A Literature Review of Consumer Attention and Prospects

Du Jiangang; Li Danhui; Li Xiaonan

doi:doi:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.2019.01.009

Summary

The consumption and creation of a large amount of information resources give consumer attention higher value, while consumer attention in the " multi-screen era” is more dispersed and more difficult to obtain. Therefore, the contradiction between explosive information and limited attention makes it necessary for enterprises to attract and grasp consumer attention so as to get the competitive advantage. Marketing researchers have to think about: Which factors will affect consumer attention? What is the mechanism behind consumer attention? Some scholars have examined the condition of consumer attention in terms of advertisements, products, web pages, etc., but they lack a systematic review about the relevant content of consumer attention. In view of this, this paper reviews, summarizes and discusses the relevant research of consumer attention at home and abroad.　　First of all, it introduces the connotation, characteristics and measurement methods of consumer attention. Consumer attention means that consumers focus their limited attention resources on a small amount of information and prioritize them, which will reduce the interference of irrelevant stimuli and make consumers focus on the key information, and become the basis for individual judgment and decision-making. Attention is not only the beginning of the purchase behavior, but also affects consumers’ judgment, evaluation and product selection during the entire purchase activity. The characteristics of consumer attention mainly include attention span, attention shift, attention stability and attention distribution. Researchers can not only understand the condition of consumer attention by observing the external body performance of consumers, but also measure it by eye tracking technology, reaction time and other methods.　　Secondly, this paper summarizes the consumer attention model from the perspective of the consumer attention selection mechanism and the consumer attention processing mechanism, and discusses the pre-factors and outcome variables that affect consumer attention. On the one hand, it introduces the consumer attention choice theory and three kinds of factor affecting consumer attention. The Guided Search Model, Perceptual Fluency, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model can be used to explain the condition of the consumer attention choice. The research on the affecting factors of consumer attention mainly comes from three aspects: stimulating factors, individual factors and situational factors, such as the sensory and design characteristics of stimuli, consumer cognition and emotional characteristics, and environmental disturbances. On the other hand, it introduces the consumer attention processing theory and the outcome variables of consumer attention. The Biased-Competition Model, the Feature Integration Theory, and the Two Stage Model can be used to explain the impact of consumer attention on consumer cognitive processing and behavioral responses. The outcome variables of consumer attention mainly include cognitive responses and behavioral responses, such as consumer attitudes, memories, purchases, and consumptions.　　Finally, on the basis of the review of existing research, this paper will make an original discuss about future research issues. Future research can examine the impact of different consumer attention states on their cognition and behavior, the impact of individual emotional states on consumer attention, and the impact of social attention on consumer attention. It can also further explore the outcome variables of consumer attention.