Utilitarian Goods Research Articles

Music in Consumer Behavior: The Effect of Background Music on Time Perception for Online Consumers

Background music plays an important role in shaping consumer preferences, decisions, and behaviors. While certain characteristics of music have received considerable attention in prior research (e.g., speed, volume, modernity, etc.), there has been limited attention devoted to the role of music genre in consumer behavior. The current research contributes to this stream of literature by empirically manipulating the genre of background music in an online consumer task and measuring consumer behavior. In a pre-registered experiment (N=1,161) online participants were played different genres of a musical composition. Their willingness to pay (WTP) for a variety of hedonic and utilitarian goods was measured, as was their perception of time spent on a task. Unlike past research, the present results shed light on how different music genres affect consumers’ time perception in a retail setting. Following a review of the prior literature on music and time perception in consumer behavior, empirical data are introduced and recommendations are presented for marketing managers and businesses.

구독경제 유형과 제품 유형 차이가 구독 의도에 미치는 영향

Purpose: While most of the studies on subscription economy focus on online media streaming services, consumer goods subscription services are already actively being implemented in the market. In this study, the type of subscription service (replenishment vs. curated) and product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) examined the effect of subscription intention in the consumer goods subscription economy. Furthermore, based on previous studies, the factors mediating this relationship were classified into shopping convenience and perceived enjoyment, and the relationship was examined. Research design, data, and methodology: Consumers’ opinions on consumer products subscription services were collected through the pretest, and based on this, advertisement stimuli for drugstore’s Health & Beauty subscription service and Super supermarkets’ Food & Groceries subscription were produced. Subsequently, an experiment was conducted on 822 randomly recruited people through Amazon MTurk. Experiment 2 (Subscription service type: Replenishment subscription vs. Curated subscription) × 2 (product type: Hedonic goods vs. Utilitarian goods) was designed between groups, and experimental participants were exposed to advertising stimulation of subscription services were asked to respond to the measurement questions of Subscription intention, Shopping convenience, and Perceived enjoyment. Results: As a result of the experiment, the interaction effect of the subscription service types and product types on the subscription intention was confirmed. In addition, through PROCESS macro, the partial mediating effect of shopping convenience was proved in the relationship between subscription service types and subscription intention, and the complete mediating effect of perceived enjoyment was found in the relationship between product type and subscription intention. Conclusions: The study provides the following academic and practical implications. First, for the performance of product subscription services, companies need to change the types of subscription services depending on whether the supplied products are hedonic or utilitarian products. Second, when the subscription service type is Replenishment subscription, it is necessary to focus on the convenience for consumers, and when the product type is hedonic, it is important to improve customers’ enjoyment of shopping. Third, this study has verified the role of factors dealt with in existing shopping studies through experimental studies on subscription services, which are attracting attention as a new trend following the sharing economy. Finally, the influence of perceived enjoyment and shopping convenience, which have been studied as important parameters or regulatory variables related to shopping, was expanded to consumer goods subscription services.

ЗНАЧЕННЯ ГАСТРОНОМІЧНОГО ТУРИЗМУ В СИСТЕМІ ПОДОЛАННЯ СЕЗОННОСТІ

The article defines that seasonality is a phenomenon of moderate geographical latitudes of Europe. Seasonality has a great influence on tourist traffic. The impact of this natural phenomenon extends to human resource management, the profitability of the tourism economy, and supply and demand. The seasonality of tourist traffic is a huge obstacle in organizing and pricing tourist services, planning new investments, and developing and implementing regional development strategies. Tourist demand, in contrast to supply, is significantly influenced by the seasonality factor. It was determined that the most effective method of struggle is the diversification of the tourist product. It is proposed to use the potential of gastronomic tourism in the system of overcoming seasonality for a tourist enterprise. Because gastronomic tourism is a form of creative recreation that involves not only the passive participation of consumers, but also their active involvement in the very process of creating a product, event, or service. Overcoming seasonality serves two important purposes: ecological and economic. Studies of the types of gastronomic tourism indicate the possibility of increasing the attractiveness of the destination, as well as the formation of methods of promotion of the destination's gastronomic brands. The gastronomic tourism market is one of the most dynamic and growing segments of the tourism market. The priority for the consumer is not so much the product and service as the impressions received from them. In conditions of rapid saturation of needs, development of the latest technologies of conducting tourist business, conditions are created for the reorientation of the concept of tourist consumption. For the consumer, it is more important to receive more positive emotions than price benefits. There is a significant reorientation of the consumer from obtaining utilitarian goods to receiving impressions and satisfaction. In this context, gastronomic tourism is gaining significant advantages in the organization of the tourist offer. Gastronomic tourism can also be considered an auxiliary tool in learning about the cultural heritage of countries and regions of the world.

Provincial luxury in Renaissance Verona

AbstractThis article investigates the ways in which taste for luxury was expressed in the homes of the provincial Renaissance elite in sixteenth‐century Verona. Through an analysis of the domestic inventories of a crosssection of Verona’s elite, this article argues that items such as gilded and carved chests, opulent bedding, tapestries, decorated objects and religious paintings formed an integral part of luxury display and formation of family identity in elite Veronese households in the sixteenth century. The article explores how otherwise utilitarian goods were frequently ornamented and used to display taste, wealth, piety and status, as the Veronese elite competed to maintain and augment their position within Verona and the Veneto.Importantly, it is argued that as notable families in Verona manoeuvred amongst an elite social group in the Venetian mainland empire, there developed a shared taste for luxury, which largely mirrored domestic fashions emerging in Venice. Luxury furniture, fabrics and devotional objects were an important part of the construction of a splendid home and thus a positive public reputation for families navigating their way through fragile social hierarchies.

Demand Effects of the Internet-of-Things Sales Channel: Evidence from Automating the Purchase Process

The internet of things (IoT) is rapidly becoming one of the most popular emerging technologies in business and society. One of the major verticals that has recently begun to effectively use IoT technologies is the retail industry. Given the unprecedented opportunities IoT generates for brands and retailers, it is important to glean timely insights regarding the business value of IoT and understand whether the introduction of an IoT technology as an alternative purchase channel for consumers affects the sales of physical products. Using empirical data from a multinational online retailer who adopted an IoT technology that largely automates the consumers’ purchases and employing a quasi-experimental framework, we study the effect of the introduction of IoT as an alternative sales channel on product sales. Our analyses reveal a statistically and economically significant increase in sales and demonstrate the business value of the IoT channel for retailers and brands. In addition, we conduct other analyses of IoT to delve into the effect of heterogeneity and empirically validate the underlying mechanisms by examining the impact of IoT for products in different price ranges, levels of substitutability, and product categories. For instance, our analyses reveal that less expensive and more differentiated products, as well as experience and utilitarian goods, can accrue higher benefits leveraging more effectively novel IoT technologies. This is the first paper to study the impact of an IoT technology on product sales, drawing important implications for devices and technologies largely automating the purchase process.

Understanding panic buying during COVID-19: A text analytics approach

An area of consumer behaviour that caught retailers and supply chains unprepared during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic was the increased prevalence of the purchase of utilitarian goods – referred to in the media as “panic buying.” In this study, we take a novel approach to understanding such panic buying during the pandemic using compensatory control theory (CCT), text analytics, and advanced data modelling. Using a big data set over 14 days from 24,153 Twitter users in Italy, we create dictionaries to capture CCT constructs and note the dates of two government announcements. We measure constructs in the longitudinal data and test the CCT model using generalized linear mixed models for both fixed effects and random variation across individuals and time. The results support CCT, with anxiety driving a lack of perceived control, moderated by effective government announcements, and a lack of perceived control leading to purchasing, negatively moderated by utilitarian qualities. The study demonstrates the benefit of the methods for studying social phenomena and for early warning of potential demand issues via social media.

The congruence effect of food shape and name typeface on consumers’ food preferences

Both food image and name are important in advertising and packaging, which means that identifying their effects on consumer preferences is of both conceptual and managerial importance. However, although an increasing body of research currently focuses on the impact of food attributes on consumers, whether the sensory correspondences between food shape and name typeface affect consumer reactions is an under-researched topic. This paper thus comprises five studies to demonstrate the congruence effect between food shape and name typeface, whereby consumers prefer foods with a round (angular) shape that are labeled with a round (angular) name typeface. This shape–typeface congruence effect is driven by the psychological mechanism of processing fluency, which derives from the sensory correspondences between food shape and name typeface. Finally, this study identifies an important boundary condition of the congruence effect, confirming it affects only the consumer response to hedonic and not utilitarian goods. Using multiple foods and typefaces, the findings provide significant implications for processing fluency, sensory correspondences, and food marketing.

Common neural value representations of hedonic and utilitarian products in the ventral striatum: An fMRI study

Hedonic goods are goods that people buy to obtain emotional experiences, such as joy or excitement, while utilitarian goods are bought to meet functional or instrumental needs. Although research in neuroscience suggests that the values of hedonic and utilitarian goods are similarly represented, it remains largely unknown how these values are mapped during purchasing decisions or task-irrelevant judgments. It has been suggested that people rely more on hedonic (vs. utilitarian) factors when making task-irrelevant judgments, and that this is amplified by trait-reward seeking. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can directly measure the mental processes involved in explicit or task-irrelevant value judgments. Using fMRI, we found that the explicit value of hedonic and utilitarian goods was commonly processed in the ventral striatum. In contrast, no significant results were obtained in common neural processing of task-irrelevant hedonic and utilitarian value. Additionally, we did not find any evidence that trait-reward seeking modulates task-irrelevant hedonic (vs. utilitarian) value processing. Our findings show that the value of both hedonic and utilitarian goods is commonly represented in the ventral striatum, and indicate that the value construct underlying consumer purchases is unidimensional.

Effects of background colors on hedonic and utilitarian consumption.

The present study examined how red versus green background colors affect consumers' buying behaviors towards hedonic and utilitarian goods. Across two laboratory experiments (total number of participants = 210), we found that red (vs. green) could induce hedonically oriented consumption and, consequently, persuade individuals to buy more hedonic goods.

Preference Reversals in Willingness to Pay and Choice

Abstract A fundamental contribution of consumer behavior research is to help marketing scholars develop an understanding of how people think about and express their preferences. In this article we find that two commonly used preference elicitation procedures, willingness to pay (WTP) and choice, are consistently associated with different expressed preferences. Specifically, choices are associated with a relatively greater preference for hedonic goods, while WTP is associated with a relatively greater preference for utilitarian goods. We find that this is caused, in part, by the greater reliance on deliberation in determining WTP values, while preferences in choices are determined by an affect heuristic. Unlike other choice and WTP preference reversals, we find that this effect is not caused by mechanical determinants such as scale compatibility, as the effect persists with continuous scale measures that rely on affect and with choice-based scale measures that rely on determining valuation.

Elicitation-Based Preference Reversals in Consumer Goods

A fundamental contribution of consumer behavior research is to help marketing scholars develop an understanding of how people think about and express their preferences. In this article we find that two commonly used preference elicitation procedures, willingness to pay (WTP) and choice, are consistently associated with different expressed preferences. Specifically, choices are associated with a relatively greater preference for hedonic goods, while WTP is associated with a relatively greater preference for utilitarian goods. We find that this is caused, in part, by the greater reliance on deliberation in determining WTP values, while preferences in choices are determined by an affect heuristic. Unlike other choice and WTP preference reversals, we find that this effect is not caused by mechanical determinants such as scale compatibility, as the effect persists with continuous scale measures that rely on affect and with choice-based scale measures that rely on determining valuation.

The different impact of fluency and disfluency on online group-buying conforming behavior

This study conducted two experiments to examine the moderating impact of processing and retrieval fluency on online group-buying conforming behavior, return tendency and, in particular, conformity towards hedonic and utilitarian products. Experiments 1-1, 1–2, and 2 showed that consumers exhibited more online group-buying conforming behavior under processing or retrieval fluency conditions than under disfluency conditions. The results also revealed that the positive impact of disfluency might eliminate the return tendency towards online group-buying conforming behavior. Finally, fluency produced more online group-buying conforming behavior when consumers purchased hedonic products than when they purchased utilitarian goods.

Investigating the segment specific preferences for hedonic and utilitarian online-shop characteristics: the case of German online wine shops

Recently the market for grocery online-shopping is expanding. Therefore, this study analyse the influencing factors of online shoppers' preferences for online wine shops with an adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis (ACBC). As these factors in general differ for hedonic and utilitarian goods, we investigated what characteristics presented in the online-shop are most important to customers of a primarily hedonic product like wine. Surprisingly, respondents in general favoured utilitarian over hedonic characteristic levels. In addition, we identified two distinct customer groups by applying a preference-based market segmentation (CCEA). The price/efficiency-seeking group favoured utilitarian characteristics. The quality-seeking group favoured hedonic over utilitarian characteristics, but with a strong importance of some utilitarian website characteristics. Finally management implications are presented.

Made by Mistake: When Mistakes Increase Product Preference

Abstract Mistakes are often undesirable and frequently result in negative inferences about the person or company that made the mistake. Consequently, research suggests that information about mistakes is rarely shared with consumers. However, we find that consumers actually prefer products that were made by mistake to otherwise identical products that were made intentionally. This preference arises because consumers perceive that a product made by mistake is more improbable relative to a product made intentionally, and thus, view the product as more unique. We find converging evidence for this preference in a field study, six experiments, and eBay auction sales. Importantly, this preference holds regardless of whether the mistake enhances or detracts from the product. However, in domains where consumers do not value uniqueness (e.g., utilitarian goods), the preference is eliminated.

Hongshan households and communities in Neolithic northeastern China

Analysis of a large sample of household artifact assemblages from residential zones dating to the Hongshan period (4500–3000 BCE) in northeastern China complements regional-scale settlement study and excavation of house structures, platforms, and tombs. Prestige differentiation between household units is recognizable but modest. Productive differentiation is also present, indicating a very small degree of economic interdependence between households involving the utilitarian goods of daily life. Exchange did transcend both local and regional-scale communities, but movement of goods seldom exceeded a few kilometers. Standards of living were similar across households, with no sign of wealth differentiation. Confirming what has previously been suggested about the role of belief systems in Hongshan social integration, the strongest differentiation detectable in the household evidence involved religious roles and ritual activities. The elaboration of ceremonial architecture and funerary ritual of the Hongshan core zone is thus seen not to correspond to larger regional-scale communities, greater projection of political power, a more specialized economy, larger-scale exchange of goods, or accumulation of wealth. These commonly imagined aspects of early complex society were strikingly underdeveloped in Hongshan society, given its complex ceremonial architecture, elaborate burial treatment of presumed ritual specialists, and famous jade carvings.

Moderating role of product type in the relationship between e-retailer service attributes and customer satisfaction

This paper examines how product type (i.e., utilitarian vs. hedonic) moderates the relationship between e-retailer service attributes (i.e., customer support and product met expectations) and customer satisfaction. Using hierarchical linear regression analysis, this paper finds that customer support exerts a stronger impact on customer overall satisfaction for utilitarian goods than for hedonic goods. In contrast, product met expectations exerts a greater impact on customer overall satisfaction for hedonic goods than for utilitarian goods. Managerially, it is of strategic importance for e-retailers to account for their product types when allocating resources to service attributes. Theoretically, this is the first study to explore the moderating role of product type (i.e., utilitarian vs. hedonic) in the relationships between e-retailer service attributes and customer overall satisfaction.

Moderating role of product type in the relationship between e-retailer service attributes and customer satisfaction

This paper examines how product type (i.e., utilitarian vs. hedonic) moderates the relationship between e-retailer service attributes (i.e., customer support and product met expectations) and customer satisfaction. Using hierarchical linear regression analysis, this paper finds that customer support exerts a stronger impact on customer overall satisfaction for utilitarian goods than for hedonic goods. In contrast, product met expectations exerts a greater impact on customer overall satisfaction for hedonic goods than for utilitarian goods. Managerially, it is of strategic importance for e-retailers to account for their product types when allocating resources to service attributes. Theoretically, this is the first study to explore the moderating role of product type (i.e., utilitarian vs. hedonic) in the relationships between e-retailer service attributes and customer overall satisfaction.

Going Back to Their Roots: Comanche Trade and Diet Revisited

Abstract Recent studies of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Comanches have argued that their dependence on bison posed a serious nutritional challenge in the form of a dangerously imbalanced high-protein diet. They contend that this specialization required Comanches to obtain carbohydrates in the form of maize from Spanish-ruled New Mexico and Texas or Native American horticulturalists. This in turn is claimed to have been crucial in structuring Comanche economic and political ties with their neighbors. This article argues instead that the documentary evidence used to support a trade in foodstuffs is weak and that Comanches employed alternative nutritional strategies, including consuming and storing a wide range of wild plants. Prestige and utilitarian goods such as metal tools and weapons, firearms, and items of personal adornment—not food—were the primary motivation for Comanche trade with Europeans.

A Study on the Activities of Touch Point and Consumer Information Search in the Multimedia Environment

The purpose of this study is, in the situation that consumers use not only online news but social media as information delivery media, based on web data, to examine the effect of touch point activities in two media different according to product types on consumer search activities. To do this, we traced the patterns of information diffusion according to time, by extracting the number of the web postings of the information about the products from on-line news and blogs on a weekly or monthly basis, and identified consumer search activities about the goods by using their search traffics provided on a weekly basis by portal sites As a result of the study, it turned out that touch point activities and consumer search activities are different from each other in two media different according to product types. Specifically speaking, as for utilitarian goods, it appeared that there were correlations between the touch points and consumer search activities of the two different information media. In particular, more similarity in the patterns of information diffusion was found in the news sites than in the blogs. In the case of hedonic goods, the correlations between touch points and consumer search activities showed different results according to the time intervals. A monthly analysis showed that the consumer search activities had correlations not with on-line news, but with blogs. On the contrary, a weekly analysis showed that they had higher correlations with blogs than with on-line news sites though having correlations with both the two.

Endowment effect for hedonic but not utilitarian goods

This research proposes that the WTA–WTP disparity between sellers and buyers in the endowment effect can be understood in terms of sellers' emotional attachment to the endowed item. Consistent with this hypothesis and how affective considerations are more diagnostic for hedonic than utilitarian goods, the results of an experiment indicate that the pricing disparity occurs primarily for hedonic goods. This finding explains many of the moderators that have been proffered for the endowment effect.