The Fear of Product Obsolescence and Consumer Purchase Decision: The influences of New Product Preannouncements, Brand Images, and Word of Mouth
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Chang, Ya-Ching
Abstract
New Product Preannouncement (NPPA) has been an imperative tool to be used during new product introduction process. In addition, product replacement is mainly attributed to product obsolescence. In this study we take the perspective of “product obsolescence” to explore how the timing of New Product Preannouncement, Brand Image, and Word of Mouth (WOM) affect the fear of product obsolescence, and to identify how the fear of product obsolescence influence consumer purchase decision. Extant research has studied the content of NPPA, the cost and benefits of NPPA, and the suitable timing of applying NPPA, etc. Yet it is still unclear how the NPPA influences consumer purchase decision. As the NPPA and WOM has been the commonplace in the process of new product introduction, the purpose of this article is to explore NPPA’s effects on the fear of product obsolescence and its effects on consumer purchase decision. A 2(brand image: functional/symbolic)*2(time to market: distant/near)*2(WOM sender: opinion leader/ market maven) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted. Results suggests that different brand image, the perceived professional level of WOM sender, as well as the degree to which WOM sender understand the market have positive effects on different fear of product obsolescence.Furthermore, different fear of product obsolescence has positive effect on willingness to wait and purchase intention respectively.
Subjects
fear of product obsolescence
new product preannouncement
brand image
opinion leader
market maven
purchase decision
Type
thesis