The Effect of Stylistic Product Information on Consumers' Aesthetic Responses

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 wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology & marketing 2016-03, Vol.33 (3), p.165-176
Main Authors: Schnurr, Benedikt, Stokburger-Sauer, Nicola E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aesthetics
Consumer behavior
Information management
Product design
Studies
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0742-6046
1520-6793
DOI:10.1002/mar.20863