Essays on consumer and technology interactions

• Ano de defesa: 2023
• Autor(a) principal: Batista, Juliana Moreira
• Orientador(a): Botelho, Delane, Barros, Lucia Salmonson Guimarães
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso embargado
• Idioma: eng
• Palavras-chave em Português: Interações entre consumidores e tecnologias; Realidade aumentada; Desejabilidade; Memória; Sarcasmo; Ativismo de marca
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Consumer-technologies interactions; Augmented reality; Product-related tasks desirability; Memory; Sarcasm; Brand activism
• Link de acesso: https://hdl.handle.net/10438/33827

This dissertation presents three articles that explore the impacts of consumer-technologies interactions on consumers’ responses. Based on practical examples from real markets, we address key questions regarding the effects of augmented reality (AR) on consumer behavior, including product-related task desirability, memory retention in campaigns, and brand responses to uncivil comments on social media within the context of brand activism. In the first article, it is empirically demonstrated that AR media campaigns increase consumers’ desire to perform product-related tasks by activating a concrete mindset and enhancing self-efficacy. Individual task expertise was found to moderate this effect. These findings contribute to existing AR literature, which has linked AR usage to increased consumer desire for product consumption and positive attitudes. The study also adds to self-efficacy and mastery experiences studies by incorporating principles of Construal Level Theory. The second article demonstrates that AR media campaigns decrease consumers' memory retention of product information due to innovative perceptions and attitudes associated with AR, which divert attention and impair memory retention. These findings shed light on the potential negative impact of AR on users’ cognitive abilities, such as memory. Also, contribute to Cognitive Load and Attention Capacity Theories by demonstrating how attitude and attention diversion serve as underlying psychological mechanisms explaining the effect of AR media on memory retention. In the third article, it is shown that consumers perceive sarcastic replies as more aggressive, while assertive replies lead to a more favorable attitude toward brands. This effect varies depending on consumers’ level of support for the brands’ stances, indicating that even when perceiving sarcasm as aggressive, consumers who support the brands’ stances maintain a positive attitude. These findings expand the understanding of the effects of sarcasm in mass-media advertising and customer-to-customer online incivility. The study also contributes to understanding the role of aggressiveness in online discussions by highlighting the element of aggressiveness in sarcasm as an underlying mechanism explaining the negative effect of sarcastic replies on attitude toward brands. Furthermore, this dissertation offers practical implications for firms, marketers, communication managers, and public relations professionals on effectively utilizing digital technologies to elicit favorable consumer responses.