產品過時恐懼與消費者購買決策：新產品預告、品牌形象與口碑的影響

Abstract

新產品預告已是現今新產品導入過程中最重要的一環，又產品過時是人們更替產品的主要原因之一，本研究以「產品過時」（product obsolescence）觀點切入，探討新產品預告時機、發佈者的品牌形象和口碑對於產品過時恐懼的影響以及產品過時恐懼對於消費者購買決策的影響。綜觀過去的研究，探討了很多新產品預告的內容、優缺點以及適用的時機等等，但卻鮮少討論其對消費者購買決策的影響；因此，本研究以消費者的觀點來看新產品導入過程時最常用的新產品預告和 其引發的口碑會如何影響消費者對於產品過時的恐懼以及其過時恐懼會怎樣影響 消費者的購買決策。採用2（品牌形象：功能性/象徵性）x 2（上市時間：遠/近） x 2（口碑發佈者：意見領袖/市場行家）的組間受測者實驗設計，研究結果顯示不 同的品牌形象、口碑傳播者的專業程度與了解市場行情程度正面影響不同的產品 過時恐懼，不同的過時恐懼分別對等待意願與購買意願有正面影響。

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.