Research typically measures emotions through self-reported techniques, such as surveys (e.g., Henning et al., 2012 Liao et al., 2016). We propose that such discrepancy may derive from the nature of the emotions assessed, which is strictly dependent on their empirical measurement. Other studies found that emotional responses (e.g., Henning et al., 2012) and consumer responses ( Vila-López and Küster-Boluda, 2018) do not differ for hedonic and functional product evaluation. However, recent research sheds doubts on the inherent difference in the emotions generated by hedonic versus utilitarian products, showing that hedonic offer generates greater emotions only for some customer segments ( Drolet et al., 2007) or for specific interaction modes ( Liao et al., 2016). Given that, academicians and marketers have proposed different communication approaches for the two product typologies, assuming that emotional communication would be more effective for a hedonic offer ( Johar and Sirgy, 1991 Rossiter et al., 1991 Batra and Stephens, 1994). Research affirms that they generate greater arousal ( Kempf, 1999), pleasure, and engagement ( Kivetz and Simonson, 2002 Zheng and Kivetz, 2009 O’Brien and O’Brien, 2010) than utilitarian ones. Hedonic products have been argued as being more affect-rich than those consumed for utilitarian purposes ( Pham, 1998 Malhotra, 2005 Baghi and Antonetti, 2017). Although this distinction is less than unequivocal ( Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982), there appears to be a consensus that a main utilitarian product affects differently cognition and emotions than a hedonic product ( Kempf, 1999). Hedonic products refer to objects consumed mostly for affective or sensory fulfillment aim, while utilitarian products are connected to more functional and practical benefits ( Woods, 1960 Strahilevitz and Myers, 1998 Huber et al., 2018). Research on product adoption and consumption mainly argues that such emotional responses are processed differently by individuals according to the mainly hedonic or utilitarian/functional nature of the product they are evaluating ( Hoch and Ha, 1986 Batra and Ahtola, 1991 Kempf and Smith, 1998 Ren and Nickerson, 2019 Yang et al., 2020). Emotional responses constitute predictable and impactful drivers of decision making with regularities in the mechanisms through which they influence product evaluation ( Lerner et al., 2015 Bettiga and Lamberti, 2017). We suggest an alternative explanation for the apparent lack of affect-rich experiences elicited by functional products and the need to reconsider emotional responses for these products.Īs a large body of research documents, consumers’ evaluations of new products are not purely utilitarian but dependent on the emotions and involvement elicited by the offer ( Bagozzi et al., 1999 Kempf, 1999 Allen et al., 2005 Hassenzahl, 2018). A diverse pattern is depicted for hedonic products. Further, findings show that when a consumer is exposed to a functional product, the physiological emotional responses are disassociated from the self-reported ones. Results confirm that both functional and hedonic products generate emotional responses in consumers.
Specifically, physiological data regarding the subjects’ cardiac activity, respiratory activity, electrodermal activity, and cerebral activity have been collected and complemented with a survey. Physiological measures have been adopted to investigate unconscious emotional responses and self-reported measures to assess conscious emotions toward the products. The present work takes this challenge by conducting a laboratory experiment in which subjects are exposed to both a utilitarian product and a hedonic product.
Self-reported methods of evaluating consumer experience, on which prior studies are grounded, only assess conscious emotions the consumer can recognize and report, but not unconscious feelings, happening without individual awareness. We argue that such inconsistency may derive from the nature of the emotions assessed that is strictly dependent on their empirical measurement and not from the mere existence of emotions themselves. However, recent research empirically proves that hedonic products are more affect-rich only for some consumer segments or for specific consumption contexts. Over the years, researchers have enriched the postulation that hedonic products generate deeper emotional reactions and feelings in the consumer than functional products.
2Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.1Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.Bianchi 2, Lucio Lamberti 1 and Giuliano Noci 1
0 kommentar(er)
