Back to the Future: Effects of Olfaction induced Episodic Memories on Consumer Creativity and Innovation Adoption

Abstract

Research suggests that in the presence of pleasant ambient scents people performed more creatively and efficiently, set higher goals, and employed effective strategies to accomplish those goals. However, it is yet unexplored - whether smells have an element of mental time travelling aside from their positive valence that may affect people’s cognitive processes. This paper examined whether the olfactory cues, associated with childhood and playful activities, can activate creative thinking regardless of their valence. It was found that some smells can trigger strong feeling of mental time travelling due to their associations with childhood memories, subsequently affecting cognitive flexibility, a dimension of creativity, of individuals. This paper found significant main effect of such smells and significant mediation effect of creativity on the adoption intention for incongruent new products. These findings contribute toward various facets of consumer psychology and behavioural literature and entail substantial implications for sensory marketing.