To remain aggressively competitive in hyperconnected and globalised markets, marketers ought to furnish customers with seamless required products and/or services, persistently (Hwang, Kim & Lee 2021). This is because consumers demand innovative-induced changes and a high degree of services offered during purchasing events (Chao et al. 2020). As such, concerted efforts by marketers need to expand business growth in response to customer demands trends, and the pursuit of healthier lifestyles. This notion is supported by the 7% growth that was attributed in 2021, thus permitting the market of self-care products to be over $503.6 billion, led by the United States of America (US), China, and Japan (Statista Report 2022). According to the report, the self-care industry ought to accumulate 4.76% increment in 2026, driven by the surge and high demand for such products given online purchases.

In South Africa, the self-care product market size accounted for $3.35 billion in 2023 and is expected to contribute a value of 4.62% by 2028 to the entire retail sales in the country (Research and Markets Reports 2024). Although this contribution may appear minor, it is significant that women continue to use self-care products (Gani et al. 2023). These products offer intangible benefits, such as enhancing status, beauty, social interaction, psychological well-being and embodying symbolic values. In addition, this trend reflects a plodding shift towards premium and luxury brands, which further drives growth in this sector (Ekakitie 2024). Be that as it may, a significant growth prospect of self-care consumption is anticipated owing to metrosexual consumers placing more prominence on skincare products to accentuate their physical appearance (Lee & Fiore 2024). Therefore, players in the market need to introduce products that will seize consumer and the market demand, respectively.

Owing to the continued development of product ideas, most consumers are committed to trying out new self-care products introduced in the market. Chao et al. (2020) highlight that trial probability of new products is presented as a tactical instrument and a predictor that encourages consumer acceptance and adoption of self-care innovations. Nevertheless, marketers need to foster product trial and thereby enhance consumer cognition and new product evaluation opportunities. Similarly, Lee and Fiore (2024) emphasise the invaluable role of influential consumers to marketers highlighting their altruistic motivations to share knowledge about the marketplace, products and services. Put simply, information derived from trustworthy influential cohorts diminishes product uncertainty and positively influences the subsequent growth of relatively new product consumption.

This research article is in response to the academic call pointed by Abratt, Nel and Nezer (1995) for continued replication of the work started by Feick and Price (1987) within emerging countries such as South Africa because consumer behaviour and the resultant marketing challenges could be different from those experienced in developed countries. While their research is matured, so far, Abratt et al. (1995) remain the only scholars who have endeavoured to publish their research on the notion of market mavens within a South African context. In response to this call, this article identifies innate stimuli (consumer innovativeness) and desired stimuli (aspirational attractiveness) as factors that augment market mavenness on self-care product trials. Most profoundly, the need for this article is at par with the digital and biological worlds that are considerably enriched because of the changes caused by the fast-growing development of product innovations, thereby provoking a need for consumers to qualify product quality through product trial efforts.

The research article aimed to investigate the influence of consumer innovativeness and aspirational attractiveness on market mavenness stimulants for self-care products. The objectives were:

Hunt and Gruszczynski (2024) suggest that the growing prevalence of online interactions raises concerns about whether traditional communication models can still effectively inform purchase decisions. In true essence, the popularity of online interactions has manifested a new perspective into old communication theories thus flagging the two-step flow of information to re-emerge as a tiered model in which information flows. In this regard, the two-step flow theory refers to the primary role of market mavens in spreading word-of-mouth (WOM) communication to potential customers (Walter & Bruggemann 2020). At the secondary level, the active and highly involved consumer segments filter and pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content to the more passive group of opinion followers. With that, consumer behavioural outcomes emanate from the two-step flow of communication and market mavenship behaviour, which can be best encapsulated within the stimulus organism response (SOR) theory proposed by Mehrabian and Russell (1974). Considering adapting the three components of the SOR, it is assumed that market mavenness is stimulated by psychographic factors termed the stimulus, which in turn influence consumers’ market mavenness behaviour. As such, this article offers a nuanced and comprehensive lens to offer marketers and academic practitioners’ insights into the market mavens’ scholarship.

The notion of market mavenism was devised by Feick and Price (1987) who singled them out as:

The seminal work by the scholars add cumulatively to the understanding of interpersonal influence by introducing the concept of market mavenism. The underpinning role of market mavens includes initiating discussions, forming relations with consumers and thereby responding to consumer-related and market-related requests from other consumers. Most profoundly, Jin and Ryu (2024) highlight that the influence of mavens is based not only on knowledge and expertise but also on their ability to exert interpersonal influence on other consumers through social interactions. This article asserts that interpersonal WOM communication delivers the greatest influence on consumer behaviour, owing to its perceived credibility (Lee & Fiore 2024). This is because market mavens draw their influential power from both knowledge and actual experience with products and product categories. Therefore, marketers can reach their intended audiences through market mavens as they fill the information gaps within the market pertaining to the marketplace and product-related information.

Market mavens can be viewed as fundamental agents of change because they can influence other individuals at an interpersonal level. Market mavens are the most active regarding disseminating market-related information as well as encouraging new product trial behaviour (Jin & Ryu 2024:4). Specifically, market mavens are renowned for stimulating product trial, thereby lending them to be purveyors of WOM (Lee & Fiore 2024). Market mavens voluntarily pledge dialogue with other consumers and respond to consumer appeals to generate and disseminate market-related information. A multitude of studies indicate that a market maven is renowned to be a female consumer based on a three-pronged decision rationale. Firstly, the assertion made by former scholars (Abratt et al. 1995; Feick & Price 1987; Gani et al. 2023; Williams & Slama 1995) avert that market mavens are predominantly female. Secondly, female market mavens account for the largest share of the consumer market in the self-care industry (Gani et al. 2023). Thirdly, female consumers ascribe to accentuate their physical beauty by purchasing self-care products, regardless of age, income or education (Korai 2017). As such, the desired characteristics of female market mavens lend this study a discourse to direct the need for this research article because consumer innovativeness is a valuable construct in understanding consumers’ product trial behaviour.

Studies have demonstrated the significant role of consumer innovativeness as an independent factor in understanding consumers’ keenness to try, adopt and thereafter accept novel and demanded products and/or services (Chao et al. 2020; Saeed et al. 2023; Sestino, Amatulli & Guido 2024). As a result, the element of time that is try, adopt and accept, elucidates consumers’ divergence in their rate of adopting any innovation (Esfahani & Reynolds 2021). Hence, Rogers (1983:247) demarcated innovativeness as ‘the degree to which one member of society adopts unique ideas comparatively more often than the others’. With that, Venkatraman and Price (1990) proposed two forms of consumer innovativeness: cognitive and sensory innovativeness. The scholars defined cognitive innovativeness as a variable that seeks contentment through new thought-evoking experiences, while sensory innovativeness infers seeking contentment through involvement with internal experiences and/or cues. Thus, market mavens are prone to be innovative consumers who seek to convey information to others about their experiences with using novel products or services and furthermore taking product consumption risks (Anic et al. 2023; Hwang et al. 2021; Lee & Fiore 2024). This is because of their inherent ability to diffuse information quickly and their high media exposure.

Past research established that innate behaviour (consumer innovativeness) is positively associated with market mavenism (Goldsmith, Clark & Goldsmith 2006). This is because, the personality of consumers is espoused through innovative behaviour, which tends to invigorate thinking from stimulus exposure (Hwang et al. 2021) and thereby have a significant influence on information dissemination propensity among individuals (Sestino et al. 2024). This notion is rooted in the search for uniqueness and contrasts with previous purchase choices. Thus, this article presumes that consumer innovativeness is observed by consumers seeking new experiences by considering new products. Therefore, it is imperative to leverage innate stimuli as a predictor of market mavenness.

The concept of attractiveness has been pre-meditated as a predictor of socio-economic success in previous research (Anderson et al. 2001; Bissell & Chung 2009; Diener & Suh 1997). Within social psychology research, attractiveness is considered capital value in the social order of relational forms (Kim & Park 2023); thereby a more attractive individual can be rated extraverted, as they exert physically desirable traits (Batres & Shiramizu 2023). An earlier study by Jæger (2011) linked attractiveness to various psychological characteristics over an individual’s life course, including socio-economic and marital outcomes. Relatedly, the thirst and desire to be attractive has been validated as a salient attribute of materialism (Kasser 2002), alongside financial success and social recognition. Relatedly, Gilal, Gilal and Gilal (2024) attest that attractiveness reveals central evidence about an individual’s capabilities and competencies, thus eliciting favourable reactions from others. This therefore implies that beauty is desirable and valuable, and is an influencer of human behaviour. Nevertheless, the positive connection validated by Goodey and East (2008) has culminated in the inference that attractiveness settles in market maven behaviour and traits. This results in a direct effect between aspirational attractiveness and market mavenness. This is because mavenism heightens consumers’ sensibility towards the acquisition of products that enhance personal appearance, of which self-care products are a part.

New products present an inimitable functionality that differentiates one from prevailing alternatives in the consumer market (Min 2023). Such products are presumably highly innovative, thus offering a high degree of uniqueness and contrast (Chao et al. 2020). Specifically, innovative products create opportunities for variation for an individual and a competitive advantage for a marketing organisation (Min 2023). Notably, trial probability is a calculated technique marketers use to signal the success of new products. Interestingly, one of the most effective ways to stimulate new product trials and prompt increased attention towards self-care products is to engage the services of influential consumers, where market mavens come to the fore. Particularly, market mavens exhibit broad market expertise in gathering information about various products, creating a ripple effect in sustaining marketing messages. Market mavens demonstrate a high need for uniqueness, which leads to the inference that mavenship behaviour could potentially induce product trials among consumers. In specific terms, a strong and direct impact of market mavenness on trial probability was found in the study conducted by Steenkamp and Gielens (2003), who surveyed the effects of several consumer and market factors on the trial probability of new consumer packaged goods in the Netherlands.

Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from the Faculty of Management Sciences Research Ethics Committee (No. FRECMS-20062024-178).

Regarding age categories, a total of 40.2% of research respondents were between the age of 21 and 30 years (n = 191), 24.4% (n =116) of respondents were between 31 and 40 years, and 14.1% (n = 67) were aged between 18 and 20 years. Approximately, 13.5% (n = 64) and 7.8% (n = 37) were aged between 41 to 50 years and over 50 years, respectively. The results further indicate that the respondents were predominantly black Africans, representing 79.4% (n = 377), followed by white people with 12.6% (n = 60) of the sample. Coloured (n = 28) and Asian (n = 10) contributed a combined percentage of 8% (n = 38). Regarding the level of education of the respondents, 36.8% (n =175) had at least a Matric certificate, 31.4% (n = 149) had a Diploma, followed by 24.4% (n = 116) with a university degree. Whereas only 31 individuals purported to be holders of a postgraduate qualification (Masters or PhD) (6.5%) of the sample. Regarding the level of income, the majority (32%; n = 152) indicated that they earned less than R5000, followed by 17.7% (n = 84) earning between R20 000 and R30 000, and 15.6% (n = 74) earning between R10 000 and R20 000. Only 13.7% of the respondents earned above R30 000. To determine the respondents fitting the predetermined criteria, new self-care products trial user behaviour questions were posed to the respondents, such as ‘your source of information’, ‘primary communication strategy for accessing new product information’, ‘which brand is your favourite’, and ‘on average, how often do you try new self-care products’. Table 1 depicts descriptive statistics of the constructs that were investigated.

The mean and standard deviation (SD) as depicted in Table 1 are discussed in this section.

The results in Table 1 are gathered in terms of predictors (consumer innovativeness and aspirational attractiveness), and the mediating (market mavenness) and outcome variables (new self-care product trial). The overall mean and SD values for consumer innovativeness is (x¯ = 4.683; SD ± 1.250). The result shows that the respondents strongly agreed that consumer innovation is prevalent as a determinant of market mavenness. This resonates with the study conducted by Hwang et al. (2021:4), who found that innovative consumers display market maven tendencies. The descriptives for aspirational attractiveness (x¯ = 5.136; SD ± 1.253) indicate that the respondents affirm that aspirational attractiveness is important in shaping their market mavenship behaviour. Gilal et al. (2024) corroborate these findings by suggesting that female consumers who are more attractive aspire to display market maven tendencies. The descriptive results for market mavenness (x¯ = 5.133; SD ± 0.982) suggest strongly agreed market mavenness is prevalent. Min (2023:285) supported this point by suggesting that the influence of mavens is based not only on knowledge and expertise, but also on their ability to exert interpersonal influence on other consumers through social interactions. As for the new self-care product trial, the descriptive results (x¯ = 4.135; SD ± 1.295) indicate that respondents affirmed that new self-care product trial is critical. New products present a unique functionality that differentiates one from existing alternatives in the consumer market (Min 2023:285). Such products are presumably highly innovative, thus offering a high degree of uniqueness and contrasts (Chao et al. 2020).

The reliability and validity of the scale as shown in Table 2 are discussed in this section.

This section reports and interprets the regression analysis results from two models. The first model compares the innate and desired stimulus (consumer innovativeness and aspirational attractiveness) and market mavenness. The second model presents the regression results between market mavenness and new product trial.

The results of hypothesis testing are presented in Table 6.

Table 6 represents suggestions of hypotheses (H1, H2, H3). The table indicates that all the posited hypotheses are accepted. The next section discusses the results of the hypotheses test.

H_a1: Consumer innovativeness positively and significantly influences consumers’ market mavenness: The analysed results accept hypothesis H1 (β = 0.578; t = 1.128; p = 0.001). This observation means that consumer innovativeness influences market mavenness among the sampled female customers of self-care products. The results suggest that innovative consumers result in a very significant market mavenism of 57.8% within the sampled area in Gauteng. In support of these empirical findings, Hwang et al. (2021:4) assert that this is because, the personality of consumers is espoused through innovative behaviour, which tends to invigorate thinking from stimulus exposure and thereby have a significant influence on information dissemination propensity among individuals. This resonates well with the findings by Sestino et al. (2024), who found that innate behaviour (consumer innovativeness) is positively associated with market mavenism.

H_a2: Aspirational attractiveness positively and significantly influences consumers’ market mavenness: The results yielded a positive yet significant relationship between goal clarity and team effectiveness (β = 0.545; t = 1.434; p = 0.001). Therefore, H2 is accepted. The results imply that aspirational attractiveness determines market mavenness among the sampled female customers of self-care products within Gauteng province. The results, therefore, imply that an increase in aspirational attractiveness leads to an increase in market maven tendency by approximately 54.5%. This outcome resonates with Gilal et al. (2024), who attest that attractiveness reveals important evidence about an individual’s capabilities and competencies, thus eliciting favourable reactions from others. This, therefore, implies that beauty is desirable and advantageous and is an influencer of human behaviour (Kim & Park 2023). Nevertheless, the positive connection validated by Goodey and East (2008) has culminated in the inference that attractiveness culminates in market maven behaviour and traits.

H_a3: Consumers’ market mavenness positively and significantly influences self-care products’ trial: The results support the posited H3 (β = 0.778; t = 19.726; p = 0.001). This research observation means that market mavenness strongly predicts new product trials among the sampled female customers of self-care products within Gauteng. The results suggest that an increase in market maven tendency results in a very significant increase in new product trials by 77.8%. Empirical findings from Min (2023:285) established that new product present novel and an exclusive experience that differentiates one from existing alternatives in the consumer market. Such products are presumably highly innovative, thus offering a high degree of uniqueness and contrast (Chao et al. 2020:176). Specifically, market mavens are admired for innovative products that create opportunities and experiences for not only differentiation but also a competitive advantage (Min 2023).

The significance of this study is dual pronged in that it delivers salient contributions towards both theory and practice. Primarily, this study’s significance lies in applying behavioural science and interpersonal influence theories within the context of consumer behaviour. Secondarily, the results of this study are nascent in tendering fertile ground for marketers by demonstrating the orientation of the female maven. In particular, this study’s results demonstrate the female maven’s two-fold orientation in terms of innate (consumer innovativeness) and the desired or sought-after (aspirational attractiveness) stimuli that influence market mavenship behaviour. While using new product trial as a proxy to indicate consumers’ intent to purchase self-care products, this study validated that, the selected factors are responsible for activating and stimulating the trial of self-care products.

Drawing from the research findings in this study, it is evident that marketers need to assemble an innovative community of market mavens. Such consumer communities can help tie ordinary consumers to share their experiences about self-care products and thereby cross-pollinate new product ideas. The consumer communities can deliver symbiotic energy and reciprocal trust because the contributions are delivered by consumers of equivalent status, with no ulterior expertise in new product development. In addition, marketers need to commit to the growing consumer trend of tailoring self-care products to the needs and desires of their target market. This can be achieved by utilising market influencers as agents because they are symbols of not only physical appeal but also achievement beauty. Such a marketing strategy would serve to accentuate the sought-after physical appearance among consumers in return for a newly developed confidence, high self-esteem, social appraisal and acceptability through the trial of self-care products.

The potential reach and social interpersonal influence of market mavens renders them an invaluable mechanism for marketing self-care products. In this regard, marketers can tap into the contemporary market maven by observing and monitoring their digital footprint on platforms such as YouTube™ and Meta™. This can help them to create a database of mavens, with which to establish a community. In addition, marketers need to create an atmosphere that will induce consumers to try out new self-care products in the market. This study recommends that marketers need to amplify brand activations through pop-up shops because this is a transient and cost-effective strategy. Relatedly, the opportunities for new product trial should be supported using trained consultants.