Unpacking the “uncertainty-revelation†mechanism: How consumer innovativeness motivation and sensation seeking drive blind box consumption intentions

Blind boxes represent a fast-growing experiential retail format in which consumer value is generated through structured uncertainty and staged product revelation. As uncertainty becomes an increasingly strategic design element in retail services, understanding the psychological drivers of participation is critical. Drawing on motivated consumer innovativeness and Optimal Stimulation Level (OSL) theory, this study examines how innovation-oriented motivation and sensation seeking jointly shape blind box consumption intention. Survey data were collected from 311 consumers with prior blind box purchasing experience. Confirmatory factor analysis supported measurement validity, and regression-based moderation analysis was employed to test the proposed interaction mechanism. The results indicate that motivated consumer innovativeness is positively associated with behavioral intention. More importantly, sensation seeking significantly moderates this relationship, such that innovativeness translates more strongly into intention among consumers with higher stimulation preferences. These findings suggest that engagement in uncertainty-based experiential retail formats depends on the alignment between cognitive openness to innovation and preferred levels of experiential stimulation. By proposing a motivation × stimulation framework, this study advances understanding of heterogeneous consumer responses in gamified and uncertainty-driven retail services.