Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/310014 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science [ISSN:] 1552-7824 [Volume:] 51 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Springer US [Place:] New York, NY [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 286-309
Publisher: 
Springer US, New York, NY
Abstract: 
Physical products (e.g., cars, smartphones) increasingly evolve into dynamic service platforms that allow for customization through fee-based activation of restricted add-on features throughout their lifecycle. The authors refer to this emerging phenomenon as "internal product upgrades". Drawing on normative expectations literature, this research examines pitfalls of internal product upgrades that marketers need to understand. Six experimental studies in two different contexts (consumer-electronics, automotive) reveal that consumers respond less favorably to internal (vs. external) product upgrades. The analyses show that customer-perceived betrayal, which results from increased feature ownership perceptions, drives the effects. Moreover, this research identifies three boundary conditions: it shows that the negative effects are attenuated when (1) the company (vs. consumer) executes the upgrading, and (2) consumers upgrade an intangible (vs. tangible) feature. Finally, consumers react less negatively when (3) the base product is less relevant to their self-identity.
Subjects: 
Dynamic service platforms
Product modifications
Internal product upgrades
Consumer betrayal
Normative expectations
Psychological ownership
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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