Good Vibrations: Consumer Responses to Technology-Mediated Haptic Feedback

In a series of studies, we found that haptic roughness leads to a greater perception of psychological ownership, and longer interactions, compared to smoothness. We conjecture that this is because rougher objects are easier to grip leading to more control, an antecedent of psychological ownership. As one of the most important sensations, touch is prevalent in consumers' interactions with products. We touch a mouse when using computers; we touch its cover and screen when using a cell phone; we touch money or credit cards when consuming. It has also been well established by previous research that haptic sensation plays an important role in consumers' decisions and evaluations of products (e.g., Holbrook 1983; Peck and Childers 2003). However, in the domain of marketing and consumer behavior, most prior research on touch focuses on the individual aspect (e.g., Citrin et al. 2003; Martin 2012; Webb and Peck 2015), the comparison between the presence and absence of touch (e.g., Grohmann, Spangenberg and Sprott 2007; Peck and Shu 2009) and the valence of touch (e.g., Peck and Wiggins 2006). Limited research has explored the effect of different tactile attributes of products and the influence they may have on consumers. In this research, we investigate the effect of haptic roughness on psychological ownership. We hypothesize that haptic roughness, compared to smoothness, would increase people's physical control over the product being touched, which would, in turn, lead to greater psychological ownership (Furby 1980; Pierce, Kostova and Dirks 2003). We next report three studies in which we find empirical evidence supporting our hypothesis.