Psychology & Marketing

doi: 10.1002/mar.21681pmid: N/A

Júnior, João Ricardo de Oliveira; Limongi, Ricardo; Lim, Weng Marc; Eastman, Jacqueline K.; Kumar, Satish

doi: 10.1002/mar.21758pmid: N/A

Storytelling can arouse consumers' emotions and affect purchasing behavior through desires and attitudes. While the marketing literature discusses storytelling, there is a lack of consensus because of the diverse conceptual and operational definitions used. To untangle the complexities and consolidate the fragmented knowledge about storytelling in marketing, this research examines how the marketing literature has addressed the influence of storytelling on consumers' purchasing behavior. The findings aid in understanding how the topic has been discussed from a marketing perspective in consumer behavior studies. Through a systematic literature review using a bibliometric analysis, we demonstrate that the marketing literature features four strands about the uses of storytelling to influence consumers' purchasing behavior. First, storytelling stimulates the consumer's identification with the brand. Second, storytelling allows consumers to experience emotional value. Third, storytelling supports engagement behaviors. Finally, storytelling has a downside in that it also propagates harmful speech. This study concludes with a roadmap for future research about how storytelling impacts consumers' purchasing behavior.

Huang, Yunhui; Song, Wenjing; Yang, Lu

doi: 10.1002/mar.21764pmid: N/A

This research examines whether, how, and why visual finish (i.e., whether a product/package is glossy or matte) can affect consumers' perceived effectiveness of problem‐solving products. Drawing on approach–avoidance goal pursuit theory, this work classifies problem‐solving products into problem‐approaching and problem‐avoiding ones according to their operation processes. A pilot study demonstrates that participants are more likely to choose a glossy finish over a matte one for a problem‐avoiding (vs. problem‐approaching) product. Studies 1 and 2 collectively find that glossy (vs. matte) finishes increase consumers' perceived effectiveness of a problem‐avoiding product while the reverse is true for a problem‐approaching product. Moreover, this effect is mediated by perceived trustworthiness of product function (Study 3). Studies 4–5 further document its consequential implications on willingness‐to‐pay (Study 4; incentive‐compatible paradigm) and consumers' actual ad clicks (Study 5; field study). The findings contribute to the visual finish, product effectiveness, and approach–avoidance goal pursuit literatures. They also have significant managerial implications on product appearance design.

Ingendahl, Moritz; Vogel, Tobias; Maedche, Alexander; Wänke, Michaela

doi: 10.1002/mar.21770pmid: N/A

Brand placements are omnipresent in video games, but their overall effect on brand attitudes is small and varies substantially between studies. The present research takes an evaluative conditioning perspective to explain when and how brand placements in video games influence brand attitudes. In two experiments with a 3D first‐person video game, we show that only brands encountered during positive in‐game experiences benefit from the placement, but not those encountered during negative in‐game experiences. Building on the cognitive processes underlying evaluative conditioning, we also show that brand attitudes largely depend on the memory for the pairing of a brand with positive/negative in‐game experiences. Pairing memory and thus also evaluative conditioning effects increase when players attend to the pairing of brands and positive/negative experiences, for example, when such pairings are a central part of the game's storyline. Overall, our findings show that evaluative conditioning and its cognitive mechanisms can be utilized to explain and predict advertising effects in applied settings, such as brand placements in video games.

Gong, Xiushuang; Zhang, Honghong; Zhang, Xiadan; Wang, Yan

doi: 10.1002/mar.21757pmid: N/A

As an important marketing strategy, nostalgia marketing is widely used by enterprises to attract consumers and influence their decision‐making. Besides, feelings of nostalgia can be easily elicited in people's daily life and exert a great impact on them. Though the effect of nostalgia on consumer behavior has been extensively studied, whether and how nostalgia affects consumer preference for products with certain visual designs remain underexplored. Our research extends this domain by focusing on product shape preference as a new downstream consequence of nostalgia. Five studies (including one field experiment) demonstrate that nostalgia can increase consumer preference for circular‐shaped products, with social connectedness as the underlying driver. Moreover, the indirect effect of nostalgia on circular shape preference via social connectedness is moderated by consumers' current social connections, such that the effect holds true for consumers with a low number of current social connections but is eliminated for those with a high number of current social connections. Together, marketers seeking to increase the sales of circular‐shaped products may use nostalgic elements or cues in marketing campaigns.

Shin, Minjung; Lee, Rachel Hyunkyung; Min, Jihye Ellie; Legendre, Tiffany S.

doi: 10.1002/mar.21762pmid: N/A

Many service and retail facilities, such as hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and airports, are incorporating nature elements into their building design. Individuals' affinity for nature is called biophilia. The literature on biophilic design heavily focuses on the restorative effects of biophilic design on the facility users, leaving many other effects under‐investigated. In particular, biophilic design implementation requires significant financial investment, thus, whether biophilic design can bring financial returns from consumers would be of interest to practitioners. This study investigates whether biophilic design attributes are linked to consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium (WTPP). Two pretests show that when biophilic attributes are moderately implemented, they can elevate aesthetic and attractiveness perceptions, but this effect tapers off if the implementation is excessive. Through three between‐subjects main experiments, this study confirms that WTPP is enhanced via increased aesthetic value and luxury perceptions when biophilic attributes are present (vs. absent—Studies 1 and 2), but this serial mediation is moderated by biophilic scarcity (low vs. high—Study 3). An adequate level of nature elements, when implemented in biophilic‐scarce areas, can improve customers' perceptions of aesthetic value and luxury. This, in turn, improves customers' WTPP for the service.

Zhang, Yu; Hui, Michael K.; Du, Jiangang

doi: 10.1002/mar.21774pmid: N/A

Drawing on the coping and emotion regulation literature, we argue that when consumers feel sad after a failure, their relative preference for sad (vs. happy) esthetic stimuli is a function of controllability or the extent to which the responsible party have control over the cause of the failure. Specially, when feeling sad, consumers' preference for sad (vs. happy) esthetic stimuli will increase (decrease) with controllability because sad esthetic stimuli facilitate approach‐oriented coping by maintaining consumers' attention toward the failure that elicits their sadness while happy esthetic stimuli facilitate avoidance‐oriented coping by diverting their attention away from the failure. The findings of four experiments provide evidence supporting the hypothesized effect of controllability on consumers' preference for sad (vs. happy) esthetic stimuli, and the predicted mediating role of attention deployment (toward the failure vs. away from the failure) in explaining the effect.

Flavián, Carlos; Akdim, Khaoula; Casaló, Luis V.

doi: 10.1002/mar.21765pmid: N/A

The present study compares the influence of text‐based recommendations; traditionally known as online consumer reviews, and the influence of voice‐based recommendations provided by voice‐driven virtual assistants on consumer behaviors. Based on media richness theory, the research model investigates how voice versus text modality influences consumers' perceptions of credibility and usefulness, as well as their behavioral intentions and actual behaviors. In addition, the study analyses if these relationships vary based on the type of product and compares the influence of masculine and feminine voices. Two studies were conducted using between‐subjects experimental designs, partial least squares‐structural equation modeling, and logistic regression. The core finding is that voice‐based recommendations are more effective than online consumer reviews in altering consumer behaviors. In addition, the first study showed that the influence of recommendations on behavioral intentions is mediated by consumers' perceptions of their credibility and usefulness. The second study confirmed, in a realistic setting, that voice‐based recommendations affect consumer choices to a greater extent. Recommendations for search products and provided by males are also found to be more effective. These results contribute to the voice assistant and e‐WOM literature by highlighting the effectiveness of voice‐based recommendations in predicting consumer behaviors, confirming that credibility and usefulness are key factors that determine the influence of recommendations, and showing that recommendations are more effective when they focus on search products.

Filieri, Raffaele; Acikgoz, Fulya; Li, Chunyu; Alguezaui, Salma

doi: 10.1002/mar.21760pmid: N/A

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.

Roy, Arani; Ortiz, Maria

doi: 10.1002/mar.21759pmid: N/A

Subscription commerce is an integral part of today's consumption space. Researchers have identified different factors that influence subscription intent and different mechanisms that are used to evaluate subscription options. In this research, we investigate the effect of loss of perceived control on subscription intent and explore a new underlying mechanism used for the evaluation of subscription options. Across six studies in the field and laboratory, we show that when consumers lose their level of perceived control, they are likely to exhibit higher subscription intent for monthly subscription options than yearly subscription options, and we explain the mechanism through risk aversion. Particularly, we find that individuals experiencing loss of control are more likely to evaluate subscription options based on associated risk, and subsequently choose the option that appears less risky. Our findings contribute to the literature by identifying a novel risk‐based mechanism driving subscription choice and by finding a new consumer‐related antecedent of subscription choice in perceived control.