How the Metaphors of Thermal Concepts Influence Consumer Purchase Behavior: Focusing on Hot and Cool*

Abstract

Despite recent studies that suggest that the metaphoric links have a profound impact on consumer judgment and decision-making, we are unaware of any studies that focus on how consumers encode and retrieve thermal associations related to ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ before they react and behave according to the thermal metaphors. In order to fill the gap of research on the thermal metaphors related to hot and cool, this exploratory research examines the metaphorical similarities and differences of these two thermal concepts, hot and cool, and to propose a theoretical model that examines how these thermal concepts influence the value of the product which in turn, impacts consumers’ purchase behavior. Our exploratory interviews with young consumers after they participated in the structured survey, help us develop a theoretical model that examines the impact of thermal metaphoric concepts on purchase behavior in the product adoption context. We propose this model to guide subsequent empirical studies that examine the role of the thermal metaphoric concepts on consumers’ purchase decision making in retail environments.