The need to touch: Exploring the link between music involvement and tangibility preference

Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

The need to touch: Exploring the link between music involvement and tangibility preference Maria Ek Styvén Division of Industrial Marketing, e-Commerce and Logistics, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 1 May 2008 Received in revised form 1 September 2008 Accepted 1 November 2008 Keywords: Music Involvement Tangibility Consumer behavior

a b s t r a c t Amid the increasing consumption of digital music and generally declining sales of recorded music, physical formats persist as the preferred means of storing and listening to music for many consumers. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the relationship between music involvement and preference for tangible music formats. To achieve this, we test a research model and perform a segmentation analysis based on music involvement. Findings indicate that high music involvement is positively correlated with subjective music knowledge, tangibility preference, and portable player use. Quite naturally, involvement increases music consumption in all formats, including digitized forms, but high involvement appears connected to a perception of tangible records as more valuable. The behavior of highly involved consumers suggests that digital music is not necessarily eradicating physical formats but possibly fulfilling different needs; for example, sampling and complementing vs. collecting and displaying. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Involvement is an important and well recognized construct in consumer behavior studies. The interest in this concept likely results from the basic premise that people's level of involvement influences their attitudes and behaviors, including their decision processes, product knowledge, and innovativeness (Bloch, 1986; Evrard and Aurier, 1996). While consumers can become highly involved in almost any type of product, so-called hedonic products seem to create more enthusiasts (Bloch, 1986), particularly in terms of generating strong emotional involvement (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982). For example, listening to music is a much more emotional and involving experience than using toothpaste (Richins, 2008). Hedonic consumption research focuses typically on aesthetic, subjectively experienced products, like music. People often consume aesthetic products over time, and these tend to play important roles in the consumer's life (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982). Regarding the centrality of music products for some consumers, Plasketes (1992) noted that “To [record] collectors, vinyl is an experience that embraces emotion, passion, and romance” (p.120). Whereas Plasketes's essay discusses the transition from vinyl records to CDs, the current shift in music consumption patterns from physical to digitized formats involves an even more profound change. From tangible items that one cherishes and sorts in alphabetical order, recorded music is becoming fluid and ubiquitous, to be consumed like water.

E-mail address: [email protected]. 0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.11.010

In addition to the large numbers of music files that are shared and downloaded on file-sharing networks, global sales of digital music (online and mobile) have grown from virtually 0% of total sales of recorded music in 2003 to 20% in 2008 (IFPI, 2009). Concurrently, though recorded music sales overall are shrinking, physical media persist as the preferred means of storing and listening to music for many consumers. Market research in the US and UK indicates that most music downloaders, even those who are young, still value records highly and tend to buy CDs by their favorite artists (BMR, 2008; Horrigan, 2008; Kleinschmit, 2007). One explanation for why many people still prefer CDs–or even vinyl records–could be that the tangible aspects of the consumption experience are hard to deliver with digital distribution. While easy access to online music has diminished its perceived monetary value among consumers, many are still proud of their physical music collections and enjoy displaying them (Kunze and Mai, 2007). Researchers have suggested that the individual's music involvement could affect the choice of format (Walsh et al., 2003), but related empirical studies are lacking. Considering the above discussion, and in response to calls for further research in the area of intangibility and consumer behavior (Featherman et al., 2006; Laroche et al., 2005), the purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the relationship between music involvement and preference for tangible music formats. We achieve this by testing a research model and performing a segmentation analysis based on music involvement. In doing so, the paper examines several issues, including the influence of subjective music knowledge and the use of MP3 players on tangibility preference. Support for hypotheses comes from literature on involvement, hedonic consumption, and music consumption.

M.E. Styvén / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

2. Conceptual background and hypothesis development 2.1. Tangibility preference Generally, tangibility refers to the physical properties of a product and the extent to which a person can experience these through the senses (Freiden et al., 1998). The less tangible the product, the more influential its packaging–and what can be inferred from it–in shaping judgments about the product (Levitt, 1981). With digital distribution of music, perceptions of the product based on visual and tactile impressions are unavailable (Featherman et al., 2006; McCourt, 2005). The increased abstraction of digitized products may lead to feelings of non-authenticity (Featherman et al., 2006), which could contribute to views of digital files as having lower emotional and monetary value than their physical counterparts (Fox, 2004; McCourt, 2005). Certainly, digital music can better fulfill some needs and desires, including convenience, immediate access, and customization ability (McCourt, 2005). But the physical interaction with recorded music, and perhaps the emotional attachment, is hard to replace. Plasketes (1992) elucidated the importance of the sense of touch in the music consumption experience in his vivid description of the feeling of holding and handling an LP record. In fact, statistics show that LP sales have stayed relatively flat in the US since 1993 (RIAA, 2008) or have even increased recently (Resnikoff, 2008), suggesting that vinyl has a continued life as a niche product. One could view the CD format as being a transitional one that will soon die out and be replaced completely by other digital formats. However, there are still artists and record companies who believe in a continued, albeit not eternal, future for the disc. They point to the value of having a tangible product to display, to touch, and to own; this is particularly important to those who grew up with music consumption that was based primarily on albums (Hedlund, 2006). While the actual hard copy and packaging aspects were the major reasons for young consumers in a British study to still buy CDs, followed by “link to favorite artist/band” and the possibility to display and admire one's collection (BMR, 2008), sound quality is an important issue for some consumers. Though most people are not able to hear the difference between the original recording and the compressed version, discrepancies can become audible when played through stereo speakers (Mock, 2004). According to Kunze and Mai (2007), the lower quality of digitally distributed (compressed) audio files can be a risk factor in consumers' adoption of online music. Audiophiles are sharing “lossless” files online (McGuinness, 2008), and vinyl enthusiasts regard the richer sound of well-kept LP records as superior even to CDs (Weaver, 1998). Thus, several reasons may explain why some consumers prefer tangible music formats to the more intangible digitized forms. While an individual's preference for CDs or LPs does not exclude the use of digital music for sampling, convenience, or complementary purposes (Kleinschmit, 2007; Sandulli, 2007), tangible formats remain more highly valued.

2.2. Involvement Involvement in a product is often defined as the personal relevance of the product to the consumer (Hightower et al., 2002), but it has also been considered to include pleasure/enjoyment, self-expression/sign, and interest (Evrard and Aurier, 1996; Huang, 2006; Michaelidou and Dibb, 2006). Contrary to situational involvement, which is temporary and occurs in a particular situation, enduring involvement comprises an ongoing concern with a product or activity (Huang, 2006). Therefore, the focus in this paper is on enduring rather than situational involvement. According to Hightower et al. (2002), enduring involvement could be an important explanatory construct, but it appears relatively under-researched in hedonic consumption literature.

1089

Some studies have discussed high levels of enduring involvement in a particular product in terms of product enthusiasm (Bloch, 1986) or deep involvement (Holbrook, 1987). As Holbrook (1987) described, deep involvement focuses on the consumption experience as an end in itself, which may play a central role in shaping a person's sense of identity. This idea is analogous to Belk's (1988) theory that people view their possessions as parts of themselves. For collectors, the collection itself (e.g., records) and its arrangement may disclose a great deal about the individual's identity and what is most important to him or her as a consumer (Belk, 1988; Holbrook, 1987). Notably, Walsh et al. (2003) have suggested that the individual's level of music involvement can potentially affect the choice of format, such as CDs over digital downloads. In a similar vein, a recent study of CD purchase decisions found that the need to control and be involved with music, which was associated with involvement, was also positively correlated with the number of CDs owned (North and Oishi, 2006). The authors proposed that while those who have a high need to control and be involved with music might be prone to piracy, these consumers might also regret not having the high-quality packaging of a legally purchased CD (North and Oishi, 2006). H1. Music involvement relates positively to tangibility preference. 2.3. Subjective knowledge Highly involved individuals tend to search for more information about the product category, which is likely to make them increasingly knowledgeable about it over time (Bloch, 1986). Accordingly, research has shown that enduring involvement correlates strongly with subjective knowledge (Flynn and Goldsmith, 1999; Park and Moon, 2003). Whereas objective knowledge deals with what a person actually knows about something, subjective knowledge refers to what or how much a person thinks he/she knows (Park et al., 1994). According to Flynn et al. (1993) and Flynn and Goldsmith (1999), subjective knowledge is more connected than objective knowledge to the behavior surrounding product purchase and use. In addition, Park and Moon (2003) showed that the correlation between involvement and subjective knowledge is significantly higher for hedonic than for utilitarian products. We therefore consider subjective knowledge more relevant to this study. Investigations into the link between involvement and subjective knowledge in a music context revealed that consumers who were highly involved with rock music perceived themselves as more knowledgeable about it than those who were less involved (Flynn et al., 1993). H2. Music involvement relates positively to subjective music knowledge. Furthermore, we could expect consumers who are music experts (in a subjective sense) to be more prone to becoming record collectors. Since musical knowledge and preference can serve as a means of group identification (Belk, 1988), it is possible that knowledgeable consumers prefer tangible formats that are more easily displayed. Flynn et al. (1993) found that high subjective knowledge about rock music was connected to a higher frequency of buying records, and Walsh et al. (2003) suggest that experienced music consumers are more likely to value the benefits of a highquality sound carrier; e.g., a CD. H3. Subjective music knowledge relates positively to tangibility preference. 2.4. Use of new technology Because of their ongoing information search and heavy usage, people with strong involvement in a product category are likely to learn of an innovation shortly after its introduction (Bloch, 1986;

1090

M.E. Styvén / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

Pallister et al., 2007). Since highly involved consumers are opinion leaders, they are important in the diffusion of innovations and new technology (Bloch, 1986). For example, in a study on the adoption of the CD player, consumers with high music involvement and those with large LP collections were more likely to be early adopters (Hansman et al., 1999). Similarly, Walsh et al. (2003) suggest that innovative music consumers are more likely to use new technology, such as MP3 players. While we hypothesize that higher music involvement is associated with a preference for tangible music formats (H1), digital music is likely to be used as well, for sampling or complementary purposes (Kleinschmit, 2007; Sandulli, 2007). That is, highly involved individuals are expected to consume more music in general and to be more innovative, suggesting that they use newer technology, such as MP3 players, more so than those less involved. H4. Music involvement relates positively to MP3 player use. At the same time, a high desire to customize and “compact” music, which is easily done with MP3 players (McCourt, 2005), may decrease the preference for tangible formats as digitized music is valued more highly. To these consumers, the access and convenience offered by portable players may be more important than the artifact and sound quality associated with physical formats (McCourt, 2005). Teenagers, for example, who own and use MP3 players more so than older age groups, also spend considerably less money on CDs than other consumers (BMR, 2008). Bockstedt et al. (2006) point to the increasing use of portable players as a driver of demand for digital music formats, which they suggest is “becoming the preferred product choice for many music consumers” (p.9). H5. MP3 player use relates negatively to tangibility preference. The five stated hypotheses and the relationships between the constructs appear graphically in the proposed research model in Fig. 1.

3. Method First, we constructed a questionnaire to measure the studied constructs. To prevent the instrument from becoming too lengthy, shorter measures were preferred over more comprehensive ones. After adapting slightly an involvement scale from Moorthy et al. (1997) to accommodate music as a product category, we adapted a scale from Flynn and Goldsmith (1999) to measure subjective music knowledge. For the tangibility preference scale, we developed items based on an exploratory study, which included open-ended interviews with five music consumers, men and women aged 17–53. Finally, two items from Molteni and Ordanini (2003) measured MP3 player use for music listening and transfer of digital music files, although the items were used with a frequency scale instead of the original multiple-choice scale (all items appear in abbreviated form in

Table 4). In addition to these variables, the instrument included questions related to demographic characteristics, Internet use, and frequency of device and digital music use. A convenience sample of six respondents, men and women aged 25–50, participated in a pretest of the questionnaire. Additionally, a very experienced researcher and statistician provided valuable feedback on the instrument. After some revisions, we administered the questionnaire by mail to Swedish consumers. The upper boundary for age in the sample population was 59 years, as Internet usage, online purchases, and broadband connections are markedly lower among people over 55 (SCB, 2007). Further, the lower age limit of the sample was 16 years, since no addresses of consumers below this age are available from commercial registers in Sweden. We ordered 1500 randomly drawn addresses from the Postiad address database for consumers who had at some point expressed interest in “Music & technology” and “IT & Internet.” However, as this database included practically no consumers younger than 30 years old, we took an additional, proportionate random sample of 782 16 to 29-year-olds from the consumer register SPAR. Notably, all individuals in the Postiad register are also in SPAR; the only difference is that those in Postiad have indicated interest areas. Thus, the researcher mailed 2282 survey packets consisting of the questionnaire, a cover letter, and a response envelope with prepaid postage. The post office returned twelve packets because of changed or incorrect addresses, reducing the sample size to 2270 consumers. The initial mailing and a reminder provided us with 870 completed questionnaires, yielding an effective response rate of 38.3%. Sweden's high Internet usage rates (WII, 2007) were evident in this sample, with 83% of respondents indicating that they used the Internet daily, and 89% having a broadband connection at home. Only 6.4% said they had never purchased anything online. Demographically, male respondents were overrepresented (79%), largely because most of the entries in the Postiad database are male. The mean age of the sample was 40 years; 24% of the respondents were younger than 30, and 25% were 50 years or older. To test for non-response bias, our study compared demographics and Internet use variables between those who responded before the reminder and those who responded later. The Chi-square tests of these variables revealed no significant differences between early and late respondents, suggesting that non-response bias is not a concern. Furthermore, since the sample came from two databases, we conducted an independent samples t-test to check whether respondents from the two sources differed in terms of music involvement and Internet experience. The test showed no significant differences for Internet use frequency and last online purchase; however, the younger respondents had slightly higher means on the three music involvement items. Hence, as there was no bias toward higher mean values in the Postiad sample, which consisted presumably of respondents with music and Internet interest, we performed subsequent data analysis jointly on all cases. 4. Results 4.1. Measurement validation

Fig. 1. Proposed model of tangibility preference.

Assessment of normality showed that the distribution was fairly normal in all variables, with skewness and kurtosis values well within recommended ranges (Hair et al., 2006). Missing values were in the range of 0–1.1% per variable. We used the Expectation–Maximization method to replace missing values in the quantitative variables since this approach introduces the least amount of bias into structural equation models (Hair et al., 2006). The two variables measured with an ordinal scale (MP1 and MP2) had very few missing values, and series means replaced those values. The researcher split the sample randomly into two subsamples, each comprising 435 cases. The first (calibration) subsample facilitated

M.E. Styvén / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

measurement purification and initial model testing while the second provided model validation (Sin et al., 2005). Because we adapted several of the measures from previous scales or developed them specifically for this study, we conducted a principal component factor analysis with Varimax rotation, resulting in the exclusion of one item (MI3) because of low communality and factor loading. This item possibly captures a dimension of involvement not reflected by the other two; e.g., sign (selfexpression) (Evrard and Aurier, 1996). Since exploratory factor analysis cannot suffice as a sufficient test of unidimensionality (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988), we ran subsequent confirmatory factor analyses in AMOS on the calibration subsample to evaluate and refine the scales. Based on assessments of model fit indices, factor loadings, communalities, standardized residual covariances, and modification indices, two items were dropped (MK4 and TP3). The final measurement model had a χ2 value of 33.09 (p = .045) at 21 degrees of freedom, GFI= .98, AGFI = .97, CFI = .99, and RMSEA= .04, suggesting good fit between the model and data. Discriminant and convergent validity among constructs was assessed by examining whether (1) all standardized factor loadings were significant and higher than .50; (2) the squared correlations between each pair of constructs were less than the variance extracted for each construct; and (3) the average variance extracted for each construct was higher than .50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Hair et al., 2006). Table 1 displays the average variance extracted (diagonal values) and the squared correlations between constructs (offdiagonal values) for the calibration subsample. Since the measurement model met the stated criteria, we viewed it as exhibiting sufficient discriminant and convergent validity. Then, we checked internal consistency of the scales by calculating Cronbach's alphas and deriving item-total correlations for both subsamples. Table 2 shows these values with means and standard deviations for all items. Item-total correlations and Cronbach's alphas exceed the common thresholds of .50 and .70, respectively (Hair et al., 2006), for all constructs except tangibility preference, which has an alpha of .69 in both subsamples. However, as lower levels of alpha often are acceptable in exploratory research (Hair et al., 2006), the internal consistency appears satisfactory since we developed the TP construct specifically for this study. 4.2. Model results and hypotheses tests To test the five hypotheses, we ran the proposed model (Fig. 1) in AMOS using maximum likelihood estimation. Fit measures in both subsamples indicate that the model fits the sample data well (see Table 3). Even though χ2 is significant at the 5% level in the validation subsample, this could be attributed to the large sample size (n = 435); therefore, the level of fit is satisfactory overall. The standardized path estimates of the model show that music involvement correlated positively with tangibility preference (.40 in calibration subsample; .39 in validation subsample) and subjective music knowledge (.76/ .78), as hypothesized in H1 and H2. The relationship between subjective music knowledge and tangibility preference is also positive and significant, although at a lower level (.13/.20), providing some support for H3. Correlations are stronger for the hypothesized associations between music involvement and MP3 player use (H4), and between MP3 player use and tangibility preference (H5), at .25/ Table 1 Correlation matrix. Construct Music involvement (MI)

Subjective music Tangibility MP3 player knowledge (MK) preference (TP) use (MP)

MI MK TP MP

.74 .15 .03

.79 .57 .19 .06

.62 .01

.74

1091

Table 2 Scale reliabilities, means, and standard deviations. Construct

Item

Music involvement Subjective music knowledge

MI1 MI2 MK1 MK2 MK3a TP1 TP2 MP1 MP2

Tangibility preference MP3 player use a

Development subsample (n = 435) Mean SD

α

5.46 4.75 3.23 4.04 4.92 4.25 3.77 1.35 1.26

.87 .79 .79 .88 .76 .86 .70 .69 .52 .52 .84 .74 .74

1.45 1.74 1.86 1.71 1.89 1.99 2.20 1.60 1.35

Validation subsample (n = 435)

Item-total Mean SD 5.43 4.66 3.19 4.06 4.93 4.39 3.88 1.29 1.29

1.53 1.86 1.86 1.71 1.87 1.97 2.17 1.57 1.43

α

Item-total

.89 .82 .82 .88 .76 .86 .69 .69 .53 .53 .87 .77 .77

Reverse-coded.

.30 and −.24/−.29, respectively. The squared multiple correlations of the latent constructs show that music involvement explains 57–61% of the variance in subjective music knowledge and 6–9% of MP3 player use. Involvement, knowledge, and MP3 player use together account for 25–31% of the variance in tangibility preference. To test for invariance between the calibration and the validation subsamples, the research employed a multigroup analysis, constraining each estimated path to be equal in both groups (i.e., with one degree of freedom). As evident in Table 3, none of the differences in path estimates were significant, which provides support for the relationships proposed in the model. Additionally, considering that younger consumers are more accustomed to handling music in digital format, we compared the MI ➔ TP path between the youngest and the oldest age categories (16– 24 years, n = 124, vs. 55–59 years, n = 91). Constraining the path to be equal in both groups did not result in a significant change in Chisquare (χ2 = .27, p = .60), indicating that age was not a moderating influence in this sample. 4.3. Cluster analysis To increase the understanding of how involvement could influence music consumption behavior, we segmented the sample based on music involvement. First, we ran a hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward's method. To retain variability and reflect a possible dimension of sign/self-expression, the analysis included all three involvement items. The change in agglomeration coefficient showed a substantial drop when progressing from three to four clusters, which suggests that three is a suitable number of clusters (Hair et al., 2006). A threecluster solution also makes practical sense because it could include a low-, medium- and high-involvement segment. We then used the cluster centroids from this solution as initial cluster centers, and ran non-hierarchical, parallel threshold K-means procedures with two and three clusters. While the two-cluster solution failed to identify a segment with very high involvement, the three-group analysis did. Therefore, we chose the latter solution. As the sample had a rather high level of music involvement overall, 41% of the respondents fell into a cluster (C1) with medium-to-strong music involvement. 27% were clustered in a group with low scores on the three involvement items (C2) while 32% displayed very strong music involvement (C3) (see Table 4). To validate the cluster solution, we conducted a discriminant analysis with the three clusters as the grouping variable, and with the nine items included originally in the MK, TP, and MP constructs as independent variables (Lockshin et al., 1997). In total, the discriminant analysis classified 65% of the original group members correctly, with very few discrepancies between cluster 2 and 3 memberships. Hence, as the hit ratio of the classification exceeds the maximum chance criterion of 41%, which reflects the size of the largest cluster (Hair et al., 2006), we can reject the null hypothesis of equivalence across the clusters.

1092

M.E. Styvén / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

Table 3 Model results and control for invariance between subsamples. Path

Standardized path estimates (unconstrained model)

Significance of difference between path estimates under constraint Change in χ2

p

MI ➔ TP MI ➔ MK MK ➔ TP MI ➔ MP MP ➔ TP

Calibration subsample (n = 435) .40⁎⁎ .76⁎⁎ .13⁎ .25⁎⁎ − .24⁎⁎

.12 .57 .40 .80 .01

.73 .45 .53 .37 .92

Model fit indexes χ2/df (p) GFI AGFI CFI RMSEA (PCLOSE) Squared multiple correlations Tangibility preference Subjective music knowledge MP3 player use

Validation subsample (n = 435) .39⁎⁎ .78⁎⁎ .20⁎⁎ .30⁎⁎ − .29⁎⁎

1.51 (.06) .98 .97 .995 .03 (.87)

1.84 (.01) .98 .96 .99 .04 (.65)

.25 .57 .06

.31 .61 .09

⁎ Significant at p b .05. ⁎⁎ Significant at p b .01 (one-tailed).

Table 4 Segment descriptors of involvement clusters. Descriptors on interval scales (strength of agreement 1–7) Music involvement

Music knowledge

Tangibility preference

Cluster 1 n = 356 MI1: strong music interest MI2: music as part of lifestyle MI3: music says a lot about a person MK1: one of the music experts MK2: know pretty much about music MK3: don't feel knowledgeablea MK4: know less about music than othersa TP1: important to have music in physical format TP2: LP format more “real” and genuine TP3: prefer to store music as digital filesa

Descriptors on ordinal and nominal scales Use of devices for music listening (frequency scale 0–5) Use of music files (frequency scale 0–4) Acquisition of digital music (frequency scale 0–4)

Demographics (%)

The highest mean (or percentage) value of each variable is printed in bold. a Reverse-coded items. b Variables MP1 and MP2 in model.

Cluster 3 n = 281

F

p

5.61 4.81

3.68 2.47

6.75 6.52

777.27 1448.39

.00 .00

4.01

3.11

5.78

331.17

.00

3.30

1.74

4.53

204.31

.00

4.10

2.55

5.33

275.98

.00

5.05

3.52

6.04

158.89

.00

5.34

4.15

6.19

149.92

.00

4.18

3.30

5.43

92.69

.00

3.90

3.21

4.35

18.52

.00

4.59

4.90

4.96

3.35

.04

Cluster 1 MP3 playerb Mobile phone Computer Burning files to CDs Transferring files to MP3 playerb Ripping CDs to files Downloading from P2P networks Downloading from online music services Downloading from artist's web site or place on, e.g., MySpace Gender Male Female Age 16–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–59

Cluster 2 n = 233

Cluster 2

Cluster 3

Pearson χ2

p

1.35 1.76 3.11 1.38 1.36

.87 1.20 2.20 .97 .86

1.81 1.88 3.40 1.54 1.65

56.83 30.74 74.64 36.71 53.06

.00 .00 .00 .00 .00

.99 1.31

.67 .82

1.30 1.48

46.27 29.61

.00 .00

.36

.29

.53

13.68

.09

.30

.19

.56

37.98

.00

6.95

.03

21.05

.02

81.1 18.9 14.2 12.5 32.1 29.3 11.9

83.0 17.0 7.8 16.2 31.0 34.5 10.5

74.3 25.7 20.1 15.8 25.4 29.7 9.0

M.E. Styvén / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

A one-way ANOVA with Scheffe's test assessed the music involvement, subjective music knowledge, and tangibility preference variables. Further, a Chi-square test assessed whether significant differences existed among segments relative to product use and demographics. As seen in Table 4, the three clusters are significantly different on almost all variables, which suggest that the solution has criterion validity (Hair et al., 2006). 5. Discussion The results obtained from the hypothesis tests indicate that music involvement is positively related to the extent to which consumers favor tangible music formats. This relationship is significant also among younger consumers, notwithstanding the generally more prevalent preference for digital formats among younger age groups (Horrigan, 2008). Subjective music knowledge has a positive and significant, but weaker, relationship with tangibility preference. This suggests that despite the strong link found between enduring involvement and subjective knowledge, which confirms earlier research (Flynn et al., 1993; Flynn and Goldsmith, 1999), these two constructs play different roles in the consumer's behavioral disposition. Moreover, consistent with previous findings (Hansman et al., 1999), innovativeness in terms of using new technology (MP3 player) for listening to music increases with music involvement. However, this link is weaker than the one from involvement to tangibility preference, suggesting that music involvement may have a stronger influence over consumers' expressed preferences for tangible formats than over their use of MP3 players. As hypothesized, a high frequency of using these devices is connected with lower tangibility preference, which indicates inversely a predisposition toward digital music. The intensified use of a portable player may be the result of an increased desire for convenience, customization, and “compacting” (i.e., storing large amounts of music in a small device) (McCourt, 2005). The cluster analysis reaffirmed the results of the model estimation, since the segment that includes the most highly involved respondents also exhibited substantially higher means of subjective music knowledge and tangibility preference. Analysis of the three clusters shows that although the most involved consumers have the highest preference for tangible formats, they also use digital music more than the low- and medium-involved segments. However, they do not use commercial online music services significantly more than the other clusters, which may suggest that for many who are highly involved, digital music is primarily a complement to physical formats or is used for sampling purposes (Kleinschmit, 2007; Sandulli, 2007). For example, such consumers might rip CDs in order to transfer songs to portable MP3 players, or download music from file-sharing networks to sample before buying. Highly involved consumers also burn digital music files to CDs more frequently than those who are less involved with music do. This could be related to a desire to store music securely or to be able to listen to music when a portable player cannot be used (e.g., when driving or at work). The following comment from a respondent, written at the end of her questionnaire, illustrates the sampling and complementing behavior: “As long as the supply is larger and the possibilities better for me to obtain the music for free, I will – sad but true – keep on downloading music ‘illegally.’ However, I am one of the people who prefer to have the music in ‘physical’ format. I download music to listen if there's something I like; if I do, I will also buy the CD.” (Female, 25) Although some consumers substitute their music purchases with free downloads from file-sharing networks, many music fans still want to own physical music products. But the Internet has enabled consumers to hear songs before they decide to buy them, which

1093

decreases their likelihood of buying artists' complete albums solely because they liked the hit single (Kleinschmit, 2007). Also, in the commercial online and mobile channels, singles are outselling album downloads by far. This trend helps explain why record sales are shrinking. The following comment from one of the respondents exemplifies these notions: “I'm picky when it comes to good sound. I rip from records and make my own favorite mixes. I gladly use MP3s to check out new unfamiliar music and to find stuff I like… and to avoid buying just to realize that the album only had 1–2 songs I like. I bought more records when I had access to file sharing.” (Male, 30) As this comment indicates, sound quality is an important aspect of the disposition to favor physical formats for some consumers (Kunze and Mai, 2007), and it was a fairly frequent topic among respondents' comments. This study also supports the idea that tangible records are more emotionally valuable than digital music files (McCourt, 2005), which probably can be partly attributed to the connection with the artist signified by a physical record (BMR, 2008). Records may also better reflect the self-expression dimension of high involvement. Two examples of comments from respondents can illustrate this thought: “People pay for things they can display, things that define their identity. Not an electronic file. The problems record companies are seeing are likely due to the fact that for most people, their music interest is larger than their wallets. That doesn't make me buy fewer records, in my case it's the opposite, and of good taste, too.” (Male, 24) “Today, I value albums more highly than separate songs. I would rather have CD records with artists I like than digital songs because the computer is not a safe place of storage and because it's fun to have the songs/album tangibly.” (Female, 22) The safety/risk aspect related in the comment above was the least common reason for buying CDs given by respondents in the British Music Rights report (BMR, 2008). Still, for some consumers, their reluctance to rely on a computer and/or some type of portable player to store their music could be a contributing factor to their tangibility preference. Overall, the results suggest that enduring music involvement increases music consumption in all formats but tangible formats are perceived as more valuable. Subjective music knowledge also increases with the resulting experience of consuming music. While the findings of this study are mostly at an exploratory stage, they may help explain why physical formats remain the primary choice for most music buyers. In light of the importance to the music industry of recognizing factors that drive consumers to purchase their products (North and Oishi, 2006), a better understanding of music involvement and how it potentially affects consumer behavior seems warranted. From a managerial standpoint, the results suggest that if record companies can find ways to enhance consumer involvement with music, perhaps by appealing to self-expression value, identity aspects, and connections to the artist, such approaches might help sustain record sales. Recognizing and understanding the behavior of highly involved consumers also facilitates targeting decisions. Moreover, the sampling and complementing behavior of highly involved consumers indicates that digital music is not necessarily eradicating physical formats—it might be fulfilling different needs. On the other hand, from a long-term perspective, one could ask if it is even necessary to consider music consumption behaviors that include physical formats. Market analysts and industry experts often point to the inevitability of the record industry finding new business models that can replace traditional ones and provide sustainable

1094

M.E. Styvén / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 1088–1094

revenues in a future where music no longer arrives on a plastic disc, but is only distributed digitally. Many believe that access, not ownership, will be most important (McGuinness, 2008). Some hold the opinion that the complete album as a work of art is facing extinction, with formats such as single downloads, streams, and ringtones taking over (Digitalmusicnews.com, 2008). However, for many of the music lovers who grew up in the pre-Napster world, the emotional, tactile, and visual value of tangible albums may be too important for them to abandon their physical collections. And, as long as the sound quality of digitally delivered music does not live up to the demands of audiophiles, CDs and vinyl records are likely to continue spinning on their expensive stereo equipment. Twenty years after the format shift from vinyl to CD, the LP is still alive, albeit as a niche product. It is possible that the life of the CD will be longer than expected—marginalized maybe, yet cherished by music enthusiasts who still have the need to touch. 6. Limitations and suggestions for future research One must consider these findings in light of some limitations. First, due to the skewed gender distribution in one of the address registers, the data analyzed in this study are based on a predominantly male sample. Although this research surveyed a wide variety of respondents with diverse occupations, levels of education, and ages, future research could study whether the proposed associations apply in a more gender-balanced sample. This would also enable researchers to investigate demographic characteristics as potential moderators. Furthermore, consumers below the age of 16 could not be included in the study. It is quite possible that the findings presented here are not valid among children in their early teens and below, as they have grown up largely with the view that music is something that flows freely over the Internet and mobile phones. Personal interviews or focus groups with children in this age group could provide interesting insights into the youngest generation's views on music and its worth to them. Moreover, the researcher based the results presented here on cross-sectional data; therefore, we cannot ascertain the causal relationships between constructs. To establish the influence of music involvement over tangibility preference, the subject warrants additional longitudinal research. Further, even though this study applied cross-validation on subsamples, the use of a sample collected on one occasion for scale purification and model testing may represent a limitation. Future research could refine the tangibility preference scale and test it on a new sample. In addition, models seeking to explain consumers' preferences for tangible formats could include issues such as perceived importance of sound quality, security aspects of storing music as digital files, emotional links to artists, and the perceived importance of visual and tactile cues in the music consumption experience. Such concepts are likely to work as antecedents that could contribute to explaining a larger portion of the variance in tangibility preference. References Belk RW. Possessions and the extended self. J Consum Res 1988;15:139–68 (September). Bloch PH. Product enthusiasm: many questions, a few answers. Adv Consum Res 1986;13:539–43. BMR. Music experience and behaviour in young people: main findings and conclusions. London: British Music Rights and University of Hertfordshire; 2008. Bockstedt JC, Kauffman RJ, Riggins FJ. The move to artist-led on-line music distribution: a theory-based assessment and prospects for structural changes in the digital music market. Int J Electron Commer 2006;10(3):7-38. Digitalmusicnews.com. Sony's stringer: the vanishing album is an issue. Digital Music News; 2008. May 28. www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/052808stringer. Evrard Y, Aurier P. Identification and validation of the components of the person–object relationship. J Bus Res 1996;37(2):127–34. Featherman MS, Valacich JS, Wells JD. Is that authentic or artificial? Understanding consumer perceptions of risk in e-service encounters. Inf Syst J 2006;16(2):107–34.

Flynn LR, Goldsmith RE. A short, reliable measure of subjective knowledge. J Bus Res 1999;31(1):57–66. Flynn LR, Eastman JK, Newell SJ. Predicting rock music consumption behaviors of undergraduates: demographic versus psychological variables. Pop Music Soc 1993;17(4):13–28. Fornell C, Larcker DF. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. J Mark Res 1981;18(1):39–50. Fox M. E-commerce business models for the music industry. Pop Music Soc 2004;27(2): 201–20. Freiden J, Goldsmith R, Takacs S, Hofacker C. Information as a product: not goods, not services. Mark Intell Plann 1998;16(3):210–20. Gerbing DW, Anderson JC. An updated paradigm for scale development incorporating unidimensionality and its assessment. J Mark Res 1988;25:186–92 May. Hair JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, Anderson RE, Tatham RL. Multivariate data analysis. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall; 2006. Hansman H, Mulder CH, Verhoeff R. The adoption of the compact disk player: an event history analysis for the Netherlands. J Cult Econ 1999;23:223–35. Hedlund A. The CD record is on its last legs. Dagens Nyheter; 2006. May 27. www.dn.se. Hightower R, Brady MK, Baker TL. Investigating the role of the physical environment in hedonic service consumption: an exploratory study of sporting events. J Bus Res 2002;55(9):697–707. Hirschman EC, Holbrook MB. Hedonic consumption: emerging concepts, methods and propositions. J Mark 1982;46:92-101 Summer. Holbrook MB. An audiovisual inventory of some fanatic consumer behavior: the 25cent tour of a jazz collector's home. Adv Consum Res 1987;14:144–9. Horrigan JB. The Internet and consumer choice. Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet & American Life Project; 2008. Huang M-H. Flow, enduring, and situational involvement in the web environment: a tripartite second-order examination. Psychol Mark 2006;23(5):383–411. IFPI. Digital music report 2009. London: International Federation of the Phonographic Industry; 2009. Kleinschmit M. Proportion of Americans who have purchased a CD in the past 6 months falls 15% since 2002. Ipsos Insight; 2007. (May 1) www.ipsos-na.com/news/ pressrelease.cfm?id=3471#. Kunze O, Mai L-W. Consumer adoption of online music services: the influence of perceived risks and risk-relief strategies. Int J Retail Distrib Manage 2007;35(11):862–77. Laroche M, Yang Z, McDougall GHG, Bergeron J. Internet versus bricks-and-mortar retailers: an investigation into intangibility and its consequences. J Retail 2005;81(4): 251–67. Levitt T. Marketing intangible products and product intangibles. Harvard Bus Rev 1981;59:94-102 (May/June). Lockshin LS, Spawton AL, Macintosh G. Using product, brand and purchasing involvement for retail segmentation. J Retail Consum Serv 1997;4(3):171–83. McCourt T. Collecting music in the digital realm. Pop Music Soc 2005;28(2):249–52. McGuinness P. The Online Bonanza: who is making all the money and why aren't they sharing it? (Speech at MIDEM's first International Manager Summit). IFPI; 2008. January 28. www.ifpi.org/content/library/paul-mcguinness-Jan2008.pdf. Michaelidou N, Dibb S. Product involvement: an application in clothing. J Consum Beh 2006;5(5):442–53. Mock T. Music everywhere. IEEE Spectrum 2004 September. Molteni L, Ordanini A. Consumption patterns, digital technology and music downloading. Long Range Plann 2003;36:389–406. Moorthy S, Ratchford BT, Talukdar D. Consumer information search revisited: theory and empirical analysis. J Consum Res 1997;23(4):263–77. North AC, Oishi A. Music CD purchase decisions. J Appl Soc Psychol 2006;36(12):3043–84. Pallister JG, Wang H-C, Foxall GR. An application of the style/involvement model to financial services. Technovation 2007;27(1–2):78–88. Park C-W, Moon B-J. The relationship between product involvement and product knowledge: moderating roles of product type and product knowledge type. Psychol Mark 2003;20(11):977–97. Park CW, Mothersbaugh DL, Feick L. Consumer knowledge assessment. J Consum Res 1994;21:71–82 June. Plasketes G. Romancing the record: the vinyl de-evolution and subcultural evolution. J Pop Cult 1992;26(1):109–22. Resnikoff P. …And vinyl sales keep increasing… Digital Music News; 2008. August 24. www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/082408vinyl. RIAA. Manufacturers' unit shipments and dollar value charts. Recording Industry Association of America; 2008. www.riaa.org/keystatistics.php. Richins ML. Consumption emotions. In: Schifferstein HNJ, Hekkert P, editors. Product Experience. Oxford: Elsevier; 2008. p. 399–422. Sandulli FD. CD music purchase behaviour of P2P users. Technovation 2007;27:325–34. SCB. Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2007. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden; 2007. Sin LYM, Tse ACB, Yau OHM, Chow RPM, Lee JSY, Lau LBY. Relationship marketing orientation: scale development and cross-cultural validation. J Bus Res 2005;58(2): 185–94. Walsh G, Mitchell V-W, Frenzel T, Wiedmann K-P. Internet-induced changes in consumer music procurement behavior: a German perspective. Mark Intell Plann 2003;21(5):305–17. Weaver G. The virtues of vinyl. SoundStage!; 1998. April. www.soundstage.com/vinyl/ vinyl041998.htm. WII. Internet and broadband in Swedish households. Hudiksvall: World Internet Institute; 2007.