Consumers' Situational Curiosity: A Review of Research on Antecedents and Consequences of Curiosity in Marketing-Relevant Situations

Abstract

This review offers a framework of consumers’ situational curiosity by integrating research investigating the different stages of stimulating, experiencing, and resolving curiosity. Following this process perspective and focusing on marketing-relevant situations, it first provides an overview of triggers that have been used to stimulate curiosity and illustrates the implementation of these triggers in empirical studies. Subsequently, it synthesizes the key processes that are initiated when consumers sustain in the state of being curious and when they (presumably) have resolved their curiosity. These processes are assigned to affective consequences, cognitive consequences, or a third category, which includes the outcome variables of evaluation, decision making, and behavior. This article helps researchers and practitioners alike to gain a better overview of this fragmented research area and identifies research gaps and open questions for future research. Finally, recommendations for practitioners are given of how to effectively use curiosity-triggering stimuli in their marketing communication.