本研究探討產品類型在結構比較模型上的效果。消費者在評價不同的產品類型(享樂品與實用品)對於可比較差異與不可比較差異有不對稱性的重視程度。消費者選購實用品的時候，對屬性類型的重視程度是有跡可循的－遵循著結構比較理論的結論。然而在選購享樂品時，卻逆轉結構比較的結論，注重難以處理的不可比較差異。但以上的效果只有在屬性值為量化形式上成立(實驗一A、B)。過去文獻上分類享樂品與實用品的方式有兩種－以整體性質偏向或以主要屬性特質分門別類，但這兩種方式並不是互斥的關係。我們進行一個更嚴格的檢測，以產品整體偏向分類實驗產品，並變化產品的可比較屬性與不可比較屬性之屬性享樂、實用特質，結果鞏固了我們的假說並顯示出穩健性(實驗二)。最後，我們找出了產品類型在結構比較模型上的邊界條件。評價享樂品時對不可比較差異的重視程度被緩解，而評價實用品對可比較屬性重視依舊強烈(實驗三)。

This article examined the effect of product category on structural alignment model. Consumers apply differential weighting of alignable and nonalignable attributes in the evaluation of hedonic product and utilitarian product. People are likely to focus more on nonalignable attributes when evaluating hedonic product, while they are likely to focus more on alignable attributes when evaluating utilitarian product. And this effect only holds on quantitative attributes (study 1a and study1b). Prior research showed consumers characterize some products as primarily hedonic and others as primarily utilitarian. But a product can possess both hedonic attributes and utilitarian attributes. For this reason, we conducted a more strict examination: characterize product as primarily hedonic or utilitarian, and vary the characteristics of attributes in the assignment of attribute across brands. The result demonstrated the robustness of our hypothesis (study 2). In the final study, we found the boundary condition for the effect of product category on attribute alignability. Consumer’s reliance on nonalignable attributes would be mitigated when evaluating hedonic product, while their greater reliance on alignable attributes remained strongly when evaluating utilitarian product (study 3).

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