Sharing Goods? Yuck, No! An Investigation of Consumers’ Contamination Concerns About Access-Based Services
通过四个实验，研究了消费者对共享物品的污染担忧如何影响其对基于访问的服务的评价，发现物品使用距离、用户熟悉度和品牌资产等因素会调节这种担忧，为企业制定减少污染担忧的策略提供了依据。
Although access-based services (ABS) offer many benefits, convincing consumers to use these service innovations remains challenging. Research suggests that contamination concerns are an important barrier to consumer adoption of ABS; they arise when a person believes someone else has touched an object and transferred residue or germs. However, systematic examination of this phenomenon is lacking. We conduct four experiments to determine (1) the impact of contamination concerns on consumer evaluations of ABS, (2) when such concerns become salient in ABS, and (3) how ABS providers can reduce these concerns. The results reveal that consumers experience more contamination concerns about objects used in proximity to their bodies, especially when those objects are shared with unfamiliar users, and that such concerns negatively influence their evaluations of ABS. Consumers also exhibit less contamination concerns about ABS that have high brand equity because of their elevated stereotype-related perceptions of the competence of those users. Firms’ advertisements depicting physical contact between shared objects and other users negatively influence ABS evaluations by consumers whose contamination concept is activated. This article provides insights for developing product, branding, and communication strategies to reduce consumers’ contamination concerns and maximize ABS adoption.