Résumé :

This research finds that merely touching an object results in an increase in perceived ownership of that object. For nonowners, or buyers, perceived ownership can be increased with either mere touch or with imagery encouraging touch. Perceived ownership can also be increased through touch for legal owners, or sellers of an object. We also explore valuation of an object and conclude that it is jointly influenced by both perceived ownership and by the valence of the touch experience. We discuss the implications of this research for online and traditional retailers as well as for touch research and endowment effect research.

• Cette recherche montre que le simple fait de toucher un objet entraîne une augmentation de la propriété perçue de cet objet. Pour les non-propriétaires ou les acheteurs, la propriété perçue peut être augmentée avec un simple toucher ou avec un toucher qui encourage l’image. La propriété perçue peut également être augmentée par le toucher pour les propriétaires légaux ou les vendeurs d’un objet. Nous explorons également l’évaluation d’un objet et concluons qu’il est conjointement influencé à la fois par la propriété perçue et par la valence de l’expérience tactile. Nous discutons des implications de cette recherche pour les détaillants en ligne et traditionnels, ainsi que pour la recherche tactile et la recherche sur les effets de dotation.

Mots clefs :

Touch, Sense, Ownership, experience, purchase, Marketing

Développement :

2003, the Illinois state attorney general’s office issued a warning for holiday shoppers to be cautious of retailers who encourage them to hold objects and imagine the objects as their own when shopping. The basis of this warning was presumably that the combination of physically holding the object and ownership imagery may lead to unplanned or unnecessary purchases.

Research on the sense of touch or haptics has increased in the marketing literature, possibly encouraged by the rise of online shopping where marketers are interested in how to compensate consumers for touch when it is unavailable (Peck and Childers 2007). Previous research in marketing has examined product category differences and found that some product categories encourage touch more than others (e.g., Grohmann, Spangenberg, and Sprott 2007; McCabe and Nowlis 2003; Peck and Childers 2003a). The sense of touch excels at obtaining texture, hardness, temperature, and weight information (Klatzky and Lederman 1992, 1993).

consumers will be more motivated to touch the product prior to purchase to ascertain specific attribute information (please see Peck [2009] for a review of haptic research in marketing)

the experience of touching a pleasantly valenced object can influence persuasion, even if the touch element provides no information regarding the product (Peck and Wiggins 2006)

L’expérience sensorielle joue un réelle rôle dans le choix de l’achat mais également dans le choix entre différentes marque. Nous avons pu voir que le toucher était particulièrement important dans l’acte d’achat. Les consommateurs seront plus motivés à toucher le produit avant de l’acheter pour vérifier les informations d’attributs spécifiques. De plus, l’expérience de toucher un objet et si la sensation est agréablement validé, cette dernière peut avoir une influence sur la persuasion, même si l’élément tactile ne fournit aucune information sur le produit.

Twenty-five years of research has shown that consumers’ valuation of an object increases once they have taken ownership of it, a finding commonly known as the endowment effect (Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler 1990; Knetsch and Sinden 1984; Thaler 1980)

Our primary research motivation is to understand how merely touching an object influences perceived ownership and the valuation of an object. Previous work has established that the opportunity to touch can increase unplanned purchasing (Peck and Childers 2006) and also the willingness to donate time or money to a non profit organization (Peck and Wiggins 2006) but has not considered its effects on  ownership or valuation

Individuals may feel ownership of an object without actually owning it. Psychological ownership (Pierce et al. 2003) is distinct from legal ownership and is characterized by the feeling that something is “mine.” For example, employees in an organization may develop feelings of ownership toward the organization (Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks 2001, 2003)

Previous literature has suggested concepts similar to perceived ownership, such as anticipatory possession or pseudo-endowment (Ariely and Simonson 2003; Carmon, Wertenbroch, and Zeelenberg 2003)

Sen and Johnson (1997) did not manipulate perceived ownership of an object but did manipulate possession. They used coupons for restaurants and found that having a coupon for a product influenced preference for that option.

Nous avons pu remarquer que la valeur d’un objet augmente une fois qu’il en est devenu propriétaire, constat connu sous le nom d’effet de dotation. De plus, la possibilité de toucher peut augmenter les achats non planifiés.

D’une autre façon, les individus peuvent se sentir propriétaires d’un objet sans le posséder réellement : la propriété psychologique. C’est le sentiment que quelque chose est «mien». Par exemple, les employés d’une organisation peuvent développer un sentiment de propriété à l’égard de l’organisation ou les client d’une marque peuvent développer un sentiment de propriété à l’égard de l’organisation. Un autre exemple, le football quand les supporteurs disent « mon équipe a gagné ». Il ressente un sentiment de propriété envers l’organisation.

Overall, it was found in study 1 that for buyers, where actual ownership was absent, object touch led to greater perceived ownership (hypothesis 1), which in turn led to higher valuation of the object, among individuals not instructed to use imagery. In addition, perceived ownership and valuation of an object were both increased by having buyers use ownership imagery

The first two studies found that mere touch can increase perceived ownership for buyers or nonowners (study 1) and for sellers or owners (study 2). In both studies, touch also increased the valuation of the object

Endowment effect research also provides some evidence that receiving objects perceived as unpleasant leads to a negative affective reaction toward the object, as evidenced by lower valuation. For example, Lerner, Small, and Loewenstein (2004) found that an individual’s negative emotional state (such as disgust or sadness) can lower valuation for endowed objects, and work on possession loss aversion (Brenner et al. 2007) shows lower selling prices for negative items.

Study 3 supported our predictions by finding that the ability to directly touch an object with positive sensory feedback increased perceived ownership, affective reaction, and the valuation of the object in a traditional endowment effect experiment. In addition, study 3 directly measured both perceived ownership and affective reactions toward the object and revealed that these two constructs mediate the effects of touch on valuation

It was found across all four studies that touch leads to increased perceived ownership, and this increase in perceived ownership then leads to an increase in valuation of an object if the object provides neutral or positive sensory feedback

Finally, our research supports Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s claim that “For humans, touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way.” In four studies, we found that mere touch does connect a person to an object by increasing the feeling of ownership of the object.

Nous avons remarqué que lorsque la propriété réelle était absente, le contact avec un objet entraînait une perception accrue de la propriété. De plus, le simple toucher peut accroître la perception de propriété pour les acheteurs ou les non propriétaires et pour les vendeurs ou les propriétaires mais également connecte une personne à un objet en augmentant le sentiment. de propriété de l’objet.

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