Chirping birds and barking dogs: The interactive effect of ambient sensory cue source and valence on consumers’ choice of natural products

Sina Esteky

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2021, vol. 61, issue C

Abstract: A longstanding assumption underlying retail atmospherics is that positive sensations are inherently more advantageous to sales than negative ones. Using an approach-avoidance motivation framework, we challenge this assumption and highlight situations where unpleasant sensations may be beneficial to both consumers and businesses. In two studies with consequential decisions involving natural and conventional/processed products, we demonstrate an interactive effect of ambient sensory cue source and valence on product choices. We find evidence for this effect across auditory and olfactory sensory modalities. We further demonstrate that this effect is mediated by accessibility of natural (vs. non-natural) concepts and that it occurs primarily among individuals who are intrinsically motivated to consume natural products. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that ambient sensory cues may have a strong impact on consumers’ product choices. Our findings extend prior work on ambient sensations within retail environments and highlight the role of affect-laden sensations, particularly negative ones – an area that has received very little attention in the literature.

Keywords: Sensory environment; Affective valence; Purchase decisions; Approach-avoidance motivation; Mere exposure effect; Natural products (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698921000795
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:61:y:2021:i:c:s0969698921000795

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102513

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is currently edited by Harry Timmermans

More articles in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().