ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2016, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (8): 1026-1036.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2016.01026

• 论文 • 上一篇    下一篇

谁该成为体验型产品网络评论的主角, 图片还是文字?

杨颖1 ;朱毅2   

  1. (1重庆师范大学地理与旅游学院, 重庆 401331) (2深圳大学心理与社会学院, 深圳 518060)
  • 收稿日期:2014-10-13 发布日期:2016-08-25 出版日期:2016-08-25
  • 通讯作者: 杨颖, E-mail: yayigg624@163.com

Effects of online pictorial versus verbal reviews of experience product on consumer’s judgment

YANG Ying1; ZHU Yi2   

  1. (1 School of Geography and Tourism, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China) (2 College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China)
  • Received:2014-10-13 Online:2016-08-25 Published:2016-08-25
  • Contact: YANG Ying, E-mail: yayigg624@163.com

摘要:

图片、文字是体验型产品网络评论的两种主要形式, 但关于两者对消费者影响的研究结论尚存在分歧。本研究基于解释水平理论, 通过系列实验揭示了图片、文字评论在不同购买可行性情境下对消费者产品评价的影响, 及产品类型(怀旧/非怀旧)的调节作用。结果表明:(1)购买可行性低情境下的消费者受文字评论的影响更大, 而购买可行性高情境下的消费者受图片评论的影响更大(实验1a、实验1b和实验2); (2)购买怀旧产品时, 购买可行性低情境下的消费者仍受文字评论的影响更大, 而购买可行性高情境下的消费者受两类评论的影响无差异; 购买非怀旧产品时, 购买可行性高情境下的消费者仍受图片评论的影响更大, 而购买可行性低情境下的消费者受两类评论的影响无差异(实验3)。本研究表明, 当图片、文字评论与购买可行性在解释水平上一致时, 影响力最大, 且怀旧/非怀旧产品类型会调节这种效应。本研究还讨论了如何在实际中运用此结论。

关键词: 图片评论, 文字评论, 购买可行性, 解释水平, 怀旧产品

Abstract:

Both online pictorial and verbal reviews play important roles in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Based on construal level theory (CLT), we studied the effects of pictorial reviews and verbal reviews on consumers’ decision. Words are abstract representations of objects, so verbal reviews are characterized as high construal level; while pictures are concrete representations of objects, pictorial reviews are examples of low construal level. Furthermore, according to CLT, products are represented at a higher construal level by consumers whose purchase feasibility is low, while products are represented at a lower construal level by consumers whose purchase feasibility is high. Thus we hypothesized that consumers whose purchase feasibility is low would be more influenced by verbal reviews, whereas consumers whose purchase feasibility is high would be more influenced by pictorial reviews. In addition, this effect would be moderated by the product types (i.e., nostalgic vs. non nostalgic products). A series of experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. In Experiment 1a and 1b, reviews of tangible product features were used to study the impact of purchase feasibility and pictorial/verbal reviews on product evaluation. Experiment 1a employed a 2 (purchase feasibility: high vs. low) × 2 (reviews: pictorial vs. verbal) between-subjects design. Experiment 1b employed the same design as experiment 1a, but used scenarios which were more close to real life purchasing experience. Results of Experiment 1a and 1b showed that when purchase feasibility was low, participants were more likely to be persuaded by verbal reviews, as compared with pictorial reviews. By contrast, when purchase feasibility was high, participants were more likely to be influenced by pictorial reviews than verbal reviews. These results provided evidence for congruency effect between purchase feasibility and reviews forms. In Experiment 2, we studied reviews of intangible product features of hotels, and changed purchase feasibility conditions. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the congruency effect found in Experiment 1 with the reviews of intangible product features. In Experiment 3, we further studied the moderating role of product types (i.e., nostalgic vs. non nostalgic products) in the relationship between purchase feasibility and reviews forms. We adopted a 2 (reviews: pictorial vs. verbal) × 2 (purchase feasibility: high vs. low) × 2 (product type: nostalgic product vs. non-nostalgic product) between-subjects in Experiment 3. Results showed that the congruency effect between purchase feasibility and pictorial/verbal reviews was moderated by product types: when purchasing nostalgia products, consumers whose purchase feasibility was low were more influenced by verbal reviews than by pictorial reviews, but the difference between the two types of reviews was not significant when purchase feasibility was high; when purchasing non-nostalgia products, consumers whose purchase feasibility was high were more influenced by pictorial reviews than by verbal reviews, but the difference between the two types of reviews was not significant when purchase feasibility was low. The current research contributes to the understanding of how pictorial reviews differ from verbal reviews in affecting consumers’ product evaluation. Moreover, our findings also imply that displaying verbal/pictorial online reviews according to consumers’ purchase feasibility would enhance their purchasing intention, and that the effectiveness of marketing strategies with regard to nostalgia/non-nostalgic products is determined by different factors such as purchasing feasibility.

Key words: pictorial reviews, verbal reviews, purchase feasibility, construal level, nostalgia product