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| Project Details |
| Funding Scheme : | General Research Fund | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Number : | 493113 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(English) : | Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid? | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(Chinese) : | 消費者對具吸引力的服務人員的反應: 接近還是拒絕 | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(English) : | Prof Wan, Chun Ying | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : | |||||||||||||||||
| Department : | School of Hotel and Tourism Management | ||||||||||||||||
| Institution : | The Chinese University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||
| E-mail Address : | lisawan@baf.cuhk.edu.hk | ||||||||||||||||
| Tel : | 852-39438624 | ||||||||||||||||
| Co - Investigator(s) : |
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| Panel : | Business Studies | ||||||||||||||||
| Subject Area : | Business Studies | ||||||||||||||||
| Exercise Year : | 2013 / 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fund Approved : | 244,810 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Status : | Completed | ||||||||||||||||
| Completion Date : | 31-5-2017 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Objectives : |
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| Abstract as per original application (English/Chinese): |
There is a widely accepted belief that attractive (vs. unattractive) service providers are able to bring about better service interactions and therefore increase consumer satisfaction and purchase intention (e.g., Ahearne, Gruen, and Jarvis 1999). Retaining attractive service providers in the non-profit sector has also been found to generate larger donations (Reingen and Kernan 1993); and a recent study has evidenced that consumers will give higher product evaluations if they simply perceive the product as having been touched by an attractive opposite-sex service provider (Argo, Dahl, and Morales 2008). In essence, consumers love attractive people, and recruiting attractive service providers has become a pervasive phenomenon.
Despite the evidence showing the favorable impact on consumer reactions to attractive service providers, this may not always be beneficial. Building on the impression management literature (Schlenker 1980), there is a possibility that consumers sometimes hesitate in interacting with attractive providers. Notably, they are more motivated to present a favorable self before an attractive (vs. unattractive) opposite-sex person because they believe the latter’s evaluations of them are more important (Schlenker and Leary 1982). This higher motivation towards self-presentation may create greater social anxiety as the consumers feel unable to present satisfactory impressions in the presence of attractive providers. Therefore, we propose that when consumers’ attention in service interactions is drawn to their anxieties arising from self-presentation, they react less positively to attractive (vs. unattractive) providers. When they do not focus their attention on the anxieties, however, the reverse is true.
We suggest one feature of consumption that will heighten consumer self-presentation anxiety in service interactions as being the consumption of a product that is likely to cause embarrassment (“embarrassing consumption”). Embarrassment is an awkward emotional state that threatens an individual’s desired social identity in social interactions (Miller 1996). Some products can generate greater embarrassment than others, such as condoms and those relating to weight loss. Since embarrassing consumption can bring about a negative evaluation, consumers may react less positively to attractive (vs. unattractive) providers. We also suspect this pattern will be stronger for consumers with interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal, given they are more sensitive to impression management.
This is the first study to examine when physical attractiveness of service providers increases consumers’ favorable reactions and when it decreases at a first-time purchase and situated within the context of embarrassing consumption. Findings will offer valuable managerial insights into attractive (vs. unattractive) providers and Asian (vs. Western) consumer behavior. 是次研究題目探討外表具吸引力的服務人員是如何及怎樣對消費者在服務過程中產生影響。 一般人認為外表具吸引力(對比低吸引力)的服務員會更容易受顧客歡迎，及有助提升顧客對其服務的滿意度。例如最近一些研究發現，若福利機構的工作人員外表吸引，會讓人增加捐贈。亦有研究指出消費者會因為產品被外表吸引的異性服務員觸摸過而對這產品產生興趣。 儘管很多研究認為聘請外表吸引的服務員會有好處，如提高顧客對產品的購買意慾，但本硏究認為在一些情況下，外表具吸引力(對比低吸引力)的服務員反而有機會降低顧客購買產品及服務的意慾。 在印象管理的文章裡，有提及到人們面對外表吸引的異性時，會特別想得到他們的注意及留下良好印象。這種渴望有機會產生一種不敢直接面對外表吸引的異性的恐懼。因為人們會擔心自己不能在對方面前產生良好的印象。所以若當這種恐懼出現時，人們反而不會願意和外表吸引的異性接觸。 本硏究認為尷尬的消費情景(如購買生理，減肥)用品會特別容易讓消費者產生這種恐懼。這種尷尬的消費情景若聘用外表吸引的服務員可能會產生反效果。本研究將會透過一系列實驗引證以上的假設。 |
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| Realisation of objectives: | All objectives were achieved. We conducted six studies in total to address objectives 1 and 2 and the manuscript was successfully published at the top tier marketing journal, namely, Journal of Consumer Research. We also presented the findings in one international conference and two invited research seminars. Publication: Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2015), “Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid?” Journal of Consumer Research, 42(4), 578-95. Conference: Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2015), “Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid,” Paper presented at the Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Regional Conference, Malaysia. Invited Research Seminars Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid, Research Seminar, Management School, Jinan University, China, 2016. Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid, Research Seminar, Department of Marketing and International Business, Lingnan University, 2014. In addition, we conducted another 3 studies to test the objective 3. Results supported our predictions. We found that the impacts of self-presentation concerns on people reactions to attractive individuals are more salient for people with interdependent selves than those with independent selves. We submitted the manuscript to the top tier psychology journal, namely, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Unfortunately, the manuscript was rejected in the second round. We will revise the manuscript and will submit it to other psychology journal. | ||||||||||||||||
| Summary of objectives addressed: |
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| Research Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| Major findings and research outcome: | Attractive service providers are often assumed to elicit favorable consumer reactions and to increase purchase intentions. However, this may not always be true. A pilot study and five field and laboratory experiments show that when a self-presentation concern is made salient, consumers react less positively to highly attractive providers than to less attractive ones. This concern can be influenced by chronic social anxiety or can be aroused by unrelated experiences that consumers have before being exposed to the service interactions. In addition, it can be activated by the type of product being sold, that is, a product that is likely to cause embarrassment. Thus, the attractiveness of a service provider can have either positive or negative effects on consumers’ reactions to a consumption experience and their consequent purchase intentions, depending on the type of product under consideration. These effects occur when the service provider is both of the opposite sex and the same sex. However, self-presentation concerns when an opposite-sex provider is attractive are driven by sexual motives whereas these self-presentation concerns when a same-sex target is attractive are stimulated by social comparison processes. The manuscript with the above findings was successfully published at the top tier marketing journal, namely, Journal of Consumer Research. We also presented the findings in one international conference and two invited research seminars. Publication: Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2015), “Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid?” Journal of Consumer Research, 42(4), 578-95. Conference: Wan, Lisa C. and Robert S. Wyer (2015), “Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid,” Paper presented at the Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Regional Conference, Malaysia. Invited Research Seminars Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid, Research Seminar, Management School, Jinan University, China, 2016. Consumer Reactions to Attractive Service Providers: Approach or Avoid, Research Seminar, Department of Marketing and International Business, Lingnan University, 2014. In addition, we conducted a few more studies to test the objective 3 and found that the impacts of self-presentation concerns on people reactions to attractive individuals are more salient for people with interdependent selves than those with independent selves. We will prepare the manuscript for these findings and will submit it to psychology journal. | ||||||||||||||||
| Potential for further development of the research and the proposed course of action: |
We think that more research works can be done on the topic of incidental embarrassment. The majority of previous embarrassment literature has focused on individuals’ reactions to persons who are aware of the incident that created their embarrassment (e.g., Feinberg, Willer, & Keltner, 2012; Keltner & Buswell, 1997). With few exceptions (Apsler, 1975), little attention has been given to embarrassed individuals’ reactions to people who are unaware of the source of their embarrassment and the feelings they are experiencing. In fact, Goffman (1959) contended that embarrassed individuals are typically unmotivated to restore their damaged self-image when the persons with whom they interact are unaware of the incident that gave rise to their embarrassment. This conceptualization suggests that embarrassed persons’ tendency to avoid interacting with physically attractive persons would not be evident when these persons have no knowledge of the conditions that gave rise to them. In contrast to Goffman’s speculation, however, we suggest that it is possible for embarrassed people are motivated to protect their social image even when they interact with attractive non-observers. Future research can further explore the impact of incidental embarrassment on people reactions to attractive salesperson. | ||||||||||||||||
| Layman's Summary of Completion Report: | We often assume physical attraction will be an advantage in life. When we go shopping and see a highly attractive salesperson, we will be more willing to spend time interacting with the salesperson and be more likely to buy the products. Past research also qualified this assumption, as evidenced by consumers’ greater satisfaction with the service and their intentions to purchase the products being sold. However, our study suggests that this may not always be true. We show that attractive salespeople can sometimes lead consumers to have self-presentation concerns about their ability to make a good impression on others. When consumers’ self-presentation concerns are heightened (i.e., in embarrassing consumption situations or consumers with chronically high social anxiety), they often avoid interacting with physically attractive salespeople, hence making it relatively ineffective for the salespeople to sell their products. These findings were published in the top tier journal and were widely reported by a variety of influential local, regional and international media outlets, spanning from Hong Kong to Australia, China, France, India, Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom. Publications that have run articles on the findings include Money, The Times, The Telegraph, Yahoo! Style, Oriental Daily News and more. | ||||||||||||||||
| Research Output | |||||||||||||||||
| Peer-reviewed journal publication(s) arising directly from this research project : (* denotes the corresponding author) |
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| Recognized international conference(s) in which paper(s) related to this research project was/were delivered : |
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| Other impact (e.g. award of patents or prizes, collaboration with other research institutions, technology transfer, etc.): |
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| SCREEN ID: SCRRM00542 |