Page 103 of 124 higher evaluations of quality. For the streetwear brands, on the other hand, it was assumed that the respondents would potentially associate these brands with characteristics such as comfort and durability. Additionally, since sneakers are part of a global trend, it was assumed that aesthetic considerations such as style and design would also contribute to the evaluation of the quality of streetwear brands. As such, it was argued that the perceived quality would be evaluated as roughly equal regardless of whether the fixation duration was longer on the luxury brand or the streetwear brand.
Lastly, through the assessment of the final hypothesis, it was found that co-branding allows for the combination of positive characteristics associated with both the luxury and the streetwear brand. As it was already found that luxury brands were associated with higher value and status than the streetwear brands, it was assumed that the effect of scarcity messages would be higher for participants exposed to a co-branded sneaker, than those exposed to a single branded streetwear sneaker. As such, this would supposedly result in higher evaluations of value, status, and quality for the co-branded sneakers.
Appraisal theories were incorporated during the discussion of the emotional processes potentially arising in a real-life purchase situation concerning limited edition sneakers. Specifically, it was argued that many possible emotions could arise depending on the subjective psychological appraisals made by an individual in given circumstances. As such, this would provide a thorough overview of all possible emotional reactions.
The assumed findings of the study, which were based on thorough theoretical arguments, are believed to provide valuable insights, not only for fellow academics but also for professionals within the sneaker industry. Specifically, the study explains how the industry could use scarcity messages on limited edition sneakers (this be either co-branded or single-branded) to enhance consumers’ product perceptions, thereby potentially leading to increased purchase intention and ultimately increased sales.
Page 104 of 124 ecological validity of the study. Thirdly, suggestions for the sample size and population are made to make the study more representative and generalizable. Next, the combination of an eye tracking and an EEG study will be suggested to account for the conversion of attention from immediate to focused as well as whether a stimulus is liked or disliked. Thereafter, and perhaps most optimally, the combination of eye tracking and the neurometric of fMRI will be suggested. This is suggested to account for the respondents’ deeper brain activity and the underlying brain structures involved in product evaluations and decision making to examine whether the arguments put forward in this thesis are applicable in reality. Lastly, it is suggested that the findings of the thesis would be interesting to investigate across other product categories to see whether the study would be applicable for these as well.
Conduction of an Eye Tracking Study
Firstly, it is suggested that a replication and conduction of the presented eye tracking study could take place, as this would enable the examination of whether the theoretical argumentation put forward for each of the hypotheses would be validated.
Stimuli Design
Secondly, to strengthen the ecological validity of the study, a redesign of the stimuli is proposed. A fictive website design in which the presented AOIs would be incorporated might boost the ecological validity of the study, as it is likely that the participants would have seen sneakers in this setting before, rather than on a simple white background. However, such a design would arguably require a rather simplistic design to avoid too many distractors in the stimuli i.e. due to bright colors, faces, etc. By doing so, the results might have been even closer to a real-life situation, and thereby be more applicable for organizations.
Sample Size and Generalizability
Thirdly, while the current study encompassed 90 participants, Harboe states that a large number of respondents reinforce the generalizability and testability of the study (Harboe, 2006, p. 33). Therefore, to enhance the generalizability of the sample in the current study, assembling a larger sample size is proposed. Furthermore, as previously argued, the positive impact of LQS messages have even been strong across countries and cultures (Aggarwal et al., 2011, p. 19), why expanding the sample population could provide new insights to the current study if it was conducted across countries and cultures.
Page 105 of 124 Eye Tracking and EEG
Next, it could be interesting to combine an eye tracking study in combination with
electroencephalography (EEG). EEG, which is a neurometric measure, focuses on changes in brain activity, whereas biometrics, such as eye tracking, focuses on measuring physical changes. As such, the combination of the two would allow for a deeper analysis and examination of the mental processes occurring while being exposed to the various stimuli, arguably influencing the final evaluation of value, status, and quality. More specifically, Pozharliev et al. state that EEG is a reliable tool to investigate the conversion of consumers’ attention from immediate to focused and distinguishing the two in relation to marketing-relevant stimuli (Pozharliev et al., 2017, p. 352- 353). Furthermore, EEG directly measures brain activity by detecting electrical signals from neural activity, which account for cognitive activity and indications of emotions, based on whether the test person likes or dislikes certain stimuli. Furthermore, EEG can also be used to effectively investigate the brain locations of visual memory encoding of the visual stimuli displayed in the study (Pozharliev et al., 2017, p. 353).
Based on the above knowledge of what EEG can contribute with in relation to the current study, the combination of the two measures would inevitably provide the current study with additional, valuable knowledge.
Eye Tracking and fMRI
Next, it is suggested that the conduction of an eye tracking study in combination with the neurometric of fMRI would enable an even deeper investigation of the underlying brain mechanisms of consumer behavior, related to the evaluation of products (Bell et al., 2018, p. 9). fMRI indirectly measures deep brain activity by localizing and observing changes in blood oxygenation during cognitive tasks (Bell et al., 2018, p. 8-9). As such, fMRI can be used to measure activity in the dopaminergic target in the brain (the ventral striatum) that according to Venkatraman et al. is the strongest predictor of subsequent
purchases (Venkatraman et al. 2015, p. 440). This would contribute positively to the current study and enable possible indications of which sneakers the participants would most likely purchase in a real-life situation and whether these were co-branded or single-branded and which scarcity messages they were presented with. Furthermore, fMRI has previously been used in the field of marketing to investigate a range of mental processes, attention, arousal, affect, reward, decision making, and memory, which are all processes that are highly relevant to consumer behavior (Bell et al., 2018, p. 9). Previous studies by Erk et al. (2002) and Schaefer and Rotte (2007), on decision making related to visual processing, even
Page 106 of 124 showed increased activity in the striatum for brands rated as luxury, which is an area specifically
identified as a so-called reward area (Bell et al., 2018, p. 9). As such, it would be interesting to
investigate whether luxury brands in collaboration with streetwear brands would also indicate increased activity in the striatum, as when luxury products are presented on their own. As such, it is argued that the conduction of an eye tracking study combined with an fMRI would provide additional, valuable insight to the current study.
It is acknowledged, however, that such a study would require a company to support the research, as fMRI is a very expensive neurometic measure. Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the ecological validity of this study is lower than the above combination of an eye tracking and EEG study, as the respondents would be asked to lie down in a machine. Nonetheless, it would enable future researchers to gain a deeper knowledge of the underlying brain mechanisms involved in product evaluations.
The Application of the Findings to Other Product Categories
Lastly, it would be interesting to investigate whether the study and the findings would be applicable across other product categories as well. Based on the presented research in the study, the findings would presumably be most applicable for symbolic brands rather than functional brands, as this is where LQS messages are argued to be most effective in generating positive product evaluations.
Nonetheless, it would be interesting to examine to what extent the findings would be applicable for functional brands and products as well.
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