Consumer Behaviour

Beyond gender: Rethinking consumer preferences for appearance or functionality

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gender-stereotype

While it is common to assume that men prefer practical products and women lean towards pretty ones, new research challenges this gender-based belief, suggesting consumers’ actual preferences may defy

By Pan Jingyi, Principal Writer, China Business Knowledge @ CUHK

“Men are from Mars, women are from Venus” was coined by American author John Gray for his titular book and has become a common belief to explain why both genders are fundamentally different. However, as there are also so many planets in the solar system, people’s preferences may not always be binary.

American carmaker Dodge once aimed to expand its consumer base by introducing the first car ever exclusively designed for women, La Femme, featuring pink and cute elements. Sadly, the product was a flop, resulting in fewer than 1,500 units sold in 1955. More recently, there was a TikTok trend of men seeking out women’s clothing due to better design and cheaper price in the US supermarket Target.

“People know their own preferences, but rely more on the lay belief about gender difference in the form or function preference when making decisions for others.”

Professor Dai Xianchi

Given that consumers often face tradeoffs between appearance and functionality when making purchasing decisions, Dai Xianchi, Associate Professor of the Department of Marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School, is interested in exploring how people’s common belief about gender differences in product preference affects their choices.

Professor Dai conducted the research titled Appearance for females, functionality for males? The false lay belief about gender differences in product preference, in collaboration with his PhD student Lin Yu, along with Liang Jianping of Sun Yat-sen University and Yang Chen of South China University of Technology.

In this research, the team referred to the abovementioned common belief as lay belief, representing how ordinary people understand and explain the events and people in their environment. “Lay beliefs can affect consumers’ decision-making, such as their food choices, products, and medical services,” says Professor Dai.

gender-preference
it is common to assume that men prefer practical products and women lean towards pretty ones.

Appearance for females, functionality for males?

The researchers note that lay belief about gender differences in product form and function preference can stem from various reasons. Traditional notions tend to link women to emotions and men to rationality. Existing literature shows that emotions are influential when evaluating appearances, while functionality is guided by logic.

Moreover, gender role theory suggests that individuals are socialised to conform to specific social roles, resulting in gender stereotypes. For instance, advertisements often portray females as more concerned with physical attractiveness.

The lay belief that females have a stronger preference than males for product form over function may be true in product categories related to physical attractiveness. However, it may not hold in some gender-neutral product categories.

“We argue that people overgeneralise this gender difference to product categories unrelated to beauty or appearance enhancement,” Professor Dai says. “There is a prevalent discrepancy between people’s form-function choices for others and for themselves as well.”

Personal choice differs from choices for others

The team recruited participants from countries including the US and China for a series of mixed-method studies to test their hypothesis. Firstly, they demonstrated the existence of the lay belief of gender difference in form-function preference and then examined the discrepancy between consumers’ choices for others and for themselves.

gender differences

Participants in this scenario were presented with two similar flash disks, except for their appearance and functionality, and then asked to choose which one to give to others. The aesthetically pleasing flash disk features exquisite patterns and has a capacity of 256MB, while the functionally superior flash disk appears ordinary but boasts a larger capacity of 512MB. Consistent with the prediction, participants preferred to choose the aesthetically pleasing one for females than for males.

Surprisingly, in another study, the team found that marketing practitioners with more experience in understanding consumer preferences also performed the same. Specifically, marketers and product designers expected that female consumers would generally prefer products prioritising appearance over function, compared to male consumers. However, the researchers found that the gender difference did not emerge when participants were asked to make choices for themselves.

“Even experienced marketing practitioners who supposedly have better knowledge of consumer preferences can also mistakenly predict gender differences in what consumers actually choose,” Professor Dai says.

The researchers argue that when people buy a gift for others, the main goal is to satisfy the recipient’s preferences, and it would be easier if people knew the recipient’s preferences well. Otherwise, people need to infer the recipient’s preference based on their assumed preferences of social groups the recipient belongs.

“People know their own preferences, but rely more on the lay belief about gender difference in the form or function preference when making decisions for others,” Professor Dai explains.

gender-differences
Marketers should be mindful of the discrepancy between gender-based lay beliefs and actual preferences.

Less knowledge, stronger lay belief

In the next step, Professor Dai and his collaborators examined the moderating role of belief strength. The results showed that people with a stronger belief in gender difference tend to choose products with an appealing appearance for female others. Regarding choices for themselves, among participants with stronger beliefs, females were more likely to select products focusing on appearance rather than functionality.

“People’s choices will be more in line with their lay belief when they hold a stronger belief, and those with strong beliefs about gender differences will perceive relevant gender-based norms and tend to behave in accordance with these norms,” says Professor Dai.

People generally feel they have less knowledge about distant people than those close to them, and this perception can influence individuals’ decisions on behalf of others. Therefore, the team conducted another study to examine the impact of relationship closeness on consumers’ choices for others. The findings suggested that people have a stronger tendency to select products with an appealing appearance for females who are not closely connected to them.

Look before your leap

Considering the prevalence of this lay belief and its negative influences on decision-making, it is crucial to investigate if this belief can be corrected. Nevertheless, the team found that the lay belief in gender difference remains strong even when incentives are involved.

In their final study, the researchers implemented five interventions to make them aware of the gender stereotype, such as informing participants directly about the bias, instructing them to consider opposite scenarios, and emphasising accountability. However, participants in all interventions still preferred to choose visually appealing products for females.

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It is common practice for marketing practitioners to promote or design products for women by emphasising appearance and focusing on functionality for men. However, this research proved that the lay belief does not always align with consumers’ actual preferences, which could lead to negative consequences like reduced sales and misused resources.

“Marketers should be mindful of the discrepancy between gender-based lay beliefs and actual preferences,” Professor Dai adds. “They should think twice before making the decisions, and it would be better to conduct market research thoroughly rather than relying on lay beliefs.”

The research may also encourage individual consumers to pay more attention to gender bias when choosing gifts for others. “Our research can benefit consumers by helping them avoid a common error that can lead to interpersonal inefficiency, as people normally give gifts to strengthen interpersonal relationships.”