Product design, social exclusion, and product preference: The mediating role of psychological ownership and the moderating role of product type

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of social exclusion and product design philosophy on consumers' design preference, its underlying mechanism, and boundary condition. We propose that rejected (vs. ignored) consumers should prefer a professional- (vs. user-) designed product through increased psychological ownership. Additionally, product complexity should moderate this effect, such that rejected (vs. ignored) consumers should prefer professional-designed products for low complexity products; for high-complexity products, we predict a preference for professional-designed products, regardless of consumers' state of social exclusion. Across four studies (including one using an incentive-compatible design), we empirically test these hypotheses using different operationalizations of social exclusion. Our research contributes to the literature on product design philosophy, social exclusion, and psychological ownership. The findings offer novel insights regarding ways for marketers to develop marketing strategies to effectively choose and advertise firms' design philosophy.