Waiting for a download: The effect of congruency between anthropomorphic cues and shopping motivation on consumer patience

Self Cite

The use of brand rituals is a pervasive tactic in business, but the marketing effectiveness of this practice largely remains unknown. In the present research, we postulate the contingent nature of brand rituals on consumer purchase. Based on the two countervailing processes—the enhancement of perceived enjoyment and the reduction of perceived autonomy, we suggest that the effectiveness of brand rituals is determined by the interaction between the degree of brand ritual (simple vs. sophisticated) and the brand personality (excitement vs. sincerity). By means of field and laboratory experiments in various product categories (i.e., fruit tea, juice, stationery, and hand cream), we show that for a sincere brand, a sophisticated brand ritual elicits higher consumer purchase than a simple brand ritual only via the process of enhanced enjoyment because its sincerity personality weakens the salience of the process of reduced autonomy. In contrast, for an exciting brand, a sophisticated brand ritual elicits lower consumer purchase than a simple brand ritual via the process of enhanced enjoyment but reduced autonomy (the autonomy route dominates the enjoyment route) because its exciting personality intensifies the salience of the process of reduced autonomy. In simple words, a sophisticated brand ritual benefits a sincere brand, but a simple one benefits an exciting brand. Our findings extend the research on ritual and brand ritual and offer implications for marketing practice regarding how to design a brand ritual more effectively.

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 78%

Enjoyment or autonomy? The interactive effect of brand ritual and brand personality on consumer purchase

Ran

Wan

2022

Self Cite

“…This result is similar to recent findings suggesting anthropomorphism has an empathy‐helping underlying psychological mechanism that can make unattractive products more attractive (Chen, Razzaq, et al, 2021). This moderating effect may also be explained by the different motivations that drive the purchase of vice and virtue products, as purchase motivations have been shown to interact with anthropomorphic cues to explain consumer behavior (Chen, Wei, et al, 2021). We also found an unexpected influence of vice products on attitudes and loyalty to the dump bin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of anthropomorphic cues in retailing: The moderating effect of the vice versus virtue products

Londoño

Maya

2022

In retail environments, consumers are constantly exposed to in‐store marketing communication activities. However, relatively little is known about the attribution of human traits to this communication tool. The current research focuses on how anthropomorphizing retail cues such as dump bins influences consumer behavior and the moderating effect of the vice‐virtue character of the displayed products. Using eye‐tracking technology in an ecological shopping environment, we tracked shoppers' gazes through the store and analyzed their visual attention. Results show that attaching anthropomorphic forms to dump bins positively affects attitudes toward the displayed products. In addition, we demonstrate that displaying a vice product in an anthropomorphic dump bin increases both attitude toward the product and purchase intention, compared to the display of a virtue product. These findings suggest that anthropomorphism has an empathy‐helping underlying psychological mechanism that, when applied to retail communication activities, can contribute to justifying the purchase of vice products.

“…On one hand, previous research has largely revealed the positive consequences of anthropomorphism on consumers’ judgments and behavior. For example, incorporating anthropomorphic cues in the designs of artificial intelligence can improve adoption intention (Letheren et al, 2021; Moriuchi, 2021; Whang & Im, 2021), presenting anthropomorphic cues in advertisement enhances consumer evaluation (Do et al, 2021; Han et al, 2019; Lee & Oh, 2021), and incorporating similar cues in online web design increases consumer patience (S. Chen et al, 2021). Consumers also express greater liking toward anthropomorphized products and brands compared with nonanthropomorphized ones (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007, 2012), even when they are unlovely sometimes (e.g., food of ugly shape) (T. Chen et al, 2021; Shao et al, 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's not mine: Anthropomorphism attenuates the effect of psychological ownership on product‐to‐self judgment

Zhang

Zhou

Yan

2023

Previous literature has shown that consumers often see themselves as possessing the characteristics of products they own, referring to product-toself judgment effect. For example, consumers perceive themselves as more innovative after owning an innovative product. The current research identifies and demonstrates a boundary condition for this effect, showing that product anthropomorphism lowers the tendency for consumers to judge themselves in assimilation with the traits and abilities of the product. We further demonstrate that this moderating effect arises because consumers are less likely to classify anthropomorphized product into the "Self" category, for they see the product as an entity like other people. Three experiments provide supportive evidence for this moderating effect and the underlying mechanism. Overall, our research contributes to the literature by uncovering the process of how product anthropomorphism may hinder consumers from using products to express themselves, thus providing implications for promoting products that focus on enhancing consumer self-expression.