Mobile contextual marketing in a

museum setting
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how the contextual marketing strategy facilitated by mobile technology enhances consumers’ purchase
intention and experiential quality in a hedonic service setting – museum. Specifically, this study explores the impacts of a context-triggered push
notification promoting context-related souvenirs embedded in the museum mobile app on visitors’ souvenir purchase intention and visit experience.
Design/methodology/approach – This study adopted a scenario-based experimental design with video stimuli and a follow-up survey
questionnaire. A total of 151 participants were randomly assigned to one of the two art museum visiting scenarios (i.e. with vs without the in-app
push notification). A series of one-way ANOVA comparisons and serial mediation tests were conducted for hypotheses testing.
Findings – The results show that the mobile app promoting context-related souvenirs positively affects museum visitors’ souvenir purchase
intention without undermining their experiential quality. The serial mediation effects through contextual perceived value and impulse buying
tendency further explain how the in-app push notification influences visitors’ souvenir purchase intention.
Originality/value – This study extends the contextual marketing research to a unique service domain (i.e. museum) and contributes to the service
technology literature. The findings present empirical evidence for the effectiveness of mobile contextual marketing and its potential to enhance
consumers’ experiential quality in a hedonic service setting. The current research provides practical guidelines to both the museum management and
mobile app developers.
Keywords Service innovation, Contextual marketing, Mobile technology, Museum experience, Souvenir purchase
Paper type Research paper

Introduction right point, therefore achieving greater intimacy with consumers

and stimulating unplanned purchases (Andrews et al., 2016a;
Information technology and mobile devices are ubiquitous in Kenny and Marshall, 2000). Despite the significance of
people’s daily life nowadays. As reported by comScore (2017), contextual marketing in mobile commerce, the research in this
mobile device usage accounts for more than half of the users’ area is still in its infancy (Ghose et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2014).
total digital time in 13 major markets around the globe and at To the authors’ best knowledge, the adoption of mobile
least 80% of the total mobile minutes are spent on mobile contextual marketing in such a special hedonic service setting as
applications (apps). This trend is evident in the service sector as the museum has never been explored in previous research.
well, where the usage of mobile devices and apps is helping Similar to other hedonic facilities, museums provide
consumers co-create value in a more sufficient way consumption experiences that reflect hedonic benefits such as
(Kristensson, 2019). Recent studies on the service industry enjoyment, fun and excitement (Hirschman and Holbrook,
indicate that today’s consumers make a great deal of purchasing 1982). Meanwhile, unlike pure hedonic services (e.g. theme
decisions on-site by using mobile technology, presenting new parks, cruise lines), museums also assume certain education
opportunities for organizations to offer value-added services functions (Joseph-Mathews et al., 2009). In such a unique
(Lamsfus et al., 2015; Muñoz-Leiva et al., 2018; Tussyadiah, service environment, the importance of understanding the
2016). With the rapid development of mobile commerce and context where consumers may better respond to on-site
mobile marketing, the concept of “context” becomes explicitly marketing messages is even more explicit. Therefore, we aim to
salient, as marketers need to have a better understanding of the investigate how contextual marketing may affect consumers’
contexts where and when consumers are the most responsive to impulse buying tendency and, subsequently, their purchase
mobile promotions (Andrews et al., 2016a). The current study intentions in the museum context.
focuses on the topic of contextual marketing in a specific set of During the past five years, museum attendance in the USA
hedonic services – the museum. has significantly improved (IBISWorld, 2019). Nonetheless,
Contextual marketing can help organizations gain significant museums still face the challenges of prolonged volatility in
advantages by delivering tailored messages to consumers at the public funding and declining government supports, which
results in an increasing reliance on the associated retailing (e.g.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald museum gift shops) as an important complementary source of
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0887-6045.htm funding (IBISWorld, 2019). As shopping for gifts or souvenirs

Received 11 February 2020

Journal of Services Marketing Revised 19 June 2020
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] 5 August 2020
[DOI 10.1108/JSM-02-2020-0049] Accepted 5 August 2020
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

is, at best, a secondary purpose for most museum visitors, RQ3. How may the aforementioned context-triggered
effective marketing strategies are essential to driving gift shop marketing approach affect the quality of the museum
purchases to benefit the museums financially. visitors’ overall experience?
Meanwhile, because most museums are nonprofit cultural
institutions, the performance of their marketing strategies may This study contributes to both the contextual marketing
not be measured purely in financial terms but should be literature and hedonic services research. Previous research on
evaluated in terms of the overall effectiveness (Mottner and contextual marketing and impulse buying largely concerns the
Ford, 2005). In other words, the impact of those marketing retailing environment, where shopping is the primary goal for
strategies on museum visit experience also needs to be consumers. Extending the extant literature, this study examines
considered. Researchers indicate that museum experience the effectiveness of contextual marketing in a hedonic service
highlights a combination of aesthetic, educational, recreational setting – museum – where shopping is not important but rather
and sociable encounters with the cultural resources, the sometimes unpopular. In such scenarios, advertisements and
servicescape and a multitude of other sociocultural and promotions are likely to backfire if the consumers’ achievement
functional elements during a museum visit (Chan and Yeoh, of the principal purpose of visiting – to acquire quality cultural
2010; McIntyre, 2010). From a customer experience or hedonic experiences – is hindered by the marketing stimuli.
perspective, a variety of factors can contribute to the total Therefore, the current study sheds light on marketing research
visitor experience in museums, including convenience and in an atypical commercial context of museums.
speed of access to services, availability of product/service Today’s museum visitors expect more hedonic, personalized,
options, value-added services and technology integration to interactive and relevant experiences (Bideci and Albayrak,
improve the basic product or service and enhance consumer 2018). This study provides empirical evidence to verify that
experience (Rowley, 1999). To maintain a favorable position in well-designed marketing approaches (i.e. context-triggered
the ever more competitive global market of leisure services, mobile app messages) may not only enhance consumers’
modern museums need to outperform their competitors in purchase intentions but also have no negative impact on their
these aspects and excel at both roles of cultural custodians and hedonic experiential quality. Through the theoretical lens of
experiential service providers (Camarero et al., 2015; Rowley, processing fluency, this research confirms that stimulus-
1999). context congruence and the resultant fluency are vital in a non-
Museums have been embracing mobile technology and commercial hedonic service environment (Brakus et al., 2014;
responding to consumer behavioral changes brought by the Fang et al., 2007; Herrmann et al., 2013). Relatedly, this
penetration of mobile devices (Hughes and Moscardo, 2017). research provides practical guidelines to the hedonic services
As the first-generation museum apps appeared in 2009, more management for better marketing and operation performance,
and more museums take advantage of the latest technology and and to the mobile app developers for efficient app designs.
launch mobile apps targeting museum visitors (Ding, 2016).
Recent studies indicate that museum visitors primarily use Theoretical background and hypotheses
smartphones and mobile apps during the trip to engage with the
exhibition contents, which can increase their interest in the
development
exhibition and maximize the educational effect (Budge, 2017). Established on the theoretical foundation of contextual
Meanwhile, the on-site usage of mobile apps bears the risks of marketing theory, impulse buying and processing fluency, this
overshadowing the museum exhibits and intruding into the visit study aims to demonstrate how a context-triggered mobile app
experience (Economou and Meintani, 2011). Thus, it is not push function may increase museum visitors’ impulse buying
entirely clear how the adoption of mobile contextual marketing tendency and the consequent souvenir purchase intentions
in museums will affect the visitors’ experiential quality. while keeping their museum experiential quality intact. The
Integrating previous literature and relevant theoretical relevant literature is reviewed as follows. Based on the
frameworks (i.e. contextual marketing, impulse buying, theoretical frameworks, the related hypotheses are proposed
processing fluency), we posit that museum mobile apps have accordingly.
the potential to not only facilitate an interactive and
personalized visitor experience (Economou and Meintani, Mobile promotions and contextual marketing theory
2011; Tussyadiah, 2016) but also leverage context-based The penetration of mobile devices and the increasing
mobile marketing to increase visitors’ gift shop purchase availability of information and data have enabled both the
intentions. A well-designed mobile app may enhance museum consumers and marketers to implement informed shopping/
visitors’ overall experience and contribute to the museum’s marketing strategies (Verhoef et al., 2017; Zaki, 2019).
revenue growth by boosting gift shop sales. Therefore, the Meanwhile, as consumers’ attention spans continue to wane in
current study aims to explore answers to the following research today’s fast-paced society, marketers using mobile promotions
questions: need to ensure the messages’ level of relevance to the
RQ1. Will the contextual marketing strategy facilitated by consumers (Andrews et al., 2016a). Previous research indicates
mobile technology help increase consumers’ tendency that highly relevant promotions are usually context-based
for unplanned purchases and the consequent buying (Kenny and Marshall, 2000). Leveraging the unique features of
intentions in the museum setting? mobile devices (i.e. portability, connectivity, individual
addressability and interactivity), marketers can track and target
RQ2. If the context-triggered marketing approach does help, consumers in a certain context with promotions that seamlessly
what is the underlying mechanism? integrate the context-based elements such as geographic and
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

temporal features (Andrews et al., 2016a; Ghose et al., 2019; active connection is available (Chua and Chang, 2016).
Luo et al., 2014). Such a context-based promotion facilitated Consumers’ contextual features (e.g. real-time location,
by the mobile device is valuable to consumers and efficient for preferences) are key targeting factors in mobile push
marketers because of its high level of relevance. approaches (Tussyadiah, 2016). Therefore, it is proposed:
Kenny and Marshall (2000) predicted that mobile marketing
in the age of ubiquitous internet would be less about content H1. Museum visitors show higher levels of souvenir purchase
but more about contexts. Contextual marketing refers to the intention when using a museum mobile app with (vs
marketing practices where businesses present relevant without) a context-triggered push function promoting
information and tailored messages to consumers in the right the context-related souvenirs.
place and at the right moment (Kenny and Marshall, 2000).
Understanding consumers’ real-time contexts and predicting
Impulse buying and contextual perceived value
their needs lay the foundation for successful mobile promotions
In-store promotions are important final marketing actions to
(Andrews et al., 2016b; Verhoef et al., 2017).
encourage consumers’ purchases, as many purchase decisions
The extant contextual mobile marketing studies
are made after consumers enter the consumption environment
predominantly focus on the consumer responses to context-
based marketing offers – especially those supported by (Bues et al., 2017; Rook, 1987). In-store mobile promotions
location-based services – in retail scenarios. For example, offer a more convenient way to stimulate unplanned purchases
after examining three in-store advertising strategies, Bues by triggering consumers’ recognition of unmet needs or simply
et al. (2017) find that the location of receiving a mobile inducing the sudden urge to buy (Andrews et al., 2016a). The
advertisement (i.e. close to vs far away from the product) is consumer experience of a “sudden, often powerful and
the strongest driver of purchase intentions, followed by the persistent urge to buy something immediately” is defined as
personalization of advertisements; while price promotion (i.e. impulse buying (Rook, 1987, p. 191). Previous studies have
discount) is revealed as the least effective purchasing driver. revealed both external and internal factors that influence
Luo et al. (2014) examine the impacts of different mobile impulse buying behavior. Specifically, external factors include
targeting strategies on consumers’ movie ticket purchases and the environmental or atmospheric cues (e.g. sounds and smells)
find that geographic targeting (e.g. sending promotions to and marketing mix stimuli (e.g. in-store displays and
customers close to the theater vs far away from the theater) promotions) (Youn and Faber, 2000). For instance, the buying
and temporal targeting (e.g. sending same-day promotions vs impulse can be triggered by the visual confrontation with a
two days prior to the promoted movie) can individually product or a promotional stimulus (Rook, 1987). Internal
increase ticket purchases. factors focus on the internal states and characteristics of
In addition to the common contextual factors like location consumers. For example, consumers’ emotional states,
and time, researchers have also explored consumers’ hyper- normative evaluation of the appropriateness of unplanned
contexts and how marketers engage with them to influence purchases and individual traits such as buying impulsiveness all
consumer behaviors. Andrews et al. (2016b) reveal that may affect their engagement in buying spontaneously and
commuters in crowded subway trains are about twice more unreflectively (Dawson and Kim, 2009; Rook and Fisher,
likely to respond to a mobile offer by making a purchase than 1995).
those in non-crowded trains. They, thus, suggest that physical Regarding the mechanisms that drive impulse buying, prior
crowdedness can impact on consumer responses to mobile ads. research highlights the role of information processing in
Moreover, weather conditions are also exploited by marketers unplanned purchases (Rook and Fisher, 1995). Consumers
to optimize mobile promotions. Using field experiment data on always consciously and/or unconsciously process received
weather-based mobile promotions, Li et al. (2017) find that information to make judgments about the value exchange
sunny weather enhances the purchase responses to promotions, during the purchase transactions (Shen et al., 2013). Value
while rainy weather decreases the rate and speed of purchase perceptions are based on the assessment of what consumers can
responses. get versus what they have to give up for exchange (i.e. monetary
Based on the theoretical foundation of contextual marketing and/or nonmonetary sacrifice) (Baker et al., 2002; Lee and Jun,
and leveraging the findings from previous context-dependent 2007). In the situation where the consumer receives context-
mobile promotion research, the current study examines the relevant information that tailors to his/her tastes and interests
effectiveness of contextual, app-based push notification in the and triggers the buying impulse, the contextual perceived value
setting of the museum visit and souvenir purchase. When usually becomes more salient than the constant perceived value
museum visitors linger at the spot of a specific exhibit (e.g. in (e.g. price, usefulness, etc.) does (Lee and Jun, 2007).
front of an artwork), it can be inferred that they are probably In terms of “what consumers can get,” the contextual
interested in this particular artwork (Falk, 1982). According to perceived value – in the form of increased relatedness – is
the contextual marketing theory (Kenny and Marshall, 2000), activated by the relevant stimuli (e.g. a location-based
visitors may be more likely to purchase souvenirs if they receive marketing offer) (Lee and Jun, 2007). Psychologically,
a context-triggered message promoting souvenirs related to this consumers perceive a sense of synchronicity induced by the
on-site artwork. To deliver such a message, an in-app push contextual stimuli and feel that they are in the right place at the
notification may be a feasible solution. Push notifications refer right time; the impulse object is then interpreted as meant to be
to a type of information distribution mechanism commonly bought and owned (Rook, 1987).
used by mobile apps, where short pieces of information are On the other hand, the dimension of “what they have to give
delivered to an individual through push technology when an up for the exchange” is reflected as reduced shopping efforts
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

and/or time. Previous research suggests that the time and Chen, 2012). Furthermore, due to museums’ special
efforts spent in stores looking or waiting for goods and services purposes and settings that are different from the usual leisure
have an economic value to consumers, representing a facilities and activities, learning and informal education are
significant aspect of nonmonetary costs (Marmorstein et al., always important subjects of museum visitor studies
1992). Shopping efforts, time sacrifice and search efforts are all (Charitonos et al., 2012). Overall, the cognitive and affective
likely to influence the perceptions of consumers – especially judgments derived from visitors’ museum experience
time-conscious consumers – regarding what they give up in a constitute visitor satisfaction (Ant
on et al., 2018). Therefore,
transaction and, in turn, affect their purchase intentions (Baker following the major dimensions of museum experiential
et al., 2002; Shieh et al., 2019). In such situations, the quality identified in prior research, the current study
advantages of mobile devices and context-based promotions examines the impact of the context-triggered mobile app
emerge, as they act as virtual assistants to reduce the push notification on museum visitors’ experience in four
consumers’ time and efforts in searching and shopping for the dimensions, namely, education, enjoyment, escapism and
items they desire (Andrews et al., 2016a; Lee and Jun, 2007). overall satisfaction.
Therefore, the consumers’ contextual perceived value further To understand how the pushed marketing stimuli may affect
increases, providing a rational justification for the rise of consumer experience in a museum setting, we draw on the
impulse buying tendency. theoretical construct of processing fluency. Processing fluency
Applying the underlying mechanism of impulse buying to the is defined as the subjective ease with which individuals extract
current museum context, we propose the following explanation and process information from a presented stimulus
for the increase of visitors’ impulse buying tendency and the (Winkielman et al., 2003). Marketing researchers use this
consequent purchase intentions. Upon receiving the push concept to explain consumers’ responses (e.g. valuation
notification, museum visitors perceive the contents and judgments, attitudes toward advertisements and advertised
promoted souvenirs as directly related to their favored artwork products, behavioral intentions) to promotional and other
that they are appreciating right now (i.e. increased relatedness). types of corporate-sponsored messages in various contexts
Furthermore, they evaluate the saved time and reduced efforts (Alter and Oppenheimer, 2008; Herrmann et al., 2013; Jiang
in searching for such souvenirs in the museum store (i.e. et al., 2019; Zhang and Mattila, 2015). Previous studies reveal
reduced time/efforts). The increased relatedness and reduced consistent effects associated with higher-level fluency,
time/efforts together form the enhanced contextual perceived including increased liking, perceptions of greater value and
value, which leads to increased impulse buying tendency and judgments of truth and lower risk (Ko et al., 2015; Winkielman
purchase intentions. Thus, serial mediation effects are posited: and Cacioppo, 2001; Zhang and Mattila, 2015).
Related to the current study, the effect of processing
H2. A museum mobile app with (vs without) a context- fluency is specified and explained in the hedonic fluency
triggered push function promoting the context-related model (Winkielman and Cacioppo, 2001). The model
souvenirs positively influences museum visitors’ presents an affect-based mechanism for the fluency-liking
souvenir purchase intention through the serial mediation connection, suggesting that the dynamics of information
effects of contextual perceived value ! impulse buying processing elicit an affective reaction. High fluency triggers
tendency. hedonically positive reactions, which, in turn, leads to
increased positive evaluations of the stimuli and the product
(Fang et al., 2007; Winkielman and Cacioppo, 2001). Fluent
Museum experiential quality and processing fluency processing is pleasant because it indicates “progress toward
Museums are experience-centered places that offer a series of the goal of successful recognition and coherent interpretation
cognitive and affective encounters with both tangible and of the target” and “the availability of appropriate knowledge
intangible attributes (Bigné et al., 2008; Chan and Yeoh, structures to deal with a current situation” (Winkielman and
2010). Experiential quality refers to the subjective judgment Cacioppo, 2001, p. 991). Overall, high processing fluency
about the excellence or superiority of the experience (Wu and signals a harmless situation and even a rewarding experience
Li, 2017). In the museum setting, experiential quality is often (Fang et al., 2007).
reflected in the visitors’ desired social-psychological benefits Stimuli eliciting processing ease can take many forms, such
derived from the experience (Chen and Chen, 2010). As the as information with familiarity and visual clarity, messages
modern museum’s principal role has shifted from preserving regarding experiential rather than functional features and
and presenting collections to engaging and educating stimuli congruent with the judgment context or respondents’
audiences, enhancing museum visitors’ experiential quality attributes (e.g. cultural backgrounds) (Alter and Oppenheimer,
becomes a key responsibility for the museum management 2008; Brakus et al., 2014; Ko et al., 2015). Especially,
(Forrest, 2013). consumers tend to respond to highly congruent information –
Previous research suggests a multidimensional evaluation such as a marketing stimulus received in the presence of a
of museum experiential quality. Same as other hedonic relevant contextual cue – spontaneously and favorably, as the
services, museum visits are considered as leisure activities information better matches their category schemes and yields a
that lead to feelings of fun and enjoyment, escapism from quick and effortless evaluation (Brakus et al., 2014; Jiang et al.,
everyday routine, social gains in terms of shared time and 2019). Moreover, researchers indicate that processing fluency
connectedness with family and friends, as well as may be generated at a very early stage of information processing
introspective experiences such as contemplation and self- and felt at the periphery of conscious awareness, thus does not
reflection (Bigné et al., 2008; McIntosh, 1999; Sheng and require any complicated mechanisms or one’s focused
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

attention on the stimuli (Herrmann et al., 2013; Winkielman education level, annual household incomes and art museum/
and Cacioppo, 2001). Taken together, in the current museum artwork experience).
context, the in-app push function promoting souvenirs related A pilot test was conducted with 88 participants to evaluate
to the on-site artwork facilitates museum visitors’ high the validity of the stimuli and the reliability of the survey
processing fluency, which triggers a positive affect (i.e. instrument. The results indicate good internal consistency
enjoyment) without inhibiting other experiential judgments reliability for each of the measurement scales (i.e. Cronbach’s a
(i.e. education, escapism) and keeps the overall satisfaction ranging from 0.813 to 0.952); thus, no scale modification was
intact. Hence, it is hypothesized: performed. After minor adjustments to the video stimuli, the
main study was carried out to test the hypotheses.
H3. When using a museum mobile app with (vs without) a
context-triggered push function promoting the context-
related souvenirs, museum visitors perceive higher levels Measures
of enjoyment, while their experiential quality across the All the measurement scales used in this study were adapted
other three dimensions – education, escapism and from previous literature, namely, impulse buying tendency
satisfaction – remains unchanged. (Weun et al., 1998), souvenir purchase intention (Kim and
Littrell, 1999), contextual perceived value (Baker et al., 2002;
The conceptual model of the current research is displayed in
Lee and Jun, 2007) and four dimensions of museum
Figure 1.
experiential quality – education (Oh et al., 2007), enjoyment (Yi
and Hwang, 2003), escapism (Pelletier and Collier, 2018) and
Methodology satisfaction (Wu and Li, 2017). All the items were measured on
Research design and procedures a seven-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly
This study adopted a scenario-based experimental design to agree). Table 1 presents a summary of the measurement scales
test the proposed hypotheses. Participants were recruited and items, as well as the internal consistency reliability
from the online marketing research panel of Amazon (Cronbach’s a) of each scale based on the data collected in the
Mechanical Turk (MTurk.com). Study respondents were main study.
provided an online link to access the video stimuli and related
questionnaires through MTurk.com. The participants were
asked to watch a video of an art museum scenario while Manipulation and realism checks
imagining that they were visiting the Museum of Modern Art To ensure the presence of the context-triggered in-app push
(MoMA) in New York. In the scenarios, participants were notification was successfully manipulated, two manipulation-
appreciating Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night check questions were asked immediately after the participants
while using the museum mobile app on their smartphones for finished watching the video. Specifically, the respondents
interpretive information. The participants were randomly were asked, based on what was seen in the video scenario,
assigned to one of the two scenarios: the “with push” scenario whether they had used the mobile phone while visiting the
and the “without push” one. museum and whether they had received a push notification
In the “with push” scenario, the participants received an in- about museum souvenirs on the mobile phone while visiting
app pop-up notification as they appreciated the painting. The the museum. A total of 176 survey questionnaires were
push notification was to recommend souvenirs related to this collected for the main study, among which 25 responses were
particular artwork along with the souvenirs’ images and eliminated from further analysis because of failing to pass the
whereabouts in the museum store. In the “without push” manipulation checks.
scenario, instead of a push notification, a static statement The scenario realism was checked with two questions: “how
indicating the related souvenirs available in the store was do you rate the realism of this museum visiting scenario?” (1 =
displayed on the artwork information page within the app. After very unrealistic, 7 = very realistic) and “how easy was it for you to
watching the video stimuli, participants were directed to answer understand the scenario?” (1 = very difficult, 7 = very easy). The
a survey questionnaire. Questions included study-related results indicate that, across experimental cells, participants
measures, attention, manipulation and realism checks and found the scenarios to be highly realistic (M = 5.56) and easy to
participants’ demographic information (e.g. gender, age, understand (M = 6.13).

Figure 1 Conceptual model of the current research

 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

Table 1 Measurement scales and items

Cronbach’s
Construct Dimension Item a
Impulse buying I felt the urge to buy things that I had not intended to purchase 0.915
tendency I experienced the urge to make unplanned purchases
I saw something so interesting that I would buy it without considering the consequences
To buy spontaneously would be fun
Souvenir purchase I will buy souvenirs from the museum store for myself 0.899
intention I will buy souvenirs from the museum store for others as gifts
Contextual Offering timely souvenir information (i.e. when I was in the museum) is valuable to me 0.944
perceived value Offering location-specific souvenir information (i.e. when I was standing in front of the artwork I like) is
valuable to me
Providing information about souvenirs that are related to the artwork I like is useful to me
It helps me with an efficient souvenir shopping when the simultaneous contextual-relevant information is
offered based on my location and interest
Receiving related souvenir notifications on the mobile app helps to reduce my efforts in souvenir shopping
Receiving related souvenir notifications on the mobile app helps to save my time for souvenir shopping
Receiving related souvenir notifications on the mobile app helps to reduce my efforts in searching for the
souvenirs
Experiential quality Education When appreciating the artwork as in the scenario [. . .] 0.935
The museum experience makes me more knowledgeable
I learn a lot from the museum experience
The museum experience stimulates my curiosity to learn new things
It is a real learning experience at the museum
Enjoyment I feel the experience at the museum enjoyable. 0.934
I enjoy the experience at the museum
Escapism I don’t have to think about my usual routine problems 0.886
I can step away from my everyday concerns
I don’t have to worry about the demands of daily life
I leave the stress of the real world behind
Satisfaction I feel good about the experience at the museum in general 0.913
I consider the experience at the museum a good one

Participant demographic profile Serial mediation results

A total of 151 participants who passed the attention and The analytic software of PROCESS with the recommended
manipulation checks were included in the final analyses. The bootstrap technique was used (Hayes, 2013; Model 6) to test
gender split was 77 (51%) women versus 74 (49%) men. About the proposed serial mediation effects. The presence of an in-
74% of the respondents (112) had a college degree or above. app, context-triggered push function was the independent
Around 73% (110 respondents) were between 19 and 40 years variable (“with push” denoted as 1, “without push” denoted as
old. In total, 111 respondents (74%) were occasional or 0), souvenir purchase intention was the dependent variable and
frequent art museum visitors. Table 2 shows the detailed the two variables as hypothesized in H2 were the mediators
sample profile. following the sequence. The results confirm a significant total
indirect effect of the mobile app push notification on museum
visitors’ souvenir purchase intention (b = 0.61, 95% bootstrap
Results
CI: 0.21, 1.00). Consistent with the theoretical prediction, the
One-way ANOVA results positive indirect effect via the causal link of contextual
One-way ANOVA tests were conducted to test H1 and H3. perceived value ! impulse buying tendency was significant,
The results (as shown in Table 3) indicate that the souvenir which drove the effect of push notification (with vs without) on
purchase intention of the “with push” group is significantly souvenir purchase intention (b = 0.06, 95% bootstrap CI: 0.01,
higher than that of the “without push” group; thus, H1 was 0.15). H2 was supported.
supported. The results further confirm a significant, positive
difference between the experiential dimension of enjoyment of Conclusion
the “with push” group and that of the “without push” group. Using the contextual marketing theory, impulse buying and
No significant differences were found between the two groups processing fluency as the theoretical frameworks, the
in terms of education, escapism and satisfaction. Therefore, H3 present study illustrates how the context-based mobile app
was also supported. Figures 2 and 3 demonstrate the means plot increases visitors’ purchase intentions at the museum
for H1 and H3. without negatively affecting their museum experience. The
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

Table 2 Sample profile evaluate marketing stimuli positively and engage in more
purchase behaviors.
Category Frequency (%)

Gender General discussion

Female 77 51.0
Theoretical implications
Male 74 49.0
This study extends the extant contextual marketing research
Age and contributes to the hedonic services literature. Previous
19–30 65 43.0 studies discussing contextual marketing and impulse buying
31–40 45 29.8 focus predominantly on consumer responses and behaviors in
41–50 23 15.2 the retailing environment. Despite the increasing relevance,
51–60 10 6.6 these streams of research have been scarce in the context of the
61 8 5.4 museum as a specific type of hedonic services. In the museum
setting, shopping activities are considered secondary to the
Education level
visitor experience, even though the institutions are heavily
High school 15 9.9
relying on the store sales for their financial viability (Cameron,
Some college education 24 15.9
College degree 83 55.0
2007; Luscombe et al., 2018). The “culture vs commerce”
Graduate school 29 19.2
debate has been going on in the museum research for more
than two decades, while little empirical research has been
Household income conducted to address the issue (Cameron, 2007; McIntyre,
Less than $10K 8 5.3 2010). The present study fills the research gap by extending the
$10K to $20K 11 7.3 contextual marketing theory to the museum domain and
$21K to $35K 18 11.9 integrating the construct of processing fluency to explain the
$36K to $50K 27 17.9 positive impact of contextual marketing strategies on visitors’
$51K to $75K 44 29.1 experiential quality.
$76K to $100K 17 11.3 Furthermore, this study specifies the underlying mechanism
More than $100K 26 17.2 explaining the positive effect of the contextual marketing
stimuli on consumers’ purchase intentions, which is through
the increased contextual perceived value (i.e. increased
study confirms that the in-app context-related marketing relatedness and reduced time/efforts) and, consequently,
message not only can lead to positive marketing effects (i.e. enhanced impulse buying tendency. These findings confirm
increased purchase intentions) but also may enhance that the contextual marketing approach can strengthen
visitors’ museum experiential quality (i.e. increased people’s impulse buying tendency in a non-consumption-
enjoyment). The findings of this study corroborate prior focused context (i.e. museum). To empirically verify this effect,
research by verifying that, when a given stimulus is we measured and compared the pre- and post-stimuli impulse
congruent with other contextual cues (i.e. in harmony with buying tendency levels between the baseline (i.e. “without
the environment in which the stimulus appears), it can be push”) and treatment (i.e. “with push”) groups. The results
processed with high fluency and, in turn, elicit a positive show that the respondents in the two groups had similar levels
affective reaction (Brakus et al., 2014; Winkielman et al., of impulse buying tendency before exposed to the video stimuli
2003). The results further show that the enhanced purchase (F(1, 149) = 2.90, p = 0.09; Mwith-push = 3.71 vs Mwithout-push =
intention is induced through the increased contextual 3.29), whereas the post-stimuli impulse buying tendency of the
perceived value and impulse buying tendency. “with push” group was significantly higher than that of the
Furthermore, in the museum setting, as visitors generally “without push” group (F(1, 149) = 3.94, p = 0.049; Mwith-push =
consider shopping for souvenirs a peripheral activity, they 4.10 vs Mwithout-push = 3.58). These findings are consistent with
may be less motivated and more time-conscious to process prior research that impulse buying tendency, as a personal trait,
information in that regard. Researchers find that consumers’ can be reinforced or weakened in certain contexts (Jones et al.,
reliance on affect tends to strengthen under such resource- 2003; Park and Lennon, 2006).
constrained decision-making situations, promoting the The current study also contributes to service technology
feeling-as-information effect and influencing the judgmental literature. In the era of the experience economy, museums, like
tasks (Fang et al., 2007; Herrmann et al., 2013; Winkielman many other hedonic services in the marketplace, have switched to
and Cacioppo, 2001). Thus, we propose that museum a consumer-oriented model to improve their performance and
visitors apply the affective signals generated by processing compete for patronage (Camarero et al., 2015; Joseph-Mathews
fluency to their subsequent evaluations. The result of an et al., 2009). One key aspect of consumer orientation is to provide
extended serial mediation as tested in H2 supports this added value to visitors by offering novel and meaningful services,
argument (i.e. a positive indirect effect of push notification in which technological innovation undoubtedly plays a significant
on souvenir purchase intention via enjoyment ! contextual role (Camarero et al., 2015; Palumbo et al., 2013). Meanwhile, as
perceived value ! impulse buying tendency; b = 0.02, 95% engagement with exhibits is the core museum experience, mobile
bootstrap CI: 0.00, 0.06). Therefore, in a hedonic service devices and other “heads-down” designs are sometimes
context, enjoyable consumer experience is more than just considered anathema (Rodley, 2011). To investigate the
valuable in its own right; it may also nudge the consumers to paradoxical views, researchers examine various technological
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

Table 3 With vs without push function

Statistics summary
n Mean SD Std. error
Souvenir purchase intention With push 73 4.41 1.79 0.21
Without push 78 3.66 1.69 0.19
Total 151 4.02 1.77 0.14
Education With push 73 5.62 1.11 0.13
Without push 78 5.21 1.41 0.16
Total 151 5.41 1.28 0.10
Enjoyment With push 73 5.69 1.26 0.15
Without push 78 5.25 1.31 0.15
Total 151 5.46 1.30 0.11
Escapism With push 73 4.91 1.41 0.17
Without push 78 4.51 1.42 0.16
Total 151 4.71 1.42 0.12
Satisfaction With push 73 5.69 1.22 0.14
Without push 78 5.38 1.30 0.15
Total 151 5.53 1.27 0.10
One-way ANOVA results
Sum of squares DF Mean square F p-value
Souvenir purchase intention Between groups 21.25 1 21.25 7.05 0.009
Within groups 449.42 149 3.02
Total 470.67 150
Education Between groups 6.09 1 6.09 3.77 0.054
Within groups 240.35 149 1.61
Total 246.44 150
Enjoyment Between groups 7.36 1 7.36 4.45 0.036
Within groups 246.19 149 1.65
Total 253.55 150
Escapism Between groups 5.98 1 5.98 2.98 0.086
Within groups 298.53 149 2.00
Total 304.51 150
Satisfaction Between groups 3.56 1 3.56 2.23 0.137
Within groups 237.28 149 1.59
Total 240.83 150

Figure 2 Means plot for souvenir purchase intention

 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

Figure 3 Means plot for experiential dimensions

deployments and suggest that technology may help enhance the visitors as an essential part of the museum experience, souvenir
visitor experience and ultimately drive visitor satisfaction (Li and consumption is rarely the focus of museum studies (Cameron,
Liew, 2015; Palumbo et al., 2013). However, there is a dearth of 2007; McIntyre, 2010). The current study provides a new
research examining the service design and technology integration perspective that integrates the souvenir consumption activities
regarding augmented services (e.g. museum gift shops) and their with the artwork appreciation experience, forming a holistic
influence on the entire museum experience (Hume, 2011; museum engagement with the assistance of mobile technology.
Palumbo et al., 2013). The current study fills the research gap For the first time, this study confirms the key role of “context”
with positive empirical evidence. in constructing a balanced cultural-commercial museum
The findings of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of experience, which has never been empirically investigated in
the pushed marketing message embedded in the museum the museum research before.
mobile app in promoting context-related purchases and
enhancing museum visitors’ on-site experience. As the Managerial implications
modern museums increasingly operate under market This study reveals important insights for museum marketers
conditions because of financial cutbacks, they strive to and service providers. Cultural institutions such as museums
maintain both the social and recreational roles to be more have been hesitant about implementing proactive marketing
accessible to a wider audience (Camarero et al., 2015). strategies for fear of interfering with their custodial missions
Merging traditional activities with technological innovations (Camarero et al., 2015). Meanwhile, the substantial financial
already tested in other fields (e.g. mobile app marketing in challenges they are facing push them to draw all the possible
retailing) can give museums a head start in providing added revenue from the activities run parallel to the institutions (e.g.
value to visitors and broadening their own sources of revenue gift shops, bookstores) to resolve budgeting issues (Camarero
(Camarero et al., 2015; Li and Liew, 2015). Especially when et al., 2015; Cameron, 2007). Therefore, cultural institutions
the mobile-app-based marketing stimulus indicates congruity need to adopt a marketing approach that can effectively
and enhances processing fluency, it becomes a facilitator of increase visitors’ on-site purchase intentions without being
enjoyable experiences for museum visitors, which may, in perceived as intrusive. To this end, an increasingly popular
turn, lead to more favorable evaluations and behavioral approach adopted by retailing practitioners is context-based
intentions (Herrmann et al., 2013; Jiang et al., 2019). mobile marketing (Kenny and Marshall, 2000; Lamsfus et al.,
In general, the commercial side of museums has received 2015).
scant scholarly attention (Cameron, 2007; Luscombe et al., The contextual marketing messages are demonstrated to be
2018). In the museum setting, even though perceived by many effective in stimulating unplanned or impulse purchases and
 Mobile contextual marketing Journal of Services Marketing
Xueting Dou, Alei Fan and Liping Cai

ensuring consumer satisfaction (Andrews et al., 2016a). The museum mobile app, this study used hypothetical scenarios
findings of the present study show that such a contextual to examine the participants’ responses. The future field
marketing approach can also be applied to the museum setting. study will help to further validate the current results.
Previous research indicates that because of mobile technology Moreover, although we believe that the current study
and smartphone usage, today’s consumers engage in more subjects made a representative sample as more than 70% of
short-term and spontaneous decision-making during the trip the participants identified themselves as occasional or
(Lamsfus et al., 2015). To leverage such a consumer behavioral frequent art museum visitors, future studies may
trend, marketers may use contextual mobile marketing to investigate a larger population to enhance the
provide the right information to the right consumers and generalizability of the findings. For example, individual
facilitate their spontaneous decision-making processes characteristics or personal attributes (e.g. income and
(Lamsfus et al., 2015; Tussyadiah, 2016). education level, previous art appreciation experience,
In an art museum scenario, as investigated in the current technology usage frequency) may impact consumers’
study, the salient contextual factors include the visitor’s perceptions regarding mobile app usage, museum souvenir
location (i.e. in front of artwork) and interests (i.e. the artwork consumption and visitor experience.
they have been appreciating for a while). For an effective and Of particular relevance to the discussions of mobile
non-intrusive mobile promotion, the products promoted need contextual marketing is the consumer attribute of time-
to connect with the visitors and, at the same time, be in consciousness, which describes the extent to which consumers
harmony with the visitors’ artwork appreciation experience. are aware of time consumption when shopping and concerned
This will ensure visitors’ high processing fluency upon receiving about time limitation and efficiency (Shieh et al., 2019). In the
the marketing stimuli and facilitate positive affective responses current museum setting, we infer that visitors are time-
and effortless evaluations. Therefore, museum management conscious as related to shopping for souvenirs, thus are more
may ask themselves the following questions in the design and likely to value the benefits of well-designed contextual
selection of museum souvenirs: Will the products match the marketing messages conveniently provided through mobile
visitors’ museum experience? Can the souvenirs help visitors devices. Nonetheless, future research could extend the current
savor their experience and further maintain the connections study by including museum visitors’ time-consciousness as a
created during their museum visit (Steiner, 2017)? In reality,
boundary condition for the effect of context-triggered push
many cultural institutions include generic souvenirs and non-
function and exploring the by-segment differences among
exhibit-related items in their on-site store merchandise
museum visitors.
(Cameron, 2007; Luscombe et al., 2018). Although these
Museums today are competing in a technology-enabled,
products may bring in extra revenue as well, they are probably
visitor-oriented environment with other hedonic services. The
not the optimal selections for creating a seamless artwork-
present study sheds light on the topics of mobile app usage,
connection-consumption experience.
contextual marketing and experiential quality in the context of
In addition, the current study provides implications for
art museums. A wide avenue of research can be pursued in the
museum mobile app developers by highlighting an
future. For example, how does the adoption of museum mobile
important feature – context-based souvenir
apps affect visitors’ attitudinal and behavioral intentions toward
recommendation, which is rarely seen in the existing
the museum, such as revisit intentions, word-of-mouth, social
museum mobile apps. On top of the conventional
media sharing and willingness to pay more? Valuable
advantages of convenience and efficiency that most existing
mobile apps can deliver, the context-triggered theoretical and managerial implications for museum
recommendation of related souvenirs provides an development are expected to be derived from this line of
augmented feature benefiting both the visitors and the research.
museums. For visitors, such a mobile app function can
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based information systems: self-efficacy, enjoyment, learning Xueting Dou can be contacted at: xdou@purdue.edu

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