產品暱稱品質訊號效果：知覺受歡迎程度作用機制

The Product Nickname as a Quality Signal: The Underlying Mechanism of Perceived Popularity

產品除依據成分或功效賦予正式命名外，消費者口碑中常出現暱稱現象。本研究聚焦經驗性產品，以知覺受歡迎程度為中介變數，探討消費者生成內容中產品暱稱如何對消費者知覺品質發揮訊號效果，並驗證產品世代資訊、消費者說服知識的調節角色。據此，進行三項受試者間實驗，首先以包裝外觀操弄產品暱稱，發現相較於單純成分或功效正式名稱，確可有效增進消費者的知覺產品受歡迎程度，而提高知覺品質；其次，當附加產品世代資訊時，產品暱稱對知覺受歡迎程度、知覺品質的提升效果，與正式名稱無顯著差異；最後，依產品特性設計暱稱，同樣證實產品暱稱品質訊號效果，且排除資訊搜尋成本的替代性解釋機制，另當消費者說服知識高時，該品質訊號效果式微。

In addition to naming based on product ingredients or efficacy, nicknames are often attached to specific products in word-of-mouth communication among consumers. This study focuses on the persuasiveness of nicknames for experience goods used in user-generated content and includes perceived popularity as an underlying mechanism for evaluating how product nicknames might signal quality. It additionally aims to determine if product generation information and persuasion knowledge may moderate individuals’reactions. The results of three between-subjects experiments show the power of product nicknames, framed in terms of packaging appearance or product features, in improving perception of quality. Perceived popularity mediated the observed effects of product nickname, and alternative explanatory mechanism of information search costs was ruled out. Yet, the quality signaling effect of product nicknames was limited to the scenario where there was no product generation information included or consumers with a lower level of persuasion knowledge.