How consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ purchase intentions : the mediating role of perceived product meaningfulness

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide the first empirical evidence on how consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ purchase intentions. Consumption-supportive packaging functionality implies that the packaging itself serves a function that actively helps users achieve their consumption goals and that supports the objectives consumers have in mind when using it. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the research goal, this study presents four between-participant experimental studies. In the studies, this paper tests for the direct effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality on consumers’ purchase intentions across different product categories. Moreover, this study tests for the mediating effect of perceived product meaningfulness to explain the underlying mechanism (Studies 2 and 3) and for the moderating effect of product complexity (Study 4). Findings: This paper shows that consumption-supportive packaging functionality leads to higher purchase intentions. The findings also reveal that perceived product meaningfulness is one underlying mechanism that helps us to explain the positive effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality on purchase intention. Moreover, findings reveal that the positive effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality only works for low-complex products, but not for high-complex ones. Research limitations/implications: This research offers a new perspective on package design, and thus advances the understanding of how to package functionality can influence consumer responses. Moreover, this study contributes to the Gestalt theory because it applies a holistic design view on the packaging that influences product perception. Practical implications: For low complex products, marketing managers should consider integrating packaging functionality into their communication strategy to focus on the overall Gestalt of the product. Product designers should integrate consumption-supportive packaging functionality in the product design to evoke positive consumer responses. Originality/value: The research gives first empirical evidence on how and when consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ product evaluations.