Development of a measurement concept for sensory perception and investigation of the relationships with marketing-related performance indicators

authored by

Janina Haase

supervised by

Klaus-Peter Wiedmann

Abstract

Consumers perceive all kinds of information through their five senses. Sensory perception thus represents an essential construct for understanding consumers. It can significantly influence consumer behavior and is therefore of central interest for marketing management and research. According to the two-system approach of cognitive psychology, two forms of sensory perception (explicit and implicit) need to be investigated. However, marketing research lacks a holistic measurement concept for sensory perception (i.e., one that considers all five senses and both perception levels in a consistent manner). Marketing research states a need for sensory scales and for integrative measurement concepts that take into account both perception levels. This dissertation aims to close this research gap. In detail, the research objectives are (1) to develop and validate a holistic measurement concept for sensory perception and (2) to apply the measurement concept in diverse contexts and investigate the relationships of sensory perception with marketing-related performance indicators. This dissertation consists of seven research papers, arranged in two modules that address the two research objectives. Accordingly, this dissertation provides two major contributions. Module 1 presents a holistic measurement concept for sensory perception. The measurement concept is based on the newly developed sensory perception item set (SPI), which contains the 20 most expressive adjectives (four per sense) to describe how well an object (e.g., product or brand) appeals to the consumer’s senses. The SPI can be used both in a questionnaire to measure explicit sensory perception and in a response latency task to measure implicit sensory perception. Module 2 supports the relevance of the measurement concept in diverse contexts (gastronomy, perfume, beverages, industrial products, and food products) and provides empirical evidence for significant relationships of the sensory perception measures with several essential marketing-related variables (e.g., brand experience, brand image, brand satisfaction, brand loyalty, price premium, purchase intention, product design, attitude toward the product, attitude toward the ad, and ad content).

Organisation(s)

Institute of Marketing und Management

Type

Doctoral thesis

No. of pages

202

Publication date

2019

Publication status

Published

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.15488/4468 (Access: Open)