Positive Consumer Contagion
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Responses to Attractive Others in a Retail Context
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— By: – JENNIFERJ ARGO, DARREN W.DAHL, and ANDREA C.MORALES — . . .The research “Positive Consumer Contagion” by Jenniferj Argo, Darren W.Dahl, And Andrea C.Morales, examines the impact of attractiveness on consumers during a consumption experience. Specifically, it examines the effects of an attractive social influence in the context of touching and contamination of store products by investigating how consumers respond when they see attractive others touching the same products they want to purchase. In doing so, it provides the first experimental evidence of a positive contagion effect in either the marketing or the psychology literature.
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On the one hand, customers want to touch products before buying because it helps them gather information and make better purchase decisions (Mooy and Robben 2002; Peck and Childers 2003). On the other hand, they feel disgusted when other people touch the products they want to buy and view touched products as having been negatively contaminated (Argo, Dahl, and Morales 2006). Thus, it appears that consumers want to touch products while shopping but do not want others to do the same. The central focus of this research is to determine when physical contact between a product and another person creates positive outcomes for the consumer.
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Hypothesis 1 :
H1: Perceived contact between a person high (versus average) in attractiveness and a product results in other consumers having more favorable evaluations of the touched product.
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Hypothesis 2 :
H2: The impact of attractiveness on the effect of consumer contagion is moderated by the sex of the contact source, such that stronger outcomes occur when the contact source and the recipient consumer are of the opposite sex.
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Physical models define contagion as being dependent on perceived residues, such as odor and body heat, or being carried by a living invisible entity, such as germs or microorganisms. Although the transferred residue can be specific (e.g., a lover’s perfume), physical contagion can also be the result of an object’s general “essence” being left behind after contact. Conversely, nonphysical contagion focuses on the interpersonal moral symbols attached to a person that evoke the contagion. In such a case, a contaminated item can serve as a pleasant or unpleasant reminder of another or provide meaning through the interaction with the object (e.g., “wearing Hitler’s sweater would be negative because it implies approval or acceptance of him and his actions, or a desire for closeness or sharing with him” [Nemeroff and Rozin 1994, p. 172]).
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Hypothesis 3 :
H3: Positive contagion effects are driven by a physical process in the retail context examined.
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Conclusion:
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The positive contagion identified from a highly attractive other was realized only when the contact source and the recipient consumer were of the opposite sex. Specifically, male consumers responded positively to the contaminated product when it was touched by a highly attractive woman but not when it was touched by a highly attractive man.
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Tags: ANDREA C.MORALES, Consumer Contagion, Contagion, DARREN W.DAHL, highly attractive, JENNIFERJ ARGO, Mooy and Robben, opposite sex, Positive Consumer Contagion, Responses to Attractive Others, Responses to Attractive Others in a Retail Context, retail context