Cross-category effects of induced arousal and plea

Cross-CategoryEffectsofInducedArousalandPleasureontheInternetShoppingExperienceSatyaMenonBarbaraKahnSeptember2001ForthcomingJournalofRetailingSatyaMenonisanAssistantProfessorofMarketingattheCollegeofBusinessAdministration,UniversityofIllinoisatChicago,601SouthMorganStreet,Chicago,IL60607;e-mail:[e-mail]rofessorofMarketingatTheWhartonSchool,UniversityofPennsylvania,Philadelphia,PA19104;e-mail:[e-mail]pportreceivedfromtheUniversityofChicagoGraduateSchoolofBusinessandTheWhartonSchoolFacultyResearchFundforconductingthisresearch.1Cross-CategoryEffectsofInducedArousalandPleasureontheInternetShoppingExperienceAbstractOnlineretailersarelikelytotrytoinfluenceconsumers’shoppingbehaviorthroughatmosphericsandservice,justasphysicalstoresdo.TheimpactofonlineatmosphericscanbemeasuredbythedegreeofstimulationandpleasurethatisprovidedbytheWebsite.Itissuggestedthatthecharacteristicsofproductsandwebsitesthatareencounteredearlyinonlinebrowsingcansignificantlyinfluencethelevelofarousalandpleasurethatconsumersexperience,andtherebycaninfluencetheirlatershoppingbehavior.TwoexperimentsshowthatiftheinitialexperiencesencounteredinasimulatedInternetshoppingtriparehigherinpleasure,thenthereisapositiveimpactonapproachbehaviorsandsubjectsengageinmorearousingactivities(e.g.,moreexploration,moretendenciestoexaminenovelproductsandstores,higherresponsetopromotionalincentives).Further,ifhigherstimulationorinformationloadisprovidedbytheinitialInternetexperience,thenconsumerssubsequentlytendtoengageinlessarousingactivities.2Inthe21stcentury,thereislittledoubtthattheInternetwillbecomeanimportantchannelforretailing.BecausetheWorldWideWebpresentsafundamentallydifferentenvironmentforretailingactivitiesthantraditionalphysicalstoresorcatalogs(HoffmanandNovak1996),marketingactivitiesandconsumerbehaviorneedtobere-evaluatedinthiscontext.Asinphysicalstores,Internetwebsitesarelikelytotrytodifferentiatethemselvesinpartonthebasisofatmosphericsandservice(Alba,Lynch,Weitz,Janiszewski,Lutz,SawyerandWood1997).Technologicalinnovationssuchasstreamingaudio/videoandthecapabilitytorelaysmellsthroughelectronicnetworks,holdthepromisethattraditionalatmosphericvariablessuchascolors,music,smellsandlightscanbedeployedtomaketheonlineretailenvironmentapproachtheambienceoftraditionalretailstores.Pastresearchhasshownthatintraditionalretailstores,theshoppingatmosphereorstoreenvironmentcaninfluencebrowsing,purchaseintentions,andshoppingtime(Baker,LevyandGrewal1992;Bellizi,CrowleyandHasty1983;Millman1982;Kotler1973).Mostofthesestudieshavefocusedonatmosphericssuchascolors,lighting,ormusicandhaveshownthattheseaspectscansignificantlyinfluencetheemotions(e.g.,pleasureandarousal)ofshoppersandtherebyaffecttheirbehavior.Giventherecentadvancesinthee-commercearena,itisimportanttonowexaminethecharacteristicsofthecomputermediatedshoppingenvironmentthatcanproducemeasurableeffectsonconsumers’emotionalexperiences(HoffmanandNovak1996).Itseemslikelythatinelectronicretailing,newtypesof“atmospheric”variablesmaybecomerelevant.Threekeyaspectsarenotablydifferentine-commerce:(1)thewindowofsightisnarrower–ratherthanwalkingintoahugephysicalstore,theshoppingenvironmentisasmallscreen,(2)distanceandtimearecompressed,and(3)consumershavemorecontrolovertheinformationtheyseekandthewebsitestheyvisit(Alba,et.al.1997).Thenarrowframesuggeststhatconsumersimmediatelyfocusinonparticularitems,andtime3compressionsuggeststhatitemsseenearlieraremorelikelytohaveaninfluenceonitemsseenlater(Burke,Harlam,KahnandLodish1992).Further,thefactthatconsumerscancontroltheirpath(ratherthanbecontrolledbystorelayout),suggeststhatine-commerce,anewtypeof“atmospheric”variablethatmayinfluenceshoppingbehavioristhesequenceofproductsorwebsitesthataconsumerencountersinasingleshoppingevent.Inthisresearch,welookathowproductexperiencesencounteredearlyoninanInternetshoppingtripcanimpacttheemotionsofshoppersandtherebyinfluencethetimespent,thenatureofbrowsingandpromotionalinteractionsduringtherestofthetrip.Ourprimaryinterestisinstudyingexploratoryshopping/browsingbehaviorontheInternetwheresearchmaybemotivatedmorebyhedonicmotivesthanbypractical,goal-orientedpurposes(Bloch,SherrellandRidgway1986).Suchnon-directedsearchactivitiesarecommonontheInternet.Forexample,surfersmaybrowsepurelyforrecreationwithnon-explicitgoalssuchasmaintainingopinionleadershiporbuildinganinformationbank(Hoffman&Novak1996).Toillustrateourbasicproposition,consideraconsumersurfingthroughanInternetMall.Inonecase,aconsumerfirstencountersawineretailingwebsite,wheres/heencounterssensory-ladendescriptionsofwines,withphotographsofbeautifulvineyardsand/orreceivesrecommendationsabouttheperfectwinetopairwithaspecialdinnerentree.Inanothercase,aconsumerfirstencountersasiteofferingpapertowelsandreadsabouttheavailablesizes,thicknessandpriceranges.Weproposethatthecharacteristicsoftheseinitiallyencounteredproductsorwebsites(similartotheeffectsoftraditionalatmospherics,)willaffecttheamountofpleasureandarousalthatacons