HEDONIC CONSUMPTION WITH SUSPENSE AND SPECIFIC CURIOSITY IN EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
The dissertation investigates how two affective mechanisms – suspense and specific curiosity – operate within hedonic consumption contexts and shape experiential marketing outcomes. Building on classic theories of collative variables (Berlyne), the Zeigarnik effect, and Zillmann’s work on suspense, the author proposes four inter‑related models that link antecedents (hope, fear, outcome uncertainty) and collative drivers (uncertainty, novelty, complexity, conflict) to the emergence of suspense and specific curiosity, and subsequently to consumer affect (pleasure, disappointment) and behavioural intentions. The thesis develops and validates measurement scales for suspense, specific curiosity, and hedonic pleasure, and conducts two major empirical studies: (1) a restaurant‑based experiment manipulating narrative suspense and measuring real‑time pleasure/disappointment, and (2) a video‑stimuli experiment that isolates specific curiosity through uncertainty and complexity manipulations. Factor analyses, reliability tests, and structural equation modelling confirm the hypothesised pathways. The work contributes a composite theoretical framework that integrates collative drivers with affective antecedents, extends the literature on experiential marketing by showing how suspense and curiosity can be deliberately engineered to enhance consumer experience, and offers practical guidelines for marketers seeking to design immersive, emotionally engaging consumption situations. The dissertation also discusses methodological advances in measuring transient affective states and outlines limitations and avenues for future research.
Topics
Theoretical Foundations and Composite Model of Suspense, Specific Curiosity, and Hedonic Consumption
Doctoral dissertation on hedonic consumption, focusing on affective mechanisms of suspense and specific curiosity within experiential marketing.