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information— a product’s breadth of appeal and sales volume, and the signals conveyed
by these two types are incongruent. Since the customer base of a mainstream broad-appeal
product is expected to be bigger and wider than a narrow-appeal product, it would be
congruent to see a broad-appeal product has a higher sales volume than a narrow-appeal
product; however, it will be incongruent to see a narrow-appeal product have a lower
sales volume than a broad-appeal product. Surprisingly, Tucker and Zhang’s (2011)
research results showed that in the condition of incongruence (equal sales volume for the
broad- and narrow-appeal products), more consumers prefer to purchase the narrow-
appeal than the broad-appeal product due to interpreting the incongruent condition as a
greater quality signal for the narrow-appeal product. This countervailing finding from the
classic research has demonstrated the importance of considering different types of
popularity information (sales volume and breadth of appeal) and the congruency in
between them.
2.3 Popularity Information and Social Comparison
While quality inference is the predominant inference in this field, some research
suggests that a product’s quality may not necessarily lead to the success in sales (Salganik
et al., 2006; Sridhar and Srinivasan, 2012). When consumers are uncertain about their
purchase decision, they often infer information from the actions of others and follow the
majority’s decision regardless of the true reason behind it (Bikhchandani et al., 1992;
Bonabeau, 2004). The majority here serves as a reference group with which consumers
may make comparisons. The reference group could be someone known or not known,
similar or dissimilar, better-off (Upward Comparison) or worse-off (Downward
Comparison) (Brown, Ferris, Heller, and Keeping, 2007; Khan and Khan, 2005;
Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000; Mussweiler and Strack, 2000). Through the comparison
process, consumers could use the comparison result to determine their social status and
self-evaluate their decision making (Self-evaluation), protect or bolster their self-esteem
(Self-enhancement), or improve their ability (Self-improvement) (Shepherd, Briggs,
Reinig, Yen, and Nunamaker, 1995; Buunk, 1995; Taylor and Lobel, 1989; Wood, 1989).
Such a comparison process could be accounted for by social comparison theory, which is
one of the most prominent social influences and is a central feature of human social life
(Buunk and Gibbons, 2007; Suls, Martin, and Wheeler, 2002).
When the inference of social comparison is dominant in the context of consumer
purchases, consumers experience a strong desire to own what their reference group owns