Attention

Mindset theory suggests that a deliberative mindset entails openness to information in one’s environment, whereas an implemental mindset entails filtering of information. We hypothesized that this open- versus closed-mindedness influences individuals’ breadth of visual attention. In Studies 1 and 2, we induced an implemental or deliberative mindset, and measured breadth of attention using participants’ length estimates of x-winged Müller-Lyer figures. Both studies demonstrate a narrower breadth of attention in the implemental mindset than in the deliberative mindset. In Study 3, we manipulated participants’ mindsets and measured the breadth of attention by tracking eye movements during scene perception. Implemental mindset participants focused on foreground objects, whereas deliberative mindset participants attended more evenly to the entire scene. Our findings imply that deliberative versus implemental mindsets already operate at the level of visual attention.

Eyes Wide Shopped: Shopping Situations Trigger Arousal in Impulsive Buyers

The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures.

What does it take for sour grapes to remain sour? Persistent effects of behavioral inhibition in go/no-go tasks on the evaluation of appetitive stimuli.

Recent studies have provided contradictory results on whether the pairing of appetitive stimuli with no-go responses in go/no-go tasks leads to a devaluation of these stimuli. The authors of the present studies argue that devaluation effects after pairings of appetitive stimuli (e.g., unhealthy snacks or fruit) with no-go responses are usually short-lived but can become persistent if the stimuli form a meaningful category of appetitive stimuli that one should usually avoid (e.g., unhealthy snacks). In 3 studies, the authors found no persistent devaluation effects for appetitive stimuli that were paired with no-go responses when the pairings conveyed no meaning beyond the completion of the go/no-go task (e.g., pairing of no-go responses with fruit or pairing of no-go responses with a mixture of healthy and unhealthy stimuli). However, persistent devaluation effects after a delay of 10 min were found when no-go responses were consistently paired with unhealthy snacks contrasted against fruit.

Vertrauen und Vertrauenswürdigkeit im Internet am Beispiel von Internetapotheken

Vielen Interaktionen in unserem Leben liegt ein gewisses Mas an Vertrauen zugrunde (vgl. Nadin 2001), ob wir nun mit dem Flugzeug in den Urlaub fliegen, einem Freund Geld leihen oder unser Mittagessen in der Kantine zu uns nehmen. Besonders bei okonomischen Transaktionen ist die Wichtigkeit aufgrund der unvollkommenen Markte, mit denen wir in der Realitat konfrontiert sind, unumstritten (vgl. Walgenbach 2006). Dies trifft besonders auf Interaktionen und Transaktionen im WWW zu, da es sich um ein Distanzmedium ohne personlichen Kontakt handelt (vgl. Schulz 2008).

Kognitive und emotionale Regulation von Kaufhandlungen: Theoretische Impulse für eine prozessorientierte Betrachtung des Konsumentenverhaltens

Haben Sie Lust, heute Abend Video zu sehen? Angenommen Sie wurden gerne, aber ihr Videorekorder ist kaputt. Weil das schon langer so ist, haben Sie sich schon Gedanken daruber gemacht, einen DVD-Player zu kaufen. Sie nehmen Ihren Wunsch nach einem Videoabend als Anlass, um Ihr Vorhaben, einen neuen DVD-Player zu kaufen, heute nach der Arbeit in die Tat umzusetzen.