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März 18, 2024Januar 24, 2024

Robots on Campus: An Exciting Study on Acceptance and Functionality

Imagine walking onto the campus of Heilbronn University (in a city in southern Germany) and being greeted by a friendly robot called Temi. Temi will effortlessly navigate you around the campus, tell you what’s on the menu in the canteen and even help you find the right person to talk to. Sounds futuristic? Well, that’s exactly what this exciting research project was all about.

Robotic assistants or service robots are increasingly used in various fields to support humans in everyday tasks and interactions. This study investigated the acceptance of the robotic assistant „Temi“ on the educational campus in Heilbronn. The aim was to contribute to the successful implementation of the robot Temi on the educational campus.

_{Fotos: Martin Albermann}

Research Goal

The main of this research was to investigate the acceptance of robots like Temi on the educational campus in Heilbronn and to find out which functionalities and characteristics are relevant for their further development. By taking into account the opinions and attitudes of the campus users, we were able to gain valuable insights that are of great importance for the future design and implementation of robots in comparable settings.

Research Overview

To achieve this goal, Marie Bauer, a business psychology student at our university, conducted a comprehensive study using a combination of research methods in an exploratory design. The study was conducted as part of the Smart Campus Initiative and in cooperation with Fraunhofer IAO. First, a qualitative study was conducted with two focus groups to gain deeper insights into the opinions and experiences of potential users. For each focus group, eight participants were recruited. These were made up of staff, students and visitors to the Heilbronn campus, in order to approximate the heterogeneous picture of the general user community of the campus. Secondly, a quantitative study was conducted with 230 participants, also consisting of these three target groups.

Sample Overview

The sample included people who regularly visited the campus as well as those who had never been there. This ensured that a wide range of perspectives and opinions were taken into account. The diversity of participants allowed for comprehensive and meaningful results. The majority of respondents were women (73.5%) aged between 19 and 26 (M=26). The majority of respondents had never been to the Heilbronn campus (70.4%). The remaining respondents were students (14.4%), employees (4.8%) or visitors (10.4%) to the Heilbronn Campus.

Main Findings

Overall, the acceptance of Temi on the educational campus was assessed as positive, although potential for improvement was also identified.

- Maximum Difference Scaling (MDS): The MDS analysis revealed that navigation & guidance, information, and verbal & visual directions had the highest relative importance ratings and are therefore the most important functionalities and features relevant to the further development of Temi on the educational campus. Features such as feedback, greeting & welcoming, individual personality of the robot and entertainment were considered less important. These are functions that aim at entertaining interaction and fun with the robot.
- Surprisingly, there were nearly no differences in the importance of features between regular campus users (students, staff, visitors) and those who had never been on campus.
- Other feature suggestions: The most common other suggestions for potential future features of Temi were making emergency calls, contacting first responders, a cleaning feature, and the ability to contact Temi through an app.
- Acceptance scores and factors: The acceptance of Temi on the educational campus was assessed as positive overall.
- Predictive quality of the model: The structural model achieved an R² value of .73, which means that 73% of the variance in intention to use could be explained by the model. The path coefficients of the factors usefulness, enjoyment and personal attitude had a significant positive influence on intention to use.
- Descriptive values: Intention to use was rated positively on average (M = 3.77). The factors ease of use and facilitating conditions received the highest mean scores, while the factors social influence and personality received lower mean scores. Personal attitude, usefulness and enjoyment were in the positive middle range.

Implications

The results suggest that the further development of robots on educational campuses should initially focus on useful features for navigation, guidance and information provision. Features that focus on Temi’s entertainment can be neglected for the time being, based on the results of this study.

To increase acceptance, entertaining functions and features in the areas of usefulness, fun and personal attitude of the users should be integrated into the interaction with the robot. Privacy and data protection measures should be implemented to increase user confidence and further increase acceptance.

Conclusion

This research provided valuable insights into the acceptance and relevant functionalities of robots such as Temi on educational campuses. The results show that robots can play a promising role in education by helping users navigate the campus and providing useful information.

This research opens up new perspectives for the integration of robots in educational settings and raises exciting questions: How can robots like Temi enhance learning and everyday life on campus? How can we ensure that they respond to individual user needs? The future of education may be robotic, and this study is a first step in that exciting direction.

Februar 5, 2024Januar 24, 2024

Virtual Reality (VR) in urban planning – a helpful use of technology to increase the acceptance of a reduction in car traffic

Climate change and the associated attempt to take appropriate measures in order to reduce global warming are omnipresent. One current issue in this context is car traffic, especially in large cities, which produces a lot of emissions and, thus, contributes to climate change. European cities want to reduce the dominance of motorized individual transport in order to combat the environmental problems associated with it, such as noise, air pollution and land consumption (SPIEGEL, 2022). The aim is to redesign public space to improve the quality of life, so that everyone ultimately benefits.

In this context, the acceptance of citizens is particularly important for the implementation of transport policy measures, as resistance may arise before or during projects (Bosch & Peyke, 2011; Huber et al., 2020; Pleger, 2019). Studies show that citizens are more open to transport policy measures if they create quality of life and quality of place (Andor et al., 2020; Wicki et al., 2021; Wicki & Kaufmann, 2022). It is problematic that in the early planning phases, the opportunities for influence are greatest, but the interest of citizens is lowest (Wolf et al., 2020). One reason for the low level of interest is the provision of comprehensible information, which is often characterized by complex plan drawings, image montages, graphics or texts in technical language that are difficult or impossible for non-experts to understand (Spieker, 2021; Wolf et al., 2020).

This is where new technologies come into play, such as virtual reality glasses, which can visualize measures and changes in the cityscape and make them tangible. Several studies have demonstrated the potential of simple immersion in various new reality scenarios without prior knowledge or experience (Lovett et al., 2015; Schauppenlehner et al., 2018; Schwarze et al., 2022; Sinning et al., 2023). Through these so-called immersive visualization technologies, every citizen can also be made privy to a project and their opinion can be sought, thus increasing the acceptance of the measures and changes.

Research Goal

The aim of a study conducted by Jasmina Rückle, a Master student in our Business Psychology Programme, was to analyze the impact of the use of immersive visualization technologies on the acceptance of a reduction in moving and stationary car traffic among residents and people in a suburban area. Empirically, there is a gap on the question of whether immersive visualization technologies (e.g. VR glasses) have a stronger positive influence on the acceptance of car traffic reduction than less immersive visualization technologies (e.g. a video on a smartphone). There is also a lack of information on the factors that influence immersion, which were investigated in more detail in this study.

Study Overview

The experimental study was conducted in an urban environment in Stuttgart with a representative group of 60 participants, consisting of local residents and people with a personal connection to the surrounding area. During the experiment, the participants were presented with different scenarios related to traffic reduction. Firstly, what the urban environment currently looks like, and secondly, what it could look like in the future with less car traffic. The experiment was conducted under three different conditions: a) interactive virtual reality, b) visualization of a VR video and c) presentation of a video on a smartphone. Acceptance of the traffic reduction and other relevant variables were measured before and after the exposure of the virtual presentation.

The survey data was recorded on a 5-point Likert scale from not at all (1) to completely (5). The 60 respondents, with an average age of 34 years, were 48% male and 52% female. The two largest groups of people were professionals (55%) and students (32%), all of whom had regular contact with the selected urban environment.

Main Findings

Acceptance of car traffic reduction:
The residents and people with a direct connection to the selected urban environment had a high acceptance of the reduction of moving and stationary car traffic. They particularly disliked the noise caused by the traffic.

Immersive visualization technologies:
After the manipulation with the VR interaction, the acceptance of reducing car traffic differed significantly between the scenarios of how the neighbourhood looks now and how it could look in the future. For example, acceptance increased with the help of immersive technology in the interactive VR scenario. This was not the case for the other two conditions (VR video and smartphone video).

In our study, the level of immersion (how much the respondent can immerse themselves in the scenario) had a strong positive influence on acceptance. Immersion can be further enhanced by increasing the user’s attention and cognitive involvement, which can be promoted by, for example, a high-resolution animated scenario and a situation in which the person does not feel observed. People with a strong spatial imagination also experience better immersion. On the other hand, technology affinity had no effect on perceived immersion.

Conclusion

From the study it can be concluded that it may be a useful method in future urban planning to use technologies such as high immersion VR glasses to allow citizens to immerse themselves in the scenario and thus increase the acceptance for changes. This can be used for future scenarios that are otherwise not directly tangible to citizens, which can be animated in a way that is close to reality. As we have demonstrated, interaction in virtual reality can increase the acceptance of reducing car traffic in cities, which would facilitate the implementation of climate-friendly measures. A VR or smartphone video does not increase this acceptance. A high degree of immersion is important. This can be further increased by high attention, cognitive involvement and strong spatial imagination of the person using the immersive technology.

References

Andor, M. A., Frondel, M., Horvath, M., Larysch, T., & Ruhrort, L. (2020). Präferenzen und Einstellungen zu vieldiskutierten verkehrspolitischen Maßnahmen: Ergebnisse einer Erhebung aus dem Jahr 2018. List Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik, 45(3), 255–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41025-019-00184-x

Bosch, S., & Peyke, G. (2011). Gegenwind für die Erneuerbaren – Räumliche Neuorientierung der Wind-, Solar- und Bioenergie vor dem Hintergrund einer verringerten Akzeptanz sowie zunehmender Flächennutzungskonflikte im ländlichen Raum. Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning, 69(2), 105–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13147-011-0082-6

Huber, R. A., Wicki, M. L., & Bernauer, T. (2020). Public support for environmental policy depends on beliefs concerning effectiveness, intrusiveness, and fairness. Environmental Politics, 29(4), 649–673. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2019.1629171

Lovett, A., Appleton, K., Warren-Kretzschmar, B., & Von Haaren, C. (2015). Using 3D visualization methods in landscape planning: An evaluation of options and practical issues. Landscape and Urban Planning, 142, 85–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.02.021

Pleger, L. E. (2019). Democratic Acceptance of Spatial Planning Policy Measures. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3- 319-90878-6

Schauppenlehner, T., Kugler, K., & Muhar, A. (2018). Anwendungserfahrungen von Virtual Reality als Kommunikationswerkzeug in partizipativen Planungsprozessen. Wichmann Verlag. https://doi.org/10.14627/537647003

Schwarze, J., Vöckler, K., Hinde, S., David, E., Le-Hoa Võ, M., & Eckart, P. (2022). Virtual Reality im Mobilitätsdesign: Experimentelle Forschung zum Einsatz von VR-Simulationen. In P. Eckart, M. Knöll, M. Lanzendorf, & K. Vöckler (Hrsg.), Mobility Design (S. 198–215). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783868597936-019

Sinning, H., Brandenburger, Y., Kruse, R., & Rogoll, S. (2023). Partizipative Stadtentwicklung mit XR-Technologie. Urbane Transformation als gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe. https://www.vhw.de/fileadmin/user_upload/08_publikationen/verbandszeitschrift/FWS/2023/FWS_2_2023/FWS_2_23_Gesamtausgabe.pdf

SPIEGEL. (2022). Barcelona, London oder Paris: Wie Europas Metropolen das Auto loswerden wollen. SPIEGEL Mobilität. https://www.spiegel.de/auto/barcelona-london-oder-paris-wie-europas-metropolen-dasauto-loswerden-wollen-a-443d7682-8ab9-49e7-86d4-977a8

Spieker, A. (2021). Chance statt Show – Bürgerbeteiligung mit Virtual Reality & Co.: Akzeptanz und Wirkung der Visualisierung von Bauvorhaben. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658- 33082-8

Wicki, M., Hofer, K., & Kaufmann, D. (2021). Acceptance of densification in six metropolises: Evidence from combined survey experiments [Application/pdf]. 28 p. https://doi.org/10.3929/ETHZ-B-000519861

Wicki, M., & Kaufmann, D. (2022). Accepting and resisting densification: The importance of project-related factors and the contextualizing role of neighbourhoods. Landscape and Urban Planning, 220, 104350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104350

Wolf, M., Söbke, H., & Wehking, F. (2020). Mixed Reality Media-Enabled Public Participation in Urban Planning. In T. Jung, M. C. Tom Dieck, & P. A. Rauschnabel (Hrsg.), Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality: Changing Realities in a Dynamic World (S. 125–138). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37869-1

Januar 10, 2024Januar 10, 2024

Will air taxis extend public transportation?

Cities and their surrounding areas have to face rising mobility and infrastructural challenges due to the increasing urbanization. Correspondingly, a new category for aerial vehicles and shared mobility concepts called urban air mobility (UAM) has emerged, offering a new dimension: the skyscape. Electrical Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, also known as air taxis, are considered the vehicle foundation of UAM. Air taxis provide a local, emission-free and infrastructure-conserving mode of transportation. For successful integration into the public transportation network, the intention to use and the willingness to accept air taxis must be present among potential users. Another important indicator for future infrastructure planning is the willingness to pay. Therefore, Hartmut Fricke, Robert Brühl, Laura Riza and Patrick Planing conducted a study that aims to investigate the willingness to use and pay for air taxis in various urban scenarios. This study was developed through an interdisciplinary research background and offers a first approximation for regular trips for each scenario.

Research Overview

The study, conducted in the greater Dresden area in Germany, integrates diverse research perspectives across different urban transport scenarios: societal acceptance, intention to use and willingness to pay. The data collection took place in the greater metropolitan area of the city, with a final sample of 1,074 participants. QR codes leading to a quantitative online survey were distributed to passersby at various locations within the city and on the outskirts to ensure that participants from different city areas were queried.
To ensure applicability in practical contexts, three scenarios meticulously drawn from real-life contexts were selected. One central factor that remained constant among the scenarios was that the air taxi covers the distance about 30 % faster than a car, conventional taxi, or bus and that there is less risk of delay due to external influences, such as congestion. Scenario 1 explored the utilization of air taxis as an individual transportation choice for a special occasion. Specifically, the application for a trip to an opera performance (“limousine case”). This scenario was chosen since the Dresden opera is among the most well-known operas in Europa and the most popular tourist location in the area. Scenario 2 examined an individual route from the respondent’s home to the Postplatz, a public square in the city center of Dresden (“taxi case”). Since the respondents reported their postal code, approximate distances to the location could be calculated for each scenario. In Scenario 3, the use of an air taxi as part of a fixed-schedule network was presented for a mid-distance flight in the larger city area (“bus case”).

Main findings of survey

Results indicated a restrained societal acceptance for air taxis among this sample in the greater Dresden metropolitan area.
→ Approximately half of the respondents indicated they do not want air taxis in Dresden in the future
Results indicated a restrained intention to use air taxis among this sample, with most respondents stating that it is unlikely they will use air taxis in the future.
Participants who would like to see air taxis in Dresden in the future would also be more likely to use them.
The intention to use air taxis in the future was highest in the limousine scenario and a similar intention emerged for the bus scenario. In the taxi scenario, the intention to use was lower.
The analysis revealed a significant difference in the intention to use air taxis between the limousine case and the taxi case, as well as between the taxi case and the bus case. No significant difference was found between the limousine and the bus scenarios.
The PSM-light method was used to determine price willingness. For the limousine case, the computed willingness to pay is €30 per flight. In the second scenario, the taxi case, participants’ willingness to pay is €15, and for the bus case, it is €18.

Conclusion

Overall, the data suggest that air taxis have not gained widespread acceptance yet, as approximately half of the respondents are not open to the idea of using them. The limited experience with air taxis, as they are not part of the transportation system, might contribute to the restricted acceptance of participants. Furthermore, the study reveals that people are more inclined to welcome the integration of air taxis into their cities if they perceive it as a technology they would use personally in the future. The scenario analysis revealed a greater inclination among respondents to use air taxis for special occasions compared to everyday commuting scenarios, indicating that people are more likely to consider air taxis for unique events rather than as a primary daily mode of transportation. Accordingly, consumers showed the highest willingness to pay in the limousine scenario. Based on this research, governmental authorities and industry stakeholders may consider the findings to develop a human-centered approach for future mobility and ensure successful implementation in the mobility networks of the future.
The complete study is available for open access in the Transportation Research Journal.

Dezember 20, 2023Juni 15, 2023

VR in applied research [part 2]: When our imagination doesn’t reach far enough – Virtual reality as a participatory method to increase the acceptance of sustainable mobility

It is expected of cities to provide an attractive, but also competitive place to work and live, while managing the needs of all transportation users and meeting the increasing demands of climate, environmental and health protection all at the same time. Not meeting these demands often simultaneously relates to a reduction in the inhabitants’ quality of life. An important component for a high standard of living in cities is mobility, which is one aspect of our institution’s research project, iCity, aimed at developing the intelligent city of the future (read more here about this project).

„VR in applied research [part 2]: When our imagination doesn’t reach far enough – Virtual reality as a participatory method to increase the acceptance of sustainable mobility“ weiterlesen

Dezember 13, 2023Juni 15, 2023

VR in applied research [part 1]: An empirical investigation of using virtual reality for researching the acceptance of smart stores

Imagine you are at the grocery store, but instead of waiting at the cashier to pay, an artificial intelligence (AI) registered the products you took and automatically bills them to your account right after you leave the store. For many years, the shopping process in a supermarket was very similar: customers would take products from shelves, then go to checkout, put the goods on a belt which were scanned by a cashier, and pay. Usually, this process is often associated with waiting times, depending on how busy the store is. With the introduction of self-checkouts, this process has already been optimized through technology. In 2016, Amazon opened the first smart store in Seattle. A smart store completely eliminates the payment process at a cash register (Amazon, 2022). Cameras, sensors and an AI automatically detect which products the customer took from the shelf. The products are paid for using the stored payment data when the customer leaves the store. This smart store concept rather describes the “Grab & Go” technology which includes a walk-in option for customers. While there are a multitude of different concepts used in smart stores, this research focused on said concept as well as an ”Automated Box” concept which refers to a smart store with a fully automated high-bay warehouse. Customers do not select the products inside this particular smart store, but choose their desired products via an app either before or upon their arrival.

„VR in applied research [part 1]: An empirical investigation of using virtual reality for researching the acceptance of smart stores“ weiterlesen

November 22, 2023Mai 3, 2023

VR in the customer journey [part 2]: How does virtual reality effect the fashion shopping experience?

Virtual reality (VR), which is considered a megatrend (Rutkowski, 2022), aids in blurring the line between actual reality and the virtual world. Specifically, a study from 2020 concluded that 46% of Germans are interested in using VR technologies when shopping online (Bahr, 2020). Hence, utilizing VR in the fashion industry could provide additional opportunities for customers and retailers. It is of particularly great importance for fashion retailers to find a suitable way of linking digitalization and in-person shopping. Indeed, sales forecasts for in-person store shopping are decreasing (KPMG, 2021). The point-of-purchase (e.g., physical store or online store) plays a significant role in the customer journey (Redler, 2018) as is greatly impacts the purchase decision.

Research goal

Using the example of a fashion store, Lydia Gaus aimed at investigating the influence of VR technologies on the participants‘ general interest in the store, interest in visiting the store, and intended purchase behavior compared to two-dimensional stimuli. Additionally, the study tried to find explanatory aspects for the advantages or disadvantages as well as possible requirements for including VR into the shopping journey of cross-channel shoppers.

Research overview

Gaus used a mixed methods approach for her research, including two groups, one receiving images on their personal devices, e.g., smartphones, and one looking at 360° images on VR glasses. The images displayed three rooms of a clothing store without customers, whereby the 360° view was utilized in the form of seperate shots for the 2-D group so that the images looked like usual photographs. Participants were then presented a questionnaire and a subsample was chosen to participate in subsequent interviews. In total, 68 participants (with half for each group), who were mainly students (52%), representing 50% female and male respectively as well as an age range of 18 to 61 years (mean=31.5, SD=13.9), took part in the first part of the study. 10 of these respondents subsequently participated in an interview.

Main findings

Participants who received the VR input had a significantly higher general interest in the store, interest in visiting the store and purchase intention than the group receiving 2-D stimuli.
The VR group remembered significantly more objects from the store than the picture group.
The factor stimuli significantly predicts the experienceability (sense of presence) which predicts the purchase intention as well as interest in and intention to visit the store. For the VR group, experienceability was higher, which in turn was positively related to the purchase intention.
Throughout the interviews, multiple advantages of VR shopping were repeatedly mentioned, namely the realistic presentation of the store, a comfortable atmosphere as well as resulting positive emotions such as fun, curiosity, and entertainment/ surprising.
Optimization potentials related to missing music in the store, missing shopping experience (i.e. interaction with staff or other customers), little comfort in wearing the glasses as well as technical limitations related to the virtual scenario, and no option to “move” or navigate through the store.

Conclusion

Using VR technology in the customer journey can offer additional opportunities for retailers, as it increases the purchase intention and general interest in the store as well as visiting intention for the customers, compared to 2-D stimuli. Additionally, the consumers’ ability to remember the store was better with VR than with pictures. Hence, offering VR images can be a useful marketing measure for clothing retailers, as it offers the linkage between online and in-store shopping. This could also spark interest in cross-channel shoppers to visit physical stores. However, VR glasses are still not popular in private homes. Furthermore, the perceived usefulness of VR shopping is limited due to the missing interaction with other people and the physical clothes. Hence, providers should further develop the technical options, such as navigating through the store, updating the VR-data with current product availability, and virtual trying on of the clothes as well as the interaction with other customers (as in the metaverse).

After covering VR as a potential addition to the customer journey, we will dive into VR as a new tool for user research in the next two posts, beginning with a study which explored the acceptance of smart stores via VR. Here, VR was used in order to more vividly display the new store concept.

References

Bahr, I. (2020). Studie: Virtual Reality im Online-Shopping – 17 % kaufen online mit VR ein, GetApp. Retrieved from: https://www.getapp.de/blog/1748/studie-virtual-reality-im-online-shopping

KPMG. (2021). Front Row: Sehen, was morgen Mode ist. Studie Fashion 2030. Köln. Retrieved from: https://home.kpmg/de/de/home/themen/2021/01/studie-fashion-2030-trend-guide-fuer-die-zukunft-der-mode-branche-in-deutschland.html

Redler, J. (2018). Die Store Brand. Einkaufsstätten als Marken verstehen, aufbauen und steuern. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-09709-7

Rutkowski, M. (2022). Metaverse – wie Unternehmen den Megatrend nutzen können. Handelsblatt. Retrieved from: https://www.handelsblatt.com/adv/soklingtwirtschaft/reale-und-virtuellewirklichkeit-metaverse-wie-unternehmen-den-megatrend-nutzen-koennen/28349842.html

November 8, 2023Mai 3, 2023

VR in the customer journey [part 1]: Increasing accommodation sales by limiting risk and providing an escape into virtual reality tourism

We will kick off a new blog series about virtual reality (VR) with two posts about VR as a potential tool along the customer journey. Additionally, we will publish two posts regarding studies, which examined VR as a tool in user research, which we have already started to report on in this post.

The concept of „try before you buy“ is widely popular to reduce uncertainties for consumers before the purchase of a product and to provide support in the purchase decision. When buying goods in real-life stores, customers are able to actually touch and test the products which aids them in evaluating the product quality before buying. This sales concept can be implemented in many online stores as well, as customers are given a specified test period without having to pay for the product immediately (Allen, 2016; Avampato, 2018). However, applying this sales approach to the tourism industry is practically impossible due to the immateriality of the product. In fact, customers have to make a decision based on the available information, provided on the internet, for instance. Yet, they only find out upon arrival at the destination whether the booked service actually meets their expectations (Bruhn & Hadwich, 2004; Hartmann, 2018). Hence, from the consumer’s perspective, this results in a perceived purchase risk, as booking a vacation trip is usually associated with a certain degree of uncertainty (Bär, 2006; Syrek et al., 2017). Virtual reality (VR) can aid consumers during the decision process and minimizes this purchase risk as it presents the destination in a virtual world and gives the customer an active role to discover it.

„VR in the customer journey [part 1]: Increasing accommodation sales by limiting risk and providing an escape into virtual reality tourism“ weiterlesen

Oktober 11, 2023Oktober 16, 2023

Life in a hobby lab: A qualitative user study on smart home acceptance in shared households

While many of our acceptance research studies focus on the quantitative evaluation of (potential) technology acceptance factors, this blog entry describes a qualitative approach to smart home acceptance research. In addition, it integrates the views of two target groups by trying to understand the mutual acceptance of members in a household.

„Life in a hobby lab: A qualitative user study on smart home acceptance in shared households“ weiterlesen

September 13, 2023Juni 10, 2023

Which advertising appeal works best? – An experimental study on emotional and informative advertising for sustainable products

While an earlier blog post focused on emotional advertising and its positive effect on advertising success, this post summarizes a study which extents this research by including sequentially improving advertisements, i.e. spots that start with a negative emotion but move towards a positive emotion in the end. The study concentrated on a sustainable product relevant for Generation Z presented on the social media platform Instagram via videographic stimuli (see also our blog post series about sustainable consumption).

„Which advertising appeal works best? – An experimental study on emotional and informative advertising for sustainable products“ weiterlesen

August 16, 2023Juni 10, 2023

How do online advertisements become viral? – An investigation of emotional advertising

Current market conditions and today’s information overload require advertisers to drastically change their strategies. In fact, informative advertising is increasingly losing its effectiveness. An alternative approach is emotional marketing (O’Shaughnessy & O’Shaughnessy, 2002), which aims at influencing consumers‘ buying decisions by advertising on an emotional level. Emotions have the ability to impact thoughts, behaviours, and other fundamental processes (Levenson, 2011). In addition to the arousing effect, emotions also have other positive effects, such as improved reception of the advertising message or generally an increase in consumers’ advertising acceptance. Viral marketing takes this advertising approach one step further, as it relates to consumers voluntarily forwarding advertisements on social media. This post summarizes two studies which explored the effect of emotions on the likability and ultimately virality of online advertisements.

„How do online advertisements become viral? – An investigation of emotional advertising“ weiterlesen