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The Effect of Stylistic Product Information on Consumers’ Aesthetic Responses
Author(s) -
Schnurr Benedikt,
StokburgerSauer Nicola E.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20863
Subject(s) - product (mathematics) , meaning (existential) , psychology , centrality , order (exchange) , grasp , advertising , product design , appeal , cognitive psychology , aesthetics , social psychology , marketing , business , computer science , art , geometry , mathematics , finance , combinatorics , political science , law , psychotherapist , programming language
ABSTRACT This paper investigates the effect of stylistic information about a product, defined as verbal product information aimed at helping consumers to interpret a product's visual design, on consumers’ aesthetic responses. The results of three experimental studies show that for consumers with higher centrality of visual product aesthetics (CVPA), stylistic information positively influences aesthetic responses through perceived meaningfulness of product design (i.e., the extent to which an individual is able to make sense of a product's visual appearance and understands what it represents). Further, these effects translate into consumers’ purchase intentions. For consumers with lower CVPA, stylistic information neither affects aesthetic responses nor perceived meaningfulness of product design. These findings contribute to existing research on consumers’ aesthetic processing by highlighting the importance for consumers to grasp a product's design meaning in order to maximally appreciate its visual appeal.