Low Involvement Products Research Articles

Is AI Better than Humans? Unveiling the Boundary Conditions Under Which Virtual Influencers Outperform Human Influencers in Endorsing Sustainable Products

With the rising trend toward sustainable consumption and the pivotal role of social media in the buying behavior, brands are keen to promote sustainable products through these platforms. Virtual influencers (VIs) have emerged as lower-cost and scandal-resistant alternatives to human influencers (HIs). However, their artificial nature may evoke credibility concerns, potentially undermining marketing effectiveness. Currently, it is unclear whether humans or virtual influencers achieve better endorsement outcomes for sustainable products. This study explores the effectiveness of VIs and HIs in endorsing sustainable products and the conditions under which VIs may outperform HIs. Through two studies (N = 1097), we investigate the impact of influencer type, advertising appeals, and product involvement on consumer purchase intentions and brand attitudes. Our findings reveal that, in low-involvement product scenarios with emotional appeals, HIs are more effective, while in high-involvement product scenarios featuring rational appeals, VIs exhibit superior effectiveness. These results suggest that the choice of influencer type should be tailored to the product involvement level and the nature of the advertising appeal, providing guidance for brands to enhance the impact of their green marketing strategies.

The perceptions of brand coappearance in product placement: cooperation, competition or coopetition?

Purpose Brands increasingly coappear in television programs while research in product placement has primarily focused on the placements of a single brand. Building on research related to product placement and cobranding, this study aims to systematically examine the roles of product competitiveness and brand competitiveness on the effectiveness of brand coappearance on television programs. Design/methodology/approach Extensive pretesting and four experimental studies were conducted. Real stimuli that had been digitally manipulated with fictitious brands were used in Study 1 (laboratory experiment involved student samples) and Study 2 (online experiment with a national sample) to examine the short- and long-term impacts of product competitiveness on brand coappearance. Real stimuli incorporated actual brands were used in Study 3 (involved advertisers’ key demographic) and Study 4 (alterative television program with a national sample) to examine the impacts of brand competitiveness and its interaction effect with product competitiveness. Findings The study found that coappearing with a product of high competitiveness significantly enhanced attitudes and purchase intention toward the coappearing products both in the short and long term. Product competitiveness further interacts with brand competitiveness to influence attitudes and purchase intention toward the coappearing brands suggesting a coopetition pattern for brand coappearances. The effect of brand coappearances did not vary substantially for low or high involvement products with or without character interaction. Research limitations/implications The study develops a useful framework for explaining and understanding the potential spillover effects in brand coappearances. It contributes to the existing literature on product placement and cobranding, while also paving the way for future research opportunities. Practical implications When introducing new brands, marketers are advised to consider coappearance deals with more competitive brands in highly competitive product categories. Conversely, coappearance deals with less competitive brands in less competitive product categories should be adopted to promote well-known brands. Advertisers may also consider product or brand exclusivity arrangements with broadcasters to enhance the effectiveness of the product placement. Originality/value Although brand coappearance in media content is likely to continue to proliferate, little is known about the phenomenon and its effects. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to systematically examine the perceptions toward brands coappeared in television programs.

Perceived effectiveness of celebrities and online influencers in advertising endorsement among Malaysian young adults

Purpose With the emergence of social media, online influencers have played a major role in brand marketing. This study aims to examine how Malaysian young adults perceive advertising endorsements of celebrities and online influencers within the framework of parasocial relations and multiculturalism. Design/methodology/approach This study engaged 42 Malaysian young adults aged 18–24 in semistructured interviews. They were asked to share a television commercial with celebrity endorsement and explain why it was impressive. They were then asked explicitly to compare traditional celebrities and online influencers in terms of attractiveness, credibility and endorsement effects. Findings Advertising execution strategies and emotional attachment to advertising endorsers are the two main reasons for making an advertisement impressive. Interviewees demonstrate strong emotional attachments to celebrities who are national icons. Online influencers are perceived as more relatable, authentic and credible than traditional celebrities. Interviewees perceive that endorsements by traditional celebrities were more effective for luxurious brands and brands targeting older consumers. On the other hand, endorsements by online influencers were perceived to be more effective for low-involvement product categories and brands that target younger consumers. Research limitations/implications This study presents a summary of the parallel perceptions of online influencers and celebrities to explain how young consumers evaluate advertising with celebrity and social media influencer endorsement. Practical implications Malaysian young adults perceive endorsers as people who guide their experiences with ads. Adopting an endorser who is young, has a trendy image, and has a similar cultural background enhances the relatability of ads for young adults. National sports heroes can serve as nation-building agents through celebrity endorsement in advertising. Originality/value Few studies directly compare the endorsement effects of celebrities and online influencers in a multicultural setting. This study provides marketing and theoretical insights to unravel the influencing mechanism of parasocial relations and multiculturalism.

The Effect of Observational Learning and Word of Mouth Learning on Consumer Behaviors

This article explores two learning methods of social interaction in social media and e-commerce environments: observational learning and word-of-mouth learning, and their impact on consumer behavior. This article summarize the influence of two learning methods on consumer behavior in social interaction, and their differences. The article found that both observational learning and word-of-mouth learning have a significant impact on consumer behavior, with positive observational learning having a clear effect on information., Negative word-of-mouth learning information has a stronger influence on consumer decision-making. Observational learning enhances external motivation, while word-of-mouth learning stimulates internal motivation. When highly involved in product decision-making, word-of-mouth details are more critical; Low involvement products allow for more effective observation and learning of information. The impact of word-of-mouth learning on long-term decision-making increases over time. Observing and learning information spreads quickly, while word-of-mouth information spreads slowly. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for e-commerce platforms and sellers to develop marketing strategies.

Brand Attachment: The Moderating Effect of High and Low Involvement Products

Brand attachment can be considered one of the predictors of consumer commitment to a brand. Based on this key concept, the type of products can condition the consumer's relationship with the brand. This study analyses the moderating effect that the brand’s involvement (high or low) has on the relationship between brand attachment and some of its antecedents (brand personality, perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand credibility) and effects (brand loyalty, purchase intention, and perceived risk). This causal research, with 1922 valid surveys (simple random sampling procedure), was carried out in three main cities of Ecuador (Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca): 1150 high-involvement and 722 low-involvement products. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation models, and multi-sample analysis. Results show that brand personality influences brand attachment and loyalty with a higher moderating effect on products with low involvement. Additionally, brand attachment influences brand loyalty with a higher moderating effect on highly involved products. As practical implications, we state that brand managers of high-involvement products must invest in digital tools that maximize the information available to the public to make decisions. Additionally, low-involvement product brand managers must invest in an identifiable image to make it easy for customers to find their brand. This research adds value because no research has been identified that addresses the study of attachment by comparing its operation in high and low-involvement contexts. It opens future research by introducing new variables in the brand personality scale in combination with that of attachment.

Planning Facebook message strategy and creative appeal for effective ad engagement – an exploratory study

PurposeStudying the effect of social media advertising on consumer engagement, this study analyzes the impact of shared-experience versus personal message strategies, informational versus transformational creative appeals and low-involvement products versus high-involvement products. It aims to determine how best to combine ad elements to affect consumer engagement on different levels.Design/methodology/approachUsing an online survey among 448 Facebook users, an experimental factorial design of 2 (message strategy conditions) X 2 (creative appeal conditions) X 2 (product types: TV vs. frozen pizza) was used. Each advertisement was evaluated on three facets of engagement: cognitive, psychological and behavioral.FindingsResults indicate that informational appeal is preferable for all conditions. The effectiveness of message strategy differs by product type, and interactions between message and appeal are significant only for the high-involvement product. Additionally, it indicates that message strategy is most significant in affecting behavioral engagement and not necessarily cognitive or psychological engagement.Practical implicationsTo develop effective Facebook ads, practitioners should use a personal/informational combination when working with high-involvement products and a shared-experience/informational combination when working with low-involvement products.Originality/valueAn original grid for integrating message strategy and creative appeal is constructed in this paper. Besides behavioral engagement, it also evaluates cognitive and psychological engagement. By comparing products with a high and low involvement level, it provides marketers with actionable recommendations to increase social media campaign effectiveness.

Working Wives and House Wives Purchase Intensions of High Involvement and Low Involvement Products - A Study Based on Kolkata

Both working wives and housewives participate and influence the purchase decisions of high involvement and low involvement products in the family. But the influence level across product categories differs between them, as the working wives are financially independent and better educated compared to their counterpart. That is why in this study an attmpt has been made to find out whether the influence of working wives is higher compared to house wives in case of purchase decisions of high involvement and low involvement products and finally to suggest some marketing strategies to the marketers regarding how they can influence the purchase decisions of both working wives and house wives.

The Impact of Brand Value on Business Performance: An Analysis of Moderating Effects of Product Involvement

The purposes of this study are to investigate the impact of brand value on business performance and to examine whether the impact of brand value on business performance differs between high and low product involvement. Based on the top 100 brands ranked by Interbrand in 2021, linear regression analysis and moderation analysis by SPSS and AMOS were used to examine our proposed hypotheses. The results showed that brand value had a significantly positive effect on business performance. The findings imply that stronger brand valuation impacts are associated with companies that do better financially. In other words, business revenue is significantly determined by a higher brand valuation. The result of the moderation effect reveals that product involvement moderates the effect of brand value on business performance in such a way that the association between brand value and business performance is stronger in low-involvement products than in high-involvement products. The findings validate the notion that a marketer's endeavors toward brand investments constitute a noteworthy origin of activity that adds value. Our study is one of the first to investigate, using empirical data on leading brands across several industries, the impact that brand value can have on business performance. It also broadens the scope of existing understanding regarding the moderating effect of product involvement in regulating a brand's effectiveness. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2024-05-01-06 Full Text: PDF

Understanding consumer herding behavior in online purchases and its implications for online retailers and marketers

Herding behavior refers to the imitation of the behavior of the masses. The primary purpose of this study is to determine how herding affects digital purchases. It is an under-researched area in the marketing and consumer behavior context. First, one needs to understand the circumstances under which one is likely to herd. Second, it is yet to be understood how the effect of observing others' buying behavior transmits into herding. Third, there needs to be a better understanding of the role of price in one's tendency to herd. An online experiment with 541 participants was conducted using a 3 (consumer ratings/sales volume/control) × 2 (high involvement product/low involvement product) between-subjects design. LED TV was selected as a high-involvement product and ball pen pack was selected as a low-involvement product. This research study combined three theories to propose a holistic herding model. It used the social impact theory to capture its persuasive impact, the information adoption model to analyze the acceptance of herding information, and the cue utilization theory to assess the inference from herding information in consumer decision-making. Results indicated significant negative moderating effects of perceived price and product knowledge and the positive moderating effect of perceived uncertainty between the relationship of herding cues (star rating and the number of products sold) and herding behavior. In addition, the mediating results of perceived information usefulness and perceived quality were also significant. This herding model provides a holistic view of the herding process beyond limiting it to an attempt to follow others blindly. Therefore, this study has both theoretical as well as managerial implications.

Unveiling the effects of livestream studio environment design on sales performance: A machine learning exploration

Livestreaming eCommerce companies invest a significant amount of time and resources in setting up their livestream studios. However, these companies struggle to determine how the studio environment impacts sales, leading to uncertainty regarding the return on investment in their livestream studios. To address this critical yet under-studied issue, we examine how the dual features of the B2B livestream studio environment, namely visual complexity and coherence, impact sales performance. We leveraged machine learning and deep learning algorithms to evaluate the visual complexity and coherence of the B2B livestream studio setting. We then developed the econometric model to determine how these factors affect sales during livestreaming events. Our analysis drew on a dataset of 954 B2B livestreaming events across 8 industry categories. Our study highlights the adverse effects of visual complexity and coherence on sales performance. Notably, high-involvement products are found to be more affected by visual complexity and coherence compared to low-involvement products.

“My Favorite Brand and I”: Self-Congruity and Brand Loyalty of Fast Fashion Product

This study aims to identify the role of self-congruity in the brand loyalty of Fast fashion products among students at one of the Indonesian tertiary institutions. The sampling technique is a quantitative method with non-opportunity sampling using convenience sampling and obtaining 214 respondents who are Fast fashion consumers among students at an Indonesian university. The data was processed using the Windows application analysis software Software Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) v23. The results of this study indicate that self-congruity plays a role of 40.8% in driving Fast fashion product brand loyalty, with an actual self-congruity role of 41.2% and an ideal self-congruity role of 27.3% towards Fast fashion product brand loyalty. Tracing the role of self-congruity in brand loyalty for low-involvement product types among students. This research will have a practical impact on product development by considering the characteristics of target consumers to match the type of product and image built on a brand.

An analysis of the brand content characteristics across high and low involvement product categories and their influence on information diffusion on Twitter

An analysis of the brand content characteristics across high and low involvement product categories and their influence on information diffusion on Twitter

Market segmentation based on consumers' multi-channel behaviours on e-retail purchases

Consumers use online retailing to purchase and collect information about products. The main purpose of this research is to identify the characteristics of online consumers, focusing especially on low-involvement products according to their multi-channel behaviour. The study population consists of individuals residing in Erzurum, Turkey, and the sample was selected using the convenience sampling method. The data from a sample of 300 participants were collected through online surveys. The link to the survey forms was sent to the participants via e-mail and telephone. The collected data was analyzed with factor analysis - principles components, reliability analysis - Cronbach Alpha, clustering analysis - Two Steps, and correlation analysis - Pearson. Cluster analysis based on consumers' online shopping preferences identified four different consumer groups in detail, focusing on the purchasing channels of online stores and the media touch points of mobile devices and personal computers. The cluster analysis also includes the psychographic and demographic characteristics of the participants. The results of this study can contribute to retailers better shaping their strategies and marketing efforts by providing greater insight into consumers' behaviour in online shopping. It also aims to contribute to the academic literature by emphasizing the importance of low-involvement products in online purchasing processes.

The moderating role of high- and low-involvement product types on customer loyalty and satisfaction in banking: an Australian perspective

PurposeThe study aims to develop a holistic model identifying the constructs that impact customer loyalty in retail banking and introduce product type as a moderating variable to the model.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model of customer loyalty is introduced and empirically tested with 416 valid samples obtained from Australian retail banking customers. The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling and multigroup analysis.FindingsThis study confirms the moderating effect of high- and low-involvement products on the relationship between customer loyalty and satisfaction, trust, service quality, commitment and perceived value. Surprisingly, the effect of satisfaction on loyalty was much stronger with low-involvement product types and the effect of commitment on loyalty was much stronger with customers who utilise high-involvement products.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses a sample population in Australia who utilise one of the top four banks and investigates three product types. Further research could expand the product selection and include customers who use credit unions and other banks not in the top four categories.Originality/valueThis study is the first to confirm the moderating effect product type has on the customer loyalty relationship in retail banking in regard to high- and low-involvement product categories. The research provides a deeper understanding of the factors that influence customer loyalty and identifies which types of products influences customer loyalty the most. Additionally, this study highlights the importance of understanding the different needs and priorities of customers using different product types in order to effectively influence their loyalty.

How Does Interactive Narrative Design Affect the Consumer Experience of Mobile Interactive Video Advertising?

With the rapid spread of mobile devices and the Internet, mobile interactive video advertising has become an increasingly popular means of accessing advertising information for a large number of users. Interactive narratives are advertisements that require collaboration between consumers and designers to complete the story. Interactive narratives influence marketing impact and the advertising experience. Building on previous research, this study delves deeper into the design methods of interactive narratives for mobile video advertisements. We developed various interactive narrative samples by controlling video quality parameters, content, and product involvement, and then measured consumer perceptions of these samples in a laboratory environment. The results indicate that six design methods for interactive narratives foster positive perceptions, immersion, and satisfaction in advertisements with low product involvement. For ads with a high degree of product involvement, two design methods can achieve positive consumer perceptions of interactive narratives. This study offers insights for businesses and interaction designers aiming to advance the commercial use of mobile interactive video advertising. At the same time, we propose a design method for mobile interactive video advertising that can also serve as an entry point for theoretical research on interactive narratives.

Digital Nudge Stacking and Backfiring: Understanding Sustainable E-Commerce Purchase Decisions

Abstract Background: The consumption of ‘fast fashion’, which is expedited by cost-effective e-commerce systems, represents one of the major factors contributing to the acceleration of climate change. An emerging approach to steer consumers in the direction of more sustainable purchase decisions is digital nudging. This paper explores digital nudging in the context of green fashion e-commerce by testing the effectiveness of two nudging strategies on the decision to choose green fashion products (GFP) over regular fashion items. Method: This study was conducted as a between-subject online experiment (n=320) with four conditions simulating an e-commerce scenario. The participants were presented with different products: one was ecologically friendly, and another was the regular option. Depending on their randomized group allocation, the participants experienced a default nudge, a social norm nudge, a combination of both strategies, or no nudge. In addition, we conducted 10 qualitative interviews to gain a deeper understanding of consumers’ decision process. Results: Our experiment failed to demonstrate statistically significant relationships between the various nudging strategies and GFP purchase decisions. However, additional explorative analyzes confirmed a backfire effect for the combination of nudging strategies. This reveals the previously overlooked influence of participants’ identification on the effectiveness of digital nudging strategies. In addition, qualitative interviews revealed individual factors that influence sustainable e-commerce purchase decisions. Conclusion: This study contributes to information systems research by explaining the differences in the effectiveness of different nudging strategies regarding high-involvement compared to low-involvement products. Moreover, it provides empirical evidence of a backfire effect resulting from a combination of digital nudging strategies (i.e., digital nudge stacking). Finally, the study underscores the leverage that individual factors have on both GFP purchase decision and the effectiveness of nudges.

Customer-to-Customer Communication: Referral of High and Low Involvement Products through Stimulated Word-of-Mouth

Referral reward programs (RRPs), considered as a form of stimulated word-of-mouth (WOM), provide incentives to existing customers to bring in new customers. The research here adds to previous knowledge by exploring the usage of referral codes for high and low-involvement products in three stages of the consumer decision journey, on a sample of 218 consumers analyzed by regression analysis. Results show that components of the Theory of Planned Behavior influence the behavioral intention toward participating in an RRP, with perceived behavioral control having the strongest effect, followed by subjective norm and Attitude. Referral codes have a significant effect on respondents’ behavior; high conformity of high-involvement products and low conformity of low-involvement products was found, with referral programs having a weaker effect on high-involvement products. Customers tend to follow all steps of the traditional consumer journey when buying a high-involvement product; in the case of low involvement products, low conformity was even lower when using a referral code. Low-involvement products at the need recognition stage, and high-involvement products at the active research stage, are the least affected by the RRP. Results provide insights for companies to optimize their marketing strategy through stimulated WOM, and with the usage of RRPs.

The role of informational versus transformational ad appeals in building consumer-based brand equity for low involvement products

ABSTRACT Prior literature suggests that, for low involvement products, transformational advertising should be favored over informational advertising. The current study on 927 consumers from the United Kingdom indicates that transformational and informational ad appeals are equally effective in enhancing brand awareness, but informational ad appeals are more effective in increasing positive quality perceptions and company associations. Confirming previous findings, the positive effect of informational ad appeals on brand awareness is greater for utilitarian products than for hedonic products. This study provides insights guiding the adoption of informational and transformational ad appeals to achieve specific advertising objectives depending on the product type.

Assortment Planning with Satisficing Customers

Limited information, time, or capacity may prevent customers from acting as utility maximizers when making purchase decisions. Rather, they would settle for a good enough option; that is, they stop searching and make a purchase as soon as they find an acceptable alternative. We incorporate this behavior in an assortment-optimization problem. Whereas different approaches to modeling customer choice are adopted in assortment planning, all assume customers are utility maximizers. Our work bridges the research streams of assortment planning and bounded rationality, particularly satisficing behavior. In addition, we define a limit for the search budget of customers, in which customers leave without purchase after examining a certain number of items. This assumption brings a new perspective to the assortment-planning literature, enabling us to capture the choice-overload effect. We prove that the firm’s problem of finding the optimal assortment is NP-hard. We further establish certain structural properties of the optimal decision, which allows us to reformulate the model as a mixed-integer program. We analytically derive a tight upper bound on the percentage loss in the firm’s expected profit for small instances when it assumes incorrectly that customers are utility maximizers. For larger instances, we take a numerical approach to determine the loss. Our results indicate that firms offering low-involvement products, among those dealing with satisficing customers, are more likely to face substantial profit loss if they ignore this behavior. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/deca.2022.0063 .

A Woke Approach to User-generated Content: How Product Involvement and Gender Influence What We Post

Although gender is often utilized as a dummy control variable in user-generated content research, studies are often conducted in online communities of products that are disproportionately used by male users. In a similar fashion, existing studies also concentrate on communities of high-involvement products, even though online communities of low involvement products are emerging. In continuation of Soylemez’s work (2021a), this study utilized ELM and the equity theory and investigated how two personal factors (gender and product involvement) influence the relative generation of brand-oriented and community-oriented content. The study found that members of high-involvement product communities generate more brand-oriented content than community-oriented content, whereas members of low-involvement product communities generate more community-oriented content than brand-oriented content. A significant gender-product involvement interaction exists. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed.