消费者触摸渴望的形成机制解析——基于认知体验视角

对消费者触摸渴望形成机制的探讨, 有利于线上和线下企业制定如何补偿和满足消费者触摸渴望的营销战略。迄今, 关于消费者触摸渴望形成机制的探讨主要从信息加工视角、动机视角、决策视角以及先天观视角着手。但这些视角均不能解释为何同一消费者在不同认知体验下在触摸行为反应上的差异。本文提出个人控制受威胁感这一认知体验是消费者触摸渴望形成的前因变量。具体而言, 本文发现, 个人控制受威胁感这一负性认知体验会导致消费者触摸渴望的增加, 内在机制是为了满足对环境的控制需求(实验1, 2)。本文进一步发现, 当强化消费者的自我价值后, 他们对环境的控制需求下降了, 因此消费者的触摸渴望将不再受个人控制受威胁感的影响(实验3)。最后, 本文还发现, 强化自我价值对个人控制受威胁感与消费者触摸渴望间关系的调节作用仅在高自尊者(vs.低自尊者)身上出现(实验4)。论文结尾讨论了本文所关注的个人控制受威胁感这一认知体验视角对已有触觉研究、已有个人控制感研究等的理论贡献。

An elaboration on the underlying mechanisms through which consumers’ desire for product touch forms: A cognitive experiential perspective

It is important to study the underlying mechanisms through which consumers’ desire for touch forms, because it can help online and offline companies to develop effective strategies that can compensate for and satisfy consumers’ desire for touch. Up to date, existing research on why consumers’ desire for touch forms can be categorized into four research perspectives: information processing perspective (consumers show a strong desire for touch to process product-related information), motivational perspective (consumers show a strong desire for touch to solve problems or to experience hedonics), decision-making perspective (consumers show a strong desire for touch to facilitate their decision-making), and innate personality perspective (consumers’ desire for touch is innate and relatively stable). However, none of these perspectives is able to explain why when being in different states of cognitive experience (i.e. encountering threats to personal control and not encountering such threats), the same consumer’s reaction to touch differs. The two-process model of perceived control argues that threats to personal control cause individuals to exert forces and control over environment. While touching a product implies that a consumer can move, hold and grasp the product and exert physical control over it. Thus, the current research proposes that the cognitive experience of low feeling of threats to personal control is the antecedent of consumers’ strong desire for touch. More important, we will also examine the underlying mediation mechanisms and boundary conditions of the proposition above. Four experiments were conducted to examine whether, why and when threats to personal control would (not) increase consumers’ desire for touch. Experiment 1 investigated the core assumption that after controlling individual differences in desire for touch, consumers’ current desire for touch will be still influenced by an important situational factor, that is, whether they are facing with threats to personal control. The results of Experiment 1 showed that after controlling their scores of Need For Touch, participants who encountered with control threats responded faster to touch-related words than those who did not face control threats, suggesting that low feeling of threats to personal control is an antecedent of consumers’ desire for touch. Experiment 2 further investigated whether consumers’ desire for touch was only affected by control threats. Importantly, this experiment further found that need for control was a mediator, ruling out other alternative explanations. Experiment 3 provided supports to H2 that the main effect of threats to personal control on consumers’ desire for touch was moderated by whether they were offered with an opportunity to strengthen their self-value. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that the moderation effect of strengthening self-value reported by Experiment 3 disappeared when consumers’ self-esteem was low (vs. high). The cognitive experiential perspective reported by the current research can enrich our traditional understanding on why consumers show a strong desire for touch. Also, this perspective can significantly advance existing research on affirming one’s self-value and research on self-esteem.