Why and When Consumers Indulge in Smartphones: The Mental Association Between Smartphones and Fun

Abstract

Although smartphones are widely used, knowledge regarding whether smartphones shape consumers' minds and influence their behaviors is limited. This research attempts to fill this gap and shows that smartphone use can activate a for-fun mindset, thus driving consumers to favor hedonic-oriented products. An Implicit Association Test (Study 1) was used to show the smartphone-fun association. Moreover, by framing the product orientation (hedonic or utilitarian in Study 2) and device role (work or fun in Study 3) to interfere with the smartphone-fun association, this research examines the importance of this association in determining consumers' preferences toward hedonic-oriented products.

Mobile shopping beauty live commerce changes in COVID‐19 pandemic focused on fun contents of MZ generation in Republic of Korea

“…This study plays an important role in determining consumer preference for pleasure. 37 Customer modeling studies in e‐commerce were also studied using system models to describe the flow of information between the three subsystems and store environments, customers, and web technologies. A customer enters a store and makes several decisions, such as browsing, buying, paying, and storing.…”

“…Second, product orientation acts as a device of hedonism or pragmatism, and thirdly, it constitutes work or fun, which interferes with the smartphone fun association. This study plays an important role in determining consumer preference for pleasure 37 . Customer modeling studies in e‐commerce were also studied using system models to describe the flow of information between the three subsystems and store environments, customers, and web technologies.…”

The sources of the many faces of consumer smartphone attachment: A value‐in‐use perspective

“…Smartphone users tend to become emotionally driven in seeking enjoyment, fun, relaxation, and sensory stimulation while using their smartphone (Chun et al., 2012). The device is able to provide comfort to people recovering from stressful situations (Shen et al., 2019) and is increasingly used to seek entertainment (Jeong et al., 2016). Hence, smartphones are not only simple electronic devices whose outcome of usage is to fulfill tasks but are also entertainment‐oriented tools that provide hedonic experiences to their owners.…”

Smartphone use increases the likelihood of making short-sighted financial decisions

“…Contextualizing the unstoppable trend of digitalization in the domain of personal finance, the present research aims to further our understanding of the consequences entailed by making financial decisions on mobile devices, especially smartphones. Adopting mobile devices has been found to increase impulsivity and decrease deliberative decision-making (e.g., Schwartz, 2011; Seeger et al, 2018; Shen et al, 2019; Xu et al, 2016; Zhu & Meyer, 2017). For example, purchases made via mobile channels are positively associated with product returns, implying the likelihood of error-prone purchase decisions in the mobile internet environment (Seeger et al, 2018).…”