When Plentiful Platforms Pay Off: Assessment Orientation Moderates the Effect of Assortment Size on Choice Engagement and Product Valuation

Popular digital platforms, such as Netflix and GrubHub, purposefully aggregate offerings, according to the premise that customers value products chosen from plentiful assortments. Yet academic literature provides little clarity about when, for whom, or how larger online retail assortments affect the value of the products. To provide new insights, the current article aims to address ambiguous extant findings about the effects of larger product assortments. Specifically, this research tests whether customers with high, as opposed to low, assessment orientation value products more when they have chosen them from larger, as opposed to smaller, assortments. Four experiments affirm this idea, such that customers with a high assessment orientation value products more when they have chosen them from platforms with relatively larger assortments. Sequential mediation of the effect occurs through increased choice engagement and attitude certainty. For managers, customer segmentation along the assessment dimension offers benefits, while assessment type marketing communications can increase the likelihood of product selection, like in our field study, where we find an increase of 27%

Every Step Counts: When Physical Movement Affects Perceived Value

Physical movement is an important contextual factor during customer’s decision-making. Yet, little is known about how movement can affect customer’s response to mobile promotions, or how it can influence the search and evaluation of products in a retail setting. Across three studies, this research shows that physical movement improves the perceived value of products and promotions for customers with a predominant locomotion motivation. Such effects are mediated by engagement. One implication is that retailers may increase engagement for individuals with a predominant locomotion motivation by playing mobile adverts when cellular sensors indicate movement

Making omnichannel an augmented reality: the current and future state of the art

Purpose—This paper explores the current and future role of Augmented Reality (AR) as an enabler of omnichannel experiences across the customer journey. To advance the conceptual understanding and managerial exploitation of AR, the paper synthesises current research, illustrating how a variety of current applications merge online and offline experiences, and provides a future research agenda to help advance the state of the art in AR. Design/methodology/approach—Drawing on situated cognition theorising as a guiding framework, the paper reviews previously published research and currently deployed applications to provide a roadmap for future research efforts on AR-enabled omnichannel experiences across the customer journey. Findings—AR offers myriad opportunities to provide customers with a seamless omnichannel journey, smoothing current obstacles, through a unique combination of i) embedded, ii) embodied, and iii) extended customer experiences. These three principles constitute the overarching value drivers of AR and offer coherent, theory-driven organising principles for managers and researchers alike. Originality/value—Current research has yet to provide a relevant, conceptually robust understanding of AR-enabled customer experiences. In light of the rapid development and widespread deployment of the technology, this paper provides an urgently needed framework for guiding the development of AR in an omnichannel context

The playground effect: how augmented reality drives creative customer engagement

Across various customer experiences, Augmented Reality (AR) is emerging as a strategic experience design tool. This study contributes to an emerging body of research on the use of AR in the early stages of customers’ purchase journeys. Extending previous research, we propose that AR enables a unique form of customer creativity that is distinct from prior conceptualizations of creativity through its association with customer engagement. Specifically, we propose a sequential process of creative customer engagement, in which AR-enabled customer creativity stems from heightened customer engagement and, in turn, offers a source of intrinsic satisfaction for customers. In an experiment with a customer-facing AR application, we empirically demonstrate this sequential mediation process connecting the use of AR with customer engagement, customer creativity, and anticipated satisfaction. We also identify an important boundary condition based on a customer’s assessment orientation, suggesting a novel behavioral effect in the context of regulatory mode theory

Disrupting marketing realities: A research agenda for investigating the psychological mechanisms of next‐generation experiences with reality‐enhancing technologies

Reality‐enhancing technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality are rapidly becoming a part of everyday life. Seizing this moment, we set out a research agenda for studying the psychological mechanisms underpinning consumer experiences with these new technologies, structured around four application areas: (1) delivering innovative offerings, (2) supporting sustainability and consumer well‐being interventions, (3) balancing value cocreation and privacy concerns, and (4) achieving new modes and means of impact. For each area, we identify research directions that can guide the development and use of reality‐enhancing technologies for the realization of next‐generation consumer experiences. We explicitly balance potential advantages and disadvantages, thus encouraging researchers and practitioners to prioritize developing the “purpose” of these technologies, by focusing on the psychological mechanisms that underlie their use, over the technological development of their “pixels.” In this way, we guide the impactful development of reality‐enhancing technologies for applications with significance for consumers and firms

Assuring health and safety learning outcomes for S.M.A.H faculty stakeholders by using a hybrid learning and hurdle assessment pedagogy

Background: At University of Wollongong those responsible for workplace, health and safety (W.H.S) are well aware of the challenges involved in getting both staff and students through important health and safety inductions. Health and safety practices are seen as tedious by staff and students alike and most induction programmes do not persuade participants from this point of view. This research study carried out in the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health (S.M.A.H.) based on sound underpinning pedagogy has demonstrated how to deliver health and safety learning outcomes that are a vital aspect of the scientific method, discipline standards and ultimately successful science staff and students. Aims: The primary aim was the deployment of a hybrid learning methodology to make the best use of any face-to-face activity by making sure all learners had already covered the requisite knowledge and skills beforehand via an online staff or student development module that had also assured through a hurdle assessment item that they had met the minimum or threshold learning outcomes. Design and methods: This project has provided a range of engaging health and safety induction programmes within the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health for: 1. Laboratory inductions for large numbers of first year and second year undergraduate students 2. Postgraduate students undertaking specialist equipment inductions 3. General WHS inductions for all SMAH Faculty staff 4. Specific inductions for SMAH Faculty staff Different methodologies were employed depending upon the target audience, so for example, online gamification was used in the first year UG inductions to engage the students with the learning outcomes being assessed. In the PG modules some element of learner control over time, place, path, or pace was incorporated. But in all the modules the key underlying pedagogy was to promote self-efficacy within the learners to find out about health and safety for themselves rather than have it delivered to them by the providers. Results: By creating SCORM modules deployed within the Moodle CMS this allowed easy access for any number of users, tracking of completions, simple communication and administration. The end result being that each online module made the very most of any face‐to‐face interaction, and assessed that the threshold WHS outcomes had been met and recorded. This resulted in a net saving of staff time and more teaching time available in laboratories rather than spent on repetitive inductions. Conclusions: This work has promoted engagement and motivation in the topic and better long term retention of the health and safety requirements. The work has now stimulated other Faculties at UOW to do similar and has just picked up the Vice Chancellors WHS award for 2016

The bacteriophage carrier state of Campylobacter jejuni features changes in host non-coding RNAs and the acquisition of new host-derived CRISPR spacer sequences

Incorporation of self-derived CRISPR DNA protospacers in Campylobacter jejuni PT14 occurs in the presence of bacteriophages encoding a CRISPR-like Cas4 protein. This phenomenon was evident in carrier state infections where both bacteriophages and host are maintained for seemingly indefinite periods as stable populations following serial passage. Carrier state cultures of C. jejuni PT14 have greater aerotolerance in nutrient limited conditions, and may have arisen as an evolutionary response to selective pressures imposed during periods in the extra-intestinal environment. A consequence of this is that bacteriophage and host remain associated and able to survive transition periods where the chances of replicative success are greatly diminished. The majority of the bacteriophage population do not commit to lytic infection, and conversely the bacterial population tolerates low-level bacteriophage replication. We recently examined the effects of Campylobacter bacteriophage/C. jejuni PT14 CRISPR spacer acquisition using deep sequencing strategies of DNA and RNA-Seq to analyze carrier state cultures. This approach identified de novo spacer acquisition in C. jejuni PT14 associated with Class III Campylobacter phages CP8/CP30A but spacer acquisition was oriented toward the capture of host DNA. In the absence of bacteriophage predation the CRISPR spacers in uninfected C. jejuni PT14 cultures remain unchanged. A distinct preference was observed for incorporation of self-derived protospacers into the third spacer position of the C. jejuni PT14 CRISPR array, with the first and second spacers remaining fixed. RNA-Seq also revealed the variation in the synthesis of non-coding RNAs with the potential to bind bacteriophage genes and/or transcript sequences

Touching the untouchable: exploring multi-sensory augmented reality in the context of online retailing

Mental intangibility during product evaluation remains one of the greatest drawbacks for online purchasing. However, emerging multi-sensory Augmented Reality (m-AR) applications offer a potential solution for this online retailing problem. Drawing on active inference theory, this article proposes a conceptual framework to assess how sensory control and feedback modalities affect consumer value judgements by reducing mental intangibility. We show how touch control, compared to voice control, positively affects consumers’ willingness-to-pay. The underlying mechanism is a sequential process of reduced mental intangibility and increased feeling of decision comfort. In addition, we highlight a positive moderating effect of congruent auditory feedback on decision comfort. We also demonstrate a novel consumer boundary condition. Consumers high in assessment orientation experience a stronger reduction in mental intangibility. The results are consistently replicated across three experiments implying theoretical and managerial contributions for m-AR in the context of online retailing