Abstract
The main objective of this study was to investigate how and when online product presentation influences individual purchase intention of wearable devices in China. This study hypothesized that online product presentation would influence individual mental imagery, which, in turn, would impact purchase intention through perceived social risk and positive emotion, but this effect would be moderated by individualism–collectivism value at the individual level. We performed a laboratory experiment (2 × 2) to collect the data (N = 254). The experimental results indicated that there was a significant interaction effect between the product feature presentation video and usage scenario presentation picture on mental imagery. In addition to a direct effect, mental imagery had an indirect effect on purchase intention through perceived social risk and positive emotion. Additionally, the behavioral effect of perceived social risk was moderated by individualism–collectivism. Specifically, compared with individualists, perceived social risk had a stronger impact on collectivists’ purchase intention. This study contributes to a greater understanding of the mechanism through which online product presentation drives purchase intention, with a particular emphasis on how individualism–collectivism value at the individual level moderates consumers’ intention to purchase wearable devices.
Highlights
Wearable devices have recently attracted market attention (Shin and Biocca, 2018), yet they are still at an early stage of market diffusion and have not yet become mainstream (Nascimento et al, 2018)
In line with prior findings that consumers’ cognitive and emotional responses are largely determined by online product presentation (Park et al, 2005; Müllerstewens et al, 2017; Orús et al, 2017), we argue that when consumers consider purchasing wearable devices, imagery processing can promote their purchase intention through two parallel psychological processes
The results showed that the perceived social risk (β = −0.176, p < 0.05) and positive emotion (β = 0.302, p < 0.001)
Summary
Wearable devices have recently attracted market attention (Shin and Biocca, 2018), yet they are still at an early stage of market diffusion and have not yet become mainstream (Nascimento et al, 2018). The use of mental imagery or processing fluency has been well established in consumer behavior research and leveraged by marketers to influence consumers’ perceptions and choices (MacInnis and Price, 1987; Petrova and Cialdini, 2005; Lee and Gretzel, 2012; Wu K. et al, 2016). In online shopping settings, which lack a physical product experience, it is important to present vivid and rich information about product features and/or consumption to help consumers generate mental imagery (Lee and Gretzel, 2012; Wu K. et al, 2016; Flavián et al, 2017), which can compensate for the missing sensory experience, promoting consumers’ online purchase behavior (Park et al, 2005; Algharabat et al, 2017; Orús et al, 2017). We aim to extend prior mental imagery processing research focusing on print advertising and usually including one external advertising stimulus (Babin and Burns, 1997; Lee and Gretzel, 2012)
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