Consumers increasingly purchase through m-channels, including apps. Accordingly, marketers have enhanced immersive, sensorial aspects of m-channels, such as including vibrations while making in-app purchases. Given discrepant findings, it remains unclear whether adding such vibrotactile feedback affects consumer decision making. The present research addresses: (1) Whether adding vibrotactile feedback influences consumers' anticipated product satisfaction and purchase confidence, and (2) if so, how? Through an online pilot survey, two online experiments, and one lab experiment, this research finds that adding vibrotactile feedback to m-channels increases consumers' anticipated product satisfaction, but not purchase confidence. Moreover, perceived ownership mediates this effect, because the vibrations offer a sense of control over the product during the purchase process. This research makes several contributions. First, it documents that control elicited via vibrations offers an alternative means to psychological ownership, as opposed to imagining touch. Second, we offer this haptic route as a means to achieve the stimulation motivation driving perceived ownership, different from prior visual routes. Third, it potentially reconciles literature conflicts regarding the effect of vibrotactile feedback on consumer decision making.
{"title":"Vibrotactile feedback in m-commerce: Stimulating perceived control and perceived ownership to increase anticipated satisfaction","authors":"Jiayuan Li, Kirsten Cowan, Atefeh Yazdanparast, Jake Ansell","doi":"10.1002/mar.22008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22008","url":null,"abstract":"Consumers increasingly purchase through m-channels, including apps. Accordingly, marketers have enhanced immersive, sensorial aspects of m-channels, such as including vibrations while making in-app purchases. Given discrepant findings, it remains unclear whether adding such vibrotactile feedback affects consumer decision making. The present research addresses: (1) Whether adding vibrotactile feedback influences consumers' anticipated product satisfaction and purchase confidence, and (2) if so, how? Through an online pilot survey, two online experiments, and one lab experiment, this research finds that adding vibrotactile feedback to m-channels increases consumers' anticipated product satisfaction, but not purchase confidence. Moreover, perceived ownership mediates this effect, because the vibrations offer a sense of control over the product during the purchase process. This research makes several contributions. First, it documents that control elicited via vibrations offers an alternative means to psychological ownership, as opposed to imagining touch. Second, we offer this haptic route as a means to achieve the stimulation motivation driving perceived ownership, different from prior visual routes. Third, it potentially reconciles literature conflicts regarding the effect of vibrotactile feedback on consumer decision making.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140593531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Although new products are not inherently scarce, consumers often display competitive behavior, eagerly queuing up to be among the first to obtain them. To manage the distribution of such sought-after items, retailers determine which consumers get the opportunity to make a purchase. The question of which selection method ensures fair treatment of individual customers and enhances purchase experiences for a new product remains unresolved. Results of three experiments revealed that those in an ordered selection discipline were likely to be more time-sensitive and perceive it as fairer than those in the random selection discipline when purchasing a new product. The difference in perceived fairness between the ordered selection discipline and the random selection discipline was more substantial, when the new product was highly scarce, due to increased selection uncertainty. However, the reverse effect was found when consumers were not selected to purchase a new product. The ordered selection discipline was perceived as less fair than the random selection discipline. The findings provide valuable insights into how selection disciplines shape consumers' perceptions of fairness during the purchase of a new product.
{"title":"First come, first served versus the draw: Perceived fairness in the new product purchase competition","authors":"Jihye Park, Hannah Kwon","doi":"10.1002/mar.22007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22007","url":null,"abstract":"Although new products are not inherently scarce, consumers often display competitive behavior, eagerly queuing up to be among the first to obtain them. To manage the distribution of such sought-after items, retailers determine which consumers get the opportunity to make a purchase. The question of which selection method ensures fair treatment of individual customers and enhances purchase experiences for a new product remains unresolved. Results of three experiments revealed that those in an ordered selection discipline were likely to be more time-sensitive and perceive it as fairer than those in the random selection discipline when purchasing a new product. The difference in perceived fairness between the ordered selection discipline and the random selection discipline was more substantial, when the new product was highly scarce, due to increased selection uncertainty. However, the reverse effect was found when consumers were not selected to purchase a new product. The ordered selection discipline was perceived as less fair than the random selection discipline. The findings provide valuable insights into how selection disciplines shape consumers' perceptions of fairness during the purchase of a new product.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140593298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates the impact of social exclusion on consumer preferences for color combinations. Drawing on findings from five experimental studies, we demonstrate that individuals who have experienced social exclusion display a heightened preference for analogous color combinations, as opposed to complementary ones, compared to those who have not experienced social exclusion. Our research posits that this preference arises from the feeling of conflict induced by social exclusion, leading individuals to choose products and environments with analogous colors as a coping mechanism to alleviate this feeling of conflict. By establishing a connection between social exclusion and color combination preferences, our study contributes to a deeper comprehension of the factors influencing consumer choices in the realm of color. Furthermore, we demonstrate the broader consequences of social exclusion on consumer behavior. Our research also indicates that utilizing analogous color combinations in both product and interior design can substantially enhance the appeal for socially excluded individuals.
{"title":"The social side of color: How social exclusion influences preferences for color combination","authors":"Mijin Kwon, Eunmi Jeon, Youngjee Han","doi":"10.1002/mar.22002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22002","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the impact of social exclusion on consumer preferences for color combinations. Drawing on findings from five experimental studies, we demonstrate that individuals who have experienced social exclusion display a heightened preference for analogous color combinations, as opposed to complementary ones, compared to those who have not experienced social exclusion. Our research posits that this preference arises from the feeling of conflict induced by social exclusion, leading individuals to choose products and environments with analogous colors as a coping mechanism to alleviate this feeling of conflict. By establishing a connection between social exclusion and color combination preferences, our study contributes to a deeper comprehension of the factors influencing consumer choices in the realm of color. Furthermore, we demonstrate the broader consequences of social exclusion on consumer behavior. Our research also indicates that utilizing analogous color combinations in both product and interior design can substantially enhance the appeal for socially excluded individuals.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140593306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Government agencies and health practitioners are partnering with businesses to promote organ donation to wider audiences. However, little is known about whether targeted promotion through partnerships will help or hurt an agency promoting organ donation in its goal to obtain support from the public. Four studies reveal that depending on the risk of dying associated with partner members, a partnership promoting posthumous organ donation targeting these members may heighten thoughts of donors' exploitation. Donor exploitation concern, in turn, makes the targeted promotion of organ donation through the partnership unacceptable to people. This perception diminishes people's support for the agency initiating such a partnership in terms of how they evaluate it, intend to visit its website, and donate money to support its cause. We further show that the negative effect of targeted promotion through partnerships is alleviated when people are primed to be less concerned about the exploitation of organ donors or when the organ donation agency's commitment to protecting donors' rights is made salient.
{"title":"Promoting organ donation through philanthropic partnerships","authors":"Chi Hoang","doi":"10.1002/mar.22005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22005","url":null,"abstract":"Government agencies and health practitioners are partnering with businesses to promote organ donation to wider audiences. However, little is known about whether targeted promotion through partnerships will help or hurt an agency promoting organ donation in its goal to obtain support from the public. Four studies reveal that depending on the risk of dying associated with partner members, a partnership promoting posthumous organ donation targeting these members may heighten thoughts of donors' exploitation. Donor exploitation concern, in turn, makes the targeted promotion of organ donation through the partnership unacceptable to people. This perception diminishes people's support for the agency initiating such a partnership in terms of how they evaluate it, intend to visit its website, and donate money to support its cause. We further show that the negative effect of targeted promotion through partnerships is alleviated when people are primed to be less concerned about the exploitation of organ donors or when the organ donation agency's commitment to protecting donors' rights is made salient.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140593299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This research investigates how corporate reputation communications, specifically, those that focus on corporate ability (CA) versus corporate social responsibility (CSR), impact consumer evaluations of flagship products and non-flagship products. Across five studies utilizing different research methods (survey, eye-tracking, and experiments), we demonstrate an asymmetric effect of corporate reputation communication on product evaluations, dependent on the product's flagship status in its company's product portfolio (i.e., all products owned and marketed by a company). Specifically, while CSR is more conducive to consumer evaluations of flagship products, CA is more beneficial for evaluations of non-flagship products. Such effects are more prominent when consumers lack detailed product attribute information. Given the strategic importance of flagship products to a company, this work adds to the emerging body of research on CSR communication by highlighting its advantage in bolstering consumer evaluations of flagship products.
{"title":"The asymmetric effect of corporate reputation communication on flagship and non-flagship product evaluations","authors":"Zengxiang Chen, Huifang Mao, Tu Tu, Haizhong Wang","doi":"10.1002/mar.22003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22003","url":null,"abstract":"This research investigates how corporate reputation communications, specifically, those that focus on corporate ability (CA) versus corporate social responsibility (CSR), impact consumer evaluations of flagship products and non-flagship products. Across five studies utilizing different research methods (survey, eye-tracking, and experiments), we demonstrate an asymmetric effect of corporate reputation communication on product evaluations, dependent on the product's flagship status in its company's product portfolio (i.e., all products owned and marketed by a company). Specifically, while CSR is more conducive to consumer evaluations of flagship products, CA is more beneficial for evaluations of non-flagship products. Such effects are more prominent when consumers lack detailed product attribute information. Given the strategic importance of flagship products to a company, this work adds to the emerging body of research on CSR communication by highlighting its advantage in bolstering consumer evaluations of flagship products.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140593300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevin Kam Fung So, Jing Li, Ceridwyn King, Linda D. Hollebeek
Although customer engagement has been deemed critical for optimizing social media marketing performance, prior research has mainly examined customer engagement through cross-sectional designs, thus limiting insight into its evolving dynamics over time. To address this gap, we adopt uses-and-gratifications theory to explore the associations among customers' evaluations of a firm's social media marketing activities, customer engagement, and customer stickiness on a brand's social media page at three points in the post-purchase stage of the consumption journey. Cross-lagged autoregressive panel model analyses suggest that, first, customers' evaluations of firms' social media marketing activities, customer engagement, and customer stickiness fluctuate. Second, customer engagement has cross-lagged longitudinal effects on stickiness over time; the same applies to the role of stickiness in customers' evaluations of the firm's social media marketing activities. However, no cross-lagged effects arise from (a) firm-based social media marketing activities to customer stickiness or (b) stickiness to engagement. These findings contribute to the customer engagement literature by describing the dynamics of such engagement and its interrelationships with other key constructs across time.
{"title":"Social media marketing activities, customer engagement, and customer stickiness: A longitudinal investigation","authors":"Kevin Kam Fung So, Jing Li, Ceridwyn King, Linda D. Hollebeek","doi":"10.1002/mar.21999","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21999","url":null,"abstract":"Although customer engagement has been deemed critical for optimizing social media marketing performance, prior research has mainly examined customer engagement through cross-sectional designs, thus limiting insight into its evolving dynamics over time. To address this gap, we adopt uses-and-gratifications theory to explore the associations among customers' evaluations of a firm's social media marketing activities, customer engagement, and customer stickiness on a brand's social media page at three points in the <i>post</i>-purchase stage of the consumption journey. Cross-lagged autoregressive panel model analyses suggest that, first, customers' evaluations of firms' social media marketing activities, customer engagement, and customer stickiness fluctuate. Second, customer engagement has cross-lagged longitudinal effects on stickiness over time; the same applies to the role of stickiness in customers' evaluations of the firm's social media marketing activities. However, no cross-lagged effects arise from (a) firm-based social media marketing activities to customer stickiness or (b) stickiness to engagement. These findings contribute to the customer engagement literature by describing the dynamics of such engagement and its interrelationships with other key constructs across time.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140593294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The field of sonic branding/marketing has grown rapidly in recent years, as has commercial interest in more science-based approaches to the practice, particularly as more brands and agencies look for qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the efficacy of sonic branding. In this research note, we explore the ways in which the design and execution (i.e., the “art”) of sonic branding initiatives can be informed by overlapping approaches and techniques drawn from the sciences, namely psychoacoustics, semiotics, music/auditory cognition, and crossmodal research. We explore whether the rapid growth of generative AI may represent the next major evolution in the design, creation, and assessment of sonic assets, where science and art are used to train AI tools that could one day augment (and potentially disrupt) the work of human sound designers and composers. These developments notwithstanding, it is argued that sonic branding will likely remain as much an art as a science, though basing one's approach on the emerging scientific literature ought to at least tilt the odds of success in the creative's favor.
{"title":"Sonic branding: A narrative review at the intersection of art and science","authors":"Charles Spence, Steve Keller","doi":"10.1002/mar.21995","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21995","url":null,"abstract":"The field of sonic branding/marketing has grown rapidly in recent years, as has commercial interest in more science-based approaches to the practice, particularly as more brands and agencies look for qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the efficacy of sonic branding. In this research note, we explore the ways in which the design and execution (i.e., the “art”) of sonic branding initiatives can be informed by overlapping approaches and techniques drawn from the sciences, namely psychoacoustics, semiotics, music/auditory cognition, and crossmodal research. We explore whether the rapid growth of generative AI may represent the next major evolution in the design, creation, and assessment of sonic assets, where science and art are used to train AI tools that could one day augment (and potentially disrupt) the work of human sound designers and composers. These developments notwithstanding, it is argued that sonic branding will likely remain as much an art as a science, though basing one's approach on the emerging scientific literature ought to at least tilt the odds of success in the creative's favor.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nima Heirati, Valentina Pitardi, Mohamed Sobhy Temerak
The widespread use of voice assistants (VAs) creates a pressing need to understand what drives consumers to use different VAs. Existing studies have commonly focused on the net effects of antecedents that explain why consumers adopt or continue using VAs, ignoring the complexity of consumer behavior and the combinatorial effects of multiple antecedents. Our study proposes that consumer intention to continue using VAs does not depend on a single characteristic of products or consumers but on specific configurations of such characteristics. By integrating human–technology interaction and media richness theories, we suggest that consumers with distinct psychometric profiles and learning styles may evaluate humanlike and technological attributes of VAs differently. Our study shows that the complex interconnectedness between different VA attributes and consumer characteristics can provide a holistic understanding of why some consumers continue or stop using VAs. The results advance the media richness literature by offering novel insights into multimodality in consumer–technology interactions by examining consumer evaluations of single and multimodal VAs (e.g., smart speakers vs. touchscreen smart speakers). Our study provides templates for managers to effectively design VAs aligned with their segmentation and targeting strategies.
{"title":"When the recipe is more important than the ingredients: Unveiling the complexity of consumer use of voice assistants","authors":"Nima Heirati, Valentina Pitardi, Mohamed Sobhy Temerak","doi":"10.1002/mar.21992","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21992","url":null,"abstract":"The widespread use of voice assistants (VAs) creates a pressing need to understand what drives consumers to use different VAs. Existing studies have commonly focused on the net effects of antecedents that explain why consumers adopt or continue using VAs, ignoring the complexity of consumer behavior and the combinatorial effects of multiple antecedents. Our study proposes that consumer intention to continue using VAs does not depend on a single characteristic of products or consumers but on specific configurations of such characteristics. By integrating human–technology interaction and media richness theories, we suggest that consumers with distinct psychometric profiles and learning styles may evaluate humanlike and technological attributes of VAs differently. Our study shows that the complex interconnectedness between different VA attributes and consumer characteristics can provide a holistic understanding of why some consumers continue or stop using VAs. The results advance the media richness literature by offering novel insights into multimodality in consumer–technology interactions by examining consumer evaluations of single and multimodal VAs (e.g., smart speakers vs. touchscreen smart speakers). Our study provides templates for managers to effectively design VAs aligned with their segmentation and targeting strategies.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140146398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study develops and validates a scale for gauging consumer involvement in storytelling (to create memorable and emotionally resonant experiences) in hospitality marketing through four phases: qualitative inquiry, construct definition, item refinement, and nomological validation. Validation involves 24 in-depth video interviews and consecutive online surveys. The hospitality marketing storytelling involvement scale, with four dimensions—contextual cues, emotional engagement, mental cognition, and immersive experience—comprising 14 items, precisely measures consumer involvement. The scale integrates narrative transportation theory and the elaboration likelihood model to enhance understanding of consumer engagement with fundamental human cognitive and emotional processes. The validated scale offers a valuable tool for marketers to precisely assess consumer involvement and strategically leverage storytelling to evoke emotions, foster brand loyalty, and judge campaign effectiveness. In diverse marketing contexts that elicit emotions, resonate with individuals, and foster immersive experiences, the scale demonstrates remarkable adaptability. Ultimately, it can help marketers craft compelling narratives, enhance brand perception, and strengthen consumer relationships, thereby contributing to emotional connections, optimizing strategies, and enhancing consumer engagement effectiveness.
{"title":"Crafting emotional engagement and immersive experiences: Comprehensive scale development for and validation of hospitality marketing storytelling involvement","authors":"Sohel Ahmed, Taimur Sharif, Ding Hooi Ting, Sharmin Jamal Sharif","doi":"10.1002/mar.21994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21994","url":null,"abstract":"This study develops and validates a scale for gauging consumer involvement in storytelling (to create memorable and emotionally resonant experiences) in hospitality marketing through four phases: qualitative inquiry, construct definition, item refinement, and nomological validation. Validation involves 24 in-depth video interviews and consecutive online surveys. The hospitality marketing storytelling involvement scale, with four dimensions—contextual cues, emotional engagement, mental cognition, and immersive experience—comprising 14 items, precisely measures consumer involvement. The scale integrates narrative transportation theory and the elaboration likelihood model to enhance understanding of consumer engagement with fundamental human cognitive and emotional processes. The validated scale offers a valuable tool for marketers to precisely assess consumer involvement and strategically leverage storytelling to evoke emotions, foster brand loyalty, and judge campaign effectiveness. In diverse marketing contexts that elicit emotions, resonate with individuals, and foster immersive experiences, the scale demonstrates remarkable adaptability. Ultimately, it can help marketers craft compelling narratives, enhance brand perception, and strengthen consumer relationships, thereby contributing to emotional connections, optimizing strategies, and enhancing consumer engagement effectiveness.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140146551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The prevalence of social withdrawal behaviors has been a growing concern in recent years. The concept of hikikomori, a severe social withdrawal condition, has gained increasing attention in high-income societies and developed economies. The term applies to both the condition and the person experiencing it. Technology has been blamed for exacerbating the isolation of hikikomoris. Paradoxically, anecdotal evidence suggests that technology can help mitigate their social withdrawal. Drawing on affordance theory, this study explores the potential of technology as an intermediate intervention to help hikikomoris reintegrate into society by addressing the research question—“How are the affordances of technology leveraged to contribute to the gradual reintegration of hikikomoris into society?” This netnographic study is based on over 2-year naturalistic observations of the Hikikomori Escape online community. Our findings identified seven types of affordances that facilitate Hikikomoris' social reintegration journey: anonymous storytelling, meta connectivity, information access for skill growth, peer networking and community building, online coaching, virtual-to-real connectivity, and tech-enabled skill development. We discuss how three levels of technology affordances shape hihikomoris' self-motivation to connect socially at the individual and community levels, facilitating their gradual reintegration into society. This research contributes by developing an empirically grounded framework of how technology can contribute to addressing social withdrawal among hikikomoris. Such knowledge is crucial for scholars, policymakers, and health professionals seeking to tackle this pressing societal challenge.
{"title":"Technology affordances and social withdrawal: The rise of hikikomori","authors":"Ha Eun (Grace) Park, Sheau-Fen (Crystal) Yap","doi":"10.1002/mar.21991","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21991","url":null,"abstract":"The prevalence of social withdrawal behaviors has been a growing concern in recent years. The concept of hikikomori, a severe social withdrawal condition, has gained increasing attention in high-income societies and developed economies. The term applies to both the condition and the person experiencing it. Technology has been blamed for exacerbating the isolation of hikikomoris. Paradoxically, anecdotal evidence suggests that technology can help mitigate their social withdrawal. Drawing on affordance theory, this study explores the potential of technology as an intermediate intervention to help hikikomoris reintegrate into society by addressing the research question—“How are the affordances of technology leveraged to contribute to the gradual reintegration of hikikomoris into society?” This netnographic study is based on over 2-year naturalistic observations of the Hikikomori Escape online community. Our findings identified seven types of affordances that facilitate Hikikomoris' social reintegration journey: anonymous storytelling, meta connectivity, information access for skill growth, peer networking and community building, online coaching, virtual-to-real connectivity, and tech-enabled skill development. We discuss how three levels of technology affordances shape hihikomoris' self-motivation to connect socially at the individual and community levels, facilitating their gradual reintegration into society. This research contributes by developing an empirically grounded framework of how technology can contribute to addressing social withdrawal among hikikomoris. Such knowledge is crucial for scholars, policymakers, and health professionals seeking to tackle this pressing societal challenge.","PeriodicalId":501349,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140125160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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