ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (5): 914-921.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2013.00914

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How Do Consumers Understand and Evaluate Convergent Products? An Analysis Based on Product Features and Individual Characteristics

ZHANG Hongxia;ZHANG Xuan;CHANG Ju-Hui;JIANG Haitao   

  1. (1 Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China) (2 Surrey International Institute, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 116025, China)
  • Received:2012-11-23 Online:2013-05-15 Published:2013-05-15
  • Contact: ZHANG Xuan

Abstract: Convergent products, such as the Smartphone, can be defined as a platform which integrates functions from different categories. Due to the development of electronic technology and the drive of consumer needs, convergence has gradually become the main pattern of high-tech products. When facing various convergent products, how consumers make evaluations is an important research question. Through the process of literature review, we intensively discuss the mechanism of how consumers evaluate convergent products and investigate the factors that influence this process from two aspects: product features of convergent products and individual characteristics of consumers. In this research, we propose a new theoretical framework including 11 propositions, by integrating variables of base-product characteristics, features of additional functions, relations between base-product and additional functions, consumers’ previous experience, cognitive resource, and construal level. This framework provides theoretical basis for future research in this field.

Key words: convergent product, base product, additional function, individual characteristic, consumer evaluation