The influence of different virtual product experience types on advertising effect: Imagery instructions and imagery-processing model as moderators

Authors: Yu-Hsin Chen; Ching-Jui Keng; Hai-Hua Wang

Journal: Corporate Management Review. Jun. 2021, 41(1): 1-48

Keywords: Mere virtual presence with product experience, social virtual product experience, mental imagery, advertising effect

Abstract:
With the proliferation of virtual product experience (VPE) applications on social network sites, investigations into the effects of VPE on consumer responses are becoming more important. The purpose of this research is therefore to expand the findings of previous studies by comparing the advertisement effects from mere virtual presence with product experience (MVPE) with those from social virtual product experience (SVPE). We employ two moderators (imagery instructions and imagery-processing models) to analyze various VPE types and advertisement effects and design a factorial online experimental design to validate the research model and hypotheses. Of the 504 total participants recruited for this experiment, study 1 first examines a sample of 310 participants to compare different VPE types on Facebook, while study 2 looks at a sample of 194 participants by assessing Facebook and Pinterest social media platforms. This study finds that different imagery instruction and imagery-processing models’ moderators help determine the influences that different combinations of VPE types and social media platforms have on advertisement effects. Therefore, businesses can target to improve their community management by periodically posting advertisements on social media platforms using multimedia or text that trigger mental imagery.