University of Twente Student Theses
Exploring the relationship between packaging's haptic sensations and sustainability perception within Virtual Reality Environments
Japadermawan, Celine Annika (2024) Exploring the relationship between packaging's haptic sensations and sustainability perception within Virtual Reality Environments.
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| Abstract: | Sensory marketing research aims to understand the effects of the five human senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) on consumer behaviour. Food product packaging is a primary source of information for consumers when purchasing, experienced through their sight and touch (Branca et al., 2022). Out of these two, the haptic (touch) sensation is not as commonly researched as visual factors alone (Krishna & Schwarz, 2014; Petit et al., 2015), despite haptic feedback being the second point of contact with the product for consumers. Moreover, the growing concern for sustainability prompts further interest into what extent consumption behaviours are driven by a product’s perceived sustainability as demands for sustainable developments increase (Nguyen et al., 2020). Hence, this thesis aimed to investigate the effects of food packaging’s haptic feedback, by means of visuo-tactile and vibrotactile cues, and its perceived sustainability on purchase choice in virtual reality (VR). A study was conducted that tested consumption preference for four haptic attributes (matte, rough, smooth, shiny) by placing participants in a virtual supermarket where they were tasked to shop for nine items. In accordance with the four haptic attributes, four variations of the same products were displayed on the shelf of which its visuo-tactile and vibrotactile differences were not explicitly stated, and participants were given freedom to choose for themselves. Then, a questionnaire was conducted that assessed sustainability perceptions and prior sustainability awareness using Gericke et al. (2018)’s SCQ-S. It was found that participants preferred ‘rough’ the most as expected, however, ‘smooth’ was the second preference instead of ‘matte’. Sustainability perceptions was also found to be influential in consumer behaviour where participants preferred attributes they perceived as more sustainable but, unexpectedly, prior sustainability awareness was not found to be a mediating variable within the relationship. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/100713 |
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