Abstract
This research 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. Across three field experiments using an actual retail shopping environment, the authors find that product evaluations are higher when consumers perceive a product as having been physically touched by a highly attractive other. Moreover, they identify sex as a critical moderating variable in the realization of this positive contagion effect; the contact source and observing consumer must be of the opposite sex for positive contagion to occur. Finally, in contrast to previous work, the authors demonstrate that these effects are driven by a physical model of contagion.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 690-701 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Marketing Research |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2008 |
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Keywords
- Attractiveness
- Contagion
- Contamination
- Retail
- Social influence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Economics and Econometrics
- Marketing
Cite this
Positive consumer contagion : Responses to attractive others in a retail context. / Argo, Jennifer J.; Dahl, Darren W.; Ketcham, Andrea.
In: Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 45, No. 6, 12.2008, p. 690-701.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Positive consumer contagion
T2 - Responses to attractive others in a retail context
AU - Argo, Jennifer J.
AU - Dahl, Darren W.
AU - Ketcham, Andrea
PY - 2008/12
Y1 - 2008/12
N2 - This research 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. Across three field experiments using an actual retail shopping environment, the authors find that product evaluations are higher when consumers perceive a product as having been physically touched by a highly attractive other. Moreover, they identify sex as a critical moderating variable in the realization of this positive contagion effect; the contact source and observing consumer must be of the opposite sex for positive contagion to occur. Finally, in contrast to previous work, the authors demonstrate that these effects are driven by a physical model of contagion.
AB - This research 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. Across three field experiments using an actual retail shopping environment, the authors find that product evaluations are higher when consumers perceive a product as having been physically touched by a highly attractive other. Moreover, they identify sex as a critical moderating variable in the realization of this positive contagion effect; the contact source and observing consumer must be of the opposite sex for positive contagion to occur. Finally, in contrast to previous work, the authors demonstrate that these effects are driven by a physical model of contagion.
KW - Attractiveness
KW - Contagion
KW - Contamination
KW - Retail
KW - Social influence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=55849127611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=55849127611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1509/jmkr.45.6.690
DO - 10.1509/jmkr.45.6.690
M3 - Article
VL - 45
SP - 690
EP - 701
JO - Journal of Marketing Research
JF - Journal of Marketing Research
SN - 0022-2437
IS - 6
ER -