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The Influence of Trait and State Narcissism on the Uniqueness of Mass-Customized Products

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  • de Bellis, Emanuel
  • Sprott, David E.
  • Herrmann, Andreas
  • Bierhoff, Hans-Werner
  • Rohmann, Elke

Abstract

Mass customization systems provide consumers with the opportunity to create unique self-designed products. To retailers and manufacturers, the segment of customers configuring unique products is of considerable interest given their potential impact on product diffusion and profits. Yet field evidence suggests that only a minority of consumers use the full potential of such systems by configuring products with unique options (e.g., a volcano red car instead of a white one). The present research shows that the uniqueness of mass-customized products depends on consumer narcissism. Specifically, we demonstrate that (a) consumers higher in trait narcissism configure more unique products (while controlling for self-esteem and need for uniqueness) and (b) state narcissism can be primed via marketing communications to influence product uniqueness. Our findings suggest that firms should consider customers’ innate narcissistic tendencies, as well as the ability to influence their current states of mind, to exploit the largely untapped individualization potential of mass customization systems.

Suggested Citation

  • de Bellis, Emanuel & Sprott, David E. & Herrmann, Andreas & Bierhoff, Hans-Werner & Rohmann, Elke, 2016. "The Influence of Trait and State Narcissism on the Uniqueness of Mass-Customized Products," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 162-172.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:92:y:2016:i:2:p:162-172
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2015.11.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Coker, Brent & Nagpal, Anish, 2013. "Building-Up versus Paring-Down: Consumer Responses to Recommendations When Customizing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 190-206.
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    4. Emanuel de Bellis & Christian Hildebrand & Kenichi Ito & Andreas Herrmann, 2015. "Cross-national differences in uncertainty avoidance predict the effectiveness of mass customization across East Asia: a large-scale field investigation," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 309-320, September.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jennifer K D’Angelo & Kristin Diehl & Lisa A Cavanaugh, 2019. "Lead by Example? Custom-Made Examples Created by Close Others Lead Consumers to Make Dissimilar Choices," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 750-773.
    3. Mohammad Asif Salam & Murad Ali & Konan Anderson Seny Kan, 2017. "Analyzing Supply Chain Uncertainty to Deliver Sustainable Operational Performance: Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Modeling Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-17, November.
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    5. Tsai, Pei-Hsuan & Tang, Jia-Wei & Chen, Chih-Jou, 2022. "Partnerships that go places: How to successfully market products from vendor partners at retail stores from the vendors’ perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Hingston, Sean T. & Whelan, Jodie, 2024. "What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is yours: Contamination concerns enhance psychological ownership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    7. Okazaki, Shintaro & Schuberth, Florian & Tagashira, Takumi & Andrade, Victoria, 2021. "Sneaking the dark side of brand engagement into Instagram: The dual theory of passion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 493-505.
    8. Krause, Franziska & Görgen, Jonas & de Bellis, Emanuel & Franke, Nikolaus & Burghartz, Pia & Klanner, Ilse-Maria & Häubl, Gerald, 2023. "One-of-a-kind products: Leveraging strict uniqueness in mass customization," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 823-840.
    9. Kirk, Colleen P. & Peck, Joann & Hart, Claire M. & Sedikides, Constantine, 2022. "Just my luck: Narcissistic admiration and rivalry differentially predict word of mouth about promotional games," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 374-388.
    10. Larivière, Bart & Bowen, David & Andreassen, Tor W. & Kunz, Werner & Sirianni, Nancy J. & Voss, Chris & Wünderlich, Nancy V. & De Keyser, Arne, 2017. "“Service Encounter 2.0”: An investigation into the roles of technology, employees and customers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 238-246.
    11. Qin, Yao & Wang, Xuehua, 2023. "Power distance belief and the desire for uniqueness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

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