Quanto contano gli atmospherics? Una review meta-analitica

Marketing scholars have devoted significant attention to the analysis of the influence of environmental cues – or what Kotler defines “atmospherics” - on consumer behavior. Although results indicate that the designed environment is able to affect consumer responses in a wide range of situations where products and services are consumed or purchased, the practical contribution to the effective design of store and service settings remain still limited. Moreover, the diversity in theoretical approaches and methodologies employed lead some concern about the reliability of results. In this paper we conduct a meta-analysis in order to provide a quantitative summary of empirical evidence from academic literature and analyse the moderating effect of selected study characteristics on the variance of results. On the basis of the findings, the paper concludes with a discussion of implications for management and research