Emanuel de Bellis
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Prof. Dr.
Last Name
de Bellis
First name
Emanuel
Email
emanuel.debellis@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 7712

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  • Publication
    Pleasure is Better Together: Consumers’ Preference to Conform in Non-Choice Situations
    Burghartz, Pia
    ;
    de Bellis, Emanuel
    ;
    Häubl, Gerald
    Consumers’ preferences for hedonic products are generally influenced by their social environment. Such influence may lead consumers to prefer different or the same products as others. While prior research has shown that consumers prefer consuming different products in choice situations, we investigate consumer preference in non-choice situations. In such situations, consumers are not given a choice between products (e.g., samples randomly handed out at a sales booth). Past literature has shown that in choice situations consumers’ need to be unique makes them opt for different products to signal identity. Drawing on this literature, we hypothesized that consumers’ preferences might shift when they are not given a choice and hence are unable to signal identity. Thus, consuming the same (vs. different) products enables consumers to express their need to conform, as reflected by product valuation. Evidence from two tightly controlled experiments compellingly supports this theorizing. We thus advance understanding of how social influence affects consumers’ hedonic product preferences in non-choice situations.
    Type: doctoral thesis
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/116766
  • Publication
    You’re One in a Million: Strict Uniqueness of Mass-Customized Products
    Burghartz, Pia
    ;
    de Bellis, Emanuel
    ;
    Krause, Franziska
    ;
    Franke, Nikolaus
    ;
    Klanner, Ilse-Maria
    ;
    Häubl, Gerald
    Many firms allow consumers to customize their own products by making a series of choices about individual product attributes. This paper investigates extensions of mass customization systems that capitalize on the fact that customized products are often one-of-a-kind—that is, strictly unique. The first extension is informing the consumer that this is the case (strict uniqueness feedback). The second is assuring the consumer that, once purchased, his or her specific product configuration will remain unique and not be available to other consumers (strict uniqueness blocking). We hypothesized that both strict uniqueness feedback and strict uniqueness blocking increase consumers’ valuation of a product. Evidence from a series of field, lab, and online experiments provides compelling support for this theorizing. It also shows that these effects are attenuated when the size of the mass customization system’s solution space is made transparent to consumers. Conversely, the effects are amplified for conspicuous (vs. non-conspicuous) product attributes, providing direct managerial implications. This research advances our understanding of the psychological forces that govern consumers’ appreciation of customized products by identifying two related extensions of mass customization systems that exploit the notion of strict product uniqueness.
    Type: doctoral thesis
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/116765