Hedonic Context Research Articles

Testing the effectiveness of increased frequency of norm-nudges in encouraging sustainable tourist behaviour: a field experiment using actual and self-reported behavioural data

Norm-nudges are effective in encouraging sustainable consumer behaviour in various settings, by raising the salience of the target behaviour via social norms. Tourism presents a highly hedonic context, in which behaviour is primarily framed by self-oriented goals as opposed to normative ones related to the good of the environment and society. While the existing literature provides insights on the appropriate content of norm-nudges to raise the salience of normative goals, less is known about an appropriate frequency of nudges. It is important to address this gap in tourism because tourists need to be aware of desired sustainable behaviours, while overly obtrusive nudges may backfire. A field experiment was conducted to test the extent to which an increased frequency of norm-nudges has a backfiring effect on sustainable tourist behaviour, using donations for mountain-biking trails as the target behaviour. Results show that increasing the frequency of norm-nudges does not diminish their positive uptake, which suggests that they can be used more to encourage sustainable behaviour and enhance tourists’ experiences. Using actual and self-reported behavioural data, this study provides new empirical evidence on the effectiveness of increased frequency of norm-nudges in a real tourism setting, contributing to knowledge on norm-nudges and backfiring effects.

Can you ask “too much” of your customers?

PurposeCompanies are beginning to rely more on customer participation (CP). As a result, consumers are expected to expend more resources throughout the service exchange. Through three studies, this study aims to examine the effect of CP on customers’ evaluations of these exchanges. Study 1 examines the interaction between two levels of CP (low versus high) and shopping experience type (hedonic versus utilitarian). In Study 2, the focus shifts to understanding the negative consequences of high CP. In Study 3, the authors explore how the negative effects of high CP can be mitigated.Design/methodology/approachScenario-based experiments were implemented across three studies. This study used multivariate analysis of variance (Study 1) and PROCESS (Hayes, 2018; Studies 2 and 3) to uncover how consumers respond to CP.FindingsResults of Study 1 indicate that the CP level negatively impacts satisfaction and positive word-of mouth (PWOM) in a utilitarian context but has no effect in a hedonic context. Study 2 finds that the negative effects of high CP on satisfaction and PWOM are mediated by fairness and frustration. Study 3 suggests that these negative results can be mitigated by offering a financial incentive.Originality/valueThis study’s two primary objectives address specific calls in the CP literature. First, this study examines the effects of increased CP during hedonic and utilitarian shopping experiences. Second, this study investigates mediators and moderators associated with the negative effects of increased CP, shedding light on how the consumer processes high CP service encounters.

Hedonic adaptation and conscious consumption in the civil engineering market: corporate reputation and user behavior strategies for sustainable development

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to identify changes in consumption strategies in the civil engineering market in a hedonic context. To assess the attitude of consumers to a certain type of civil engineering technology, a multicomponent methodological approach to the characterization of goods based on a survey of consumers was used. The key trends in the development of the European Union, Chinese and Russian civil engineering market for 2010–19 are analyzed. The designation of four ‘green’ strategies for the behavior of end consumers regarding hedonic adaptation in the civil engineering market is proposed: eco-efficient, environmentally friendly, energy-saving and intellectual-content one.

Guest benefits of hedonic value and perceived community value drive hotel CSR participation

Successful promotion of guest participation in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities for the hedonic context of a hotel stay is challenging, especially where the CSR activity requires substantial guest involvement. Moreover, understanding of this issue becomes increasingly important as investment by hotels on CSR engagement strategies that include guests directly participating in such activities grows. While perceived benefits of guest participation are critical to optimizing CSR participation strategies, studies explicitly investigating guests’ evaluation of costs versus benefits are lacking. Using an experimental scenario based on a guest’s return to a hotel recently visited, a self-oriented hedonic benefit, a other-oriented benefit of perceived community value, and perceived time constraint were tested for their effects on guest CSR participation. Data was obtained from respondents in the US and Thailand. Analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS) demonstrated that a hedonic value benefit had a substantial direct effect on guest CSR participation while the effect from perceived community value was fully mediated by CSR reputation. The effect of perceived constraints on CSR participation was significantly stronger for US respondents. Findings present insights for hotel managers, policy makers, non-government agencies with a mission to promote CSR practices and researchers.

Is it all about consumer engagement? Explaining continuance intention for utilitarian and hedonic service consumption

This paper compares the explanatory power of consumer engagement (CE) regarding service continuance intention with the variables of attitude (utilitarian and hedonic) and satisfaction. Survey data were collected from users of mobile music (n = 596) and mobile parking (n = 297) services. The partial least squares method was applied to analyze the data. In line with expectations, the findings show that attitude and satisfaction are superior drivers of service continuance intention compared to CE when service is used for utilitarian reasons. In contrast, when service consumption is driven by hedonic reasons, CE is a stronger driver than satisfaction. However, no evidence for the superiority of CE over attitude was found in the hedonic context.

Does expressing subjectivity in online reviews enhance persuasion?

PurposePeople express subjectivity and objectivity in everyday communication, yet little is known about how such linguistic content affects persuasion in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Drawing on the congruity theory and the selectivity model, the present study proposes that the effectiveness of subjectivity/objectivity expressions in an online review is contingent on whether the consumption experience is primarily hedonic or utilitarian, and whether the decision maker is a male or female. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the psychological mechanism that underlies the proposed effects.Design/methodology/approachThis research used an experimental design to test the hypotheses. Four versions of online review stimuli were created. Participants were asked to read the online reviews and to complete a survey.FindingsThe findings indicate that expressing subjectivity (vs objectivity) in online reviews effectively boosts men’s purchase intention in the hedonic context and women’s purchase intention in the utilitarian context. Furthermore, the mediation analysis reveals that perceived relevance of the review is the psychological mechanism explaining the joint effects of linguistic style, consumption type and gender on purchase intention.Originality/valueThis research is the first to examine expressing subjectivity (vs objectivity) as a persuasion strategy in online reviews. Findings of this research add to the growing literature on linguistic effects in eWOM. Furthermore, this research deepens the understanding of conversational norms for hedonic vs utilitarian consumption in consumer-generated content and gender differences in processing online reviews.

Do Pro-environmental Appeals Trigger Pro-environmental Behavior in Hotel Guests?

Appeals to people’s pro-environmental values have been shown to trigger pro-environmental behavior across a range of contexts. The present study tests the potential of such interventions in a hedonic context where behavioral change does not generate utilitarian benefits (tourism). Results from a field experiment in a four-star hotel in Slovenia indicate that appeals to people’s pro-environmental values fail to significantly increase tourists’ hotel towel reuse and decrease room electricity consumption, suggesting that interventions in hedonic contexts—such as tourism—may require the use of more tangible benefits in order to change behavior.

Three peas in the pod of consumer imagination: Purchase task, involvement, and ad information

AbstractThe research investigates the mediating role of the consumer imagination in persuasion, depending upon level of involvement, nature of the purchase task, and ad information. The consumer imagination is conceptualized as combining triggered information from memory with incoming ad information to simulate a yet‐to‐be‐experienced event. The research reveals how obstacles to information flowing from memory or information from incoming peripheral ad claims suppress the enhancing effects of the consumer imagination. Across three studies, the findings indicate that few incoming peripheral ad claims are an obstacle to the consumer imagination in a utilitarian context, regardless of involvement, because preferred peripheral claims are reduced. Low involvement is an obstacle to the consumer imagination in a hedonic context, because it reduces the need to rely on triggered memories. However, this effect is reversed with more peripheral ad claims, because increased claims help to build up the imagination when reliance on triggered memories is reduced. Theoretical discussion is provided about how the imagination expands the elaboration of ad details by retrieving relevant experiences from memory to create mental rehearsals. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

E banking strategies and consumers perception towards accepting internet banking a secondary approach

In the present scenario, the consumer is now becoming more technology savvy because most of the youth as a consumer demands more for less, thus saving time, money and energy. In this paper, we try to study private banking e-strategies and how they affect the consumers’ perceived trust. It is a descriptive research study based on the extant literature. We explore and arrive at an urgent need for developing an extended Technological Acceptance Model. This paper attempts to study and explore the Consumer awareness towards accepting a new technology following Davis et al (1989) TAM model based on the extant literature research study. This research aspires to better understand the consumers by examining their awareness in a utilitarian and hedonic service context in order to provide valuable knowledge of consumers’ awareness of various service aspects and to suggest guidelines for practical implementation. However, previous researches on electronic banking have not fully and thoroughly addressed the characteristics and awareness of electronic banking users.

Hedonic context modulates risky choices and reward responses in amygdala and dorsal striatum.

The hedonic context of the environment can alter an individual’s emotional states and consequently their risk taking. Here we reveal the brain mechanisms underlying music-induced unstable risk preferences using functional MRI (fMRI). Subjects listened to self-selected liked or disliked music while they decided to accept or reject risky gambles. Behaviorally loss aversion was lower during liked music than during disliked or no music. At the neural level, reduced loss aversion was associated with a specific pattern of value coding in amygdala and dorsal striatum: during disliked music gambles with high expected reward induced higher activation than gambles with low expected reward, whereas during liked music this activation pattern was reversed. Furthermore, individual differences in loss aversion influenced value coding in such a way that for the most loss-averse subjects, bilateral activation of anterior insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex increased as the expected value of the gamble increased, whereas for the least loss-averse subjects increase in potential reward was associated with decreasing activation in those areas. We propose music-modulated value coding in amygdala and striatum as a neural mechanism supporting emotion-dependent adjustments to risk-taking which in turn facilitate behavior depending on how dangerous versus safe the environment is experienced to be.

Supplemental Material for Hedonic Context Modulates Risky Choices and Reward Responses in Amygdala and Dorsal Striatum

Supplemental Material for Hedonic Context Modulates Risky Choices and Reward Responses in Amygdala and Dorsal Striatum

Seeing a meal is not eating it: Hedonic context effects differ for visually presented and actually eaten foods

A meal usually consists of several different foods presented together. This study investigates how side dishes (vegetables/starches) affect the hedonic ratings of the main food item (meat/meat substitute) when a plate of these foods is viewed and also after the meal is eaten. The main question is whether the hedonic rating of the main food item assimilates toward the hedonic rating of the side dishes or shows contrast, moving away from the hedonic rating of the side dishes. In Experiment 1, when subjects only viewed a picture of a meal consisting of an imitation chicken tender (main food item) with either hedonically positive or hedonically negative side dishes, no effect of the side dishes was seen on the hedonic rating of the main food item. In Experiment 2, when subjects ate the meal shown in the picture in Experiment 1, hedonic contrast was found. That is, the main food item was rated as less good when simultaneously presented with more hedonically positive side dishes than when presented with hedonically negative side dishes. Thus, when a meal is eaten, foods influence the evaluation of other foods on the same plate. The same is not true when foods are presented in a picture.

Hedonic Hotspots Regulate Cingulate-driven Adaptation to Cognitive Demands

Positive hedonic states are known to attenuate the impact of demanding events on our body and brain, supporting adaptive behavior in response to changes in the environment. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural mechanism of this hedonic regulation. The effect of hedonic state (as induced by funny vs. neutral cartoons) on flexible behavioral and neural adaptation to cognitive demands was assessed in a flanker task in female volunteers. Behavioral results showed that humor reduced the compensatory adjustments to cognitive demands, as observed in sequential adaptations. This modulation was also reflected in midcingulate cortex (MCC; also known as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, ACC) activation. Furthermore, hedonic context increased activation in ventral striatum (VS) and ventral pallidum (VP). These hedonic hotspots attenuated the medial prefrontal cortex response to the cognitive demands in the ACC (also known as the rostral ACC). Activity in the ACC proved predictive of subsequent behavioral adaptation. Moreover, psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed that the MCC and the ACC were functionally connected with VS and VP, respectively. These observations reveal how MCC-VS and VP-ACC interactions are involved in the detection and hedonic modulation of behavioral adaptations to cognitive demands, which supports behavioral flexibility.

Taking “Fun and Games” Seriously: Proposing the Hedonic-Motivation System Adoption Model (HMSAM)

Hedonic-motivation systems (HMS) — systems used primarily to fulfill users’ intrinsic motivations — are the elephant in the room for IS research. Growth in HMS sales has outperformed utilitarian-motivation systems (UMS) sales for more than a decade, generating billions in revenue annually; yet IS research focuses mostly on UMS. In this study, we explain the role of intrinsic motivations in systems use and propose the Hedonic-Motivation System Adoption Model (HMSAM) to increase understanding of the adoption of HMS. Instead of a minor, general TAM extension, HMSAM is a HMS-specific system acceptance model grounded in an alternative theoretical perspective grounded in flow-based cognitive absorption (CA). The HMSAM extends van der Heijden’s (2004) model of hedonic system adoption by including CA as a key mediator of perceived ease of use (PEOU) and behavioral intentions to use (BIU) hedonic-motivation systems. Results from experiments involving 665 participants confirm that in a hedonic context, CA is a more powerful and appropriate predictor of BIU than PEOU or joy, and that the effect of PEOU on BIU is fully mediated by CA sub-constructs. This study lays a foundation, provides guidance, and opens up avenues for future HMS, UMS, and mixed-motivation system research.

History Based Coalition Formation in Hedonic Context Using Trust

In this paper we address the problem of coalition formation in hedonic context. Our modelling tries to be as realistic as possible. In previous models, once an agent joins a coalition it would not be able to leave the coalition and join the new one; in this research we made it possible to leave a coalition but put some restrictions to control the behavior of agents. Leaving or staying of an agent in a coalition will affect on the trust of the other agents included in this coalition. Agents will use the trust values in computing the expected utility of coalitions. Three different risk behaviors are introduced for agents that want to initiate a coalition. Using these risk behaviors, some simulations are made and results are analyzed.

Reprint of “Affective picture processing as a function of preceding picture valence: An ERP analysis”

Event-related brain potential (ERP) studies consistently revealed that a relatively early (early posterior negativity; EPN) and a late (late positive potential; LPP) ERP component differentiate between emotional and neutral picture stimuli. Two studies examined the processing of emotional stimuli when preceded either by pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant context images. In both studies, distinct streams of six pictures were shown. In Study 1, hedonic context was alternated randomly across the 180 picture streams. In Study 2, hedonic context sequences were blocked, resulting in 60 preceding sequences of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant context valence, respectively. The main finding was that the valence of the preceding picture sequence had no significant effect on the emotional modulation of the EPN and LPP components. However, previous results were replicated in that emotional stimulus processing was associated with larger EPN and LPP components as compared to neutral pictures. These findings suggest that the prioritized processing of emotional stimuli is primarily driven by the valence of the current picture.

Affective picture processing as a function of preceding picture valence: An ERP analysis

Event-related brain potential (ERP) studies consistently revealed that a relatively early (early posterior negativity; EPN) and a late (late positive potential; LPP) ERP component differentiate between emotional and neutral picture stimuli. Two studies examined the processing of emotional stimuli when preceded either by pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant context images. In both studies, distinct streams of six pictures were shown. In Study 1, hedonic context was alternated randomly across the 180 picture streams. In Study 2, hedonic context sequences were blocked, resulting in 60 preceding sequences of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant context valence, respectively. The main finding was that the valence of the preceding picture sequence had no significant effect on the emotional modulation of the EPN and LPP components. However, previous results were replicated in that emotional stimulus processing was associated with larger EPN and LPP components as compared to neutral pictures. These findings suggest that the prioritized processing of emotional stimuli is primarily driven by the valence of the current picture.

Using Social Network Sites: The Effects of Playfulness, Critical Mass and Trust in a Hedonic Context

The use of Internet social network sites has become an international phenomenon. These websites enable computer-mediated communication between people with common interests such as school, family, and friendship. Popular sites include MySpace and Facebook. Their rapid widespread usage warrants a better understanding. This study contributes to our understanding by empirically investigating factors influencing user adoption of these sites. We introduce the Social Network Site Adoption model to examine the effect of perceptions of normative pressure, playfulness, critical mass, trust, usefulness, and ease of use on usage intention and actual usage of these sites. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the patterns of inter-correlations among the constructs and to empirically test the hypotheses. All the hypothesized determinants have a significant direct effect on intent to use, with perceived playfulness and perceived critical mass the strongest indicators. Intent to use and perceived playfulness have a significant direct effect on actual usage.

Olfactory Hedonic Context Affects Both Self-Report and Behavioural Indices of Palatability

Prior exposure to either a pleasant or unpleasant context may affect later hedonic judgments of a common target stimulus. We explored whether this effect translates into behaviour in the chemical senses. In experiment 1 participants experienced either a pleasant or unpleasant set of odours or pictures, followed by an unfamiliar odour. After self-report hedonic evaluations of the odour, participants were allowed to drink it in solution, followed by a further evaluation of its flavour. Participants reported liking the odour less after smelling pleasant odours and drank less of it too, relative to the unpleasant context. There was no differential context effect for emotive pictures. Experiment 2 replicated these effects, but also included a no-context control. This revealed that the consumption effect was localised to the pleasant olfactory context, whilst contextual effects for liking ratings were primarily localised to the unpleasant olfactory context. In conclusion, hedonic context affects both self-report and behaviour, but not in the same way.

The scent of literature

This study examined the effects of hedonic odour context on cognitive and affective processes involved in reading literary excerpts. A total of 32 undergraduate subjects smelled pleasant and unpleasant odours, while reading eight passages that touched upon positive or negative subject matter and were either engaged or detached in style, in a fully counterbalanced within-subjects design. After each reading episode, subjects rated passage and odour on fourteen 7-point scales. In accordance with a hedonic congruence hypothesis, odours should affect the reading process when there was a fit between the hedonic tone of the textual properties (subject matter or style) and the odours (pleasant/unpleasant). Results supported this hypothesis showing that positive subject matter and engaged style combined with pleasant odour to bring the story to life and evoke the most images and feelings. Passages with negative subject matter were not readily affected by the hedonic odour context. These findings replicated earlier research involving paintings viewed in a hedonic odour context. Gender differences also revealed that males, compared with females, found episodes read in the context of unpleasant odours to be more involving and personally meaningful, and they could more readily identify with the characters.