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When Uncertainty Brings Pleasure: The Role of Prospect Imageability and Mental Imagery

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  • Yih Hwai Lee
  • Cheng Qiu

Abstract

Consumers generally prefer certainty to uncertainty, which leads them to shun uncertain situations. This research demonstrates, however, that consumers facing uncertainty (rather than certainty) associated with a positive event (e.g., winning a lucky draw but not knowing the exact prize won) can experience greater, longer-lasting positive feelings. The sustainability of this pleasurable uncertainty effect hinges on the (right) level of imagery elaboration that consumers generate about the various possible favorable prospects of the event (e.g., imagining the possible prizes from winning a lucky draw). Findings from two experiments support the proposed imageability-based framework. (c) 2009 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Suggested Citation

  • Yih Hwai Lee & Cheng Qiu, 2009. "When Uncertainty Brings Pleasure: The Role of Prospect Imageability and Mental Imagery," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(4), pages 624-633, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:36:y:2009:i:4:p:624-633
    DOI: 10.1086/599766
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    Cited by:

    1. Wenli Zou, Lili & Kin (Bennett) Yim, Chi & Wa Chan, Kimmy, 2022. "How firms can create delightful customer experience? Contrasting roles of future reward uncertainty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 477-490.
    2. Erik Maier & Robert Wilken & Florian Dost, 2015. "The double benefits of consumer certainty: combining risk and range effects," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 473-488, December.
    3. Toteva, Irina T. & Lutz, Richard J. & Shaw, Eric H., 2021. "The curious case of productivity orientation: The influence of advertising stimuli on affect and preference for subscription boxes," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. De Vries, Eline L.E. & Zhang, Sha, 2020. "The effectiveness of random discounts for migrating customers to the mobile channel," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 272-281.
    5. Diana Gavilan & Maria Avello, 2020. "Brand-Evoked Mental Imagery: The Role of Brands in Eliciting Mental Imagery," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, November.
    6. Naomi Richards & Rebecca Rotter, 2013. "Desperately Seeking Certainty? The Case of Asylum Applicants and People Planning an Assisted Suicide in Switzerland," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 18(4), pages 250-265, November.
    7. Kyra L Wiggin & Martin Reimann & Shailendra P Jain & Darren W Dahl & Margaret C Campbell & Paul M Herr, 2019. "Curiosity Tempts Indulgence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 45(6), pages 1194-1212.
    8. Shi, Haijiao & Chen, Rong & Xu, Xiaobing, 2021. "How reward uncertainty influences subsequent donations: The role of mental accounting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 383-391.
    9. Liu, Zhenyuan & Han, Shuihua & Li, Chao & Gupta, Shivam & Sivarajah, Uthayasankar, 2022. "Leveraging customer engagement to improve the operational efficiency of social commerce start-ups," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 572-582.
    10. Dong, Ping & Siu, Noel Yee-Man, 2013. "Servicescape elements, customer predispositions and service experience: The case of theme park visitors," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 541-551.
    11. Kumar, Ravin, 2019. "Addictive Auctions: using lucky-draw and gambling addiction to increase participation during auctioning," OSF Preprints darvs, Center for Open Science.
    12. Gavilan, Diana & Avello, Maria & Abril, Carmen, 2014. "The mediating role of mental imagery in mobile advertising," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 457-464.
    13. Aleksandra Kovacheva & Hristina Nikolova, 2024. "Uncertainty marketing tactics: An overview and a unifying framework," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 1-22, January.
    14. Wei, Zhiyong & Dou, Wenyu & Jiang, Qingyun & Gu, Chenyan, 2021. "Influence of incentive frames on offline-to-online interaction of outdoor advertising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. Yuanyuan Liu & Timothy B. Heath & Ayse Onculer, 2020. "The Future Ambiguity Effect: How Narrow Payoff Ranges Increase Future Payoff Appeal," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3754-3770, August.
    16. Can Xu & Andreas Steiner & Jakob de Haan, 2023. "Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Encourage Gambling? Evidence from the Chinese Welfare Lottery Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 10241, CESifo.
    17. Tang, Jiansheng & Zhou, Jiamin & Zheng, Chundong & Jiao, Sijing, 2022. "More expectations, more disappointments: Ego depletion in uncertain promotion," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Kim, Minjeong & Kim, Jung-Hwan & Park, Minjung & Yoo, Jungmin, 2021. "The roles of sensory perceptions and mental imagery in consumer decision-making," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    19. Xu, Xiaobing & Chen, Rong & Jiang, Lan, 2020. "The Influence of Payment Mechanisms on Pricing: When Mental Imagery Stimulates Desire for Money," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 178-188.
    20. Kovacheva, Aleksandra & Nikolova, Hristina & Lamberton, Cait, 2022. "Will he buy a surprise? Gender differences in the purchase of surprise offerings," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 667-684.
    21. Wen, Xiaohan (Hannah) & Kim, Shinhye & Bowen, Melanie, 2023. "Doing good by sharing messages: An investigation of “You Share, We Donate” campaigns and how they can attain viral success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

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