Receptacle interacts with consumers’ need for touch to influence tea-drinking experience
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 3 June 2020
Issue publication date: 27 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This study was designed to investigate how the material properties of the tea-drinking receptacle interact with a participant's motivation and preference for extracting and using information obtained via haptic perception, namely the need for touch (NFT), to influence his or her tea-drinking experience.
Design/methodology/approach
72 blindfolded participants were instructed to sample room temperature tea beverages served in a cup that was made of ceramic, glass, paper or plastic. They were then asked to rate how familiar they were with the taste of the beverage, to rate how pleasant the taste was and to specify how much they would like to pay for it (i.e. willingness-to-pay ratings).
Findings
The material of the receptacles used to serve the tea exerted a significant influence over the pleasantness ratings of the tea and interacted with the participants' NFT, exerting a significant influence over their willingness to pay for the tea. Specifically, high-NFT participants were willing to pay significantly more for the same cup of tea when it was served in a ceramic cup rather than in a paper cup, whereas the low-NFT participants' willingness to pay for the tea was unaffected by the material of the receptacles.
Originality/value
Our findings suggest that consumers may not be equally susceptible to the influence of the receptacle in which tea, or any other beverage, is served. Our findings also demonstrate how the physical properties of a receptacle interact with a consumer's motivation and preference to influence his or her behavior in the marketplace.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71872097 & 71472106) awarded to Xiaoang Wan.Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Citation
Wang, C., Peng, Y., Spence, C. and Wan, X. (2020), "Receptacle interacts with consumers’ need for touch to influence tea-drinking experience", British Food Journal, Vol. 122 No. 9, pp. 2981-2992. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-01-2020-0046
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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