Cuteness Makes the Sale? How Consumer Responses are Affected by Message Framing and Crowding

Chang, Chun‐Tuan; Huang, Guei-Hua; He, Meiling

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-99181-8_116

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The normative approach of this study to cuteness (from kindchenschema ) can also contribute to the understanding of potential negative effects (or ineffectiveness) of “cute marketing,” which is still believed to be a powerful tactic (e.g., Wang & Mukhopadhyay, 2016). As in some cases, the usage of cute marketing may create unintended meanings, backfiring the marketing efforts (e.g., Chang et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universality and specificity of the kindchenschema: A cross-cultural study on cute rectangles.

Cho

Dydynski

Kang

2022

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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This study investigates the effect of kindchenschema across cultures. The kindchenschema is a gestalt that triggers a special protective behavior (Lorenz, 1970). We adopted a normative approach, which searches for possible objective aesthetics and canonic values (i.e. normative aesthetics; Crowther, 2004), and conducted a pretest, where it was inquired whether we could transfer the canonic rules of “looking cute” into five dimensions: small size, light-color, tilted angle, wide, and round shape. 229 participants completed a task in which they modified a rectangle for the parameters of size, color, angle, height-width ratio, and roundness to create a “cute rectangle.” As predicted, the “cute rectangles” created by participants were significantly smaller, lighter, more tilted, or rounder than the reference shape. The canonic rules of cuteness were confirmed by the pretest data. In the main study, type of cultural self-construals (independent or interdependent) was hypothesized as a significant predictor that differentiates the evaluation of cuteness aesthetics. 228 participants from Estonia, South Korea, and the United States (N = 228) evaluated 32 rectangles with a high or low level of the 5 cuteness dimensions in 9 semantic differential scales along with the perceived cuteness. The findings suggest that an individual’s interdependent cultural self-construal is a determinant factor in the perception of cuteness. We then discuss the theoretical and practical implication of cuteness aesthetics with regard to cultural self-construals, caring behaviors, and the perception of others.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universality and specificity of the kindchenschema: A cross-cultural study on cute rectangles.

Cho

Dydynski

Kang

2022

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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“…In this study, we used a scenario-based experimental approach because such an approach has been extensively used in appearance-based studies (Chang et al, 2018;Gorn et al, 2008;Yim et al, 2023). Scenario-based studies are also suitable because they are more robust than recall-based approaches or retrospective self-reports (Roggeveen et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the marketing field, researchers have reported that when baby-faced employees interacted with customers, fewer online reviews were posted (Yim et al, 2023). Baby-faced sales agents also influence consumers to evaluate products positively, but not when messages have a promotional focus (Chang et al, 2018). Also, they were more able to influence older buyers (Bolman Pullins et al, 2011).…”

Section: Baby Face and Moral Charactermentioning

confidence: 99%

Can salespersons help firms overcome brand image crisis? Role of facial appearance

Agnihotri,

Bhattacharya,

Vrontis

2024

Journal of Business Research

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“…We recruited 159 participants on MTurk (39.4% female; M age = 35.55, SD age = 11.08), and participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions of the 2 (face type: babyface vs mature face) between-subjects design: babyface ( n = 78), mature face ( n = 81). Once participants viewed the image of a salesperson, we asked them to rate the level of a babyface on seven-point scales adapted from Chang et al (2018) [1 = not kind at all, 7 = very kind; 1 = not warm at all, 7 = very warm; 1 = not aggressive at all, 7 = very aggressive (reverse coded); 1 = not strong at all, 7 = very strong (reverse coded)] ( α = 0.55) [1]. We then reversed the reverse-coded items back when averaging the four items.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Face type. We adapted the salesperson's face type stimuli (babyface vs mature face) from Chang et al (2018). To ensure that the morphed images differed on the level of having a babyface, we conducted a pretest.…”

Section: Participants and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do salespeople’s online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

Yim

Price

Agnihotri

et al. 2022

EJM

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of a salesperson’s babyface in his/her profile picture on the number of online reviews the salesperson receives. In addition to testing the direct relationship, this study explores the moderating roles of salesperson gender and consumer involvement. Design/methodology/approach Responding to the call for field-based consumer research, the authors test their theory using an experimental design and a field study. Study 1 employs an experimental design in high and low involvement service settings to test the effect of a babyface on consumers’ intention to write online reviews. Study 2 uses field data, utilising real estate salespeople’s online profile pictures to test the effect of salespeople’s babyface on the number of online reviews they receive. It does so by using an artificial intelligence facial recognition application interface. Findings A salesperson’s babyface results in fewer online reviews in situations in which consumers are highly involved in the purchase process. By contrast, a salesperson’s babyface engenders more online reviews when consumers purchase low involvement services. The adverse effect of a babyface on the number of online reviews, however, attenuates when a salesperson is female. Research limitations/implications Limited information about salespeople, a skewed number of online reviews and blurry online profile pictures from a real-world data set constitute the study’s limitations. Practical implications When consumers are highly involved in the purchase process, salespeople should appear mature in their online profile photos to engender more online reviews. However, salespeople providing low involvement services should opt for online profile pictures reflecting babyish facial features to generate more online reviews. Originality/value Research has shown that salespeople’s physical appearance plays an important role in consumers’ perceptions of salespeople and their performance. Although abundant research and practice have shown the importance of online reviews, less is known about how online profile pictures affect online reviews. Thus, building on well-studied cases of an overgeneralization effect, this work examines the extent to which salespeople’s babyface features in their online profile picture affects the number of online reviews received in a real-world setting.

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Cuteness Makes the Sale? How Consumer Responses are Affected by Message Framing and Crowding

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

Universality and specificity of the kindchenschema: A cross-cultural study on cute rectangles.

Universality and specificity of the kindchenschema: A cross-cultural study on cute rectangles.

Can salespersons help firms overcome brand image crisis? Role of facial appearance

Do salespeople’s online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

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