Abstract This research examines the effects of sounds made by retail technological interfaces – self-checkout kiosks, credit card readers, mobile apps, websites – at point-of-sale. We propose that such sounds, retail transaction auditory confirmation (RTAC), increase trust in technological interfaces by providing auditory confirmation that stages of the checkout process have been successfully executed. Increased trust in technological interfaces leads to positive downstream consequences in the form of satisfaction and purchase intention. Visual and auditory distraction in the retail environment reduces trust, even when visual confirmation is provided, but synchronously provided audio-visual confirmation attenuates the negative effects of environment distraction.
This paper reports the findings of a case study in which audio feedback replaced text-based feedback in asynchronous courses. Previous research has demonstrated that participants in online courses can build effective learning communities through text-based communication alone. Similarly, it has been demonstrated that instructors for online courses can adequately project immediacy behaviors using text-based communication. However, we believed that the inclusion of an auditory element might streng...
Last. Courtney Szocs(LSU: Louisiana State University)H-Index: 1
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Retail atmospherics is becoming an increasingly important strategic tool for stores and restaurants. Ambient music and background noise are especially important atmospheric elements given their ubiquity in retail settings. However, there is high variation in the volume of ambient music and background noise, with some stores/restaurants having very loud ambience and others having very quiet ambience. Given the variation in loudness levels at stores/restaurants, and the managerial ease of adjustin...
#1John Sweller(UNSW: University of New South Wales)H-Index: 86
Because of the centrality of working memory load to cognitive load theory, measuring this load has been a high priority for researchers. While it is possible to demonstrate support for the validity of the theory by predicting experimental outcomes, it is useful to additionally provide independent measures of cognitive load. In this chapter we describe the various methods used to measure cognitive load and how they have developed over the last 30 years.
#2Pat Barclay(U of G: University of Guelph)H-Index: 22
Abstract Perceptions of trustworthiness are an important predictor of social outcomes, such as monetary exchanges, criminal sentencing, and the attainment of leadership roles. Higher testosterone levels predict both lower voice pitch and untrustworthy behavior, across economic and mating contexts. Here, we tested the influence of voice pitch on perceptions of trustworthiness across general, economic, and mating-related (mate poaching, infidelity) contexts. We found that the context of trust and ...
The study of voice perception in congenitally blind individuals allows researchers rare insight into how a lifetime of visual deprivation affects the development of voice perception. Previous studies have suggested that blind adults outperform their sighted counterparts in low-level auditory tasks testing spatial localization and pitch discrimination, as well as in verbal speech processing; however, blind persons generally show no advantage in nonverbal voice recognition or discrimination tasks....
Abstract Women tend to trust men with low-pitched voices as political leaders but trust men with high-pitched voices in mating scenarios. To elucidate the role of pitch in perceptions of trust, we used a one-decision variant of the trust game in which female participants were given the choice to trust males to divide the money, or to end the game, taking a smaller than equal sum. Male receivers were simulated using pitch-manipulated voice recordings. Women trusted raised pitch voices more than l...
#1Seth Ketron(UNT: University of North Texas)H-Index: 9
#2Nancy Spears(UNT: University of North Texas)H-Index: 14
Last. Bo Dai(GS: Georgia Southern University)H-Index: 4
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Abstract Information overload is a common problem in retail environments. Reducing information in a retail environment is not always feasible or desirable given the plethora of products and extent of limitations on retailers in terms of merchandising and display decisions. Therefore, retailers need other ways of overcoming information overload than simply reducing the amount of information. However, extant research is unsettled with respect to arguments in favor of and against adverse effects of...
Abstract Retailers use music in the service environment to try to change consumer behaviour with a view to increasing spend, or improving consumer mood. Previous research has largely focused on music but ignored the effects of other noises within a servicescape: yet all noises can impact consumers' affective states, and their behaviour. This study examines the role of both planned and other sounds within the supermarket environment. In particular, this study investigates the cognizant and emotio...
Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze how certain voice features of radio spokespersons and background music influence the advertising effectiveness of a radio spot from the cognitive, affective and conative perspectives. We used a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design in 16 different radio programs in which an ad hoc radio spot was inserted during advertising block. This ad changed according to combinations of spokesperson's gender (male–female), vocal pitch (low–high) and accent (local–stan...
#2Norbert Schwarz(SC: University of Southern California)H-Index: 139
There has been a recent swell of interest in marketing as well as psychology pertaining to the role of sensory experiences in judgment and decision making. Within marketing, the field of sensory marketing has developed which explores the role of the senses in consumer behavior. In psychology, the dominant computer metaphor of information processing has been challenged by researchers demonstrating various manners in which mental activity is grounded in sensory experience. These findings are arduo...
Abstract This paper uses the concept of psychological distance under construal level theory to explore the differences in the customers’ evaluations of overall store quality, satisfaction and loyalty, based on their experiences with the traditional staff-checkout method and the relatively new self-checkout machines. Two empirical studies, a field survey with retail shoppers in UK (N1 = 313) and an online survey with members of a consumer panel in Australia (N2 = 474), show that the perceived qua...
This study develops a model based on perceived effectiveness of e-commerce institutional mechanisms (PEEIM) and trust-based mechanisms to explain how PEEIM, product monetary value (MV), product evaluation cost (PEC), and enjoyment influence trust online vendor (TV) and how they affect purchase intention (IP) and reuse intention (IR) in e-shopping. The study is based on a survey of 293 online shoppers in Taiwan. Results show that monetary value, product evaluation cost, and customer enjoyment hav...
ABSTRACTIn this commentary we explore a set of paradoxes in digital services that we call Truth versus Lies, Long Term versus Short Term, Fair versus Unfair, Humans versus Machines, Return versus R...
#1Dipayan Biswas(USF: University of South Florida)H-Index: 19
Abstract Sensory elements are an important aspect of both offline and online retail stores and can non-consciously influence consumer judgments and purchase behavior. In offline settings, ambient factors like scent, lighting, and music have been shown to influence customers’ shopping experiences and their buying behaviors. For online retail outlets, sensory factors related to color, display patterns, and layouts can have significant effects on consumer behavior. Sensory elements have strong mana...