دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی بررسی تأثیرات طراحی محصول در پاسخهای روانی مصرف کنندگان و وفاداری به برند - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – Unique product design is a highlight of sustainable branding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether product design affects customers’ psychological responses (i.e. cognitive and affective responses) to smartphones, and, in turn, affects their brand loyalty (i.e. attitudinal and behavioral brand loyalty), further advancing the knowledge of product design and brand management. Design/methodology/approach – This work used survey data from 456 Taiwanese with experience using smartphone. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Findings – The results indicate that the product design significantly affects both cognitive response and affective response, which, in turn, significantly affect both attitudinal brand loyalty and behavioral brand loyalty. The findings also suggest that the moderating effect of product involvement on the relationship between product design and affective response is statistically significant, although it does not positively and significantly moderate the link between product design and cognitive response. Research limitations/implications – This study has two main limitations. First, this study was conducted in the context of smartphones, thus potentially constraining the generalization of the results to other industries. Second, the data in this study were obtained from a cross-sectional design. Practical implications – These findings can permit companies to generate more brand loyalty in their customers and guide their management of assets and marketing activities. Originality/value – This paper presents new insights into the nature and importance of product design in brand value.

5. Discussion and implications

This study contributes to the literature addressing the role of product design in the product development and brand management literature by developing and empirically assessing a theoretical framework informed by the perspective of consumers’ psychological responses. Previous research indicates that product design is not only a way of communicating product meaning to consumers (Crilly et al., 2008), but also an integrated practice fundamental to the marketing strategies and commercial success (Luchs and Swan, 2011), with the results of this study offering new insights as to how firms apply product design through the aspects of aesthetics, functionality, and symbolism to achieve superior product and brand performance.

First, since product design emphasizes the integration of organizational efforts to effectively differentiate one product from another in the marketplace, it should have a positive impact on product success. However, according to the perspective of consumers’ psychological responses, product design is a precursor to the development of positive psychological customers’ responses in that product design advantages have only potential value in generating superior product and brand performance (Bloch, 1995; Homburg et al., 2015). Collectively, simply assessing the product design-brand loyalty relationship fails to seize the core concept of the perspective of consumers’ psychological responses. By focusing on the mediating roles of psychological responses, we find that cognitive and affective responses fully mediate the effect of product design on brand loyalty metrics (i.e. attitudinal and behavioral brand loyalty). This not only validates our proposed sequential links of “product design → psychological responses → brand loyalty,” but also underlines the claim that product design may contribute to brand performance insofar as it elicits consumers’ psychological responses (Bloch, 1995). Therefore, including those previously ignored, yet important variables of psychological responses contributes to a better understanding of how product design realistically affects brand loyalty.