Touching the Untouchable: Exploring Multi-Sensory Augmented Reality in the Context of Online Retailing

Jonas Heller, Mathew Chylinski, Ko de Ruyter, Dominik Mahr and Debbie I. Keeling

Journal of Retailing, 2019, vol. 95, issue 4, 219-234

Abstract: Mental intangibility during product evaluation remains one of the greatest drawbacks for online purchasing. However, emerging multi-sensory Augmented Reality (m-AR) applications offer a potential solution for this online retailing problem. Drawing on active inference theory, this article proposes a conceptual framework to assess how sensory control and feedback modalities affect consumer value judgements by reducing mental intangibility. We show how touch control, compared to voice control, positively affects consumers’ willingness-to-pay. The underlying mechanism is a sequential process of reduced mental intangibility and increased feeling of decision comfort. In addition, we highlight a positive moderating effect of congruent auditory feedback on decision comfort. We also demonstrate a novel consumer boundary condition. Consumers high in assessment orientation experience a stronger reduction in mental intangibility. The results are consistently replicated across three experiments implying theoretical and managerial contributions for m-AR in the context of online retailing.

Keywords: Multi-sensory Augmented Reality; Active inference; Mental intangibility, decision comfort; Assessment orientation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jouret:v:95:y:2019:i:4:p:219-234

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2019.10.008

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