No abstract

In a context of growth of smart offers, studying the process of valuing an intangible offer by highlighting the role of consumer’s mental self-imagery is a promising avenue. An experimental study involving a representative sample of 836 individuals finds that mental imagery reduces the perception of intangibility. Thus, perceived value can be positively affected by the mediation of perceived benefits. This research enriches the literature on the perceived value of innovative offers by identifying fundamental determinants, namely, mental self-imagery and perceived intangibility.

Dans un contexte de développement accru des offres intelligentes, identifier le processus de valorisation d’une offre intangible par le consommateur en mettant en lumière le rôle de l’imagerie mentale de soi constitue une voie prometteuse. En ce sens, une étude expérimentale réalisée sur un échantillon de 836 individus met en évidence que l’imagerie mentale réduit la perception de l’intangibilité, générant des répercussions positives sur la valeur perçue par la médiation des bénéfices perçus. Cette recherche enrichit la littérature sur la valeur perçue des offres innovantes en identifiant des déterminants fondamentaux dans un contexte de complexité croissante des offres : l’imagerie mentale de soi et l’intangibilité perçue.

This research suggests a model to explain mobile purchase intention via smartphones based on the technology acceptance model to which specific variables to the m-commerce context were added: perceived risk, innovativeness, ubiquity, and trust in mobile internet. To that aim, a quantitative study was conducted with 400 French mobile users (200 buyers and 200 non-buyers) and was based on a purchase simulation of a train ticket on a mobile site up to the point of payment. The results show that the usefulness (explained by the innovativeness, the ubiquity and trust toward mobile Internet) and the perceived risk (explained by the innovativeness) have an impact on the intention to use unlike the perceived ease of use.