Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Customer assistance (e.g., reviews and referrals) plays a vital role for catering merchants. This study investigates how handwritten (vs. printed) messages can enhance consumers’ intention to engage in such assistance activities in the context of food delivery. Using a multi-method approach (field and scenario-based experiments), we demonstrate that handwritten messages significantly increase customers’ willingness to provide assistance, an effect mediated by perceived interpersonal intimacy. Moreover, the impact of handwritten messages interacts with message content structure. The positive effect of handwritten typefaces is stronger for individual catering businesses than for chain restaurants, and more effective among hedonic customers compared to utilitarian ones. These findings offer practical guidance for service merchants on leveraging handwritten messages to foster customer assistance behaviors.
Authors: Yue Liu, Xiaoxiao Fu, Tian Lan
Institutions: Sichuan University, University of Central Florida
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,207
Award: G4156361942
OpenAlex ID: W4414989235