Enjoyment vs. Utility: Drivers and Consequences of Consumer M-Commerce Motivations

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) has grown over the years and today represents a promising channel for marketers. Nevertheless, it has not yet lived up to its full potential. Past research has mainly treated m-commerce as a predominantly utilitarian (i.e. functional and practical) way of shopping. Moving away from this uniquely utilitarian view of m-retailing, this study explores whether hedonic motivations (i.e. experience and enjoyment related) also play an important role in driving consumer m-commerce behaviour. We conceptualize consumers’ motivations as conditions that are a consequence of their regulatory orientations. The study proposes and empirically validates that prevention-oriented consumers (i.e. vigilant and conservative) are more likely to activate utilitarian motivations to use m-commerce, whereas promotion-oriented consumers (i.e. eager and risk-takers) are more likely to activate hedonic motivations to use m-commerce. The interplay between regulatory orientations and related motivations have direct consequences on consumers’ perceptions of value and trust toward m-commerce. More specifically, we show that hedonic motivations lead to higher value and trust for promotion-oriented individuals, and that utilitarian motivations lead to higher value and trust for prevention-oriented individuals. Moreover, both hedonic and utilitarian motivations are important determinants of trust and value for moderately prevention- and promotion-oriented individuals. Equipped with this knowledge, marketers can more efficiently cater to consumers’ motivations

Influencer marketing on TikTok: the effectiveness of humor and followers’ hedonic experience

This work examines the determinants of the success of influencer marketing on the youth-focused TikTok, the fastest growing social network. It analyses the effects of influencers' account characteristics (originality, quality, quantity and humor) on their followers' hedonic experience and perceived opinion leadership, and how these impact on their intentions to follow influencers’ accounts and advice. A survey of followers of a popular Spanish TikTok influencer showed that originality and opinion leadership play important roles and that, because TikTok is distinctive, humor increased the effectiveness of messages (through hedonic experience). Suggestions are made to advance the understanding of this novel phenomenon

The connected consumer‎: A theoretical framework of consumer adoption/consequences of the Internet of Things and smart connected objects

Over the last decade, technological and Internet innovations have increasingly invaded the consumer market (N’Goala, 2016). The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a common platform, and disrupts relationships between consumers and companies (Bohli et al., 2009); in essence, this is a timely research. The major goal of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the acceptance and the adoption processes of the IoT and smart connected technologies, as well as the related consequences on perceived well-being. To do this, four contexts of study have been explored: smart connected objects, smart sleep applications, smart homes, and smart stores. First, we performed qualitative exploratory studies, and secondly we conducted quantitative studies to build conceptual models according to our qualitative findings and the literature. The results show that technology benefits are the first factors that enable technology acceptance through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; subsequently, self-improvement, through perceived social image and well-being benefits, are the main reasons to continue using the IoT and smart connected technologies. The acceptance and the adoption of these technologies also depend on users’ personality traits while perceived risks and fears on the use of the personal data are the main barriers. In turn, the IoT and smart connected technologies influence perceived well-being according to the experience of use, personality traits, and the technology.Le résumé en français n'a pas été communiqué par l'auteur

The Impact of Goal-Congruent Feature Additions on Core IS Feature Use: When More Is Less and Less Is More

This research investigates the impact of feature additions on the use of an information system’s (IS) existing core features. Based on prior work in marketing and IS, we hypothesize conflicting effects on the usage of the system as a whole and the IS core due to the goal congruence of the two feature sets. In three consecutive empirical studies, we consider the example of a utilitarian consumer IS in the form of a mobile insurance app with additional weather-related functionality. The statistical results indicate that the goal-congruent feature addition exerts a positive influence on system use, whereas the impact on core IS use is negative. More specifically, we show that the latter effect can be explained by changes in the users’ perceptions of the usefulness and ease of use of the core features. From a theoretical perspective, our work goes beyond the predominant system view of technology acceptance and use by employing a more fine-grained, feature-oriented level of investigation, which opens several avenues for further research regarding the relationships between information systems and the features they comprise. From a managerial perspective, the results help to characterize the detrimental effects that feature additions may have on IS usage. These consequences become particularly relevant when revenue, cost savings, or other benefits on the part of IS operators are linked only to a subset of the entire IS functionality, as in the case of certain web portals or mobile apps

Examining consumers' continued use of retailers' branded mobile applications

The aim of this research is to expand our understanding of consumers’ continuous usage of traditional retail smartphone branded mobile applications (apps). Previous research in technology acceptance and continuous usage of technological innovations mainly focuses on functional and hedonic variables specifically related to the technology under research. Also, past research typically focuses on the continuous use of e-services reflecting the loyalty of consumers toward a specific e-service (e.g. loyalty toward a website or m-commerce). While this research examines utilitarian and hedonic variables that influence consumers to be satisfied and motivate them to continue to use smartphone branded apps, it finds that variables related to the brand motivate consumers to continue to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Therefore, this research shows that while utilitarian and hedonic variables that are related to the technical characteristics of the technology in use are essential to motivate consumers to continue to use a technological innovation, brand-related variables related to the traditional retailer (e.g. long-term brand reputation and loyalty) are important in motivating consumers to continue to use branded mobile apps. Considering the limited knowledge available on what motivates consumers to continue using traditional retail smartphone branded mobile apps in a multi-channel retail environment, this research adopted a mixed methods approach. The research utilised an exploratory qualitative method in the form of 21 semi-structured individual in-depth interviews conducted in the UK to explore the drivers that motivate consumers to continue to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps and to refine the theoretical model that is tested in the quantitative phase of this research. The quantitative phase utilised an online questionnaire with 1009 consumers who retain and have continued to use traditional retail branded smartphone apps for a period of more than six months from John Lewis, M&S, Next and H&M. This research highlights several findings on what motivates consumers’ satisfaction with the smartphone branded app user experience and the continuous intention to use the app. The findings highlight that the utilitarian variables (perceived ease of use, usefulness, and personalisation), and the hedonic variable (enjoyment) increases consumers’ satisfaction with the branded app user experience leading to an increase in consumers’ continuous intention to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Furthermore, this research finds that utilitarian variables of perceived usefulness, compatibility and the hedonic variable of enjoyment, are capable of influencing consumers to continue using traditional retail smartphone branded apps even when they are not satisfied with the app user experience. Furthermore, this research finds that satisfaction with the app user experience mediates escapism negatively, while escapism also has a significant negative relationship with the continuous intention to use the smartphone branded app. Also, the escapism finding in this study contradicts the previous literature on the usual role of escapism in e-services generally. Furthermore, the subjective norm (e.g. social influence) does not influence the continuous intention to use the smartphone branded app directly or indirectly through satisfaction with the app user experience. Also, this research highlights that consumers’ satisfaction with app user experience significantly increases consumers’ continuous intention to use the smartphone branded app. The findings of this research also highlight that the retailer’s long-term brand reputation and loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer’s brand, which are variables that are not related to the technical characteristics of smartphone branded apps, play an important role in influencing consumers’ intention to continue using traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Furthermore, this research finds that loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer mediates the relationship of satisfaction with the branded app user experience to consumers’ continuous intention to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Also, loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer influences the consumers’ continuous intention to use the branded app directly. Interestingly, consumers’ perceptions of long-term reputation of the traditional retail brand do not influence the continuous intention directly as hypothesised. However, long-term brand reputation influences consumers’ continuous intention to use the branded app through the mediated relationship of loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer brand. This research contributes by enhancing our understanding of the variables that influence consumers’ intentions to continue to use traditional retail smartphone branded applications. Furthermore, this research presents a theoretical model that provides theoretical implications and offers managerial implications for understanding the continuous usage of smartphone branded apps in a multi-channel retail context.The aim of this research is to expand our understanding of consumers’ continuous usage of traditional retail smartphone branded mobile applications (apps). Previous research in technology acceptance and continuous usage of technological innovations mainly focuses on functional and hedonic variables specifically related to the technology under research. Also, past research typically focuses on the continuous use of e-services reflecting the loyalty of consumers toward a specific e-service (e.g. loyalty toward a website or m-commerce). While this research examines utilitarian and hedonic variables that influence consumers to be satisfied and motivate them to continue to use smartphone branded apps, it finds that variables related to the brand motivate consumers to continue to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Therefore, this research shows that while utilitarian and hedonic variables that are related to the technical characteristics of the technology in use are essential to motivate consumers to continue to use a technological innovation, brand-related variables related to the traditional retailer (e.g. long-term brand reputation and loyalty) are important in motivating consumers to continue to use branded mobile apps. Considering the limited knowledge available on what motivates consumers to continue using traditional retail smartphone branded mobile apps in a multi-channel retail environment, this research adopted a mixed methods approach. The research utilised an exploratory qualitative method in the form of 21 semi-structured individual in-depth interviews conducted in the UK to explore the drivers that motivate consumers to continue to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps and to refine the theoretical model that is tested in the quantitative phase of this research. The quantitative phase utilised an online questionnaire with 1009 consumers who retain and have continued to use traditional retail branded smartphone apps for a period of more than six months from John Lewis, M&S, Next and H&M. This research highlights several findings on what motivates consumers’ satisfaction with the smartphone branded app user experience and the continuous intention to use the app. The findings highlight that the utilitarian variables (perceived ease of use, usefulness, and personalisation), and the hedonic variable (enjoyment) increases consumers’ satisfaction with the branded app user experience leading to an increase in consumers’ continuous intention to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Furthermore, this research finds that utilitarian variables of perceived usefulness, compatibility and the hedonic variable of enjoyment, are capable of influencing consumers to continue using traditional retail smartphone branded apps even when they are not satisfied with the app user experience. Furthermore, this research finds that satisfaction with the app user experience mediates escapism negatively, while escapism also has a significant negative relationship with the continuous intention to use the smartphone branded app. Also, the escapism finding in this study contradicts the previous literature on the usual role of escapism in e-services generally. Furthermore, the subjective norm (e.g. social influence) does not influence the continuous intention to use the smartphone branded app directly or indirectly through satisfaction with the app user experience. Also, this research highlights that consumers’ satisfaction with app user experience significantly increases consumers’ continuous intention to use the smartphone branded app. The findings of this research also highlight that the retailer’s long-term brand reputation and loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer’s brand, which are variables that are not related to the technical characteristics of smartphone branded apps, play an important role in influencing consumers’ intention to continue using traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Furthermore, this research finds that loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer mediates the relationship of satisfaction with the branded app user experience to consumers’ continuous intention to use traditional retail smartphone branded apps. Also, loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer influences the consumers’ continuous intention to use the branded app directly. Interestingly, consumers’ perceptions of long-term reputation of the traditional retail brand do not influence the continuous intention directly as hypothesised. However, long-term brand reputation influences consumers’ continuous intention to use the branded app through the mediated relationship of loyalty intention toward the traditional retailer brand. This research contributes by enhancing our understanding of the variables that influence consumers’ intentions to continue to use traditional retail smartphone branded applications. Furthermore, this research presents a theoretical model that provides theoretical implications and offers managerial implications for understanding the continuous usage of smartphone branded apps in a multi-channel retail context

Don’t Take It Personally: The Effect of Explicit Targeting in Advertising Personalization

Firms increasingly use consumers’ information to personalize their communication. Personalized advertisements, targeted based on users’ past behavior, offer users relevant product information that fits their preferences. In this study, we investigate the implications of explicit targeting, making the underlying targeting mechanism explicit to consumers, and ad message framing, in terms of utilitarian or hedonic product benefits. In a large-scale field experiment in which we run a campaign for a mobile application, we show that explicit targeting reduces advertising effectiveness pointing towards increased consumer privacy concerns. While utilitarian ad messages reinforce the negative effect of explicit targeting, the use of hedonic ad messages alleviates such a negative effect. Our study contributes to IS literature on advertising personalization and the personalization privacy paradox. We provide practical insights for firms that can be used in the design and implementation of personalized advertising campaigns

Two Sides of the Same Coin? Insights on Motivational Information Systems and Goal Achievement From a User and Firm Perspective

Immer mehr Menschen integrieren Motivationale Informationssysteme (z. B. Ernährungs- Apps, Fitness-Tracker oder Webseiten zur Selbstoptimierung) in ihren Alltag. Solche Systeme nutzen Designprinzipien von hedonischen Diensten (wie z. B. Spielen und sozialen Netzwerken), um den Nutzern eine motivationale Unterstützung zu bieten und das System-Engagement zu erhöhen. Folglich versprechen Motivationale Informationssysteme, eine Win-Win-Situation für ihre Anbieter und Nutzer zu schaffen, indem sie die Ziele beider Stakeholder erfüllen. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich den Fragen, ob Motivationale Informationssysteme tatsächlich die Erreichung von Benutzer- und Unternehmenszielen unterstützen und wie sie das Benutzerverhalten beeinflussen. Die in dieser Dissertation enthaltenen Artikel beleuchten diese Forschungsfragen, indem sie den Einfluss verschiedener Arten von Systemdesign (z. B. soziale Interdependenzstrukturen) und durch Systemnutzung geförderte Erlebnisse (z. B. eigene Weiterentwicklung, sozialer Vergleich) auf nutzer- (z. B. Engagement) und unternehmensgewinnbringende Verhaltensweisen (z. B. Zahlungsbereitschaft, Weiterempfehlungen) sowie deren Folgen (z. B. Leistungssteigerung, Wohlbefinden) unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener psychologischer Prozesse (z. B. Regulationsstile, Zielorientierungen) untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, über verschiedene Dienstleistungskontexte hinweg, dass Motivationale Informationssysteme zwar meist die Ziele von Nutzern und Unternehmen unterstützen, jedoch auch unerwartete negative Effekte mit dem Einsatz von Motivationalen Informationssystemen einhergehen können. Darüber hinaus können Motivationale Informationssysteme Aktivitäten "unterhaltsamer" machen, indem sie menschlichen Grundbedürfnisse befriedigen, sie können aber auch ungewollten "Leistungsdruck" auf ihre Benutzer ausüben. Zusammenfassend zeigen die in dieser Arbeit dargelegten Ergebnisse, dass Motivationale Informationssysteme ihr Versprechen einlösen können, eine Win-Win-Situation für alle Stakeholder zu schaffen.More and more people are integrating motivational information systems (e.g., nutrition apps, fitness trackers or self-improvement websites) in their everyday lives. Such systems utilize design principles from hedonic services (i.e., games and social networks) to provide users with motivational support and enhance system engagement. Accordingly, motivational information systems promise to create a win-win situation for their providers and users in which they fulfill the goals of both stakeholders. This thesis is devoted to reveal whether motivational information systems actually support the achievement of user and firm goals and how they drive user behavior. The included articles in this dissertation shed light on these questions by examining the impact of different types of system design (e.g., social interdependence structures) and motivational information system-facilitated user experiences (e.g., self-development, social comparison) on user-beneficial (e.g., engagement) and firm-beneficial behaviors (e.g., willingness to pay more, word-of-mouth) as well as their outcomes (e.g., performance, well-being) under the consideration of different psychological processes (e.g., regulation styles, goal orientations). The findings across various service contexts reveal that while motivational information systems mostly support user and firm goals, unexpected downside effects can reside with their use. Furthermore, motivational information systems are likely to make activities “fun” by satisfying users’ inherent human desires, but they can also “pressure” their users to perform. In sum, the findings presented in this thesis show that motivational information systems can fulfill their promise to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders.2021-03-1

Context in augmented reality marketing: Does the place of use matter?

Augmented reality (AR) integrates virtual content into a consumer\u27s perception of the real world. While academic interest in AR is growing, most prior research has focused on consumer evaluations of AR content and neglected the physical context in which AR content is consumed. Addressing this research gap, two experimental studies showed that context (e.g., experiencing a virtual sofa at home vs. in a university classroom) impacts consumer judgments and evaluations. The results reveal two primary effects of context. First, contexts in which virtual objects meet users\u27 personal and cultural expectations associated with a specific location (e.g., a sofa in a living room) increase plausibility. However, such functionally appropriate contexts (counterintuitively) decrease local presence (i.e., the perception that the virtual product is “here”). Study 2 extends this model by showing that plausibility (a rational and deliberate assessment of AR content) and local presence both impact utilitarian benefits, whereas local presence has a stronger effect on perceived physical tangibility. The findings extend prior theory on the psychological mechanisms impacting judgment and presence in AR, and they provide managers with important insights regarding the influence of context on downstream variables in their AR and metaverse marketing strategies

Consumer behavior regarding wearable technologies:: Google Glass

Purpose – This purpose of this study is to analyze consumer behavior in relation to Google Glass. The study considers the adoption and diffusion of the innovation, aspects related to technological convergence and the theories of utilitarian, hedonic and social value. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative, exploratory study uses the methodological approach of netnography via passive observation. Data collection was conducted using the social network Reddit over a period of about four months. Findings – Three categories and two subcategories of consumers were found, namely, socially satisfied; socially constrained; and early adopters, divided into enthusiasts and visionaries. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of this research pertains to the data collected regarding consumption preferences of users and potential adopters. No questions were created, but rather, discussions were selected, from the social network Reddit, that focused on factors pertaining to the theories studied. Practical implications – The research brings an important insight regarding the launch of new products: to obtain a good market position for new devices, failures or inadequate perceptions that will negatively impact the technology’s dissemination must be minimized. Social implications – This study presents social value of technological consumption as a function of the conspicuousness, status and position of users who own devices that differ from those commonly available on the market. Originality/value – This study reveals which elements exert the greatest influence on intention to consume so-called wearable technology. In particular, it analyzes consumer behavior in relation to Google Glass, evaluating the reasons that were perceived as positive and negative for consumers which blocked the technology launch in the market

Assessing the effect of mobile word-of-mouth on consumers : the physical, psychological and social influences

Mobile technologies enable users to discover and research products anytime, anywhere. Mobile devices allow consumers to create and share content based on physical location, facilitate seamless interactions, and provide context-relevant information that can better satisfy users’ needs and enhance their shopping experience. As consumers increasingly rely on mobile devices to search information and purchase products, they need immediate, updated, informative and credible opinions in concise forms. Meanwhile, marketers face unprecedented opportunities for mobile marketing, making ever important for them to understand the mobile word-of-mouth and its effect on the purchase behaviors of consumers on the mobile platform vs. those on other devices. Drawing from the media richness theory and the principle of compensatory adaptation, study one performs sentiment analysis of online product reviews from both mobile and desktop devices by analyzing over one million customer reviews from Dianping.com. We find that mobile reviews are naturally shorter, contain more adverbs and adjectives, and have smaller readership and less votes of helpfulness. The product ratings from mobile reviews are more polarized yet the average valence of mobile reviews is higher. By comparison, desktop reviews contain more pictures and are rated more helpful. Lastly, pricy products receive more desktop reviews than mobile ones. Study two draws from the construal level theory and posit that WOM from mobile devices reflects closer psychological distances (temporal and social), thus constitutes a lower construal level than that from desktop computers. Using a dataset of over one million product reviews from Dianping.com, we assess the value of online product reviews from mobile devices in comparison with those from the desktop computers. Our findings show that WOM is more helpful when it is socially and temporally closer to the users and this effect is amplified when using mobile devices, which bring the mental construal to a low level and make others’ opinions more relevant. Further, we show that product type moderates the effect of online reviews in that m-WOM is more influential for hedonic products and its value for the utilitarian consumption is the lowest. Study three deploys the observational learning theory to examine the effect of WOM across the mobile and desktop devices on the purchase behavior of online promotional offers. The findings suggest that the effect of WOM on the purchase of promotion offers varies significantly across the platforms, product categories, and discount rates. These findings help better understand the strengths, limitations and the effect of m-WOM as marketers attempt to offer consumers context-sensitive and time-critical promotions through mobile devices and make a significant contribution to the literature on interactive marketing. These studies render meaningful implications for theory development about the role of mobile technologies in marketing and can assist practitioners formulating effective promotional strategies through the electronic channels via mobile and desktop devices