78
M. De Angelis et al.
displayed. This question has been used as an attention check, whose failure implied
the respondent’s exclusion from the sample. Subsequently, perceived durability and
purchase intention of the product advertised have been measured. Furthermore, the
extent to which respondents consider themselves expert in the artistic field has also
been measured. Lastly, socio-demographics information has been collected.
Most of the constructs have been measured through pretested scales, coming from
previous studies and duly translated in Italian. Perceived durability was measured
recurring to Stone-Romero et al.’s [75] semantic differential scale (α = 0.85), measured on 7 points and composed of two pairs of adjectives (not durable/durable and
not reliable/reliable). Respondents reported their willingness to buy by expressing
their degree of agreement/disagreement (1 = “strongly disagree” and 7 = “strongly
agree”) with three distinct statements (α = 0.95)—“I would buy this product,” “I
would consider buying this product” and “The probability that I would consider buying this product is high”—drawn by Dodds et al. [76]. Finally, by using two distinct
1-item 7-point scales (1 = “at all” and 7 = “very much”) respondents were asked
how confident they felt about art and about the specific art genre displayed.
9.2 Results
First of all, no significant difference between men’s (M = 4.15 and SD = 1.51) and
women’s (M = 3.94 and SD = 1.70) purchase intentions has been detected (t(213) =
−0.97 ns), confirming that differentiating the product advertised by gender has not
produced a bias in terms of purchase intention, but has rather prevented it. The mediation model included intensity of artist’s craftmanship as the independent variable
(high-intensity condition = 1 and low-intensity condition = 0), purchase intention as
the dependent variable and perceived durability as the mediating variable. First, we
verified through a regression analysis that the overall effect, that is the positive effect
of intensity of artist’s craftmanship on purchase intention, was positive and significant (b = 0.85, t(213) = 3.99, p < 0.01). Then, using the bootstrapping method as
implemented in the PROCESS SPSS Macro by Hayes [77, Model 4], we performed
the mediation analysis, which confirmed that perceived durability fully mediates the
relationship between intensities of artist’s craftmanship and purchase intention. As
expected, the effect of intensity of artist’s craftmanship on perceived durability is
positive and significant (b = 2.08, t(213) = 14.50, p < 0.01), as well as the effect
of perceived durability on purchase intention (b = 0.37, t(213) = 3.73, p < 0.01).
As expected, the direct effect—that is the effect of intensity of artist’s craftmanship
on purchase intention controlling perceived durability—is not significant (b = 0.08,
t(213) = 0.29 ns). Thus, both H1 and H2 are supported. Data, however, also shows a
significant difference between the two scenarios in terms of respondents’ knowledge
about the art genre they have been exposed to (t(213) = 3.68, p < 0.01). Specifically,
the level of knowledge of Renaissance art expressed by respondents exposed to the
M. De Angelis et al.
displayed. This question has been used as an attention check, whose failure implied
the respondent’s exclusion from the sample. Subsequently, perceived durability and
purchase intention of the product advertised have been measured. Furthermore, the
extent to which respondents consider themselves expert in the artistic field has also
been measured. Lastly, socio-demographics information has been collected.
Most of the constructs have been measured through pretested scales, coming from
previous studies and duly translated in Italian. Perceived durability was measured
recurring to Stone-Romero et al.’s [75] semantic differential scale (α = 0.85), measured on 7 points and composed of two pairs of adjectives (not durable/durable and
not reliable/reliable). Respondents reported their willingness to buy by expressing
their degree of agreement/disagreement (1 = “strongly disagree” and 7 = “strongly
agree”) with three distinct statements (α = 0.95)—“I would buy this product,” “I
would consider buying this product” and “The probability that I would consider buying this product is high”—drawn by Dodds et al. [76]. Finally, by using two distinct
1-item 7-point scales (1 = “at all” and 7 = “very much”) respondents were asked
how confident they felt about art and about the specific art genre displayed.
9.2 Results
First of all, no significant difference between men’s (M = 4.15 and SD = 1.51) and
women’s (M = 3.94 and SD = 1.70) purchase intentions has been detected (t(213) =
−0.97 ns), confirming that differentiating the product advertised by gender has not
produced a bias in terms of purchase intention, but has rather prevented it. The mediation model included intensity of artist’s craftmanship as the independent variable
(high-intensity condition = 1 and low-intensity condition = 0), purchase intention as
the dependent variable and perceived durability as the mediating variable. First, we
verified through a regression analysis that the overall effect, that is the positive effect
of intensity of artist’s craftmanship on purchase intention, was positive and significant (b = 0.85, t(213) = 3.99, p < 0.01). Then, using the bootstrapping method as
implemented in the PROCESS SPSS Macro by Hayes [77, Model 4], we performed
the mediation analysis, which confirmed that perceived durability fully mediates the
relationship between intensities of artist’s craftmanship and purchase intention. As
expected, the effect of intensity of artist’s craftmanship on perceived durability is
positive and significant (b = 2.08, t(213) = 14.50, p < 0.01), as well as the effect
of perceived durability on purchase intention (b = 0.37, t(213) = 3.73, p < 0.01).
As expected, the direct effect—that is the effect of intensity of artist’s craftmanship
on purchase intention controlling perceived durability—is not significant (b = 0.08,
t(213) = 0.29 ns). Thus, both H1 and H2 are supported. Data, however, also shows a
significant difference between the two scenarios in terms of respondents’ knowledge
about the art genre they have been exposed to (t(213) = 3.68, p < 0.01). Specifically,
the level of knowledge of Renaissance art expressed by respondents exposed to the