An investigation on the effectiveness of hedonic versus utilitarian message appeals in luxury product communication

This research studies the role of hedonic versus utilitarian message appeals in luxury goods communication, investigating how using one or the other type of message appeal affects product perceived luxuriousness and, in turn, product attitude, and consumers' willingness to buy. This research presents three experiments in which message appeal and brand prominence have been manipulated, while perception of luxuriousness, attitude toward luxury products, willingness to buy them and consumers' conspicuous consumption orientation have been measured. Hedonic, compared with utilitarian, message appeals increase perceived luxuriousness, thereby increasing product attitude and consumers' willingness to buy the product promoted. This effect is particularly likely to occur for consumers with lower levels of conspicuous consumption orientation and for products carrying lowly prominent logos. We extend the literature on luxury communication by studying the effect of hedonic versus utilitarian message appeals on consumers' responses, and the literature on hedonism versus utilitarianism by studying this dichotomy in the context of luxury goods communication. This research suggests that different message appeals used in luxury goods communication produce different effects on consumers' responses and that this differential effectiveness is particularly likely to manifest for certain types of consumers and certain types of luxury products.     

The Impact of Power Distance Belief on Consumers' Brand Preferences

Five lab studies and a field study explore how power distance belief (PDB) influences consumers' preference for mass-market versus niche brands, the underlying mechanisms, and boundary conditions. We find that high (vs. low) PDB consumers are more likely to prefer mass-market over niche brands because they tend to be risk averse, which in turn increases preference for widely used brands. Consequently, the relationship between PDB and brand preferences is mediated by risk aversion. Further, when product usage contexts are risky, low (but not high) PDB consumers' preference for mass-market brands increases, whereas offering an extended money-back guarantee increases high (but not low) PDB consumers' preference for niche brands. In addition, we find that when choosing service providers (versus choosing physical goods), low (but not high) PDB consumers are significantly more likely to prefer mass-market brands over niche brands. We conclude with the implications of these findings for marketers, such as for their segmentation and targeting endeavors. We also provide specific tools that marketers could use, both inside and outside the store, to influence consumers' preference for mass-market versus niche brands.     

Employing a Dichotomous Choice Model to Assess Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Organically Produced Products

Abstract

This study employs a dichotomous choice model to identify the socio-economic characteristics and attitudes that influence consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for organically produced products (OPP). Considering consumers' growing interest in quality and safety of food, the study attempts to identify consumers level of awareness on OPP, the intention to buy OPP and the WTP a higher price for OPP. Results highlight consumers awareness and intention, revealing useful information for the development of OPP market. The estimated maximum WTP indicates that consumers are willing to pay a substantial extra price to purchase OPP. Finally, WTP seems to be affected by certain consumer attitudes and socio-economic factors.     

满意情景下的消费者后悔对口传的影响研究

后悔是消费者在消费体验之后将购买品牌同放弃的品牌进行比较所得到的负面情感反应,它对于消费者的再购意愿有着重要的影响。本文在验证了消费者可以同时体验满意和后悔这一结论的基础上,进一步研究并证实了后悔不仅会增加对购买品牌的负面口传,而且会增加对放弃品牌的正面口传。在此过程中,消费者同购买品牌的关系质量起到了显著的调节作用。     

Assessing co-creation based competitive advantage through consumers’ need for differentiation

The extant literature analysing the impact of value co-creation on consumers' need for differentiated products is sparse, so the present study examines the role of consumers' need for differentiation in relating value co-creation with consumers' word-of-mouth to foster competitive advantage. Specifically, we investigate the effects of innovation differentiation and market differentiation on micro businesses' abilities to co-create value and generate positive word-of-mouth, which ultimately helps them sustain their revenues. We collect data from a sample of 196 female consumers who participated in the co-creation process used in the micro businesses to design trendy apparel. We use structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses. Having a strong desire for differentiation in their dresses, these consumers invest their resources and capabilities in designing their own apparel. The results show that value co-creation not only leads to consumers’ need for differentiated products (enabling the differentiation strategy), but also results in negative word-of-mouth. More particularly, value co-creation leads to differentiated offerings but consumers desirous of possessing unique products do not spread positive words about the professional designer. As a result, sustaining economic development in emerging economies dominated by micro and small businesses is still a big challenge.     

Consumers' Perceptions of Online and Offline Retailer Deception: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This research examines the effects of consumers' perceptions of retailers' deceptive practices on their evaluations of online and offline retailers. Results from two samples of consumers (shopping in online versus offline channels) show the direct and indirect influence of consumers' perceptions of retailers' deceptive practices on consumers' evaluations, including product satisfaction, retailer satisfaction and word-of-mouth. Perceptions of deception influence retailer satisfaction through product satisfaction, and word-of-mouth through retailer satisfaction. These mediated effects are further moderated by the online vs. offline purchase channel. Implications for theory and management are discussed.     

How do crazy rich Asians perceive sustainable luxury? Investigating the determinants of consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price

Motivated by the increasing media coverage of environmental disasters and growing evidence of humans’ detrimental impacts on the natural environment, the key aim of this study was to examine consumer interest in buying sustainable luxury products. Rooted in the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory, a research framework incorporating pro-environmental self-identity (PSI), consumer pro-environmental values (CPV), engagement, and willingness to pay a premium price (WPP) was proposed. To better understand the sustainable behavior of consumers, this study modelled myopia as a personality trait that moderates the aforementioned relationships. Partial least squares path modelling (PLSPM) was employed to analyze data collected from 296 Chinese consumers who had purchased luxury fashion products. The results highlighted the influential role of CPV in shaping both consumer engagement and WPP, surpassing the impact of PSI. Also, the study established the positive effect of engagement on WPP and confirmed its mediating role in the relationship between CPV and WPP. The incorporation of myopia as a moderator further enhanced the explanatory power of the VBN theory in understanding sustainable consumption evaluations. The findings revealed that the positive links between PSI, CPV, engagement, and WPP were particularly pronounced among non-myopic consumers, suggesting that a clear vision of long-term consequences strengthens the connections between these constructs. These findings offer valuable insights to both academics and practitioners, particularly in the realm of luxury fashion brands within Chinese culture. They provide a foundation for designing targeted marketing communication strategies that effectively leverage and cultivate consumers' pro-environmental self-identities and values. By aligning brand messaging with these values, luxury fashion brands can enhance consumer engagement and foster a willingness to invest in sustainable products. Ultimately, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable consumption and offers practical implications for promoting environmentally responsible choices in the luxury fashion industry.     

Enhancing brand coolness through perceived luxury values: Insight from luxury fashion brands

Consumers of luxury brands have been described as seekers of products that can offer a signaling value to present to others but also a value for their self-concepts in an existentialist spirit potentially linked to being “cool or not.” Prior studies have conceptualized brand coolness and evaluated its impact on consumer responses to brands. However, few studies have contextualized the construct of brand coolness concerning luxury brand realism. We assessed the semiotic tension that luxury brand consumers feel between self-concept and self-presentation to others via a theoretical consideration of four antecedents of brand coolness: individual, social, financial, and functional luxury values; and one intentional outcome such as consumers' passionate desire to use luxury fashion brands. Our findings indicated that luxury values positively influence brand coolness, and brand coolness positively influences passionate desire. We further confirmed that brand coolness plays a complementary mediating role between luxury values and passionate desire. A final contribution is to invite brand managers to consider how luxury values and brand coolness might be used proactively to drive consumers' passionate desires in the relationships with luxury fashion brands.     

Does product involvement drive consumer flow state in the AR environment? A study on behavioural responses

Understanding consumers’ behavioural responses is crucial to improve the usage of augmented reality (AR) by retailers. Both in the online and offline retail market, AR enhances consumers’ shopping experiences by offering them enjoyable and immersive information about products and services. This paper explores consumers' behavioural responses by measuring the role played by product involvement in affecting the AR flow experience. To this end, the study employs a quantitative approach based on data collected from August to September 2022. Results show that consumers' involvement with products affects their AR flow experience, along with their behavioural intentions in terms of purchase intention and intention to visit the retailer’s website and recommend or share the experience. In addition, the latter two variables mediate the relationship between the AR flow experience and loyalty, showing interesting insights on high-body-involvement products. The paper ends by highlighting the main theoretical and managerial implications of these results, along with the scope for further research.     

The picture of luxury: A comprehensive examination of college student consumers' relationship with luxury brands

This study examines college student consumers' relationship with luxury brands through two studies. Study 1 analyzes collages to determine what represents luxury to them, how consumers perceive their relationships with luxury, and who they are as luxury consumers. Study 2 analyzes qualitative interviews to validate the findings of Study 1 and to add further insights. Results of Study 1 suggest that college student consumers represent a vibrant segment in the luxury market. These consumers perceive a wide variety of products and brands as meeting their luxury needs. They are currently interested in luxury and their potential will only increase as their incomes do. Results of Study 2 confirms their views of luxury and emphasizes the critical roles social media, peers, and family play in influencing college student consumers' luxury consumption and provide insights for how to build an emotional bond with them. Luxury marketers can build brand relationships with college student consumers by offering them entry-level products as they are current luxury consumers and see their consumption expanding in the future. Given that college student consumers are both vulnerable and savvy in recognizing when they are being manipulated, caution needs to be taken in approaching this segment in relationship-building efforts.     

Price image and the sugrophobia effect on luxury retail purchase intention

Consumer shopping behavior in luxury retail stores continues to be a subject of interest among marketing researchers. Such a phenomenon has led us to explore how price image and sugrophobia, a psychological feeling of being taken advantage of, would influence consumers' future behavioural intention in the context of luxury retail store. Informed by a survey of 400 consumers, this study adopts the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) model to examine how price image triggers consumer perceptions (i.e., perceived value, trust and attitude) and results in behavioral intention. Sugrophobia is included in the S–O-R model to assess its moderating effect. Data analysis using SEM-PLS demonstrates that a retailer's price image has a positive effect on consumers' perceived value, trust, attitude, and future behavioral intention. Sugrophobia, in turn, is found to weaken the relationship between price image and consumer perceptions. The study thus highlights the relevance of sugrophobia among risk-averse consumers and the necessity to manage sugrophobic consumers effectively in the context of a luxury retail store. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Privacy threats with retail technologies: A consumer perspective

This paper focuses on new retail technologies that acquire information from consumers, advancing that such devices represent privacy management concerns. Specifically, we propose that privacy perceptions in a retail environment are driven by retailer- and technology-related factors as well as consumers' personality traits. By running a moderated serial mediation analysis, we address the technologies' fairness and hedonism as antecedents of consumer privacy perceptions, technology acceptance and perceived value, and account for consumers' trust in the retailer. We find that privacy perceptions are directly affected by distributive fairness, while the technology's hedonism affects acceptance. Further, the effects extend to patronage intention and word-of-mouth.     

The role of product history in consumer response to online second-hand clothing retail service based on circular fashion

The circular fashion system (CFS) posits that clothes not only need to be designed and produced sustainably but also need to circulate among consumers for as long as possible to minimize waste. Fashion industry experts believe that circular fashion will be the dominating future trend of the industry, and many brands and start-ups have launched platforms following the CFS where consumers can exchange or donate their used clothes. However, circular fashion still needs to overcome the negative images associated with second-hand clothes, such as contamination. What can decrease consumers' concerns with used clothes as well as promote circular fashion effectively among consumers? Based on the narrative competence theory, this study examines the effects of providing the product history of clothes on enhancing consumers' trust, perceived benefits, attitude, and usage intentions toward circular fashion service. An online experiment was conducted with 238 U.S. consumers. Results revealed that providing product history enhances consumers' trust toward the service and the perceived hedonic, social, and economic benefits of the service. Greater trust and hedonic benefits of the service enhance consumers’ attitude toward the service, which consequently increase their intentions to use the service. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in this paper.     

Impact of personalization and privacy concerns on information disclosure and pricing

Advances in IT have enabled some firms to offer personalized products according to the private information disclosed by consumers, while others are still offering standardized products, which brings about asymmetric competition. For consumers, disclosing private information for personalized products leads to reduced misfit cost as well as privacy loss. To illuminate the impact of consumers' trade-off between the benefit of information disclosure and the associated privacy concerns on firms' asymmetric price competition, we consider a setting where only one firm is capable of product personalization based on consumers' personal information. The capable firm makes a profit from selling the product and monetizing consumers' information. We demonstrate that as the capable firm becomes more adept at personalization, he may raise or lower the price depending on his profit foci, and an improvement in his capability does not always guarantee a higher profit. Counterintuitively, an increase in the unit misfit cost (i.e., greater product differentiation) can, under certain circumstances, intensity price competition, making both firms worse off and leading to higher consumer surplus. We also show that when consumers are more privacy-concerned, there exists an indirect effect that weakens the impact of an increase in price on the monetization of consumers’ information, and hence price competition can be mitigated and both firms can be better off. Furthermore, we demonstrate that product personalization with misfit-reducing effect always increases consumer surplus under the asymmetric competition. Our findings provide firms and policy-makers with great managerial insights.     

Consumers’ Intent: In the Organic Food Market

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the determinants that influence consumers' intention to purchase organic products. Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) provides the conceptual framework of the research and the appropriateness of the theory is tested. A survey of 144 consumers was used to determine the beliefs which determine consumers’ intent to purchase organic food. Furthermore, attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were examined to determine whether they affect consumers’ intention to make organic products purchases. The findings offer considerable support for the robustness of the TPB in explaining intention in the sample. In addition, empirical evidence suggest that price, availability of organic products, product information and the subjective opinions of others are important determinants of consumers intent to buy organic products. The results are consistent with previous research.     

A Hong Kong view of offensive advertising

Considerable research has been conducted on offensive advertising in Western countries. However, not much is known about consumers' views of offensive advertising in an Asian context. This research, which was conducted in Hong Kong, aimed at identifying what product/service advertisements consumers find offensive, what executional styles consumers find offensive, consumers' tolerance of offensive advertisements in different media and the effects of offensive advertisements on consumers' purchase intentions. The results from a survey of 200 consumers showed that chat-line services and funeral services were considered the most offensive products or services to be advertised. When looking at the manner of advertising, sexist themes, indecent language and nudity were found to be the major reasons for the respondents finding advertisements offensive. In general, direct mail was considered to be a medium that prompts lower tolerance by consumers to potentially offensive advertisements while men and women's magazines were considered to be media that prompt higher tolerance to potentially offensive advertisements. Finally, it was found that levels of advertising offensiveness had an effect on purchase intentions.     

Mechanism of retail therapy during stressful life events: The psychological compensation of revenge consumption toward luxury brands

During times of stress and challenging life events, individuals often seek coping mechanisms to build resilience and manage emotional distress. Recently, Korean consumers have exhibited a rise in revenge consumption of luxury products as a response to the uncontrollable COVID-19, deemed one of their most stressful life events. Consequently, this study explores the precursors of revenge consumption and investigates whether indulging in luxury goods can improve consumers' psychological well-being within the context of retail therapy. Drawing on Compensatory Control Theory (CCT), our proposed model empirically tests the relationship between negative emotions, shopping motivations, revenge consumption behaviors, self-esteem, and subjective well-being. Data were gathered from 324 South Korean participants via an online survey, all of whom had purchased luxury products during the pandemic. The results of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis reveal the process of psychological compensation through luxury consumption, which had a therapeutic effect on self-esteem and subjective well-being. Additionally, Multi-Group Analysis (MGA) depicts income-based differences in the revenge consumption mechanism. These findings highlight that when individuals experience a lack of control, anxiety, or fear, they seek measures to recover their psychological state through luxury purchases. This study also offers valuable insights for luxury brands considering strategies to support customers’ well-being during stressful life events.     

The effect of attribute originality on consumers’ adoption intention of customization: The role of construal level

As consumers' preferences become increasingly diversified, many companies strive to satisfy individual needs by offering customization options for products or services. To enhance the effectiveness of customization strategies, managers need to decide what type of attributes to provide for consumers to customize and also take consumers' individual differences into consideration. The current research investigates the joint impacts of the originality of the attributes involved in a customization option and consumers' construal level on their intention to adopt customization. Findings from two experiments consistently demonstrate that, in comparison to customization options that include common customizable attributes, offering customization options that includes original customizable attributes undermine consumers’ adoption intention. However, such negative effects will be mitigated when consumers have a high construal level.     

Influencers' “organic” persuasion through electronic word of mouth: A case of sincerity over brains and beauty

Despite the growing importance of influencers' word-of-mouth through audiovisual content, little is known about its effect on consumers' brand evaluation, purchase intentions, and decisions. Drawing on Ohanian's source credibility framework, we conducted two studies across different influencers, product categories, and respondents' gender and tested the hypotheses using covariance-based and partial least square structural equation modeling. Study 1 focuses on a mega-influencer of cosmetic and beauty brands and predominantly involves female respondents. The findings show that the influencer's attractiveness affects perceptions about source expertise and source trustworthiness but not brand attitude, while source expertise predicts source trustworthiness, and both mediate the effect of source attractiveness on brand attitude. In contrast, brand attitude predicts purchase intention and mediates the impact of source credibility dimensions. Study 2 focuses on various influencers of hedonic products (lifestyle, fashion, and beauty). The results confirm the influence of source attractiveness and expertise on source trustworthiness, which ultimately predicts consumer purchase decisions. This study reveals the interdependencies between different source constructs, contributing to source credibility theory. Furthermore, we show that the effect of source dimensions that are relevant in the celebrity endorsement literature, such as source attractiveness, do not directly influence consumers' intentions and decisions in the context of influencers' electronic word of mouth. Finally, the two studies confirm that only influencers perceived as honest and sincere can influence consumers' purchase decisions.