Abstract
Despite a multitude of advantages, e-books have yet been widely accepted by book readers, and consumers tend to perceive e-books as less valuable than their printed counterparts. We propose a new perspective to understand this phenomenon and put forward a potential solution for e-book vendors. Grounded in the literature of social psychology and marketing, this study investigates whether the tangibilization of e- books’ production process will influence consumers’ perception of effort and their perceived value of e-books. The results of our pilot study suggest that a handwritten manuscript, serving as a tangibility cue of an e-book’ production process, can increase consumers’ perceived value of the e-book. Our research contributes to the HCI literature by showing that making the production process more tangible can shape consumers’ value perception of digital goods. It also helps practitioners to improve the interface design for selling e-books online.
Recommended Citation
Cheng, Yue and Qiu, Lingyun, "Persuading Consumers into Buying E-books: The Mediating Role of Perceived Effort" (2018). PACIS 2018 Proceedings. 115.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2018/115