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Getting in touch with your thinking style: How touchscreens influence purchase

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  • Zhu, Ying
  • Meyer, Jeffrey

Abstract

Touchscreen technology has rapidly penetrated the consumer market and embedded itself into our daily lives. Given the pervasiveness of this new phenomenon, we know surprisingly little about its effect on consumers. This research updates academic theory by investigating how newly evolved touchscreen technology affects consumer behavior. Across three lab experiments with university students, we found purchase intentions differ across device and product nature. In particular, this research demonstrates that purchase intention differs between touchscreens and desktop computers. Further, situation-specific thinking style is revealed as an underlying mechanism that contributes to such differences, such that touchscreens evoke a stronger experiential thinking style, while desktops evoke a stronger rational thinking style. Moreover, the findings suggest that greater experiential thinking enhances a consumer’s preference towards hedonic products, while greater rational thinking endorses utilitarian products. Together, this pattern leads touchscreen users to prefer hedonic products over utilitarian products. Given the growing usage of touchscreen devices, this research has important implications for consumers, marketers, and policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Ying & Meyer, Jeffrey, 2017. "Getting in touch with your thinking style: How touchscreens influence purchase," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 51-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:38:y:2017:i:c:p:51-58
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.05.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Aradhna Krishna & Maureen Morrin, 2008. "Does Touch Affect Taste? The Perceptual Transfer of Product Container Haptic Cues," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(6), pages 807-818, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoyu Wang & Hean Tat Keh & Hongrui Zhao & Yijie Ai, 2020. "Touch vs. click: how computer interfaces polarize consumers’ evaluations," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 265-277, September.
    2. Ryu, Sann, 2020. "Online luxury goods with price discount or onsite luxury goods with luxury services: Role of situation-specific thinking styles and socio-demographics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. Liu, Yunxin, 2023. "How and why a touchscreen interface impacts psychological ownership and its downstream consequences," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Yang, Bi & Li, Shanshi & Chen, Zhenyu & Mattila, Anna S., 2023. "Consumer responses to time-based sales messages," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    5. Mograbi, Eli, 2022. "Decision-makers are more impulsive on smartphones than on computers," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. Mulcahy, Rory Francis & Riedel, Aimee S., 2020. "‘Touch it, swipe it, shake it’: Does the emergence of haptic touch in mobile retailing advertising improve its effectiveness?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Johannes D. Hattula & Walter Herzog & Ravi Dhar, 2023. "The impact of touchscreen devices on consumers’ choice confidence and purchase likelihood," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 35-53, March.
    8. Racat, Margot & Capelli, Sonia & Lichy, Jessica, 2021. "New insights into ‘technologies of touch’: Information processing in product evaluation and purchase intention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).

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