What makes things cool

Journal of Consumer Research, Inc.

What Makes Things Cool? How Autonomy Influences Perceived Coolness
Author(s): Caleb Warren and Margaret C. Campbell
Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 41, No. 2 (August 2014), pp. 543-563
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/676680 .
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What Makes Things Cool? How Autonomy
Influences Perceived Coolness
CALEB WARREN
MARGARET C. CAMPBELL
Despite assertions that coolness sells products, little is known about what leads consumers to perceive brands as cool. This research uses an experimental approach to examine the empirical relationship between consumers’ inferences of autonomy and perceived coolness. Six studies find that behaviors expressing autonomy increase perceived coolness, but only when the autonomy seems appropriate. Autonomy seems appropriate, and hence increases perceptions of coolness, when a behavior diverges from a norm considered unnecessary or illegitimate, when the autonomy is bounded (i.e., deviations are small or occasional rather than large or perpetual), and when the consumer views

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