Most recent papers:

• The effects of power on consumers’ evaluation of a luxury brand's corporate social responsibility.
  Dae Ryun Chang, Joonsuk Jang, Hosun Lee, Myungwoo Nam.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 17, 2018
  --- - |2- Abstract This paper examines how power affects consumers’ responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of luxury brands. The results of three studies show that high‐power individuals evaluated a luxury brand's CSR campaign more positively than low‐power individuals. High‐power individuals viewed CSR activities as being more fluent than low‐power individuals. This study further demonstrates that power influences consumers’ responses to nonluxury brand's CSR activities. Low‐power individuals, who are more receptive to warmth, evaluated nonluxury brand's CSR more favorably rather than high‐power individuals. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  October 17, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21158   open full text
• Strategic consequences of being unsympathetic: For‐profit companies benefit more than individuals from focusing on responsibility.
  Tage S. Rai, Daniel Diermeier.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 17, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Previous research has found that consumers ascribe mental states to for‐profit companies that enable them to elicit anger more easily than sympathy. The current study applies these findings to demonstrate how this evaluative asymmetry in consumer perceptions favor different strategies for individuals and companies managing conflicts and crises. First, it is shown that the mental states consumers ascribe to for‐profit companies enable them to elicit anger and admiration more easily than sympathy. Second, due to their ability to elicit anger more easily than sympathy, it is found that in conflicts between for‐profit companies and individuals, companies are evaluated more favorably when they focus attention on which side perpetrated the most harm, while individuals are evaluated more favorably when they focus on which side was most victimized. Third, due to their ability to elicit admiration more easily than sympathy, it is found that for‐profit companies derive greater benefits than individuals do from proactively taking responsibility to resolve crises rather than deflecting responsibility through claims of victimhood. Discussion focuses on marketing applications for companies managing conflicts and crises. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  October 17, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21165   open full text
• Is movie success a judgment device? When more is not better.
  Michela Addis, Morris B. Holbrook.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 17, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the relative impact, if any, of three main aspects of movie success (Simonton, 2009)—namely, reviewers’ ratings, opening box office, and Oscar nominations—as market cues that might influence consumers’ subsequent evaluative assessments. Based on public real‐world data, via path analysis on longitudinal observations for motion pictures released in two different years, Studies 1 and 2 test and compare the impacts of these key success criteria and their interactions. Measures of the relevant variables were gathered over time and statistically controlled for typical objective movie features available in the market at the beginning of any motion‐picture life cycle. Findings show that only reviewers’ ratings have an impact on consumers’ quality judgments, whereas opening box office and Oscar nominations have neither a main nor an interaction effect. Thus, they do not act as judgment devices. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  October 17, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21141   open full text
• Issue Information.
  
  Psychology and Marketing. October 08, 2018
  --- - - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 711-714, October 2018.
  

  October 08, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21064   open full text
• Tell it like it is: The effects of differing responses to negative online reviews.
  Carol L. Esmark Jones, Jennifer L. Stevens, Michael Breazeale, Brian I. Spaid.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Negative electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) has a notable impact on a consumer's online purchase decisions and attitude toward a company or product. Despite substantial research examining this phenomenon, little attention has been given to the impact of responses to negative eWOM. The authors examine negative eWOM in the form of online reviews to understand how responses may impact a consumer’s product satisfaction and attitude toward the company. Three studies examine specific aspects of responses, including responder type, attribution, and severity of negative review. Consistent findings across the studies reveal while any response is better than no response, a fellow consumer responding to a negative review can produce the most beneficial outcomes. The findings of this study are important for advancing theory in relation to negative eWOM and for helping practitioners develop appropriate response strategies. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21142   open full text
• Luxury brand desirability and fashion equity: The joint moderating effect on consumers’ commitment toward luxury brands.
  Mélanie Pham, Pierre Valette‐Florence, Franck Vigneron.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract In marketing research, the term “fashion” has been shown to have a double meaning. It is mostly used as a synonym of apparel brands, and rarely as a concept defining the degree of a brand's fashionability. Therefore, fashion equity is proposed as a new and complementary approach to brand equity, to help marketers strengthen their strategies. By conducting three qualitative and two quantitative surveys on apparel brands and luxury apparel brands, this study develops and empirically confirms a conceptual model built around the influence of luxury apparel's brand equity on consumers’ commitment. It also evaluates the moderating effects of fashion equity and luxury brand desirability on this relationship, as well as their implications for commitment. Overall, the results add to the existing body of literature surrounding brand equity, focusing for the first time on the joint catalyst effect of fashion equity and luxury desirability in regard to the influence of brand equity on consumers’ commitment to luxury fashion brands. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21143   open full text
• Through the looking glass: The factors that influence consumer trust and distrust in brands.
  Carmen Iuliana Mal, Gary Davies, Audra Diers‐Lawson.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract This study aims to identify the factors responsible for creating brand trust and brand distrust among consumers. It uses a grounded theory approach to guide the conduct and analysis of 20 semistructured interviews that yielded 120 descriptions of consumer‐brand interactions. The 3‐stage model that emerged shows a process whereby consumers prioritize product/service quality information and subsequently consider how the company behind the brand behaves toward consumers in the name of the brand, specifically behaviors signalling its integrity and benevolence. Finally, consumers consider characteristics of the company behind the brand (e.g., its financial status) and how it behaves in its own name toward other stakeholder groups (e.g., employees). The process for distrust mirrors that for trust, implying that the two are polar opposites. The data also show that trust and distrust in a brand can coexist but within separate domains. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21146   open full text
• When pride meets envy: Is social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising perceived as prestige or arrogance?
  Billy Sung, Ian Phau.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract This paper draws on the theoretical underpinnings of envy and pride in examining the effectiveness of social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising. Across two studies, benign (malicious) envy led consumers to perceive social superiority portrayal as an expression of authentic (hubristic) pride and, in turn, increased (reduced) luxury perception and positive brand attitude. These findings were replicated for both dispositional (Study 1 and 2) and state feeling of envy (Study 2), regardless of whether envy was self‐reported or manipulated. These findings were found to be consistent in a comparison between luxury and premium brands. Taken together, this paper is the first to examine: (a) consumer responses toward social superiority portrayal in luxury advertising, (b) the interactive effect of envy and pride perceptions on luxury perception and brand attitude, and (c) the effectiveness of using social superiority portrayal as an advertising strategy for luxury and premium brands. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21162   open full text
• Interference effects in competitive sponsorship clutter.
  Benjamin Boeuf, François A. Carrillat, Alain d’Astous.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - "\nAbstract\nThis article examines the effects on consumers’ attitudes of the concurrent exposure of competitive brands sponsoring different properties during an event (i.e., sponsoring an event vs. the athletes participating in this event), thus creating a \ncompetitive sponsorship clutter. In contrast with previous research having examined interference effects in advertising, the results of this research reveal that in a sponsorship setting, clutter effects on consumer responses depend on perceived sponsor–sponsee congruence and do not result from deeper information processing. More precisely, it was found that whereas the evaluation of a congruent sponsoring brand is negatively affected by clutter, the impact of clutter on attitude toward an incongruent sponsor is positive. In addition, articulating the sponsorship was shown to decrease the negative effects of clutter. Implications for research and practice are derived from these findings.\n" - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21149   open full text
• How the young adult consumer segment responds to trusty and committed marketing relationship.
  Nelson Oly Ndubisi, Rajan Nataraajan.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Service providers build relationship with their customers for mutual satisfaction and benefits. However, little is known about the relational antecedents and outcomes of relationship satisfaction among young adult consumers. The goals of this study are to evaluate the incremental effect of trust and commitment in determining relationship satisfaction, and the mediating effect of relationship satisfaction in the association of relationship trust and commitment with relationship outcomes (such as attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, and switching restraint). The model was tested and compared between samples of Malaysian and Australian young adult consumers of healthcare services. The findings reveal that relationship trust and relationship commitment have unequal and equal incremental effect in determining relationship satisfaction in Australia and Malaysia, respectively. Moreover, the mediating role of satisfaction in the association of relationship trust and commitment with attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, and switching restraint differ between Malaysia and Australia samples. Theoretical, contextual, and managerial implications of the findings are discussed. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21145   open full text
• What’s in a name? The impact of subcategory salience on value perception and upgrade intention for multicategory products.
  Jin K. Han, Seh‐Woong Chung, Yong Seok Sohn.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - "\nAbstract\nDespite many convergence products rapidly approaching market saturation, academic research yet lags behind with the focus still on the primary demand in the introduction stage. The authors close this gap by focusing on how the labeling of convergence products may impact on value perception and upgrade intentions for these products. Convergence products, which combine multiple categories of products into a single device, create a unique naming dilemma for manufacturers and retailers: Whether to opt for (a) a subordinate label—a lower‐level descriptor or name that embodies its subcategory elements (e.g., smartphone or Apple’s iPhone) or (b) a \nsuperordinate label—a higher‐level descriptor or name which transcends its subcategories (e.g., multifunctional device or Samsung’s Galaxy). The authors investigate the effects of labeling choices (i.e., subordinate vs. superordinate) on consumer value perception and upgrade intention. Results of four studies demonstrate that the labeling options exert differential effects on perceived value and upgrade intention, while the use of subordinate (vs. superordinate) label lowers the present perceived value, it raises consumer’s intention to upgrade to a newer‐generation product.\n" - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21144   open full text
• Exploring materialism and frugality in determining product end‐use consumption behaviors.
  Uwana Evers, Richard L. Gruner, Joanne Sneddon, Julie A. Lee.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Materialism is often blamed for consumers’ unsustainable consumption behaviors and its contribution to a growing “throwaway culture.” Conversely, frugal consumers are regarded as both restrained in their acquisition, and resourceful in their use and disposal of products. In this paper, the authors challenge and empirically test these prevailing beliefs. The authors focus on a much‐neglected aspect of the consumption continuum: the disposal of products at the end‐use of consumption, and how key consumer traits (i.e., materialism and frugality) influence behaviors at this stage. Specifically, the authors examined three creative end‐use consumption behaviors with a sample of 398 US consumers. Results support the counter‐intuitive notion that materialism, alongside frugality, has a positive impact on consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviors. The data suggest that materialistic consumers are prone to finding new and different uses for products and alternative methods of product disposal. The study’s results also support the notion that frugality interacts with materialism to increase intentions to find alternative methods of product disposal. The authors discuss the implications pertaining to their findings and pave the way for future research in sustainable consumption. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21147   open full text
• Status of brands in children’s consumption: What letters to Santa posted on La Poste website tell us.
  Stéphane Ganassali.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract The purpose of the research is to identify different consumption styles based on a large collection of letters to Santa written by some children and/or their families and submitted to the French Post website (La Poste). One of our main interests focuses on the presence and weight of brands and licenses in children’s wish lists. We have had access to all the anonymous posts sent to Santa Claus through La Poste’s website during the 2013 and 2014 Christmas holidays. We analyzed the nature of the wish lists as shown in the 43,000‐post database using several textual data analysis techniques. Extensive heterogeneity was found among children’s and families’ postures regarding that specific ritual. The different types of emails reflect the meaning families associate with Christmas time but also their different consumption styles or attitudes toward consumption: reasoned, educational, hedonistic, or materialistic, for example. When focusing on brands and licenses, we can also observe significant differences in the way families and children include them in their consumption decisions. Brands could have a very different weight in Christmas wish lists and their natures reflect different value transmission modes. The French market for Christmas children brands is rather stable and focuses on a few top leading global brands such as Playmobil, Barbie, or Lego. At least one of the ten leading brands is mentioned in half of evaluated Christmas wish lists. The analysis confirms that brands are very clearly gendered and associated with the children’s ages. Peak time for brand desire is alleged to be reached between the age of 7 and 9. To our knowledge, our research is the first to analyze a large sample of spontaneous data to capture children’s consumption styles and attitudes toward brands. Because of our classification, a first typology of parental consumption styles has also been identified. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21153   open full text
• “Retail is detail! Give consumers a gift rather than a bundle”: Promotion framing and consumer product returns.
  Shinhyoung Lee, Youjae Yi.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Retailers often use the promotion strategy of offering supplementary products (e.g., free gift, bundle) to attract consumers and increase sales. Despite the growing literature on the promotions that are differently framed but offer economically identical values, little research has examined the link between promotion framing and consumer product returns. The current article sheds light on this relationship, hypothesizing that a free gift promotion would be superior to a bundle promotion in reducing consumer product returns. The findings suggest that a gift‐framed promotion leads to a lower product return intention than an economically equivalent bundle promotion, because consumers tend to perceive more loss from giving up the gift‐framed (vs. bundle‐framed) deal. Further, this study examines a moderating role of brand familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and shows that the merits of free gift framing on product return intention via perceived loss are amplified (attenuated) when the promoted brand is familiar (unfamiliar). Overall, the investigations of this study imply that it is better to frame a promotion as a “free gift” than a “bundle” to increase perceived loss in returning the purchase and thus to decrease consumer product returns. This strategic intervention works especially when the gift is offered by familiar brands. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21154   open full text
• A longitudinal investigation of customer cooperation in services: The role of appraisal of cooperation behaviors.
  Junzhou Zhang, Chuanyi Tang, Lin Guo, Hangjun Xu.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract The customer cooperation level in behavior change programs (e.g., weight‐loss programs, alcohol‐quitting programs, and debt management programs) is low, which leads to a low program success rate. To address this problem, this study draws on the goal‐driven behavior theory and develops a theoretical framework to explain how goal intention, and behavioral appraisal processes influence the subsequent cooperation behaviors, which, in turn, influence customers’ goal attainment. A two‐wave longitudinal survey was used to test the theoretical model. Results show that customers’ appraisals of the cooperation behaviors play a vital role in influencing customers’ cooperation behaviors. Three appraisal factors (self‐efficacy, instrumental belief, and affect toward cooperation behaviors) fully mediate the relationship between goal intention and cooperation. Customer cooperation contributes directly to goal attainment. Both theoretical and managerial implications are provided. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21148   open full text
• The tripartite model of aberrant purchasing: A theory to explain the maladaptive pursuit of consumption.
  Richard J. Harnish, Catherine A. Roster.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Objective The goal of this study was to differentiate maladaptive consumer purchasing behaviors through the use of a triangular conceptual framework to understand aberrant purchasing behavior tripartite model of aberrant purchasing (T‐MAP). The T‐MAP model draws upon classic tripartite attitude models as a heuristic to propose how cognitive (i.e., self‐regulation), affective (i.e., pain of paying), and behavioral (i.e., acquisitiveness) components of attitudes may serve to differentiate closely related but distinctive types of consumers exhibiting aberrant purchasing behaviors, including compulsive buyers, compulsive collectors, frugalists, and materialists. Methods Data were obtained from 500 respondents (n = 495 complete and eligible) recruited through Prolific Academic who participated in an Internet survey created and hosted on the Qualtrics survey platform. Measures for assessing the three triangular aspects of the T‐MAP, self‐regulation, pain of paying, and acquisitiveness, along with the four aberrant purchasing behaviors, compulsive buying, compulsive collecting, frugality, and materialism, were measured. Hypotheses were posited for each of the aberrant purchasing behaviors based on distinctive combinations of the three attitudinal components. Results All four study hypotheses were supported by discriminant function analysis. Compulsive buyers exhibited lower levels of pain of paying and lower levels of self‐regulation than noncompulsive buyers. Compulsive collectors scored higher on both pain of paying and acquisitiveness than noncollectors. Frugalists exhibited high levels of self‐regulation coupled with low acquisitiveness. Materialists scored low on both self‐regulation and pain of paying but scored high on acquisitiveness. Conclusions Collectively, the T‐MAP model differentiates various aberrant consumer purchasing behaviors that have been identified, but yet to be fully distinguished in the consumer literature. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21159   open full text
• Perceived product creativity and mental contrasting: Desired future on consumers’ product replacement decisions.
  Yong Seok Sohn, Kun Woo Yoo, Jin K. Han.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - "\nAbstract\nConsumers often imagine what it would be like to own a new product. Does engaging in such thoughts on desired future impact consumers’ purchase intentions, and if so, what is the underlying process? This study sets out to investigate the posed questions by assessing self‐regulatory strategies consumers employ upon pondering on a desired future. Based on Oettingen’s fantasy realization model, the authors take a comparative approach of two modes on desired future—mental contrasting and \nindulging—en route to purchase intentions. In mental contrasting, an individual juxtaposes a desired future with his/her present reality, whereas, indulging is simply envisioning a desired future. Contingent upon the perceived likelihood of fantasy realization, consumers in the mental‐contrasting condition adjust their level—that is, high (low) for high (low) feasibility case—in goal commitment as well as in energization to achieve the desired future. In contrast, consumers in the indulging condition engage in moderate level of goal commitment—irrespective of the likelihood of fantasy realization. In a series of experiments, this study scrutinizes the fantasy realization model in context of attribute alignability/nonalignability, uncertainty in attribute meaningfulness and novelty, technological and psychological obsolescence en route to affecting the consumers’ product purchase/upgrade intentions. Conceptually, this study is the first to adapt the fantasy realization model to the marketing context, and the authors provide managerial implications of their key findings.\n" - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21156   open full text
• The underdog trap: The moderating role of transgression type in forgiving underdog brands.
  Yaeri Kim, Kiwan Park, Seojin Stacey Lee.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2- Abstract This study aims to investigate the interactive effects of brand biography and brand transgression type on consumers’ forgiveness intention. Brand transgression is categorized as relational or nonrelational, with the former (compared to the latter) seriously undermining consumers’ high identification with underdog brands. Across four experimental studies in which transgression type is manipulated in three different ways, it is confirmed that when facing nonrelational transgressions, participants show greater forgiveness intention for underdog than for top‐dog brands. However, when facing relational transgressions, they do not show increased forgiveness intention for underdog brands compared to top‐dog brands. Moreover, perceived anger mediates the interaction effect between brand biography and brand transgression type on forgiveness intention. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21155   open full text
• Plausible versus implausible tensile price claim: Selective accessibility model approach.
  Jung Eun Lee.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Retailers frequently use exaggerated price discount advertisements with a tensile price claim (TPC; e.g., “Save up to 70%”) to attract consumers because they expect that once consumers enter a store, they will purchase low‐ or medium‐discounted products. Drawing on the selective accessibility model, this study investigated the way in which an implausibly high maximum level of savings stated in a TPC influences consumers’ expected price discount (EPD) and perceptions of actual price discounts across different types of TPCs (i.e., TPC stating a maximum level and TPC stating a range of savings). This study also investigated two situations in which consumers have previous knowledge of a product’s price discount versus when they have less or no knowledge of the discount. For both conditions, a single‐anchor TPC (i.e., “Save up to Y%”) that stated an implausible maximum level of savings led to a higher EPD and lower perceptions of the deal (i.e., perceived savings, price fairness, and perceived value) with respect to the actual price discount than did a TPC with a plausible maximum level of savings. In contrast, when the TPC stated two anchors (i.e., “Save X–Y%”) and consumers had knowledge of the price discount, their EPDs assimilated only toward the plausible anchor (X), and ignored the implausibly high maximum price discount (Y), resulting in a lower EPD and higher perceptions of the deal of the actual price discounts than a TPC that stated a plausibly high maximum level of savings. In contrast, when consumers had no knowledge of the price discount, their EPDs only adjusted toward the more plausible anchor (X), regardless of whether they perceived the maximum anchor as plausible or implausible. Thus, there was no difference in consumers’ perceptions of “Save X–Y%” between implausibly and plausibly high Y%. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21157   open full text
• Celebrity versus film persona endorsements: Examining the effect of celebrity transgressions on consumer judgments.
  Amanda Kennedy, Stacey M. Baxter, Jasmina Ilicic.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - "\nAbstract\nThis study introduces film personas (e.g., Hermione Granger, Jack Sparrow, Bridget Jones) as effective brand endorsers. A three study, mixed‐method approach is used. Results show that a film persona (e.g., Legolas, from Lord of The Rings, vs. celebrity, \nOrlando Bloom) is a more (less) effective endorser (i.e., resulting in more positive attitudinal and behavioral judgments). Exploratory findings indicate that this may be due to film personas possessing a tight (vast) association set, which is more (less) easily transferred onto the endorsed brand. Results of this study also illustrate that endorsed brands are shielded from the negative effects of celebrity transgressions when they are featured as their film persona in an endorsement. This study has important implications for advertisers in the choice and execution of their advertisements featuring celebrities.\n" - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21161   open full text
• Is cash always king? Bundling product–cause fit and product type in cause‐related marketing.
  Chun‐Tuan Chang, Pei‐Chi Chen, Xing‐Yu (Marcos) Chu, Ming‐Tsung Kung, Yi‐Feng Huang.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 27, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract In traditional cause‐related marketing (CRM) campaigns, companies support a cause by donating a portion of the proceeds from product sales (i.e., monetary giving). Recently, some companies have used the funds to buy something or just donate their own products for the beneficiaries (i.e., nonmonetary giving). We compare these two giving styles along with two moderators: product–cause fit and product type. Three experiments with various sampling methods (mall intercept data and online pool) and donation information (percentage of sales price, the amount of the product price, or one‐for‐one campaign) are conducted to enhance the robustness of the results. Study 1 shows that when the product and the cause fit well together, the nonmonetary giving strategy evokes a more positive consumer attitude and a stronger purchase intention than does the monetary giving strategy. When the product–cause fit is low, the opposite holds true. Studies 2 and 3 consider product type and product–cause fit simultaneously. When the product–cause fit is high, nonmonetary giving is more effective than monetary giving, regardless of the product type. On the other hand, when the product–cause fit is low, nonmonetary giving is more effective in promoting utilitarian products, but monetary giving is more effective in promoting hedonic products. In Study 3, consumer attributions regarding the company's motives for making the donation (i.e., inferred motives) is used to explain the underlying mechanism. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 27, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21151   open full text
• Idolizing “My Love from the Star”: Idol attachment and fanaticism of luxury brands.
  Isaac Cheah, Johan Liang, Ian Phau.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 22, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract This study examines the influence of idol attachment and consumer fanaticism on consumers’ attitude toward celebrity product placement of luxury fashion brands in Korean television dramas. A 2 × 2 research design was used to examine two different product categories (fashion apparel vs. fashion accessories) and two celebrities (Kim Soo Hyun vs. Jun Ji‐Hyun). Respondents were screened and limited to those who were aware of the Korean television drama My Love from the Star. The findings show that the gender of celebrity and the category of product placement have differential impacts on viewers or fans’ attitudes and intention toward the product placement. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  September 22, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21163   open full text
• Motivations for posting online reviews in the hotel industry.
  Helena Martins Gonçalves, Graça Miranda Silva, Telma Gomes Martins.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 16, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Some travelers may rely on online reviews (electronic word of mouth [eWOM]) from users who have already experienced a particular hotel before making a hotel reservation. However, only a small percentage of users of eWOM contribute actively with new reviews and evaluations. The understanding of what motivates consumers to write eWOM is very important, in order that hotels can achieve more and better eWOM and, consequently, more reservations. Based on an online survey and using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis, this study identifies different causal combinations of motivations (personal, social benefit, social concern, and consumer empowerment) and demographic characteristics (gender and age) that lead to hotel eWOM. Three configurations exist: being a female older than 35 years old, combined with high social concern and high consumer empowerment; being a female older than 35 years old, combined with high social concern and high personal motivations; and being a male, combined with high social concern, high personal motivations, and high consumer empowerment. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  August 16, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21136   open full text
• Going green to be morally clean: An examination of environmental behavior among materialistic consumers.
  Yihui (Elina) Tang, Christian Hinsch.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 16, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Materialism and environmentalism have emerged as megatrends in developed western societies. Prior research has suggested that these two values are incompatible. The current research shows that materialistic values can strengthen the positive relationship between environmental knowledge and environmental behaviors under certain conditions. The results suggest moral compensation as the underlying cause. Across four studies, this research uses experimental, survey, and secondary data to show that materialistic values can have a positive impact on indirect environmental behaviors when an individual possesses sufficient environmental knowledge. This effect is stronger in individuals who are highly self‐conscious as well as those primed to be self‐conscious, consistent with the moral compensation paradigm. In summary, the impact of environmental attitudes on environmental behaviors through environmental knowledge is most pronounced when one's materialistic values and self‐consciousness are high. Conceptual, policy‐making, and managerial implications are discussed. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  August 16, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21139   open full text
• Examining customer‐created guilt in a service context.
  Kathrynn R. Pounders, Julie Guidry Moulard, Barry J. Babin.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 16, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Previous research in retailing contexts finds customers feel guilty after violating a social norm and that such customer‐induced guilt leads to increased repatronage intention, despite guilt being a negative emotion. However, prior research has neither identified the mechanism through which this occurs nor how relationship type may influence this process. Additionally, previous work has not considered how service providers should react when a customer experiences guilt. This paper advances research on guilt by first proposing that affective and normative commitment are intermediate e‐motivations, mediating the effect of guilt on repatronage intention, but that these e‐motivations differ depending on the strength of the customer's commercial friendship with the service provider. Second, this research investigates whether service providers, when faced with a guilty customer, should emphasize or downplay the customer's norm violation (CNV). Survey findings reveal that affective commitment fully mediates the relationship between guilt and repatronage intention for those in strong commercial friendships, whereas guilt directly affects repatronage intention for those in weak commercial friendships. Normative commitment does not play a mediating role. Additionally, experimental findings suggest that enhancing the CNV increases guilt. However, doing so also increases perceived guilt induction, which ultimately decreases repatronage intention. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  August 16, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21138   open full text
• Do touch interface users feel more engaged? The impact of input device type on online shoppers’ engagement, affect, and purchase decisions.
  Sorim Chung, Thomas Kramer, Elaine M. Wong.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Over the past decade, one of the most fundamental changes in computer‐mediated environments has been the evolution in the type of input devices from mouse devices to touch interfaces. In this paper, the authors conduct three experiments to examine the underlying connections between input device types and online shoppers’ decision‐making processes in relation to affect‐driven information processing. The results show that shoppers who use a touch interface (vs. mouse) to view products demonstrate a significantly higher engagement with their shopping experience in a low‐involvement setting. Touch interface users are likely to have greater purchase intentions, as compared to mouse users, and this effect is mediated by positive affect induced by higher engagement. Using a touch interface (vs. mouse) also increases the likelihood that consumers will choose a hedonic over a utilitarian option and make an immediate purchase decision. These findings indicate that using a touch interface increases consumers’ reliance on affect‐driven information processing and has a positive impact on purchase decision processes. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  August 10, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21135   open full text
• Application of GREEN scale to understanding US consumer response to green marketing communications.
  Ainsworth A. Bailey, Aditya S. Mishra, Mojisola F. Tiamiyu.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 07, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract This paper reports on three studies that were done as part of an application of the GREEN scale (Haws, Winterich, & Naylor, 2014) to understanding US consumer response to green marketing communications. The GREEN scale was developed originally to measure consumers’ tendency to express their environmental concern through their consumption behaviors, that is, their green consumption values. In the current paper, three studies explored the impact of US consumers’ GREEN consumption values on their response to brands’ green public relations and green advertising. The results show that, in addition to helping to explain green consumption behaviors, GREEN can also help to explain consumer response to brands’ marketing communications efforts. Limitations are pointed out and future research directions are proposed. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  August 07, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21140   open full text
• The perils of self‐brand connections: Consumer response to changes in brand meaning.
  Tarje Gaustad, Bendik M. Samuelsen, Luk Warlop, Gavan J. Fitzsimons.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 02, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Companies commit considerable resources to building brand associations that resonate with consumers’ identities and facilitate strong consumer–brand bonds. The current research investigates a potential disadvantage of this popular strategy. The results from three studies show that consumers with a high degree of self‐brand connection respond negatively to brand developments (e.g., brand acquisitions and repositioning) that change brand meaning. The authors show that this effect is due to a change in the identity signaled by the brand. The results contrast with existing research, which has consistently found that brand connections promote probrand behavior and serve as a buffer against negative brand information. - Psychology & Marketing, EarlyView.
  

  August 02, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21137   open full text
• Issue Information.
  
  Psychology and Marketing. August 02, 2018
  --- - - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 625-628, September 2018.
  

  August 02, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21063   open full text
• Tell me your story and I will tell you who you are: Persona perspective in sustainable consumption.
  Naz Onel, Avinandan Mukherjee, Nicole Bieak Kreidler, Estela M. Díaz, Pia Furchheim, Shipra Gupta, Jessica Keech, Mitchel R. Murdock, Qin Wang.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 24, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Although research in marketing and consumer behavior has tried to portray sustainable consumers in many different ways, a clear, consistent, and granular identification of these consumers is still not available due to the complexity of sustainable consumption. This study adopts personas as a way to better explain and understand the holistic nature and complexity of sustainable consumer behavior in terms of its various stages (i.e. acquisition, usage, and postuse) within four key behavioral functions of mobility, housing, clothing, and food. Different sustainability related functions of personas are seen to be fundamental lifestyle components and could be fulfilled by a variety of sustainable actions. This exploratory study uses a qualitative methodology, involving data collection through multiple in‐depth interviews across several countries. The results reveal three different consumer archetypes with distinct sustainable consumption strategies: holistic sustainable consumers, transitional sustainable consumers, and restricted sustainable consumers. Managerial and theoretical implications provide practical recommendations for marketing managers and public policy planners, as well as directions for continued research in this area. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 752-765, October 2018.
  

  July 24, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21132   open full text
• Viral video ads: Emotional triggers and social media virality.
  Angeliki Nikolinakou, Karen Whitehill King.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 24, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Previous studies have found that emotional arousal and emotional valence are important for video ads to be shared. As marketers are exploring new strategies to increase their viral effectiveness in social media, there is a need to provide guidelines on how to elicit emotional engagement that can trigger advertising virality. Drawing on recent findings on the effects of discrete positive emotions, this research examines how specific positive emotions may influence viral sharing. An online experiment was conducted with millennial participants, employing real viral video ads, in order to observe the viral effects of two positive emotions, awe and affection. Awe and affection emotions experienced in relation to online ads may prompt viral sharing by activating specific types of sharing expressions that relate to expressing emotional connection and emotional generosity in social media. Managerial implications for applying positive emotions as triggers to the content of video ads in order to elicit virality in social media are included. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 715-726, October 2018.
  

  July 24, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21129   open full text
• How well will this brand work? The ironic impact of advertising disclosure of body‐image retouching on brand attitudes.
  Rania W. Semaan, Bruno Kocher, Stephen Gould.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 19, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Prior research has demonstrated various effects of exposure to thin‐idealized models in advertisements on consumers’ product evaluations. Although this past research provides important insights, it does not take into account that many of these thin‐idealized images have been digitally manipulated. The present work studies the consequences of disclosure of this digital manipulation and the process consumers engage in when evaluating the brands responsible for these advertisements. We demonstrate that retouched advertisements may, contrary to conventional wisdom, have favorable consequences. Indeed, we show that individuals have more favorable brand attitudes for retouched (vs. unretouched) ads when retouching is disclosed (vs. undisclosed). We show that disclosed retouched ads utilize a two‐sided persuasive appeal, therefore leading consumers to evaluate the brand more favorably. We replicate this effect and explore attractiveness‐relevant products and type of disclosure as boundary conditions. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 766-777, October 2018.
  

  July 19, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21133   open full text
• Perceived informative intention in advertising and its attenuating effect on persuasion attribution among children.
  Liudmila Tarabashkina, Pascale Quester, Olga Tarabashkina.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 19, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Although substantial research has been dedicated to children's understanding of advertising, the role of more diverse marketing purposes (attention capturing, product liking, and informative intentions) still has not been examined in relation to the activation of persuasion attribution among young consumers. Previous research has focused on one perceived advertising intention at a time, disregarding the complex nature of advertisements’ purposes and how these different perceived intentions relate to persuasion attribution. It is still unclear whether viewing advertising as a source of information reduces persuasion attribution and mitigates the attention capturing and product liking evaluations when children are exposed to commercial messages. This study shows that children's comprehension of attention capturing and product liking intentions relate to higher persuasion attribution. However, perceiving advertisements as a source of information attenuates the effects of product liking and attention capturing intentions on persuasion attribution in older children (10–11 and 12–13 years) who were expected to be more critical of advertising. No such effects were observed among younger children (8–9 years). The study highlights that advertisements are evaluated in a more complex manner by children than has been previously thought. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 778-789, October 2018.
  

  July 19, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21134   open full text
• The spillover effect of downward line extensions on U.S. consumers’ evaluation of a French luxury parent brand: The role of branding strategies, authenticity, and fit.
  Jean Boisvert, Nicholas J. Ashill.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 19, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract The phenomenon of “masstige brands” has led many luxury brands to launch downward extensions, which come with the risk of diluting the parent brand. The goal of this study is to test the extent to which downward line extensions may impact a French luxury parent brand's evaluation by U.S. consumers through the role of branding strategies, extension authenticity, and fit. Based on an ANOVA design, our results show that different branding strategies, such as direct, sub‐branded, and/or independent/standalone line extensions, have different impacts on the level of dilution of the luxury parent brand. Specifically, an independent/standalone brand scores better for a downward extension than for a horizontal extension. The findings also reveal that extension authenticity and fit play a key role in the process. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 740-751, October 2018.
  

  July 19, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21131   open full text
• The sensory perception item set (SPI): An exploratory effort to develop a holistic scale for sensory marketing.
  Janina Haase, Klaus‐Peter Wiedmann.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 11, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Sensory marketing is increasingly gaining importance as a promising approach to effectively appeal to consumers. To predict and monitor the success of sensory marketing activities, it is necessary to assess consumers’ perception of sensory cues. For this purpose, the authors present an exploratory effort to develop a holistic scale to measure consumers’ sensory perception along the five dimensions of visual, acoustic, haptic, olfactory, and gustatory perception—the sensory perception item set (SPI). The SPI consists of 20 adjectives (four per sense) and is the first measurement tool that includes, and thus enables a consistent measurement with regard to, all five senses. In addition, the SPI is simple to employ and is applicable to diverse products and industries. Based on three studies, the authors provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the SPI. Further, the results show that the SPI is significantly correlated with three essential marketing‐related outcome variables (attitude, word‐of‐mouth recommendation, and buying intention). Consequently, this paper presents an approach that marketing managers may employ to better understand the consumer and, hence, to receive valuable information for product design or brand communication. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 10, Page 727-739, October 2018.
  

  July 11, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21130   open full text
• Value co‐creation in online healthcare communities: The impact of patients’ reference frames on cure and care.
  Sarah Oerle, Annouk Lievens, Dominik Mahr.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 23, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract The gradual transition of health care toward businesses during the past 50 years has converted passive patients into active customers. In our digital society, patients increasingly use online health communities to satisfy complex needs that healthcare professionals leave unmet, including the creation of cure‐oriented (i.e., functional) and care‐oriented (i.e., emotion) value. This research investigates patients’ reference frames (self versus other) as an information processing mechanism and their impact on value creation in online communities. The analysis of 1,687 online postings of a leading healthcare platform shows that self‐referencing is typical for information obtained through an individualistic, patient–doctor encounter; other‐referencing emerges when patients focus on the needs of their peers. Information gathered through the patient–doctor encounter and processed with a self‐referencing frame accordingly enhances cure‐related value, but limits care‐oriented value co‐creation. Other‐referencing does exactly the opposite: it creates a barrier to cure‐related value, but stimulates care‐related value. A patient's experience with the community largely moderates the impact of both self‐ and other‐referencing on cure‐ and care‐related value. These findings show that online health communities can identify and address unmet patient needs, but healthcare professionals still play a critical role in terms of ensuring information quality in online health communities. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 629-639, September 2018.
  

  May 23, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21111   open full text
• The effects of anticipated goal‐inconsistent behavior on present goal choices.
  Yael Zemack‐Rugar, Canan Corus.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 22, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Prior work has examined how, in the pursuit of long‐term goals, past goal behavior influences present goal choices. Instead, the present work focuses on how anticipating future goal behavior, specifically future goal‐inconsistent behavior, influences present goal choices. For example, how anticipating overspending on an upcoming vacation influences current spending behavior. The authors propose that the effect of anticipated goal‐inconsistent behavior on present goal choice is moderated by the perceived changeability of the future behavior. When future goal‐inconsistent behavior is perceived as changeable, consumers tend to imagine it away, and it has no systematic effect on present goal choices. However, when future goal‐inconsistent behavior is perceived as unchangeable, consumers accept it as a matter of fact, and systematic effects occur. Specifically, some consumers not only fail to buffer against future goal‐inconsistent behavior's negative consequences, but tend to exacerbate those consequences by increasing their goal‐inconsistent behavior in the present. Four studies examine this surprising behavior, using an individual difference (the response‐to‐failure scale) to identify when and for whom it occurs. The studies demonstrate the role of perceived changeability using various manipulations across multiple critical goal domains such as spending, eating, and academics. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 676-695, September 2018.
  

  May 22, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21115   open full text
• When consumers struggle: Action crisis and its effects on problematic goal pursuit.
  Richard J. Vann, José Antonio Rosa, Sean M. McCrea.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 21, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract When pursuing goals, consumers often face setbacks that force them to reevaluate their goals. Yet, current goal theory offers limited explanations for how people respond to recurring challenges and disengage from their goals. Through five experiments investigating three primary theoretical aims, this research extends the field's understanding of action crisis, a possible goal pursuit stage marked by internal conflict over whether or not to continue, and investigates it in consumption contexts such as patient–physician relationships, weight loss diets, and environmentally friendly purchasing. Experiments 1A–1C show that consumer action crisis encourages more disengagement‐related and less continuation‐supportive cost–benefit thinking than nonproblematic action phase. Experiment 2 replicates this cognitive shift, and connects action crisis to diminished goal‐related evaluations and weakened commitment. Experiment 3 further clarifies action crisis’ influence on consumer goal pursuit by revealing decreased cognitive and behavioral engagement that does not involve a shift in construal level when compared to action phase consumers. Extending understanding of action crisis as a possible mindset and action phase, these five experiments advance goal disengagement theory by connecting changes in cognition, motivation, and behavior to action crisis. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 696-709, September 2018.
  

  May 21, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21116   open full text
• Places as authentic consumption contexts.
  Nathalie Spielmann, Barry J. Babin, Aikaterini Manthiou.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 21, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Consumers build social capital through purposeful consumer–place interactions. Airbnb claims that consumers want to “experience a place like [they] live there.” Previous research concentrates primarily on authenticity of objects, brands, and people, with limited development of place authenticity as a concept. But place authenticity represents an increasingly important marketing concept as consumers today, particularly millennials (Schulz, P. (2015, August 8). Not just millennials: Consumers want experiences, not things. Adage. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/digitalnext/consumers-experiences-things/299994/), value experience over “stuff.” Authenticity provides an important place characteristic that if perceived, potentially unlocks a truly valuable consumer experience. Consequently, the research presented here develops an auxiliary theory of place authenticity (PA). The theory proposes a second‐order factor indicated by three coordinate subdimensions. Phase I of the research consists of five studies that develop PA, explore its dimensionality, and confirm the PA scale's construct validity. Phase II of the research involves a sixth study, which examines a set of hypotheses that begin to establish PA's nomological net. The results shed light on the psychology by which consumers extract value from experience and into ways marketing efforts can build effective place–value propositions. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 652-665, September 2018.
  

  May 21, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21113   open full text
• Boasting and aspiring, as status‐reinforcing mechanisms in status‐based loyalty programs.
  Laszlo Sajtos, Yit Sean Chong.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 20, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract In the retail industry, status‐based loyalty programs (SBLP) are commonly used as an important marketing tool to award elevated status to customers who exceed certain level of spending. In contrast to previous studies that have considered “target and bystander” and “member–non‐member” differentiation, this study responds to the need to account for the dynamics in across‐tier effects in loyalty programs (LPs). By undertaking a scenario‐based experiment that focuses on a “face‐to‐face” across‐tier social event, this study examines the joint effects of exclusivity, status visibility and social comparison on LP members’ status perception and willingness to spend. Contrary to prior beliefs that the beneficial effects for targets (e.g., VIP members) in status hierarchies are offset by the negative effects on bystanders (e.g., non‐VIP members), this study concludes that situations when social comparisons occur in SBLPs are not necessarily zero‐sum games. Ultimately, this study uncovered two distinct status‐reinforcing mechanisms–“aspiring” and “boasting”–which LP members may experience in SBLPs. The outcome of this study highlights important implications for companies to pursue different strategies aimed at enhancing members’ status perceptions. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 640-651, September 2018.
  

  May 20, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21112   open full text
• The contrasting influences of incidental anger and fear on responses to a service failure.
  Lei Su, Lisa C. Wan, Robert S. Wyer.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 18, 2018
  --- - |2 Abstract Customers’ disposition to register a formal complaint about an inferior product or poor service is often mediated by attributions of responsibility. However, the anger or fear that people happen to be experiencing for totally irrelevant reasons can also influence this disposition. Two field studies and four laboratory experiments indicate that when people feel angry at the time they encounter a service failure, they are more likely to blame the service provider for the failure and more likely to register a complaint. When they experience fear, however, they are uncertain about the cause of their misfortune and decrease their negative reactions relative to conditions in which fear is not experienced. The effects of these incidental emotions are evident both when a service failure is personally experienced and when it is only observed. These effects are eliminated, however, when individuals do not have the cognitive resources available to assess the reasons for the service failure and the conditions surrounding it. - Psychology & Marketing, Volume 35, Issue 9, Page 666-675, September 2018.
  

  May 18, 2018   doi: 10.1002/mar.21114   open full text
• Family firm performance: The influence of entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity.
  Felipe Hernández‐Perlines, Juan Moreno‐García, Benito Yáñez‐Araque.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  This article investigates the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity on family firm performance. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) was used to analyze empirical data for 218 Spanish family firms. Absorptive capacity positively mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and family firm performance. This total mediation effect suppressed the direct effect of entrepreneurial orientation on family firm performance. A major implication of this finding is that for family firms to improve their performance through entrepreneurial orientation, absorptive capacity must act as a mediator.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21045   open full text
• Persistent voting decisions in shareholder meetings.
  Juan Piñeiro‐Chousa, Marcos Vizcaíno‐González, João Carvalho das Neves.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  This study examined the determinants of voting decisions in shareholder meetings, with a special focus on voting persistence. The data captured votes on managerial proposals in shareholder meetings held by U.S. banks between 2003 and 2013. The dynamic panel data were analyzed using robust two‐step system generalized method of moments estimation (GMM) with orthogonal deviations. The lagged voting decision was a significant factor in explaining subsequent voting decisions. This finding provides evidence of voting persistence. Although persistence is a prominent topic in behavioral economics, studies have tended to focus on buying, consumption, and investment decisions. Persistence in voting decisions at the corporate level has been underexplored, so this article contributes to the behavioral economics literature.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21044   open full text
• Exploring the customer's intention to switch firms: The role of customer‐related antecedents.
  María‐Ángeles Revilla‐Camacho, Manuela Vega‐Vázquez, Francisco‐José Cossío‐Silva.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  This study examined the customer‐related antecedents of the customer's intention to switch firms. Customer citizenship behavior was a key element in this study. Scholars have extensively studied the antecedents of customer citizenship behavior. However, the way that customer citizenship behavior relates to other attitudinal variables and the intention to switch has scarcely been analyzed. The proposed hypotheses were verified using partial least squares variance‐based structural equation modeling applied to 947 users of beauty care service firms in five countries. The results suggest that customer citizenship behavior is an antecedent of satisfaction, trust, and attitudinal loyalty. Two of these variables influence customers’ intentions to abandon relationships with the service provider. The implications of these findings enhance managers’ and scholars’ understanding of the determinants of customers’ intentions to switch firms.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21043   open full text
• Entrepreneurial competencies and motivations to enhance marketing innovation in Europe.
  Sonia Cruz‐Ros, Dolores Garzón, Alicia Mas‐Tur.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) country profile variables were analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). This analysis identified which combinations of entrepreneurs’ competencies and motivations boost marketing innovation. Marketing innovation contributes to defining and reinforcing competitive advantages, goal setting, and business performance. The findings of this study can help policymakers design strategies to foster regional marketing innovation and economic growth.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21042   open full text
• Gender and age differences in the psychosocial risk factors of workplace bullying.
  M. Ángeles López‐Cabarcos, Paula Vázquez‐Rodríguez, Clara Gieure.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  Bullying at work means harassing, offending, or socially excluding someone or negatively affecting someone's work. Bullying affects all kinds of organizations, although organizations in the public sector are some of the worst affected. To date, no studies have examined how the combination of psychosocial risk factors leads to bullying. Using a sample of Spanish prison employees (n = 488) and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study analyzed how five combined effects (role conflict, role ambiguity, social support, esteem, and work overload) lead to bullying at work. Two classification variables (gender and age) were also considered. Based on these classification variables, four models were proposed. In the first, third, and fourth models (young man, old man, and old woman, respectively), no conditions were found to be necessary to lead to bullying at work. In the second model (young woman), a lack of esteem was identified as a necessary condition for bullying at work. Seven conditions across the four models were identified as sufficient to lead to bullying among prison employees. Two antecedents (work overload and lack of esteem) were present in all seven configurations. These findings reinforce the need for prison managers to be vigilant to ensure that job descriptions are properly defined and that the work environment is egalitarian and collaborative.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21041   open full text
• Parenting styles and Internet use.
  Ana Tur‐Porcar.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  The Internet has become the most popular way for young people to communicate with one another. Recent data indicate that 95% of students have Internet access. This study examined the links between Internet use and the parenting styles that shape parent–child interactions. Empirical analysis showed that Internet use accounts for the majority of adolescents’ leisure time. The neglecting parenting style has the strongest relationship with addictive Internet use by adolescent girls and boys. For boys, addictive Internet use is also related to a combination of different parenting styles resulting from inconsistencies and contradictions between parents.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21040   open full text
• Does organizational creativity always drive market performance?
  Nathaniel Boso, Francis Donbesuur, Terver Bendega, Jonathan Annan, Ogechi Adeola.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  This study develops and tests arguments that the relationship between organizational creativity and market performance is channeled through new product development (NPD) capability, and that the indirect effect of creativity on performance, via NPD capability, is conditional upon levels of environment dynamism and market responsiveness. The proposed relationships are tested on a sample of 221 small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in a major sub‐Saharan African market. Findings from the study indicate that process and product NPD capabilities partially mediate the effect of novelty and usefulness elements of organizational creativity on market performance. The study further finds that while environment dynamism weakens the indirect effects of novelty and usefulness of organizational creativity, via process and product NPD capabilities, on market performance, the effects are strengthened under conditions of greater responsiveness to target market needs. A theoretical contribution from this study is the finding that how organizational creativity dimensions drive market performance is more complex than previously thought: it depends on whether or not organizational creativity components are first used to develop an organization's process and product innovation capabilities, and whether target market environment conditions are dynamic and an organization has ability to respond to target market demands.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21039   open full text
• To post or not to post: social media sharing and sporting event performance.
  Vicente Prado‐Gascó, Ferran Calabuig Moreno, Vicente Añó Sanz, Juan Núñez‐Pomar, Josep Crespo Hervás.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 10, 2017
  Social networks are becoming increasingly important for consumers, especially in the context of sport, where the service experience is highly intense. Few studies have combined subjective event performance variables and social network variables to analyze social network content sharing by sports practitioners. This article investigates the use of social networks in relation to sporting events. An empirical study examined the role of social network variables and sporting event performance variables in social media use. The sample consisted of 410 triathletes (72.2% male) aged between 18 and 66 years (mean 37.03 ± 8.62). Four analyses were performed using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the causes of sharing comments through social media, sharing photos and videos on social media, participant satisfaction, and word‐of‐mouth (WOM). The event's general image was a necessary condition in all cases. The combination of participants’ satisfaction and positive event image and the combination of social network use and positive event image lead to social network content sharing by athletes. The combination of positive event image and participant satisfaction leads to a positive WOM.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21038   open full text
• Sense and sensibility in personalized e‐commerce: How emotions rebalance the purchase intentions of persuaded customers.
  Ilias O. Pappas, Panos E. Kourouthanassis, Michail N. Giannakos, Vassilios Chrissikopoulos.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 12, 2017
  This research develops and tests a theoretical model of customer persuasion in personalized online shopping, building on information processing theory, and addressing cognitive and affective stages of the persuasion process. Data from 582 experienced online customers were used to validate the proposed model through structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis. Results show that quality of personalization, message quality, and benefits of the personalized recommendations are important in the persuasion process. Positive emotions increase the effect of persuasion on purchase intentions, contrary to negative emotions. The study extends online personalization theory, offers an in‐depth analysis of the persuasion process in online shopping, and provides valuable recommendations for personalized online marketing.

  September 12, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21036   open full text
• Why do consumers recycle? A holistic perspective encompassing moral considerations, affective responses, and self‐interest motives.
  Naz Onel, Avinandan Mukherjee.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 12, 2017
  In this study, the recycling behavior of consumers is examined using a model developed based on the goal framing theory (GFT). The GFT provides a holistic comprehensive framework amalgamating three popular psychological theories—theory of planned behavior (TPB), values‐beliefs‐norms (VBNs) theory, and theory on affect (TA). The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that predict recycling behavior of consumers by examining the extent to which such behavior depends on moral considerations, affective responses, or self‐interest motives. A comprehensive multivariate model with 12 formulated hypotheses is tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) using survey data from 206 individuals. The results of the study indicate that GFT is an appropriate framework in explaining recycling behavior of consumers. The findings of the combined model suggest that while values (biospheric, egoistic), environmental concern, awareness of destructive consequences, ascription of responsibility to self, personal norms, subjective norms, attitudes toward behavior, perceived behavioral control, and intention do significantly predict recycling behavior, altruistic values do not explain behavior‐related intention. In particular, perceived behavioral control seems to be the strongest predictor of recycling intention. Variables of the TPB, which assess gain motives, seem to have the greatest explanatory power for recycling behavior of consumers when the combined model is examined. However, further comparative theory analysis indicates that the recycling behavior of consumers could be better explained by the VBN theory relative to the TPB or TA. The study offers important implications pertaining to environmentally sensitive consumer behavior that would be relevant for marketing managers and policymakers.

  September 12, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21035   open full text
• Tense from touch: Examining accidental interpersonal touch between consumers.
  Brett A. S. Martin, Peter Nuttall.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 12, 2017
  Retail shopping research recognizes that other consumers in a store can impact a consumer's experience. However, the effects of accidental interpersonal touch (AIT) are only beginning to emerge in the literature. The current research presents three field experiments to illuminate the process that drives AIT effects. This research is the first to show that AIT effects are driven by arousal; specifically tense arousal rather than energetic arousal. The findings build on prior research to investigate moderators of the AIT effect—trait anxiety and social visibility. The findings show that AIT effects are amplified for anxious female consumers and situations where store bystanders activate feelings of embarrassment. Theoretical and managerial implications are offered.

  September 12, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21034   open full text
• Don't ignore the floor: Exploring multisensory atmospheric congruence between music and flooring in a retail environment.
  Monika Imschloss, Christina Kuehnl.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 12, 2017
  In retail environments, consumers commonly evaluate products while standing on some type of flooring and concurrently being exposed to music; however, no study has examined the interaction of these two atmospheric cues. To bridge this gap, this research examines whether retailers can benefit from creating multisensory atmospheric congruent rather than incongruent retail environments of flooring and music. The results of an experiment in a real retail store reveal positive effects of multisensory congruent retail environments (e.g., soft music combined with soft flooring) on product evaluations. This study provides a new process explanation with consumers’ purchase‐related self‐confidence mediating these effects. Specifically, consumers in congruent rather than incongruent retail environments experience more purchase‐related self‐confidence, which in turn leads to more favorable product evaluations. Furthermore, this study shows that consumers with a low rather than a high preference for haptic information are influenced more by multisensory atmospheric congruence when evaluating a product haptically.

  September 12, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21033   open full text
• The impact of death on consumer responses to celebrity endorser misbehavior.
  Benjamin Boeuf.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 12, 2017
  A well‐established stream of research on celebrity misbehavior suggests that negative information may have an adverse effect on an endorsed brand because of its association with a celebrity considered as blameworthy. However, the present research calls into question the generalizability of these results to fatal misbehaviors (i.e., misbehaviors that lead to the celebrity's death). Indeed, after death, a celebrity may gain spiritual meanings, and consumers may find it more difficult to blame a sacred individual. As such, the current article investigates the impact of a celebrity's death on blame attribution and consumer attitudes in the context of celebrity endorser misbehavior. The results of three experiments uncover that death favors a partial blame attribution transfer from the celebrity endorser to the brand, but only when the misbehavior implies a product related to the brand. In addition, the findings reveal a positive effect of death through celebrity sacredness on brand attitude.

  September 12, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21032   open full text
• Integrating partitioned prices via computational estimation.
  Devon DelVecchio, William J. Jones, Eric Stenstrom.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 05, 2017
  This paper introduces computational estimation to the literature on consumers’ numerical cognition. Computational estimation involves simplifying an arithmetic problem via mathematical procedures to produce an approximate answer. Employing calculation knowledge and approximation together, consumers are likely to use computational estimation as it is relatively accurate while saving cognitive effort compared to calculating values. Three studies applied to partitioned prices in the form of a base price and a percentage discount, demonstrate that when faced with this numeric integration task, the strategy consumers undertake is dependent on the characteristics of the numerals with discounts that are round or close to round being associated with greater use of computational estimation. Further, when employing computational estimation, consumers arrive at more accurate, and lower, price estimates in which they place more confidence than when using alternative an integration strategy. As a result, discounts that are near a round value are preferred to those that are not; a result that is dependent upon the use of computational estimation.

  July 05, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21025   open full text
• Adolescents’ perceived brand deprivation stress and its implications for corporate and consumer well‐being.
  Carmen‐Maria Albrecht, Nicola E. Stokburger‐Sauer, David E. Sprott, Donald R. Lehmann.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 05, 2017
  Stress can impact various aspects of a person's well‐being. While some researchers have suggested that consumption‐related activities may cause stress, no research has yet explored such stress among vulnerable, younger consumers. To better understand this phenomenon, the concept of adolescents’ perceived brand deprivation stress (BDS) is introduced as a state of tension perceived negatively by a young consumer when he or she does not have specific brands from a particular product category. In a series of three studies with adolescents aged 11–17 years, a reliable and valid measure of BDS is developed and a framework encompassing antecedents and consequences of it is tested. This research demonstrates that an adolescent's peer group compared to the media exerts the strongest influence on BDS which is also affected by product involvement and age. In turn, stress influences both brand purchase intentions and psychosomatic illnesses, with the latter being reduced by consumer self‐confidence. The studies show that BDS is real, but seemingly problematic for only a small portion of vulnerable adolescents. The findings suggest that marketers should be cautious when targeting young consumers and that educational programs aimed at developing consumer skills and confidence in adolescents are advisable.

  July 05, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21024   open full text
• Advertising “like a girl”: Toward a better understanding of “femvertising” and its effects.
  Nina Åkestam, Sara Rosengren, Micael Dahlen.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 05, 2017
  This paper investigates the impact of femvertising (female empowerment advertising). More specifically, it hypothesizes that femvertising (vs. traditional portrayals of females in advertising) will reduce ad reactance among a female target audience, and that this in turn will enhance ad and brand attitudes. The results of three experimental studies indicate that this is indeed the case, and that the results hold across print and digital media, for five different product categories, and for femvertising focusing on challenging female stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics as well as the roles and occupations used to portray women in advertising. Although previous studies of the effects of female portrayals tend to focus on social comparison and self‐identity, the current paper considers the role of psychological reactance to (more or less) stereotypical portrayals in explaining these effects. The results suggest that marketers have much to gain from adapting a more proactive and mindful approach to the female portrayals they use in their ads.

  July 05, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21023   open full text
• The effect of spicy gustatory sensations on variety‐seeking.
  Sayantani Mukherjee, Thomas Kramer, Katina Kulow.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 05, 2017
  Can spicy gustatory sensations increase variety‐seeking in subsequent unrelated choices—and if so, how? The present research explores these questions. Based on the metaphor “variety is the spice of life,” and drawing on research on metaphors and embodied cognition, the authors propose that spicy gustatory sensations may activate a desire to be interesting that leads to greater variety in subsequent unrelated choices. Specifically, the first study demonstrates that tasting spicy vs. mild potato chips results in greater variety‐seeking in candy bars—but only when there is a time delay between the gustatory sensation and the variety‐seeking choice task, suggesting an underlying motivational process. Further, the effect of spicy gustatory sensations on variety‐seeking strengthens as the time delay increases, consistent with a motivational account. The second study provides evidence for a metaphor‐based explanation of the effect by demonstrating that while there is no difference in variety‐seeking among consumers who have tasted a spicy candy and those merely primed with the metaphor “variety is the spice of life,” variety‐seeking is lower among consumers who have tasted a mild candy. This study also rules out taste‐related factors as an alternative explanation.

  July 05, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21022   open full text
• Healthy eating habit: A role for goals, identity, and self‐control?
  Mary B. McCarthy, Alan M. Collins, Sarah Jane Flaherty, Sinead N. McCarthy.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 05, 2017
  Supporting healthier eating habits is crucial for improving population health outcomes. Underpinning everyday eating patterns are recurring actions that may lead to positive or negative health outcomes depending on the healthfulness of such actions. The aim of this research was to explore individual‐level determinants of a healthy eating habit and consider to what extent personal goals and self‐control are linked to a healthy eating habit. One thousand one hundred nine adults completed a survey focusing on a range of factors that potentially sway food choice behaviors. A structural model, developed based on a review of existing literature, was tested using self‐reported healthy eating habit (Verplanken & Orbell, ) as the dependent variable. Analysis suggests that along with health‐conscious identity and food hedonism, self‐control was one of the strongest determinants of a healthy eating habit. Furthermore, while healthy eating goals had a direct significant effect, other goals, economizing and emotional, did not. However, all three goals along with food hedonism had a significant indirect effect that was mediated through self‐control. In revealing the role of self‐control, this work questions the underlying assumption of automaticity in a healthy eating habit. This leads to the questions: what is a healthy eating habit and to what extent can healthy eating behaviors ever be truly characterized as controlled by heuristics and automaticity? This analysis suggests that healthy eating is an ongoing behavioral project that requires the continued engagement of deliberative processes; thus habit within this context, and as measured using self‐reported habit, may be a misnomer. The use of healthy eating routines, as opposed to habits, may be more appropriate to acknowledge the role of both automatic and deliberative processes with self‐control being central in everyday decision making. Important practical and theoretical implications are discussed along with potential approaches for health and food sectors to support healthier eating behavior in the future.

  July 05, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21021   open full text
• Transformative and restorative consumption behaviors following attachment trauma.
  Marylouise Caldwell, Paul Henry.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 05, 2017
  This study presents a model of how consumers respond to an attachment trauma for which they feel a substantial degree of personal responsibility. The model is derived from an analysis of the lived experiences, stories, and observations of divorced single mothers, who have experienced an attachment trauma as a consequence of a marriage break down. The trauma involves a dramatic loss of normalcy and certainty, accompanied by negative emotions, such as fear and uncertainty, stress and grief, self‐castigation, guilt and shame, and rumination and depression. In an effort to recover from the trauma and return to healthier emotional states, consumers adopt amelioration strategies characterized by self‐compassion, self‐care, and the (re)building of self‐capabilities. Consumption practices—restorative and transformative in nature—facilitate each strategy, as consumers strive to regain the confidence, sense of control, and equilibrium destroyed by the trauma. The model arguably provides a useful lens to understand other kinds of traumatic events where a sense of heightened personal responsibility prevails.

  July 05, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21020   open full text
• When are Consumers Motivated to Connect with Ethical Brands? The Roles of Guilt and Moral Identity Importance.
  Kevin P. Newman, Rebecca K. Trump.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 04, 2017
  This research adds to the growing literature on what draws consumers to ethical brands. Findings from three studies demonstrate that guilt motivates consumers to connect with ethical brands, especially those consumers with high levels of moral identity importance (MII). Specifically, Study 1 finds that consumers report stronger self‐brand connections (SBCs) with an ethical brand when they feel guilty (vs. control). Study 2 finds that guilt particularly motivates consumers with high MII to report stronger SBCs with an ethical (vs. unethical) brand. In turn, these strong connections lead to increased intentions to purchase the ethical brand. Finally, Study 3 finds evidence for the proposed motivation‐based process explanation by showing that high MII consumers’ propensity to connect with ethical brands when feeling guilty (vs. control) is attenuated when these consumers are first given the opportunity to donate to a charitable cause to alleviate their guilt. Overall, the findings suggest that ethical brands can foster strong connections with and elicit higher purchase intentions from consumers seeking ways to alleviate their guilt.

  May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21008   open full text
• Examining the Effectiveness of Fear Appeals in Prompting Help‐Seeking: The Case of At‐Risk Gamblers.
  Svetlana Vos, Roberta Crouch, Pascale Quester, Jasmina Ilicic.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 04, 2017
  With a sample of Australian at‐risk gamblers, this research examines the impact of gender and individual difference in experiential avoidance (EA; cognitive and emotional suppression) on the processing of fear appeals. Study 1, through thematic analysis, explores fear appeal perceptions among at‐risk gamblers. The results identify that relevant threats, such as social and psychological, should be integrated into fear‐inducing advertising stimuli. Study 2 uses multigroup comparisons in structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the robustness of the revised protection motivation model (RPMM) in predicting the effectiveness of fear appeals to induce help‐seeking intentions in at‐risk gamblers. This research examines the boundary conditions of the RPMM through the moderating roles of gender and EA. The results provide evidence that fear partially mediates the impact of perceived susceptibility (PS) on help‐seeking intentions in low experiential avoiders, whereas high experimental avoiders resist fear elicitation. Furthermore, evoked fear does not lead to help‐seeking intentions in male at‐risk gamblers. In female at‐risk gamblers, while fear prompts help‐seeking intentions, PS (i.e., probability of harm) does not translate to behavioral intentions via fear. For both genders and low and high experiential avoiders, cognitive appraisals of PS significantly and positively impact help‐seeking intentions. This research demonstrates the unique roles of gender and EA on fear appeal effectiveness in at‐risk gamblers.

  May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21012   open full text
• Consumer Attitudes toward Sponsors’ Counterambush Marketing Ads.
  Joerg Koenigstorfer, Sebastian Uhrich.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 04, 2017
  Since the existing measures to prevent ambush marketing are widely ineffective, sponsors can use countercommunications, a public response to an ambushing attempt that aims to strengthen their own brand, relative to the ambusher. This research examines consumer responses to three types of counterambush marketing ads: humorous complaining, naming and shaming, and consumer education. Three experimental studies using both real and fictitious brands as well as different event settings indicate that a humorous counterad (vs. naming and shaming and consumer education counterads) results in more favorable consumer evaluations of the countermessage. The studies also show that perceptions of the advertising tactic's appropriateness mediate these effects and that a humorous counterad is only advantageous when consumers hold positive (vs. negative) attitudes toward the practice of ambush marketing. In addition, comparing the three types of counterads with a common sponsorship leveraging ad suggests that a humorous counterad and simply ignoring the ambusher produce equal perceptions of tactical appropriateness and similar positive indirect effects on consumer attitudes toward the ad. The studies thus provide implications for how sponsors can respond to ambushers.

  May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21011   open full text
• The “You and I” of Happiness: Investigating the Long‐Term Impact of Self‐ and Other‐Focused Happiness‐Enhancing Activities.
  Maria Sääksjärvi, Katarina Hellén, Pieter Desmet.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 04, 2017
  It is commonly known in the positive psychology literature that people who want to increase their happiness ought to engage in so‐called happiness‐enhancing activities. Building on this stream of research, work that emphasizes the duality of happiness (affect vs. meaning) is introduced in order to propose a new conceptualization of happiness activities. The new conceptualization distinguishes between self‐ and other‐focused happiness activities, and argues for the importance of other‐focused activities over self‐focused ones. Results from a six‐week long study show that other‐focused happiness activities consistently outperformed self‐focused ones in terms of raising participants’ levels of happiness. Although self‐focused happiness activities also increased happiness, by showing increases over time relative to participants’ baseline level, other‐focused happiness activities consistently outperformed such increases.

  May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21010   open full text
• Extrinsic and Intrinsic Contingent Self‐Esteem and Materialism: A Correlational and Experimental Investigation.
  Tania Nagpaul, Joyce S. Pang.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 04, 2017
  While there is substantial evidence regarding the role of generalized self‐esteem and identity deficits as potential antecedents of materialism, the exact nature of the domains from which such self‐esteem deficits (that breeds materialism) emanate has remained unexplored. Moreover, there is scant research attention on intrinsically oriented contingent self‐esteem and how it relates to materialism. The present study investigated contingent self‐esteem in extrinsic domains as antecedents of materialism. It was shown that extrinsic and intrinsic forms of contingent self‐esteem relate differently with materialism such that intrinsically contingent self‐esteem is incompatible with materialistic attitudes. Study 1 (N = 231 Singaporean adults) furnished cross‐sectional evidence that extrinsically oriented contingent self‐esteem positively predicts materialism. Study 2 (N = 206 undergraduates from a public university in Singapore) found that intrinsically oriented contingent self‐esteem is negatively related to materialism. Study 3 (N = 105 Singaporean undergraduates) showed that experimental induction of extrinsic and intrinsic contingent self‐esteem leads to higher or lower materialism among participants respectively. The findings advance understanding on the self‐esteem‐materialism link by showing how the domain‐specific view of self‐esteem has the potential to promote or discourage materialism based on whether self‐esteem is anchored to external or internal domains. Recommendations for intervention researchers and practitioners are proposed.

  May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21009   open full text
• Consumers’ Social Media Brand Behaviors: Uncovering Underlying Motivators and Deriving Meaningful Consumer Segments.
  Radu Dimitriu, Rodrigo Guesalaga.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 11, 2017
  The current research identifies the range of social media brand behaviors (i.e., brand touch points) that consumers can exhibit on social media, and subsequently queries a representative sample of consumers with regard to such behaviors. The analysis reveals four underlying motivators for consumers’ social media behaviors, including brand tacit engagement, brand exhibiting, brand patronizing, and brand deal seeking. These motivators are used to derive meaningful consumer segments identified as content seekers, observers, deal hunters, hard‐core fans, posers and, respectively, patronizers, and described through co‐variates including brand loyalty, brand attachment, and social media usage. The findings are critically discussed in the light of literature on the needs that consumers meet through brand consumption and on the types of relationships consumers build with brands. Not least, the managerial implications of the current findings are debated.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21007   open full text
• “Service” in Luxury Retailing in the Twenty‐First Century: An Exploratory Look at the Pleasure Boating Sector.
  Cesare Amatulli, Rajan Nataraajan, Mauro Capestro, Marco Carvignese, Gianluigi Guido.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 11, 2017
  This study explores the most effective retailing strategies with which luxury retailers can achieve a competitive advantage. The central role of services in enhancing the consumption experience in the luxury segment has been analyzed considering the pleasure boating sector, with a focus on the role that the dealer may have, both in the integration of different services and in the development of a durable competitive advantage. A qualitative study has been carried out through semistructured, in‐depth, one‐to‐one interviews with representatives of companies that deal with the pleasure boating sector. The results show that in the luxury pleasure boating sector, the introduction of a better‐defined retail strategy focused on services and its integration within the entire distribution channel may be crucial but also difficult to achieve in contexts that lack a marketing orientation. The contribution to extant literature on service in the pleasure boating sector and in luxury retailing in general is outlined. The managerial implications for practitioners in the pleasure boating sector are also discussed.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21006   open full text
• “Why Do Young Thai Women Desire White Skin?” Understanding Conscious and Nonconscious Motivations of Young Women in Bangkok.
  Caroline Cuny, Titima Opaswongkarn.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 11, 2017
  Skin whitening has been studied mainly using a postcolonial attitude analysis emphasizing conscious reasons behind skin bleaching. Studies dedicated to gaining a rich understanding of nonconscious motivations for skin whitening are scarce, especially in Asia. Therefore, two studies were conducted by using an innovative mix of research protocols to access to both conscious and nonconscious motivations. The studies were conducted among 92 female regular skin whitening users, aged 18–24 years, in Bangkok, Thailand. Study 1, among 42 women, used three‐combined qualitative research techniques of laddering, projective technique, and photo elicitation. Study 2 was conducted among 50 women to quantitatively test nonconscious motives implicitly associated with different white skin tones. The results revealed that motives are not linked to westernization. In a very competitive environment, light skin is seen as a strategic method to maintain men's loyalty, enhance self‐esteem, and guarantee career success. Managerial and methodological implications for marketers are discussed.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21005   open full text
• Understanding How Goal‐striving, Goal Orientation, and Shame Influence Self‐perceptions after Exposure to Models in Advertising.
  Kathrynn Pounders, Dan Hamilton Rice, Amanda Mabry‐Flynn.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 11, 2017
  Marketers frequently use advertisements featuring thin models to promote the goal of self‐improvement to consumers. However, many of these appeals lead to detrimental effects on the self‐perceptions of the females who view them. This paper integrates components of goal‐striving theory and social comparison theory to explain consumer response to these advertisements and investigates how goal attainability may mitigate the negative effects of these ads. Additionally, this work investigates how a promotion‐focus goal orientation moderates the effects of the goal‐striving process and provides evidence of the mediating effects of shame. Finally, this work addresses a gap in the literature by examining how the interplay of model size and goal attainability impacts male consumers’ self‐perceptions. Study 1 reveals that high levels of perceived goal attainability mitigate the negative effects of exposure to thin models on self‐perceptions for females. Study 2 demonstrates that a high promotion‐focus goal orientation can lead to more favorable self‐perceptions for female participants exposed to a thin model with attainable goals, but it does not isolate participants from feelings of shame, which mediates the effects of goal attainability on self‐perceptions. Study 3 reveals similar findings for male consumers, but notably finds that shame does not play a significant role in understanding the comparison process for male consumers, suggesting key differences in the comparison processes between sexes.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21004   open full text
• The Best I Can Be: How Self‐Accountability Impacts Product Choice in Technology‐Mediated Environments.
  Zoe O. Rowe, Hugh N. Wilson, Radu M. Dimitriu, Katja Breiter, Fiona J. Charnley.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 11, 2017
  Technology‐mediated environments are important not only as the location for an increasing proportion of purchases, but also as an even more pervasive part of the purchase journey. While most research into online consumer behavior focuses on attitudes as an antecedent of product choice, this article focuses on an important but hardly explored variable that may be impacted by technology‐mediated environments: self‐accountability. Laboratory experiments suggest that self‐accountability may influence online purchases, but this has not been confirmed in field studies. Furthermore, although this prior work suggests that self‐accountability may impact product choice through the elicitation of guilt, the role of positive emotions has not been explored. Using two surveys with online retailers, this paper (a) shows that in a technology‐mediated environment, self‐accountability influences product choice; (b) proposes and confirms a complementary route for this effect through pride that is stronger than that through guilt; and (c) evidences the relationship between self‐accountability and perceived consumer effectiveness. These results show a clear opportunity for digital marketers to encourage self‐accountability, to thereby elicit pride and not just guilt, and hence to impact consumer decision making in technology‐mediated environments, particularly when choices have sustainability implications.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21003   open full text
• Consumer Revenge Using the Internet and Social Media: An Examination of the Role of Service Failure Types and Cognitive Appraisal Processes.
  Zaid Mohammad Ibrahim Obeidat, Sarah Hong Xiao, Gopalkrishnan R. Iyer, Michael Nicholson.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  Given the pervasive spread and use of the Internet and social media, consumer use of these new forums for expressing their revenge intentions has also increased. This research examines the impacts of service outcome and service process failures on consumer online revenge intentions. Using insights from cognitive appraisal theory, a comprehensive model is developed and tested to examine the impacts of service failure types on consumers’ primary and secondary appraisal processes that lead to online revenge intentions. The model was tested in the United Kingdom and Jordan. Results show that for the two countries, different service failure types lead to different cognitive appraisal processes, and to intentions to use different online revenge platforms.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21002   open full text
• Fostering Parasocial Relationships with Celebrities on Social Media: Implications for Celebrity Endorsement.
  Siyoung Chung, Hichang Cho.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  The purpose of this study was to explore the underlying mechanisms through which the use of social media affects endorser effectiveness. Based on theories related to parasocial relationships, self‐disclosure, and celebrity endorsement, this study proposed a theoretical research model and empirically tested the model using online survey data collected from 400 Korean Wave fans in Singapore. The results showed that consumers’ parasocial interactions with celebrities though social media have a positive impact on celebrity endorsement. Specifically, we found that: (1) parasocial relationships mediated the relationships between social media interactions and source trustworthiness, (2) social media interactions influenced parasocial relationships via self‐disclosure; and (3) source trustworthiness had a positive effect on brand credibility, which, in turn, led to purchase intention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21001   open full text
• Online Display Advertising: The Influence of Web Site Type on Advertising Effectiveness.
  Sumitra Auschaitrakul, Ashesh Mukherjee.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  This research shows that online display advertising is more effective in terms of attitudes toward the ad and brand when it appears on commercial Web sites such as Walmart or Amazon, compared to social Web sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Consistent with a fit‐fluency mechanism, this effect of Web site type on advertising effectiveness was found to be driven by higher feelings of processing fluency on commercial compared to social Web sites. Further consistent with a fit‐fluency framework, online display advertising was found to be more effective on brand compared to personal pages of social Web sites. These results contribute to the literature on Internet advertising by identifying Web site type as a new antecedent and fit‐fluency as a new mechanism underlying the effectiveness of online display advertising.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.21000   open full text
• Consumer Branded #Hashtag Engagement: Can Creativity in TV Advertising Influence Hashtag Engagement?
  Anastasia Stathopoulou, Laurence Borel, George Christodoulides, Douglas West.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  This study examines the effects of creativity on consumer branded hashtag engagement in the context of TV advertising. Applying a qualitative design, two types of TV commercials were selected: humorous and warmth. This was followed by a quantitative study with 259 participants suggesting that novelty and relevance in TV advertisements together with brand familiarity are important drivers of consumer branded hashtag engagement. Consumer branded hashtag engagement, in turn, encourages consumers to share advertisements online through different social media platforms. In addition, brand familiarity and the type of TV advertisement were found to be significant moderators. The results of this study highlight the pertinence of hashtags for consumer–brand engagement, and contribute to a better understanding of consumer branded hashtag engagement in advertising. Guidance to advertisers on how to utilize creativity in TV advertisements to encourage consumer engagement with the brand is offered.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20999   open full text
• Toward a Framework for Identifying Attitudes and Intentions to Music Acquisition from Legal and Illegal Channels.
  Athina Dilmperi, Tamira King, Charles Dennis.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  Technological developments have had a profound effect on modern music acquisition, allowing people to share music over the Internet for free. The research identifies the antecedents of consumers’ attitudes and intentions to acquire music from various channels. The paper reports findings of a structured questionnaire survey of university students in the United Kingdom and Greece (n = 511). Using structural equation modeling, the authors conclude that consumers’ intention to acquire music via a legal channel is influenced by idolatry (IDL), the perceived quality of music (PQM), the perceived likelihood of punishment (PLP; digital legal channel only), and their subjective norm. On the other hand, intention to acquire music via an illegal channel is influenced by the perceived benefits of piracy. The price of legitimate music was only significant for the illegal street vendor channel, whereas IDL had a positive effect on illegal downloading. Gender had moderating effects on PLP and attitude, and income‐moderated attitude and intention from P2P platforms. The findings carry important implications for academic researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20998   open full text
• Pride in Technology‐Based Health Interventions: A Double‐Edged Sword.
  Danae Manika, Diana Gregory‐Smith, Paolo Antonetti.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  We examine in this study the contrasting effects (positive and negative) of hubristic pride about one's weight, after exposure to a weight control Web site, on consumers’ attitudes and self‐regulatory behavior. Using an experiment embedded in a survey, we offer in this study insights into the multifaceted consequences generated by pride, when elicited by technology‐based social marketing interventions. Greater feelings of hubristic pride about one's weight translate into positive attitudes toward the Web site information but reduce the perceived relevance of the information to the self. This reduced perceived relevance leads to poor perceptions of Web site interactivity with consequent negative effects on behavioral regulation. Thus, increasing feelings of pride can be a double‐edge sword. Hubristic pride directly affects technology‐based behavioral intentions, such as intentions to download a health‐related mobile application, but indirectly influences nontechnology‐oriented intentions to take health action through attitudes. Marketers should be cautious of the mixed attitudinal and behavioral effects of pride.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20997   open full text
• How Does Serious M‐Game Technology Encourage Low‐Income Households To Perform Socially Responsible Behaviors?
  Alpha Yam, Rebekah Russell‐Bennett, Marcus Foth, Rory Mulcahy.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  Despite the increasing use of technology, there is little research in the marketing literature that examines how games can encourage households to achieve socially responsible behaviors such as energy efficiency. Social marketing is a subdiscipline of marketing that applies technology such as serious games in the pursuit of socially responsible behaviors. We investigate in this study how a serious mobile game (m‐game) (Reduce Your Juice) can encourage households to perform energy‐efficient behaviors by conducting group interviews with six households (n = 17) in Brisbane, Australia. The findings reveal that households gained knowledge and were motivated and persuaded to engage in energy‐efficient behaviors as the result of the customer experience of playing the serious m‐game. We provide practitioners with implications for game design and evidence that serious m‐games can encourage group level behaviors such as household energy efficiency.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20996   open full text
• Interpreting Social Identity in Online Brand Communities: Considering Posters and Lurkers.
  Sahar Mousavi, Stuart Roper, Kathleen A. Keeling.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  This study investigates the psychological effects of social identity on both posters and lurkers in online brand communities (OBCs). The results reveal the intermediate mechanisms mediating and moderating members’ social identity effects on members’ brand commitment, leading to positive word‐of‐mouth and their resistance to negative information about the brand. This article treats social identity as a multidimensional construct. Differences between posters and lurkers on the relationships among the cognitive, affective, and evaluative components of social identity are investigated along with their positive effect on brand commitment and behavioral consequences. Using a sample of 752 OBC members, both posters and lurkers emerge as valuable members and equally likely to derive social identity from their membership of an OBC. However, there are counterintuitive results for relationships within the research model between active and passive members of OBCs. These results offer implications for theory and can help managers to be better interactive marketers.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20995   open full text
• Examining Consumers’ Motivations to Engage in Firm‐Hosted Virtual Communities.
  Ethel Claffey, Mairead Brady.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  Consumer engagement is a complex phenomenon and understanding the underlying dynamics that facilitate its development, particularly in the virtual environment, is an important contemporary research priority due to its ability to influence value creation for customers and organizations, and because it introduces ongoing and multifaceted challenges for marketers. This research empirically tests hypotheses regarding the motivational drivers of consumer engagement with 308 members of two firm‐hosted virtual communities. The results suggest that marketers need a multidimensional lens to identify, understand, and manage consumers’ distinctive cognitive and affective states within this environment. Findings support the need for these firm‐hosted virtual communities to be carefully designed to facilitate knowledge sharing, provide social support, deliver an enjoyable and useful experience, and enable consumers to cocreate value through emotional empathy. This research provides critical managerial input into how best to monitor, understand, support, and ultimately leverage firm‐hosted virtual communities aligned to the emotional valence of the consumers.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20994   open full text
• Technological Impacts on Market Attitudes and Behaviors.
  Paul R. Baines.
  Psychology and Marketing. March 09, 2017
  Technology has had a profound effect on twentieth‐century society and is increasingly changing the nature of the way we live our lives in the twenty‐first century, particularly, but not solely, through innovations in digital and social media marketing. As media and other technologies change, the question arising concerns how these changes impact on consumers’ attitudes and behaviors, and consequently on their lives. In this special edition, nine papers are presented, outlining cutting‐edge research exploring how changing technologies affect consumer attitudes, emotions, and behaviors in a variety of country settings and industries. In this introductory editorial, the papers are outlined in further detail, with a brief exposition of their contribution.

  March 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20993   open full text
• Effects of Matching and Mismatching Messages on Purchase Avoidance Behavior following Major Disasters.
  Daisuke Kudo, Kazuhisa Nagaya.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  Following major disasters, purchase avoidance behavior toward products that are caused by stigma often results. For example, after the Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, consumers have avoided products from Fukushima. Attempts have been made to diminish this purchase avoidance behavior, but they have been found to be ineffective. The reasons for ineffectiveness of strategies within this context were empirically examined based on matching and mismatching effects of messages. In two studies (Study 1, N = 113; Study 2, N = 364), the effects of affective messages and cognitive messages were compared, and the effectiveness of affective messages was found to be consistently weaker than that of cognitive messages. Message producers often present affective messages with the expectation of observing the matching effect. However, findings suggest that these presentation strategies will fail, and that the mismatching effect should be used instead. The best method of message presentation to reduce purchase avoidance behavior in a disaster area is discussed.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20992   open full text
• Illustrating the Power of fsQCA in Explaining Paradoxical Consumer Environmental Orientations.
  Ann Kristin Schmitt, Andreas Grawe, Arch G. Woodside.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  Prior research on proenvironmental and prosocial behavior focuses primarily on explaining consistent rather than paradoxical tendencies. Even though this field receives wide attention from different scientific disciplines, findings for many causal factors of such proenvironmental orientation are contradictory. Nevertheless, knowing who those individuals are who think and behave in a pro‐/antienvironmental way or show a paradoxical behavior in this regard becomes useful for many different parties in human societies including public policy makers, governmental and nongovernmental environmental protection organizations, and for‐profit firms. Therefore, this study identifies those individuals who show neither consistent proenvironmental nor consistent antienvironmental tendencies as the “walkers‐only” and “talkers‐only” (i.e., for short, “walkers” and “talkers”). The former are defined as persons who put much effort into the recycling of waste materials but do not support pollution standards, whereas the latter term describes individuals who have a strong opinion with regard to the support of pollution standards yet do not engage in recycling efforts. The present study reports evidence of the existence of walkers and talkers. Further, this research is the first study to employ “fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis” to identify the complex antecedent conditions for some individuals’ paradoxical belief–behaviors in the field of socially and environmentally directed behaviors and orientations. The findings yield valuable insights both into the applicability and benefits of configural analysis and for public policy makers and managers in waste management and recycling industries.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20991   open full text
• Consumer Preference for Status Symbolism of Clothing: The Case of the Czech Republic.
  Elena Millan, Banwari Mittal.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  During the past three decades, consumer demand for luxury goods has been growing on a global scale. The luxury and status market base has expanded beyond the traditional affluent consumer segment to include an increasingly heterogeneous group of consumers. Despite the substantial size, greater reach, and significant growth of the luxury goods market, status consumption has been treated as an atypical and peripheral subject in consumer research. The authors develop a conceptual model of psychological determinants of status seeking through consumption. The model considers the effects of three general traits (namely, status concern (SC), public self‐consciousness (PSC), and self‐esteem (SE)) and one consumption‐related consumer trait (namely, susceptibility to normative social influence (SNSI)) on preference for status meaning, which in turn influences consumer interest in the product. The conceptual model is tested with data from a survey of 1000+ respondents drawn from the Czech Republic, a country where the recent market liberalization has unleashed an inflow of luxury goods from marketers from the West. Face‐to‐face home‐based structured interviews were conducted by an international market research agency. The hypothesized causal relationships are all supported. The effects of SC, PSC, and SE on SNSI and preference for status meaning (PSM) are significant and in the expected direction. Additionally, SNSI is found to exert a significant positive influence on PSM, and these two constructs, in turn, have significant positive effects on consumer interest in clothing. The conceptual model and empirical evidence enhance the existing knowledge of the antecedents and outcomes of status consumption. The study advances a better understanding of the psychology of consumer adoption of status consumption; equally important, it also highlights the value of extending consumer theories from established to emerging market economies and back again from still‐evolving to long‐standing marketplaces.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20990   open full text
• Exploring the Role of Attitudinal Functions in Counterfeit Purchase Behavior via an Extended Conceptual Framework.
  Piyush Sharma, Ricky Y. K. Chan.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  Prior research on counterfeit purchase behavior focuses on two attitudinal functions (social‐adjustive and value‐expressive) and ignores the others (e.g., ego‐defensive, knowledge, and utilitarian), despite growing evidence that consumers’ attitudes toward a product category may serve multiple functions. We address this research gap with an extended conceptual framework that incorporates all the five attitudinal functions and explores their direct and indirect effects on counterfeit product evaluation and purchase intention. A field study with 890 shoppers in Hong Kong, a popular market for both genuine and counterfeit brands, supports most hypotheses and provides useful insights into the complex sociopsychological mechanism driving counterfeit purchase behavior.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20989   open full text
• Antecedents of Retweeting in a (Political) Marketing Context.
  Lorna Walker, Paul R. Baines, Radu Dimitriu, Emma K. Macdonald.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  Word of mouth disseminates across Twitter by means of retweeting; however, the antecedents of retweeting have not received much attention. We used the chi‐square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) decision tree predictive method (Kass, ) with readily available Twitter data, and manually coded sentiment and content data, to identify why some tweets are more likely to be retweeted than others in a (political) marketing context. The analysis includes four CHAID models: (1) using message structure variables only, (2) source variables only, (3) message content and sentiment variables only, and (4) a combined model using source, message structure, message content, and sentiment variables. The aggregated predictive model correctly classified retweeting behavior with a 76.7% success rate. Retweeting tends to occur when the originator has a high number of Twitter followers and the sentiment of the tweet is negative, contradicting previous research (East, Hammond, & Wright, ; Wu, ) but concurring with others (Hennig‐Thurau, Wiertz, & Feldhaus, ). Additionally, particular types of tweet content are associated with high levels of retweeting, in particular those tweets including fear appeals or expressing support for others, while others are associated with very low levels of retweeting, such as those mentioning the sender's personal life. Managerial implications and research directions are presented. We make a methodological contribution by illustrating how CHAID predictive modeling can be used for Twitter data analysis and a theoretical contribution by providing insights into why retweeting occurs in a (political) marketing context.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20988   open full text
• The Effectiveness of Fear Appeals Featuring Fines versus Social Disapproval in Preventing Shoplifting Among Adolescents.
  Iris Vermeir, Tine Bock, Patrick Kenhove.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  The present study investigates the effectiveness of fear appeals, including type of punishment (social disapproval vs. fines), probability of getting caught when shoplifting, and severity of the punishment, in preventing shoplifting among adolescents. Results show that when the chance of getting caught is low, social punishment messages should stress severe levels of social disapproval. When social disapproval messages imply a high probability of apprehension, the severity of social rejection does not affect shoplifting intentions. Finally, messages focusing on fines should depict large instead of small fines, irrespective of the communicated probability of getting caught.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20987   open full text
• “Seize the Deal, or Return It Losing Your Free Gift”: The Effect of a Gift‐With‐Purchase Promotion on Product Return Intention.
  Shinhyoung Lee, Youjae Yi.
  Psychology and Marketing. February 13, 2017
  The current article sheds light on an important issue in marketing: how marketers can prevent consumers from returning previously purchased goods. This research examines the relationship between a gift‐with‐purchase promotion and consumer product returns, hypothesizing that consumers who purchase products that come with a free gift will be less likely to return the products. Evidence shows that a gift‐with‐purchase promotion reduces consumer product returns and that this relationship is mediated by perceived loss in returning a product. Then, the results indicate that the choice of free gifts reduces product return intention and that this relationship is serially mediated by perceived ownership and perceived loss. The findings further suggest that when consumers with high product involvement can select free gifts among alternatives, they tend to perceive more ownership and loss and thereby are less likely to return the promoted product. Overall, the current research proposes that consumers prefer to seize the deal rather than to return it when they get a gift‐with‐purchase, have a chance to select a free gift, and are highly involved with the product.

  February 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20986   open full text
• To “Free” or Not to “Free”: Trait Predictors of Mobile App Purchasing Tendencies.
  John B. Dinsmore, Kunal Swani, Riley G. Dugan.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  This research is the first to examine the relationship between personality traits and mobile application (app) purchasing tendencies, specifically the tendency to pay for apps when free alternatives are available (Mobile App Payment), and the tendency to make In‐App Purchases. A hierarchical model of personality traits was tested via structural equation modeling with 257 U.S. college students who own and use mobile devices. The study provides robust evidence that bargain proneness positively influences both Mobile App Payment and In‐App Purchases, with need for arousal positively influencing Mobile App Payment. Additionally, frugality negatively influences both Mobile App Payment and In‐App Purchases. Indirect or mediated effects of extraversion and need for arousal on mobile app purchasing tendencies were also found. Finally, managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20985   open full text
• Effects of Blue Lighting in Ambient and Mobile Settings on the Intention to Buy Hedonic and Utilitarian Products.
  Gianluigi Guido, Luigi Piper, M. Irene Prete, Antonio Mileti, Carla M. Trisolini.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  According to multidisciplinary research, the blue light has important consequences for human beings’ productivity and well‐being, as it positively influences their circadian, endocrine, and neurobehavioral functions. This paper examines how blue light—in both the physical environment and a mobile display—influences consumers’ purchase intentions in mobile shopping. Specifically, this paper proposes that consumers who are exposed to certain conditions of blue lighting (identified by an emission spectrum centered at 460 nm; i.e., “actinic blue”), in either a room environment or via a smartphone, are more inclined to purchase hedonic rather than utilitarian products. After describing the study, which compares the effects of blue lighting to more traditional white lighting (identified with an emission spectrum centered at 635 nm; i.e., “warm white”), the paper discusses results, alongside the implications for theory, marketing practice, and future research.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20984   open full text
• The Impact of Perceived Visual Complexity of Mobile Online Shops on User's Satisfaction.
  Stefanie Sohn, Barbara Seegebarth, Madleen Moritz.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  The use of Internet‐enabled mobile devices (i.e., smartphones and tablets) for shopping purposes has gained in relevance among consumers. As mobile technologies become increasingly powerful, richer modes of presentation (e.g., videos and animated pictures) are used to design mobile online shops resulting in increased visual complexity. Given the importance of fluent mobile web site processing during typically short interactive sessions and the need to bridge a gap in prior research, this article explores the effects of perceived visual complexity on consumers’ perceptions and behavior‐related intentions when using mobile online shops. The findings from two empirical studies (i.e., an online survey and an experimental study) conducted among mobile device‐using online shoppers illustrate that perceived visual complexity negatively influences individuals’ satisfaction with their mobile shopping experience, whereas their channel‐specific satisfaction enhances their loyalty to the online retailer. Customers’ perceived psychological costs (i.e., time and effort costs as well as spatial crowding perceptions) partially mediate the relationship between visual complexity perceptions and satisfaction. As the results of the laboratory experiment show, the mediating role of perceived spatial crowding in the relationship between perceived visual complexity and satisfaction depends on the mobile device individuals use to visit an online shop. Hence, this relationship is mediated by perceptions of spatial crowding only when online shop visitors use a smartphone rather than a tablet.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20983   open full text
• Acceptance of Smartphone‐Based Mobile Shopping: Mobile Benefits, Customer Characteristics, Perceived Risks, and the Impact of Application Context.
  Marco Hubert, Markus Blut, Christian Brock, Christof Backhaus, Tim Eberhardt.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  Despite their generally increasing use, the adoption of mobile shopping applications often differs across purchase contexts. In order to advance our understanding of smartphone‐based mobile shopping acceptance, this study integrates and extends existing approaches from technology acceptance literature by examining two previously underexplored aspects. First, the study examines the impact of different mobile and personal benefits (instant connectivity, contextual value, and hedonic motivation), customer characteristics (habit), and risk facets (financial, performance, and security risk) as antecedents of mobile shopping acceptance. Second, it is assumed that several acceptance drivers differ in relevance subject to the perception of three mobile shopping characteristics (location sensitivity, time criticality, and extent of control), while other drivers are assumed to matter independent of the context. Based on a dataset of 410 smartphone shoppers, empirical results demonstrate that several acceptance predictors are associated with ease of use and usefulness, which in turn affect intentional and behavioral outcomes. Furthermore, the extent to which risks and benefits impact ease of use and usefulness is influenced by the three contextual characteristics. From a managerial perspective, results show which factors to consider in the development of mobile shopping applications and in which different application contexts they matter.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20982   open full text
• How Mobile In‐Store Advertising Influences Purchase Intention: Value Drivers and Mediating Effects from a Consumer Perspective.
  Mirja Bues, Michael Steiner, Marcel Stafflage, Manfred Krafft.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  Mobile in‐store advertising is becoming increasingly important, as it offers new options for retailers to communicate with customers at the point of sale. This study investigates how mobile in‐store advertising should be designed in order to be most effective. The authors identify three value drivers (price promotion, location, and personalization) and examine their effect on customers’ purchase intention. The influence of the three value drivers was tested in a large‐scale representative study with a laboratory experimental design. The findings indicate that all three value drivers increase purchase intention. Surprisingly, the authors find that price promotions are the least important value driver, whereas the location of receiving a mobile ad is the strongest driver of purchase intention. An interaction effect between location and personalization was also found to be significant. Personalization close to the product has little impact on purchase intention. The findings have important implications for researchers and retail managers, particularly when designing mobile in‐store advertising campaigns.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20981   open full text
• The Effect of Media Multitasking on Advertising Message Effectiveness.
  Marion Garaus, Udo Wagner, Anna‐Maria Bäck.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  The rapid evolution of information and mobile technologies enables consumers to use media content whenever and wherever they want. These developments have resulted in a new form of target audience behavior called “media multitasking.” Media multitasking describes simultaneous exposure to two or more types of media content. Extant research on this subject concentrates on the influence of media multitasking on message comprehension and recall for editorial content (i.e., TV programs). To date, limited research has examined whether simultaneous exposure to two advertisements on two devices benefits or harms message effectiveness. The current research attempts to fill this research gap by investigating the effect of media multitasking with TV and mobile Internet advertisements on message effectiveness. In particular, an online experiment confirms the assumption that media multitasking harms message effectiveness. Contrary to the theoretically derived hypotheses, it does not matter whether consumers are exposed to the same or different advertising messages during media multitasking situations. The consideration of two moderating variables—gender and media multitasking frequency—offers further insights into the individual factors that affect message effectiveness during simultaneous versus sequential media exposure.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20980   open full text
• “Why Would I Read a Mobile Review?” Device Compatibility Perceptions and Effects on Perceived Helpfulness.
  Armin März, Sebastian Schubach, Jan H. Schumann.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  The proliferation of mobile devices means that mobile‐generated customer reviews are on the rise, though research into their peculiarities and appraisals is rare. With field data and a scenario experiment, the current research demonstrates how recipients perceive mobile‐generated customer reviews fundamentally differently from nonmobile‐generated reviews. First, behavioral field data provide evidence that consumers discount the helpfulness of mobile reviews due to their text‐specific content and style particularities. Second, the scenario experiment shows that identifying a review as written on a mobile device lowers recipients’ perceptions of its value, but only if they use a nonmobile device to read the review. Recipients rely on device information as a source cue to assess compatibility. If they perceive themselves as compatible with the device, recipients perceive the review as more helpful because they attribute the review's content to the quality of the reviewed object; if they regard it as incompatible, recipients assume the review reflects the personal dispositions of the reviewer and discount its helpfulness. Managers of online opinion platforms thus must acknowledge the peculiarities of mobile‐generated reviews and the impact of tagging content as mobile or not.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20979   open full text
• Broadening the Perspective on Mobile Marketing: An Introduction.
  Wolfgang Fritz, Stefanie Sohn, Barbara Seegebarth.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 09, 2017
  The authors elucidate the current state of the new millennium phenomenon called mobile marketing. In the process, they consider the proliferation in mobile technology and devices and comment on future possibilities in the realm of mobile marketing. Following this, they introduce and provide brief descriptions of each of the articles in this issue. Collectively, these articles enlighten the reader on aspects of consumer behavior in a mobile‐dominated marketing world.

  January 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/mar.20978   open full text
• Influence of Social Media over the Stock Market.
  Juan Piñeiro‐Chousa, Marcos Vizcaíno‐González, Ada María Pérez‐Pico.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  This research analyzes investors’ activity through social media and these media's influence over the Chicago Board Options Exchange Market Volatility Index (VIX) using a logit model and a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The logit results show that social media sentiment influences stock markets. Meanwhile, the fsQCA results show that the investors’ profile is important for explaining how social media influence the stock market. Particularly, holding period combined with experience in technical investors contributes to avoiding a raise in market risk, whereas for nontechnical investors message sentiment and experience form the combination that contributes to avoid a raise in market risk.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20976   open full text
• Digitalization Capabilities as Enablers of Value Co‐Creation in Servitizing Firms.
  Sambit Lenka, Vinit Parida, Joakim Wincent.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  As manufacturing companies pursue a servitization strategy, they are increasingly relying on developing digitalization capabilities to interact and co‐create value with their customers. However, many lack an understanding of what constitutes digitalization capabilities and how they can create value with customers. To address these questions, the study builds on qualitative data from four industrial manufacturing firms to conceptualize three underlying subcomponents of digitalization capabilities, namely, intelligence capability, connect capability, and analytic capability. The study identifies and explains how digitalization capabilities enable value co‐creation with customers through perceptive and responsive mechanisms. This study contributes to the servitization literature by showcasing how digitalization capabilities are enabling value co‐creation in a business‐to‐business context.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20975   open full text
• Conceptual Advances in Consumers’ Semantic and Episodic Brand Memories: A Mixed Methods Exploration.
  Marc Herz, Katja H. Brunk.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  Consumers strongly rely on their memories and experiences during their decision‐making processes. Yet, despite empirical evidence that both semantic and episodic brand memories affect consumer behavior, literature on their distinction and differential impact is scarce. This empirical investigation seeks to reduce this imbalance by enhancing the understanding of these consumer knowledge structures. Using a mixed methods approach including a collage technique and one‐to‐one interviews (N = 118) consisting of open‐ended and closed‐ended (survey) elements and a subsequent content analysis, this research (1) explores differences in memory between brand users and nonusers, (2) evaluates the distinct impact of semantic and episodic memories on brand perceptions, and (3) presents a taxonomy of the principal domains of semantic and episodic brand memories and their implications for brand management. The article concludes by discussing theoretical, methodological, and managerial implications, as well as opening new avenues for future research directed at understanding and managing consumers’ semantic and episodic brand memories.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20974   open full text
• The Effects of Physical Distance from a Brand Extension on the Impact of Brand‐Extension Fit.
  Yunhui Huang, Yanli Jia, Robert S. Wyer.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  Three experiments show that if a brand extension provides a close fit to the parent brand, consumers evaluate it more favorably when they perceive themselves to be close to a picture of the extension than when they do not. If the extension is a poor fit to the parent, however, the reverse is true. These effects are driven by a match between consumers’ feelings of closeness to the extension information and the extension's closeness to the parent. This match leads them to process the extension information more fluently and consequently to generate a more favorable evaluation of the extension.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20973   open full text
• Beyond the Usefulness of Branded Applications: Insights from Consumer–Brand Engagement and Self‐construal Perspectives.
  Yu‐Hui Fang.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  Branded mobile applications (apps) present one of the most promising opportunities for marketers to reach current and potential customers, sell products or services, and facilitate customer engagement with brands. This study aims to explore how branded apps influence consumers’ brand repurchase intention and continuance usage intention. Integrating the utilitarian view from information systems research and the view of consumer–brand engagement from marketing research, a complementary engagement path alongside the utilitarian path was devised and tested in order to elucidate consumer perceptions toward branded apps. Independent self‐construal and interdependent self‐construal moderate relationships along the utilitarian path and engagement path, respectively. Data collected from 637 respondents support most of the proposed hypotheses. Results show that the engagement path has more influence on continuance intention and equal influence on repurchase intention when compared to the utilitarian path. Findings show that apps users have different thoughts along each of the two paths, depending on their self‐construal. The study's findings also provide app designers and marketers with new perspectives on how to better design branded apps.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20972   open full text
• Results May Vary: Overcoming Variability in Consumer Response to Advertising Music.
  Lincoln G. Craton, Geoffrey P. Lantos, Richard C. Leventhal.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  Although listening to music seems effortless, it actually involves many separate psychological mechanisms. This article describes and extends the multimechanism framework proposed by Juslin and colleagues, highlighting how the operation of psychological mechanisms leads to two general types of variability in consumer response to advertising music. First, the risk of between‐consumer variability (individual differences) in musical response is moderate or high for most mechanisms, and it often depends on each individual's particular history of exposure to music (listening biography). Second, within‐consumer variability occurs when different mechanisms have contrasting effects, so that an individual consumer's musical response is often mixed (e.g., guilty pleasures, bittersweet feelings, pleasurable sadness). Both types of variability can negatively impact advertising objectives (message reception, recall, acceptance, brand attitudes, etc.). The article offers preliminary suggestions for how marketers can use a multimechanism approach to successfully incorporate music in commercials and reduce the risk of unanticipated consumer responses. It ends with proposals for further research.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20971   open full text
• Communicating a Key Benefit Claim Creatively and Effectively through Five Conveyor Properties.
  Niek Althuizen.
  Psychology and Marketing. December 20, 2016
  In today's clutter of marketing communications, creative advertisements are capable of grabbing the viewers’ attention with the aim of conveying the product's key benefit claim (KBC). A proven technique for drawing attention to an ad and communicating a KBC is the use of a “remote conveyor” that is seemingly unrelated to the product (e.g., a dolphin and a sports watch for conveying its waterproofness). Drawing on associative memory theory, this article investigates the potentially antagonistic relationship between five “curiosity‐raising” (originality) and “benefit‐conveying” (effectiveness) properties of a sample of 167 conveyors for communicating the KBC of four different products. The conveyors were generated in a nominal brainstorming session with 20 MBA students. This article also provides real‐life examples to illustrate the role of the five conveyor properties in getting across the message creatively and effectively. Creatives and do‐it‐yourself advertisers alike can easily apply the outlined procedure for generating and selecting conveyors.

  December 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20970   open full text
• Consumer Involvement in New Product Development: A Case Study from the Online Virtual Community.
  Xuemei Xie, Yaoyang Jia.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  In current dynamic networking era, firms face more pressure, such as increasing market competition, the shortening product development cycle, and consumers’ diverse needs. In the social media context, the emergence of online community provides a platform for consumer involvement in firms’ new product development (NPD). Accordingly, working with consumers via online community has become increasingly important to the development of new products and the improvement of firms’ innovativeness. This paper aims to explore the motivations for consumer involvement in firms’ NPD via online community and to examine the relationships between different combinations of motivations and NPD using the method of fuzzy set quality comparative analysis (fsQCA). The motivations for consumer involvement in firms’ NPD identified by the grounded theory method are as follows: (1) consumers’ needs, (2) compensation, (3) personal interest, (4) an open and flexible online community network, and (5) firms’ trustworthiness. In this study, the authors collect data through the MIUI community (the online community network of Xiaomi, a high‐tech company). The findings reveal a close link between the NPD performance of firms and the motivations for consumer involvement. The findings also have implications for practitioners concerned with the management of consumer resources.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20956   open full text
• Online Customer Service Reviews in Urban Hotels: A Data Mining Approach.
  Manuel J. Sánchez‐Franco, Antonio Navarro‐García, Francisco J. Rondán‐Cataluña.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This study proposes a product feature‐oriented approach to the analysis of online guests’ reviews, and it analyzes the relationship between the most salient features and guests’ hotel rating in the online travel agencies environment. In particular, this research means to address the following research question: How can this understanding of these features help us to design desirable urban hotel experiences that guests really assess? This research employs a sample of 829 Spanish urban hotels and 19,318 reviews. These data, by extracting attributes that are mentioned differently by males or females, reveal the moderating role of gender on the influence of the main dimensions of hospitality services on hotel ratings.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20955   open full text
• Toward a Taxonomy of Virtual Communities from a Value Cocreation Perspective.
  Nuria Rodríguez‐López, M. Eva Diz‐Comesaña.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  The enormous growth that social networks have experienced in recent years has caused firms to begin to view social networks as enabling environments for supplier–customer interactions. It has been argued that company behavior influences customer participation; however, this notion has rarely been investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this research is twofold as follows: to determine if there are differences among virtual communities regarding customer participation and define the main factors that can cause differences in cocreated value. We used the perspective of grounded theory to analyze seven communities on Facebook that focus on a single product. Our results confirmed the existence of four types of communities. Additionally, community structures and goals were highlighted as the key factors that differentiate communities and affect customer interactions.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20954   open full text
• Integrated Reporting, Connectivity, and Social Media.
  Yaismir Adriana Rivera‐Arrubla, Ana Zorio‐Grima.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Leading companies worldwide are increasingly concerned about stakeholders’ needs. They include sustainability initiatives regarding the environment and the community in their business strategy and adopt a new way of communication with stakeholders, that is, the Integrated Report (IR). This document should include in just one document the information traditionally provided in the annual report, the sustainability report, and the corporate governance report. This article presents the IR phenomenon and pays special attention to the key concept of “connectivity,” according to the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). However, Internet and digital technologies have provided new channels of communication and interaction through social media. Within the framework of the Legitimacy Theory, Reputation Risk Management, and Stakeholder Theory, this article argues that the new possibilities brought by social media can be most valuable for IR purposes as they are useful to increase transparency and stakeholder engagement. Having looked into 78 integrated reports for the year 2012 of the companies included in the IIRC pilot programme, our study posits that the level of IR connectivity (or its absence) can be due to the combination of three types of factors (information quality, corporate characteristics, and communication factors), using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis. Our findings confirm the equifinality tenet and the causal asymmetry principle. Very interestingly, in the sufficiency analysis, some factors always appear present (big size, long reports, and many channels of social media used) in the model for IR connectivity whereas in the model for non‐IR connectivity size and report length are always absent though the listing status is always present. This pioneering study is unique and valuable as it opens up a new line of research on IR and social media use, two of the latest trends in company reporting.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20953   open full text
• Social Capital in E‐services Adoption.
  Manuel Rey‐Moreno, Cayetano Medina‐Molina.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Several studies acknowledge social network use's effect on university students’ learning process and that effect's moderating role in e‐learning platform adoption. In line with Social Capital Theory, this study analyzes the differences in e‐learning platform adoption between users of a generic social network, linked to bridging social capital, and users of a study‐specific network, connected to the development of bonding social capital. The results show that a studies‐linked social network has a more significant moderating effect on the relation between some antecedents of intention to use and effective use of e‐learning platforms. Thus, this study advocates for the development and use of studies‐linked social networks as a factor favoring the adoption of e‐learning platforms.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20952   open full text
• Exploring How Video Digital Storytelling Builds Relationship Experiences.
  Rebecca Pera, Giampaolo Viglia.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  The purpose of the paper is to explore how digital storytelling enables a consumer relationship experience in online peer‐to‐peer communities. Within the value cocreation framework, digital storytelling is interpreted as an encounter communication practice where consumers adopt the role of storytellers and story receivers. This study adopts a qualitative multimethod approach to investigate the meanings contained in video stories and the linkage to relationship experience. A case study based on the Airbnb's social platforms was analyzed through the degrees‐of‐freedom analysis instrument (DFA) and through a systematic dimensional qualitative research called BASIC IDS (an acronym for behavior, affect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal relations, drugs, and sociocultural factors) to yield psychological valuable insights into the multidimensional construct of consumer relationship experience. The analysis unveils that, within the social media realm, storytelling enables rational, emotional, and relationship experiences. A relationship experience occurs when members of peer‐to‐peer communities, not only are rationally and emotionally engaged by the story, but are also moved to action going beyond a vicarious role‐taking process. Specifically, relatability, a shared sociocultural background, and the drug dimension conceptualize the consumer relationship experience. Implications build on the need for companies to enhance the power of stories through favoring consumers’ video making and integrating consumers’ flow of stories between multiple social media platforms.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20951   open full text
• Factors for Elderly Use of Social Media for Health‐Related Activities.
  Vinit Parida, Rana Mostaghel, Pejvak Oghazi.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Elderly individuals are increasingly using social media sites to access health‐related information. Using responses from 610 elderly individuals in Sweden to a large‐scale questionnaire survey, this study examines technology acceptance model and sociodemographic factors that positively influence elderly individuals’ use of social media for health‐related activities. The results show evidence of a positive association between general technology use experience, attitudes toward technology use, age, or gender, and the use of social media for health‐related activities. Technology attitudes strengthen the effect on social media use for health‐related activities regarding general use of technology, for older individuals, and among females.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20949   open full text
• Examining the Effects of Online Social Networks and Organizational Learning Capability on Innovation Performance in the Hotel Industry.
  Daniel Palacios‐Marqués, Carlos Devece‐Carañana, Carlos Llopis‐Albert.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of online social networks and organizational learning capability on innovation performance. The paper is theory‐confirming. Theoretical relationships were tested using an empirical study of 202 four‐star and five‐star Spanish hotels. Results confirm that the introduction of online social network use for internal and external cognitive processes positively affects innovation performance. This study highlights the potential as well as the limitations of online social networks and organizational learning capability in promoting innovation capability. Businesses must consciously manage the assimilation and use of online social networks to benefit from them.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20948   open full text
• Social Media Marketing For Adolescents.
  Alicia Mas‐Tur, Ana Tur‐Porcar, Anna Llorca.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This article identifies the family traits that characterize adolescents who use social media. Firms exploit information on traits to tailor their strategies to better target their marketing messages. Firms should capitalize on the fact that active communication with consumers improves their relationships with customers. They need to be aware of possible changes in consumers’ behavior patterns to ensure that they are catering to consumers’ interests and demands. This study used qualitative comparative analysis to examine consumers’ use of social media.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20947   open full text
• Self or Simulacra of Online Reviews: An Empirical Perspective.
  Vivek Kumar Singh, Rohit Nishant, Philip J. Kitchen.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Online user‐generated content includes various forms of computer‐mediated online reviews, ratings, and feedback. The impact of online consumer reviews has been widely studied particularly in e‐commerce, online marketing, and consumer behavior domains using text‐mining and sentiment analysis. Such studies often assume that consumer‐submitted online reviews truly represent consumer experiences, but multiple studies on online social networks suggest otherwise. Drawing from the social network literature, this paper investigates the impact of peers on consumer willingness to write and submit online reviews. An empirical study using data from “Yelp,” a globally used online restaurant review Web site, shows that the number of friends and fans positively impacts the number of online consumer reviews written. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20946   open full text
• Strategizing for Financial Technology Platforms: Findings from Four Russian Case Studies.
  Oksana Kabakova, Evgeny Plaksenkov, Vladimir Korovkin.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This article studies the business strategy of digital financial platforms and creation of ecosystems. The authors assume the general methodological approach of grounded theory to study four cases of financial technology platforms from Russia; the sample represents companies focusing both on solutions for the front end (consumers) and back end (middle of the value chain). The research finds that the top executives of the companies, which create and operate the digital platforms, have an approach to business strategy that is significantly different from that of the traditional business. They defy the pragmatism of predicting the market development and planning the company's actions in accordance with such predictions. Strategic paradigm of these companies is based on the notions of inclusivity, dynamism, and reliance on independent participants of a business ecosystem. Though a radical departure from the traditional business strategy, such an approach has brought demonstrable business success across the time span of a decade. The idea of “platform–ecosystem” can also be fruitful as a tool of solving important socioeconomic issues such as financial inclusion in the emerging markets.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20945   open full text
• Standardization, Adaptation, and Personalization of International Corporate Social Media Communications.
  Leonidas Hatzithomas, Thomas A. Fotiadis, Dafnis N. Coudounaris.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This research examines both the standardization versus adaptation of Vodafone's international corporate social media communications strategy in Study 1 and consumers’ attitudes toward this strategy in Study 2. Study 1 investigates Vodafone's strategy in Facebook through a content analysis and Study 2 focuses on consumers’ attitudes through a qualitative approach of 12 Facebook fans: 6 in the UK and 6 in Greece. The findings reveal that Vodafone implements a local strategy in corporate Facebook campaigns, taking into account the cultural differences between these countries. The results also indicate that the debate on the international corporate Facebook communications strategy should extend beyond the standardization/adaptation dichotomy, pointing out the pivotal role of personalization.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20944   open full text
• Influence of the Virtual Brand Community in Sports Sponsorship.
  Manuel Alonso Dos Santos, Ferran Calabuig Moreno, Francisco Rejón Guardia, Carlos Pérez Campos.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This study explores how the virtual brand community (VBC) of soccer‐team supporters influences the brand's attitude toward sponsorship according to the theory of image transfer. The study provides a comparative analysis using both structural equation modeling (SEM) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). A total of 609 supporters of a professional, first‐division Spanish soccer team provide the data. The results from SEM support the importance of control, attitude toward the team, and identification variables. However, SEM cannot assure the usefulness of variables such as trust and opportunism when evaluating the resulting attitude toward the sponsor. The results from the fuzzy‐set QCA on the same data set show that not all variables are necessary conditions in order to influence sponsorship. The most relevant variables to obtain valid and useful results are control, attitude toward the team, and trust. The combination of attitude toward the team, identification, and trust is also valid. Attitude toward the team and trust variables are present in the two combinations of variables leading to a positive, favorable attitude toward the sponsor, thus reflecting their importance in marketing experts’ assessment of image transmission in professional teams.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20943   open full text
• Exploring Consumer Insights in Wine Marketing: An Ethnographic Research on #Winelovers.
  Maria Teresa Cuomo, Debora Tortora, Giuseppe Festa, Alex Giordano, Gerardino Metallo.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Nowadays social media offer a great opportunity to wineries in order to better understand their customers’ needs, both potential and actual. Especially for winelovers, their collective imagination, expectations, and lifestyle in terms of passion for wine can be continually supervised and used in brand strategies. By collecting these data on Instagram and analyzing them through a netnographic research, the purpose of the present study is to validate the emerging “map of identity” for winelovers as a basis of segmentation in the wine sector. In a second step, the accuracy of the profiles has been tested by distributing a questionnaire both to a specific community of winelovers and to a control group of self‐defined winelovers active on Facebook. The findings underline that winelovers’ identities could be better arranged considering their knowledge and awareness in consumption, even though they clearly represent a basis for further in‐depth researches, interested in exploring attitudes, values, and motivations of winelovers and wine consumers on the Web.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20942   open full text
• Consumer Trust in User‐Generated Brand Recommendations on Facebook.
  Simos Chari, George Christodoulides, Caterina Presi, Jil Wenhold, John P. Casaletto.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  The transparency of social Web paves the way for user‐generated content (UGC) to become a trusted form of brand communication. Research offers little guidance on UGC and trust development in social networking sites (SNS) and has yet to debate the effects of ad‐skepticism in the context of UGC and SNS. This study builds on theory to develop a conceptual framework that yields insights into the development of consumer trust toward user‐generated brand recommendations (UGBR). A set‐theoretic approach using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis is applied to data derived from 303 consumers. The study findings suggest that high levels of trust in UGBR are associated with high levels of trust toward Facebook friends and provide support for the moderating role of ad‐skepticism. Benevolence and integrity are found to be necessary/core conditions for the development of trust toward Facebook friends. Ability and disposition to trust are of peripheral importance. The significance of the findings and their implications are discussed.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20941   open full text
• Motivation Recipes for Brand‐Related Social Media Use: A Boolean—fsQCA Approach.
  Charalampos Saridakis, George Baltas, Pejvak Oghazi, Magnus Hultman.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Social media Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide various means for users to interact with others, by creating, sharing, and commenting on content about anything, including brands and products. Such online brand‐related activities may significantly influence a firm's operations. To effectively manage these influences, marketers should understand consumer's motivations to engage in brand‐related social media use. This paper is one of the very few efforts to come to such an understanding. In this direction, a set‐theoretic comparative approach is implemented—namely, fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis—as a means to capitalize on the merits of both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and provide a more nuanced coverage of how motives and their combinations affect social media use. The results of the proposed approach are compared with the results derived from the implementation of a mainstream quantitative analytical technique (i.e., multiple regression analysis), as well as the results of the qualitative study of Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit ()—the only study so far examining different types of brand‐related social media use and their motivations. By examining motivations for the full spectrum of social media use types (i.e., consuming, contributing and creating), the paper provides marketers and brand managers with valuable insights into online consumer behavior in a social media dominated era.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20940   open full text
• Cross‐cultural Perceptions of Onshore Guided Tours: A Qualitative Approach Based on eWOM.
  Daniela Buzova, Silvia Sanz‐Blas, Amparo Cervera‐Taulet.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  Recognizing the importance of the study of guided tour experiences and being aware of the cross‐cultural variations of services’ perceptions, the purpose of this article is to examine if cruise tourists from the two main generating markets (Europe and North America) perceive differently a port of call guided tour based on the content of the eWOM generated. The data set was comprised of 334 reviews on guided tours undertaken in Spanish ports of call and published during the period 2009–2015 on the major travel Web site Tripadvisor. The thematic content analysis of the data was performed using the text mining software Leximancer. The results yielded different pictures for the experiences described by both cultures, with Europeans valuing the tour in terms of efficiency and North Americans praising guide's performance and tailor‐made tour services. Based on these findings, practical implications are discussed.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20939   open full text
• eWOM on Travel Agency Selection: Specialized versus Private Label.
  Enrique Bigné, Eva‐María Caplliure, María‐José Miquel.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  In the travel industry, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) elicits a major influence on consumers’ decision making. Travel retailers are facing the new challenges derived from the different nature of their competitors—big hypermarkets, for instance, are extending their brands to travel services—and the challenges derived from online comments that consumers have access to. With a sample of 263 tourists, and using a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis data analysis, this paper shows how the selection between a specialized travel agency and a private label (PL) agency is influenced by five factors: the usefulness attached to online reviews by users and the valence of those online reviews, attitude and experience with PL, and the individual's value consciousness. The contribution of this paper not only comes from the novelty of considering PL in the context of travel agencies, but also from using a relatively novel data analysis approach useful for analyzing management issues.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20938   open full text
• Social Networks on Cashback Websites.
  María Teresa Ballestar, Jorge Sainz, Joan Torrent‐Sellens.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  The relevance of Cashback sites as a profitable business model has grown considerably over the last decade, where customer's social networks have been one of the most important keys of success. Hence, the success of cashback websites business model not only lays on strategies such as offering a wide portfolio of affiliate merchants and competitive cashbacks per transaction to attract new customers, but also on their ability of engaging them and enrolling new target customers through recommendation in a word‐of‐mouth marketing strategy. By a applying this kind of strategies, both the recommender and the referee benefit from referee's transactions in the network, meaning that benefits for customers and companies grow at the same time that the customer's social network grows and become more active. Consequently, this research focuses on the analysis of the impact of customer's social network on cashback websites from two different perspectives. From the customer's perspective, determining the impact of the social network composition and their activity in customer's benefits of cashback. Second, the research focuses on the ecommerce's perspective, testing which kind of customers, characterized by whether they have social network or not, are more profitable to the brand in terms of purchase behavior and loyalty. The findings are a step forward to understand customer behaviour and the relevance of social networks on cashback websites business model and help the companies to establish the basis to develop new digital marketing strategies less concentrated in media advertisements and oriented to increase customer acquisition, retention, and profitability.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20937   open full text
• Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review and Implications.
  Helena Alves, Cristina Fernandes, Mário Raposo.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This study carries out content analysis and systemizes articles on social media marketing in the Web of Science database. Forty‐four studies were analyzed in accordance with a variation on the systematic review approach, involving synthesis‐ and interpretation‐based assessment. The results demonstrate how most of the studies analyzed focus on the consumer perspective in terms of usage, share, and influence of social media on consumer decisions, and perceptions. The studies focusing on the firm's perspective centered not only on the usage of social media, but also on their implementation, optimization, and measurement of results. The majority of studies are quantitative and published in recent years. This study not only reached certain conclusions for both theory and practice, but also defined future lines of research according to the gaps detected by the study's results.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20936   open full text
• The Role of Qualitative Research in Current Digital Social Media: Issues and Aspects—An Introduction.
  Helena Martins Gonçalves, Andrea Rey‐Martí, Norat Roig‐Tierno, Morgan P. Miles.
  Psychology and Marketing. November 11, 2016
  This paper introduces current research that focuses on the role of qualitative research in social media including the new ways of marketing promotion, participation, and interaction enabled by social media. The articles included in this special issue of Psychology & Marketing were selected from papers submitted to the 6th Global Innovation and Knowledge Academy (GIKA) conference held in March 2016 in Valencia, Spain. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the contributions of these articles to understanding social media's impact on the ability of organizations to better engage with and market to customers.

  November 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20935   open full text
• Online Review Helpfulness: Role of Qualitative Factors.
  Arpita Agnihotri, Saurabh Bhattacharya.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  Consumers are increasingly reading online reviews before making any purchasing decisions. The significance of online reviews has only grown over the years. Though in the past, scholars have emphasized the impact of quantitative factors (e.g., review ratings) on online reviews, only recently have they begun to explore the role of qualitative aspects of online reviews. Content readability and associated sentiments in text provide two important qualitative cues that influence the helpfulness of online reviews. However, the extant literature has overemphasized the linear association between these aspects and the helpfulness of reviews. Using the elaboration likelihood model and the classic ideal point concept, the current work asserts that after an ideal point is attained, lucid and sentimental reviews diminish in utility (i.e., helpfulness of an online review for consumers decreases). This may happen because consumers are wary of fraudulent reviews. This study proposes that if experienced reviewers give such extreme reviews, then consumers might still draw utility from these reviews. In other words, this study explains the moderating role of reviewer experience, which heuristically influences consumers’ trust of online reviews, thus making even too simplistic or extremely sentimental reviews helpful.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20934   open full text
• A Comprehensive Typology of Prepurchase, External Information Searchers.
  Denver D'Rozario.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  Various studies in the information search literature in the past have uncovered differing sets of prepurchase external‐information search patterns exhibited by individuals. However, across all these studies there has been little consistency not only in these reported patterns, but also in the terminology used to describe each of them. This paper seeks to address this major gap in the literature. Based on an exhaustive review of the prior empirical literature on prepurchase information search patterns, for the first time in the literature, a comprehensive supertypology is proposed in this paper that accounts for all the searcher types reported in this prior literature. Further, also for the first time in the literature, this paper seeks to explain these searcher types using an accepted theoretical framework. As must be pointed out, all of the prior searcher types uncovered (and reviewed in this paper) were empirically driven and devoid of theory. In this paper, also for the first time in the literature, testable, theory‐based propositions are developed for each searcher type in the proposed typology. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion as to why this typology is needed and how it could be used by practitioners and theoreticians in marketing.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20933   open full text
• Legacy Writing and the Consumption of Biographic Services.
  Samuel Guillemot, Bertrand Urien.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  This study focuses on legacy writing and the development of the life‐history business (e.g., family ghostwriters and writing workshops). A theoretical model is proposed to study the underlying mental processes that lead the elderly to consume such services. This model was empirically tested on a sample of 392 individuals aged from 60 to 92 years. Results highlighted the following: the role of generativity and death preparation reminiscence on identity preservation issues in later life, the strong desire to contribute to collective memories (i.e., to reach people outside of the family circle), and the social nature of the consumption of services that could be considered as a means of sharing emotions. The results of this study will lead to a more in‐depth understanding of consumer behavior regarding the transmission and preservation of the self at end of life, and may also help service providers to improve their products and services.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20931   open full text
• An Evolutionary Process Model of Cause‐Related Marketing and Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature.
  Barbara A. Lafferty, Annika K. Lueth, Ryan McCafferty.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  Cause‐related marketing (CRM) is almost ubiquitous as brands of all price points participate in this marketing strategy in the United States and internationally, as well. The value that CRM brings to the firm, the consumer, and the nonprofit organization has made it a popular and valuable tool for marketers. Academic research on CRM has gained momentum in recent years as the strategy has matured. However, insights have occurred without a framework to provide structure and direction for this body of research. Given CRM's continued popularity, the purpose of this article is to (1) propose an evolutionary process model (EPM) of CRM to explain the iterative process (2) utilize this model as a framework for (a) organizing the systematic review of the empirical literature on CRM and (b) for identifying some gaps in the literature. Propositions based on these gaps are provided for future research.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20930   open full text
• Effects of Lightness‐Location Congruency on Consumers’ Purchase Decision‐Making.
  Tsutomu Sunaga, Jaewoo Park, Charles Spence.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  A considerable body of psychological and neuroscientific research has demonstrated the existence of robust sensory correspondences between various features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities. Despite findings indicating the importance of sensory correspondences to human information processing, research on purchase decision‐making has not to date focused sufficiently on this phenomenon. The present study examines how the lightness of packaging colors, and the location of products on a display shelf interact to affect consumers’ purchase decision‐making via perceived visual heaviness. As predicted, a display with light (dark) colored products positioned in the upper (lower) shelf positions increases shoppers’ perceptual fluency and facilitates their visual search, thus leading to the suggestion that “light” (heavy) locations are most appropriate for light (dark) colored products. Moreover, the lightness‐location congruent display is shown to influence people's choice behavior positively as well. This research also demonstrates that when consumers consider the lightness (in terms of their weight) of the products, they are more likely to choose light (vs. dark) colored products located in the upper shelf positions. These results therefore demonstrate that consumers’ purchase decision‐making may be promoted by in‐store environments designed to be congruent with their sensory correspondences.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20929   open full text
• The Influence of Regulatory Focus on the Effect of Product Cues.
  Doori Song, Cynthia R. Morton.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which informational cues interact with individuals’ motivational states during their evaluation of a product. This article confirms the interaction effects between informational cues and motivational states by examining product attributes and advertising appeals as informational cues, and regulatory focus as a motivational state. The results from three studies indicate that consumers with promotion focus find extrinsic cues as more important and have more favorable evaluation toward a product with superior extrinsic cues. Prevention‐focused consumers, however, perceive intrinsic cues of a product as more important, and thus have more favorable evaluation toward a product with superior intrinsic cues.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20928   open full text
• Consumer Regulation Strategies: Attenuating the Effect of Consumer References in a Voting Context.
  Jodie Whelan, Miranda R. Goode, June Cotte, Matthew Thomson.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  Consumption cues (e.g., brands, money, and advertisements) can have powerful effects on cognition, perception, and behavior, yet how people regulate responses to such cues is not well understood. This is surprising given that consumption cues are increasingly present in nontraditional consumer contexts, such as healthcare, education, and politics. This research develops a measure of two types of consumer regulation strategies, cue‐based and budget‐based (studies 1–4), and demonstrates that these strategies influence how people respond to consumption cues in a political context (study 5). Specifically, in a study involving the 2012 American Presidential Election, priming survey participants as consumers (versus citizens) influenced both voting intentions and self‐reported voting behavior, and the newly developed consumer regulation scale was instrumental in detecting this effect. These findings suggest there may be merit in the escalating debate and concern over referring to voters as consumers.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20927   open full text
• The Effects of Product Placement in Fictitious Literature on Consumer Purchase Intention.
  Terrence M. Barnhardt, Isabel Manzano, Maria Brito, Melissa Myrick, Steven M. Smith.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 12, 2016
  Three experiments tested whether brand‐name products placed in a short story would be more often selected when two identical products with different brand names were presented in either a picture or text format in forced choice purchase intention and placement recognition tests. In Experiments 1a and 1b, there was no significant influence of product placement in a pictorial purchase intention task. However, in Experiments 2a and 2b, a reliable and equal level of recognition memory was observed, regardless of whether the products were presented in a picture (Exp. 2a) or text (Exp. 2b) format. In Experiment 3, the products were presented in a text format in the purchase intention task and participants more often and more quickly chose the brand‐name product from the story. At a practical level, these results suggest some limits to the usefulness of product placement in text.

  October 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20926   open full text
• Determinants for Effects of Celebrity Negative Information: When to Terminate a Relationship with a Celebrity Endorser in Trouble?
  Nam‐Hyun Um, Sojung Kim.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  This study examines three factors that influence consumers’ brand evaluation and purchase intention under negative celebrity information. The study is designed to investigate the effects of consumers’ perceived associative strength between celebrity endorser and brand, the role of congruence between a celebrity endorser's negative information and his/her endorsed brand, and the effects of consumers’ level of brand commitment. The study's findings suggest that congruence or “fit” between a celebrity endorser's negative information and an endorsed brand moderates a consumers’ evaluation of brand and purchase intentions. The study finds that a strong associative link between the brand and the celebrity endorser leads to lower brand evaluation as well as lower purchase intention. It also finds that consumers with a higher level of brand commitment are less likely to react negatively to a celebrity's bad publicity than are consumers with a lower level of brand commitment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20923   open full text
• Effects of Product Option Framing and Temporal Distance on Consumer Choice: The Moderating Role of Process versus Outcome Mental Simulations.
  Mingying Lu, William Jen.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  This research demonstrates that the type of product option framing (additive vs. subtractive) and the temporal distance between an option choice and later buying behavior can influence decision difficulty. In two studies, the authors show that consumers who engage in additive option framing experience greater difficulty in making decisions for the near future than for the distant future, whereas consumers who engage in subtractive option framing experience greater difficulty in making decisions for the distant future than for the near future. In addition, by using theories of mental simulation, the authors show that communication strategies that promote process simulations for distant‐future choices in the subtractive option framing condition and those that promote outcome simulations for near‐future choices in the additive option framing condition are most effective in reducing decision difficulty. These effects hold across varying product categories and varying option prices.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20921   open full text
• Male–Male Status Signaling through Favoring Organic Foods: Is the Signaler Perceived and Treated as a Friend or a Foe?
  Petteri Puska, Sami Kurki, Merja Lähdesmäki, Marjo Siltaoja, Harri Luomala.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  Even though consumers’ status signaling is a heavily researched topic, empirical contributions from two important research areas—the mundane food context and prosocial status signaling between male consumers—to signaling literature are still scarce. Thus, this study empirically investigates how a male signaling about his status through favoring organic foods is perceived and treated by other males in two different sociocultural settings (urban vs. rural). In an urban area—but not in a rural—the pro‐organic signaler was perceived as more respected, altruistic, and affluent than a male who did not signal about this (he also received statistically more money in a charity donation task). This may indicate that signaling about this tendency—because it can be viewed as use of one's own resources for the benefit of others—is not only a way to attain status, but can also make others behave more positively toward the signaler.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20922   open full text
• To Be or Not to Be in Thrall to the March of Smart Products.
  Fiona Schweitzer, Ellis A. den Hende.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  This article explores how perceived disempowerment impacts the intention to adopt smart autonomous products. Empirically, the paper builds on three studies to show this impact. Study 1 explores the relevance of the perceived disempowerment in respect of smart autonomous products. Study 2 manipulates autonomy of smart products and finds that perceived disempowerment mediates the link between smart products’ autonomy and adoption intention. Study 3 indicates that an intervention design―that is, a product design that allows consumers to intervene in the actions of an autonomous smart product―can reduce their perceived disempowerment in respect of autonomous smart products. Further, Study 3 reveals that personal innovativeness moderates the role that an intervention design plays in product adoption: an intervention design shows a positive effect on adoption intention for individuals with low personal innovativeness, but for those with high personal innovativeness no effect of an intervention design is present on adoption intention. The authors suggest that managers consider consumers’ perceived disempowerment when designing autonomous smart products, because (1) perceived disempowerment reduces adoption and (2) when targeted at consumers with low personal innovativeness, an intervention design reduces their perceived disempowerment.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20920   open full text
• Considering the Role of Affect and Anticipated Emotions in the Formation of Consumer Loyalty Intentions.
  Steven A. Taylor, Chiharu Ishida, Leigh Anne Novak Donovan.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  Ajzen and Sheikh () recently challenge calls for adding explicit measures of emotions or affect as independent constructs into the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). This assertion has potentially significant theoretical and operational implications for marketers in terms of parsimony and insight. The specific questions of whether or not the addition of anticipated forms of emotions and/or hedonic attitudes to traditional attitude‐based models meaningfully contributes to understanding loyalty intention formation in a retail marketing setting are empirically assessed in this research. Results suggest that, consistent with the arguments of Perugini and Bagozzi (), the independent addition of anticipated emotions (AEs) to attitude models such as the TRA, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Model of Goal‐Directed Behavior (MGB) can be justified in terms of model fit with data, predictive validity (∆R2), and efficacy in explanation. Interestingly, however, and consistent with the theoretical arguments underlying the TRA, the models receiving the most overall support appear to be models wherein AttitudeOverall mediates the contributions of positive and negative AEs on endogenous variables such as Desires and IntentionsLoyalty. While it remains up to the individual marketer which perspective to embrace given the observed gains reported herein, the present research also supports the notion that the addition of hedonic attitude forms and/or AEs can offer an overall net gain for many marketers. The managerial and research implications of the results are discussed.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20919   open full text
• Hippies, Greenies, and Tree Huggers: How the “Warmth” Stereotype Hinders the Adoption of Responsible Brands.
  Paolo Antonetti, Stan Maklan.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  Past research has highlighted the difficulty faced by responsible consumers, individuals who wish to make environmentally and socially responsible consumption choices. Individual buyers, it is argued, act within a network of structural and social relationships that make responsible alternatives intrinsically hard to pursue. This paper maintains that one such barrier is the perception that users of responsible brands are not worthy of social emulation. Consumers are less likely to adopt brands positioned explicitly on their positive environmental or social credentials because of the stereotypes attached to the users of these products. Two empirical studies demonstrate that users of responsible brands are perceived as stereotypically warm. Warmth, however, is not an appealing feature in a consumption context. Warm groups are not envied and envy plays a central role in fueling a desire to emulate a consumption group. The study is the first to examine the possibility that a group‐level stereotype limits the potential attractiveness of responsible brands. The significant implications of this insight for both scholarly research and marketing practice are examined in detail. The presence of a warmth stereotype, which has a negative influence on the social perception of responsible brands, suggests that the development of niches of responsible or ethical consumers is intrinsically problematic.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20918   open full text
• Reinforcing Lessons for Business from the Marketing Revolution in U.S. Presidential Politics: A Strategic Triad.
  Bruce I. Newman.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 08, 2016
  The role of marketing in presidential politics in the United States has introduced lessons for marketing executives on how to more effectively build up brand loyalty and fend off competition. The same technological breakthroughs in marketing that have powered corporate America were used by the Obama presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2012 to microtarget potential donors and voters, carry out massive fund‐raising campaigns, and energize a base of citizens through newly minted movements at a level of sophistication not witnessed previously in other sectors. The same techniques continued to be used in the 2016 presidential campaign, and the paradigm shift in marketing put forward in this article is represented with the introduction of a Strategic Triad that integrates the use of Big Data, microtargeting, and social media by organizations in the political, for‐profit, and nonprofit sectors.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20917   open full text
• Nanoimplants that Enhance Human Capabilities: A Cognitive‐Affective Approach to Assess Individuals’ Acceptance of this Controversial Technology.
  Eva Reinares‐Lara, Cristina Olarte‐Pascual, Jorge Pelegrín‐Borondo, Giovanni Pino.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  Nanotechnology enables the miniaturization of complex devices designed to enhance individuals’ physical and cognitive capabilities and, in the form of nanoimplants, their integration in the human body. It is unknown, however, whether people are willing or not to accept such devices. To shed light on this issue, this research used an extended version of the well‐known technology acceptance model (TAM), adding affective factors to the cognitive components already present in the model. Testing on a sample of 600 individuals yielded statistically significant effects on attitudes toward nanoimplants and intention to undergo nanoimplantation. Conclusions are drawn and implications are discussed.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20911   open full text
• One For Me, One For You: Cause‐Related Marketing with Buy‐One Give‐One Promotions.
  Anne Hamby.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  A Buy‐one Give‐one (BOGO) donation model features the donation of a physical entity and is a popular cause‐related marketing (CM) promotion format. Little is known about factors that underlie consumer response to BOGO‐format promotions. The current studies, collectively, indicate BOGO promotions evoke a concrete construal mindset [(Trope & Liberman ). Temporal construal. Psychological Review, 110, 403–421], which influences consumer response in a distinct manner: BOGO promotions enhance promotion attitudes and purchase intention when bundled with utilitarian products, and enhance consumer response through perceived helpfulness of the donated entity.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20910   open full text
• Reconsidering the Role of Fit in Celebrity Endorsement: Associative‐Propositional Evaluation (APE) Accounts of Endorsement Effectiveness.
  Yonghwan Chang, Yong Jae Ko.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  This study is designed to fill any explanatory gaps that have been traditionally underexplored when considering the interplay of implicit/automatic/unconscious and explicit/deliberate/conscious attitudes in the context of celebrity endorsement. The main experiment employed single target‐implicit association test as a measure of implicit attitudes. The key finding of the study is that the experimental condition where the fit between the celebrity and the endorsed product was low induced favorable implicit and explicit attitudes, similar to the condition where the fit was high. The explanation for this finding was that dissonance enhanced the association strength of the attitude object through biased attention and elaboration, which provided a basis for favorable propositions. In propositional reasoning, retroactive confirmation of the favorable implicit attitudes resolved dissonance. This study seeks to go beyond the existing endorsement and sponsorship literature developed based on matching principles such as source models, match‐up hypothesis, the congruity theory, and associative network models. The authors recommend that managers search for more creative and novel partners in addition to image‐matching ones.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20909   open full text
• Materialism, Status Consumption, and Market Involved Consumers.
  Leisa Reinecke Flynn, Ronald E. Goldsmith, Wesley Pollitte.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  Materialism has by all accounts an important impact on many aspects of consumer behavior. The psychological mechanisms through which materialism influences behavior, however, are not well studied. This paper describes a study of the influence of materialism on shopping intensity and amount of spending that takes into account the mediating influences of three important consumer characteristics: status consumption, brand engagement in self‐concept, and market mavenism. The researchers fit a model of these relationships based on the Meta‐theoretic Model of Motivation (3M) model to data from a sample of 351 adult U.S. consumers. The model fit the data well, and the results showed that indeed, status consumption, brand engagement, and market mavenism mediate at least partially the influence of materialism on shopping and spending.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20915   open full text
• The Effects of Negatively Valenced Emotional Expressions in Online Reviews on the Reviewer, the Review, and the Product.
  Judith Anne Garretson Folse, McDowell Porter III, Mousumi Bose Godbole, Kristy E. Reynolds.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  The authors examine the effects of negatively valenced emotional expressions (NVEE; e.g., intense language, all caps, exclamation points, emoticons) in online reviews and reveal important boundary conditions for their effects. Specifically, Study 1 showed that NVEE directly promote review helpfulness and damage attitude toward the product when used by experts. In contrast, for novices, their use of NVEE was considered a poor reflection on them and failed to directly affect attitude toward the product. Further, attributions of reviewer rationality and trustworthiness were positively associated with review helpfulness and attitude toward the product. Interestingly, language complexity is a trigger to reverse the effects, as found in Study 2. For novices (experts), the adverse effect on trustworthiness is eliminated (introduced) but the adverse effect on attitude toward the product is introduced (eliminated) when they include more complex language accompanied by NVEE in their online reviews. Both studies uncover when source discounting is active for experts and novices, making them equally influential in some cases. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20914   open full text
• Face and Emotion Recognition on Commercial Property under EU Data Protection Law.
  Peter Lewinski, Jan Trzaskowski, Joasia Luzak.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  This paper integrates and cuts through domains of privacy law and biometrics. Specifically, this paper presents a legal analysis on the use of Automated Facial Recognition Systems (the AFRS) in commercial (retail store) settings within the European Union data protection framework. The AFRS is a typical instance of biometric technologies, where a distributed system of dozens of low‐cost cameras uses psychological states, sociodemographic characteristics, and identity recognition algorithms on thousands of passers‐by and customers. Current use cases and theoretical possibilities are discussed due to the technology's potential of becoming a substantial privacy issue. First, this paper introduces the AFRS and EU data protection law. This is followed by an analysis of European Data protection law and its application in relation to the use of the AFRS, including requirements concerning data quality and legitimate processing of personal data, which, finally, leads to an overview of measures that traders can take to comply with data protection law, including by means of information, consent, and anonymization.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20913   open full text
• What Did You Do to My Brand? The Moderating Effect of Brand Nostalgia on Consumer Responses to Changes in a Brand.
  Alison B. Shields, Jennifer Wiggins Johnson.
  Psychology and Marketing. August 10, 2016
  Previous research on consumer nostalgia has concluded that nostalgic feelings primarily have a positive effect on consumers, boosting positive feelings and affective responses. However, evidence suggests that consumers who hold nostalgic feelings toward a specific brand sometimes respond negatively to updated or modified versions of the brand. This research tests the moderating effect of consumers’ brand nostalgia on their responses to changes to a brand. Across four studies, the authors find that consumers who are nostalgic toward a specific brand exhibit a positive bias toward the original version of the brand that leads them to perceive the brand as having changed more than do less nostalgic consumers. Further, when the change to the brand is perceived to be large, individuals who are highly nostalgic for a brand show a significantly sharper decrease in reported attitude and behavioral intentions toward the changed brand than do their less nostalgic counterparts. This effect is in opposition to the positive effects of a general tendency toward nostalgia proneness. These results are replicated across multiple product categories and both manipulated and real changes, and the effect is found to be mediated by the consumer's biased perception of how much the brand has changed.

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20912   open full text
• Nanomarketing: A New Frontier for Neuromarketing.
  Antonio Mileti, Gianluigi Guido, M. Irene Prete.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  The emergence of neuromarketing has significantly advanced conventional marketing research, illuminating how unconscious responses and emotions impact consumers’ perceptions and decision‐making processes. Neuromarketing is founded on the assumption that individual sensory and motor systems can be identified in specific networks of brain cells, the observation of which can reveal the unconscious or emotional characteristics of consumer decision making. Yet, neuromarketing technologies present several limitations that can impede the extension and validation of their application: (i) the development of high‐priced and time‐restricted neuroimaging experiments; (ii) the employment of large and immovable devices confined to artificial laboratory environments; (iii) the use of a single neuroimaging technology at a time (usually the functional magnetic resonance imaging); (iv) the use of a single nonneuroimaging device at a time; and (v) the potentially unethical manipulation of research subjects. One way to address these issues involves nanotechnologies, which present a ground‐breaking opportunity for neuromarketing research. These technologies encompass not only the traditional notion of structures, devices, and systems created by limiting shape and size at the nanometer scale, but also the new miniaturized tools based on one or more nanocomponents. The integration of neuromarketing and nanotechnologies could start a new field of research, which is termed here nanomarketing. Nanomarketing makes it possible to: (i) carry out noninvasive and nonintrusive experiments in shopping places; (ii) monitor consumers’ mental processes in real time; (iii) combine different technologies to corroborate results obtained by different neuroscientific tools; (iv) integrate neurophysiological field indicators with laboratory neuroimaging results; and (v) highlight ethical issues raised by the use of these novel, portable, and easy‐to‐use nanodevices. This study thus has a twofold aim: (i) investigating both the limitations and opportunities, for researchers and practitioners, that accompany the miniaturization process and application of nanotechnologies to neuromarketing; and (ii) providing a critical review of the aforementioned limitations, highlighting the theoretical and managerial implications, and summarizing the discussion for future research.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20907   open full text
• Brand Ownership As a Central Component of Adolescent Self‐esteem: The Development of a New Self‐esteem Scale.
  Katja Isaksen, Stuart Roper.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  This article outlines the development of a new scale to measure adolescent self‐esteem. The new scale addresses weaknesses in existing measures that have failed to consider the growth of the consumer society in the Western world and the impact of this on the formation of adolescent self‐esteem. The development of this scale includes extensive qualitative research with over 100 high school pupils, which led to a series of quantitative data collection and analysis processes to develop the scale. In the final stage, data were collected from 889 pupils and analyzed to confirm the validity and reliability of the new measure. The result of this work is a 21‐item self‐esteem scale comprising of four distinct, yet interrelated factors: self‐evaluation, social ability, social comparison effects, and notably, brand ownership. The findings provide an updated and upgraded measure of self‐esteem that takes into consideration the specific audience of adolescents living in a consumer culture. The scale development process demonstrates that when considering the formation of self‐esteem, the influence of the use and possession of commercial brands is as relevant as the traditional factors/components such as academic achievement or sporting prowess.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20906   open full text
• The Role of Anticipated Emotions in Purchase Intentions.
  Richard P. Bagozzi, Daniel Belanche, Luis V. Casaló, Carlos Flavián.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  Key personal inputs to decision making reside in expectations about whether a purchase or nonpurchase will make one feel better. Integrating several theoretical approaches, this research proposes a holistic framework formed by four kinds of anticipated emotions (AEs) resulting from the crossing of positive‐ or negative‐valenced emotions with action or inaction. Specifically, this research proposes that consumers under a purchase scenario tend to consider positive and negative AEs of both purchase and nonpurchase in their decisions. Research in this area to date has been sparse and focused mostly on AEs with regard to purchase, but not nonpurchase. The results of four studies confirm that AEs influence purchase decisions in a coordinated way depending on their instrumentality, motivating purchase or nonpurchase. AEs also partially mediate the effect of outcome valence on purchase decisions. Taking the status quo bias as a theoretical basis, this work proposes that the amount of information of favorable and unfavorable outcome messages has a greater influence on AEs motivating purchase than AEs motivating nonpurchase. Finally, future research lines are proposed to expand the use of this fourfold framework and more generally to understand the role of forward‐looking emotions in decision processes.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20905   open full text
• Investigating the Pleasures of Sin: The Contingent Role of Arousal‐Seeking Disposition in Consumers' Evaluations of Vice and Virtue Product Offerings.
  Swati Verma, Abhijit Guha, Abhijit Biswas.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  Mixed bundles of vice and virtue are an increasingly important product category. However, many mixed bundles fail in the marketplace, and so it is important to examine how consumers evaluate such mixed bundles. This paper examines consumers' affective responses and consequent purchase evaluations for a mixed vice‐virtue bundle versus a pure vice product. Results of Study 1 show that purchase intentions are higher for a pure vice product versus a mixed product; also, increased purchase intentions are mediated by differences in arousal. Given that consumers differ in their arousal‐seeking dispositions, results of Studies 2 and 3 show that individual differences in arousal‐seeking moderate the relationship between product type (pure vice product vs. mixed product) and purchase intentions, with arousal‐seeking consumers preferring pure vice bundles, and arousal‐avoidant consumers preferring mixed bundles. This paper contributes to theory on mixed vice‐virtue bundles, and also provides pointers on how to better market mixed bundles.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20904   open full text
• Pleasure and the Control of Food Intake: An Embodied Cognition Approach to Consumer Self‐Regulation.
  Olivia Petit, Frédéric Basso, Dwight Merunka, Charles Spence, Adrian David Cheok, Olivier Oullier.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  Consumers try to avoid temptation when exposed to appetizing foods by diverting their attention away from their senses (e.g., sight, smell, mouthfeel) and bodily states (e.g., state of arousal, salivation) in order to focus on their longer term goals (e.g., eating healthily, achieving an ideal body weight). However, when not including sensations in their decision‐making processes, consumers risk depleting their self‐regulatory resources, potentially leading to unhealthy food choices. Conversely, based on the concept of “embodied self‐regulation,” the suggestion is made that considering bodily states may help consumers regulate their food choices more effectively. A new model is proposed that facilitates understanding observed consumer behavior and the success or failure of self‐control in food intake. It is argued that bodily states and sensory information should be considered when modeling consumer behavior and developing health‐related advocacy and communication campaigns. The model proposed here leads to new perspectives on consumer consumption behavior and health policy research and strategies.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20903   open full text
• To Choose (Not) to Eat Healthy: Social Norms, Self‐affirmation, and Food Choice.
  Aarti S. Ivanic.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  With the rise of obesity in America, especially within the African‐American community, it is essential to identify strategies to encourage healthier food choices. Limited research has examined what, apart from socioeconomic indicators and targeted marketing, affects African Americans’ food choice. The current research explores how a self‐focus or racial group‐focus, in the absence of explicit eating‐norm primes, social influence, and identity threats, affects food choices and this varies by race. A group‐focus leads African Americans (Caucasians) to demonstrate unhealthy (healthy) food choices. On the contrary, a self‐focus leads African Americans to demonstrate healthier preferences while there is no change in Caucasians’ food preferences. Additionally, the current research shows how self‐affirmation, in the absence of threat, can be an effective mechanism for behavior change, for both African Americans and Caucasians. Affirming valued self‐attributes, after a group‐focus, leads to healthier food choices for individuals of both races. These findings are important as they may help identify ways to increase healthier nutrition choices in general and specifically for African Americans. Potential marketing strategies are discussed.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20902   open full text
• Saying “No” to Cake or “Yes” to Kale: Approach and Avoidance Strategies in Pursuit of Health Goals.
  Meredith E. David, Kelly L. Haws.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 08, 2016
  In developing plans for achieving health‐related goals, two fundamentally different strategies are often used: focusing on healthy foods that one should include in their diet, such as kale (referred to as “approach”), and focusing on unhealthy foods that one should exclude from their diet, such as cake (referred to as “avoidance”). The present research examines the differential effectiveness of approach‐ and avoidance‐based strategies across levels of self‐control, highlighting differences in food choices. The results reveal that those low in self‐control focus on avoidance items they really like and approach items that are less appealing, while those higher in self‐control show an opposite pattern, leading to more‐motivating plans. In addition, the results show that the self‐control by strategy type interaction on liking leads to differences in propensity to choose healthy items. Overall, this research highlights the importance of understanding differences in the implementation of commonly recommended strategies to improve one's health and wellness.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20901   open full text
• The Effects of Impression Management on Coupon Redemption across Cultures.
  Claire Heeryung Kim, Youjae Yi.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  This research examines the effects of impression management on consumers’ coupon redemption and suggests different underlying mechanisms with respect to cultural self‐construal. Four studies show that, when primed with impression management, individualistic (vs. collectivistic) consumers are more likely to redeem coupons, because individualists believe that coupon redemption creates the impression of being smart. On the other hand, collectivistic consumers are less likely to redeem coupons when coupon usage is visible to others, because they believe that coupon redemption gives the impression of being cheap. These findings are explained within the context of cultural self‐construal and regulatory focus theory.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20898   open full text
• Franchising in Europe: Exploring the Case of Spain with Self‐organizing Time Maps.
  Esther Calderon‐Monge, Iván Pastor‐Sanz, Domingo Ribeiro‐Soriano.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  Economic crises affect both the organizational side and the brand side of the franchise. Using self‐organizing time maps, this study examines how franchise brand behavior influences decisions by potential franchisees in Spain. The findings confirm that franchising offers an alternative to the business turnaround strategy, which firms apply when faced with adverse changes in the environment such as those caused by the economic crisis in Spain. Results show that all franchise brands within the same sector behaved similarly, except for brands in the catering sector, which displayed varying responses to the economic changes. The authors discuss the implications of these results for future franchisees.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20897   open full text
• Customer Referral Reward–Brand–Fit: A Schema Congruity Perspective.
  Christian Stumpf, Matthias Baum.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  Customer referral programs (CRPs) are widely applied as an effective means to stimulate word‐of‐mouth. While previous research mainly focuses on CRPs’ impact of acquiring new customers, this study introduces referral programs as a strategic brand management tool. In doing so, this article emphasizes what has been largely neglected by scholars: A “recommenders‐perspective.” Guided by two competing theoretical perspectives, this article proposes that the perceived congruity between a reward and the recommended brand is an essential driver of referral program performance outcomes. The results show that rewards that conform to the image of the recommended brand yield more favorable reward attractiveness perceptions. Furthermore, the authors show that reward attractiveness perceptions inevitably affect the brand customers are asked to recommend in exchange for receiving this reward. The research reported here extends the literature on judgmental evaluations resulting from schema‐based processing and provides novel insights into the design of CRPs.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20896   open full text
• Empathic Relationships in Professional Services and the Moderating Role of Relationship Age.
  Isabelle Weißhaar, Frank Huber.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  Empathy has been identified as a key success factor for employees who interact with customers. Despite its overall relevance, only a few studies have acknowledged its multidimensional nature. Knowledge remains scarce about the relative impact of cognitive and affective empathy on relational outcomes. In addition, few pieces of research have explicitly acknowledged empathy as theorized within stage‐models focusing on the communication of empathy. The authors conceptualize empathy as a multidimensional construct perceived by the client. Empathy has to be communicated to be effective, while customers’ perceptions of empathy may also be more complex as they distinguish between cognitive and affective empathy. This article investigates the effects of perspective taking, emotional concern, and emotional contagion on trust and commitment. Drawing upon relationship stage concepts, the authors further argue that the influence is moderated by relationship age. Finally, this study investigates if employees benefit from being perceived as empathic partners in terms of “hard facts” (objective sales performance). Based on a data set from 215 business clients of a large consulting firm, this study adopts a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach by using multigroup analysis. To test the empathy–performance link, the authors aggregate customer responses nested in 84 employees and link perceived empathy with performance data. The results show that within B2B relationships, perspective taking exerts the strongest influence on trust, whereas emotional concern is the strongest driver for commitment. The results also confirm the moderating role of relationship age and that perspective taking leads to an increase in actual sales performance. This study underpins the relevance of empathy within services marketing, while providing a more detailed approach to account for empathy as a relation building tool. Practical and academic implications are also addressed.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20895   open full text
• Anticipatory Savoring and Consumption: Just Thinking about That First Bite of Chocolate Fills You Up Faster.
  Iain R. Black, Charles S. Areni.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  Two laboratory studies examine how consumers adjust their eating to the size of the portion they expect to receive. Participants who knew in advance that they would receive six pieces of chocolate waited less time before eating each piece and ate more pieces than participants who expected to receive only two pieces when they started, even though both groups were ultimately offered six pieces. In the second study, natural variance in how long participants waited before tasting the chocolates was negatively related to how many additional pieces they thought they could eat after finishing the last piece. These results suggest that increasing the interval prior to taking the first bite of a piece of chocolate reduced overall consumption. When consumers focus their attention on eating, the interval before taking the first bite captures anticipatory savoring—psychologically looking forward to the actual consumption experience.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20894   open full text
• I'll Have Fries with That: Increasing Choice Complexity Promotes Indulgent Food Choices.
  Yong Kyu Lee, Kimberlee Weaver, Stephen M. Garcia.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  Three studies showed that the way that options are presented in a choice set—as combinations of intersecting attributes or in a more sequential “a la carte” choice format—affects the degree to which consumers adhere to their goals in the consumption setting. Specifically, using the context of food consumption and healthy eating, results showed that consumers were more likely to make double indulgent choices, the choice of both an indulgent entrée and an indulgent side item, when choosing from a menu consisting of predetermined “combination meals” than when selecting among the same entrée and side options in an a la carte fashion. Studies 2 and 3 implicated a goal distraction mechanism in driving the effect; the combination format, with its cross‐cutting of product choices into various combinations, reduces the salience of goal‐related constructs on implicit measures. In showing that different product presentation formats can affect the degree to which consumers make goal‐consistent choices, the current work adds to work on the effects of environmental influences on goal progress and goal achievement. Implications for encouraging goal‐consistent behavior in the context of healthy eating as well as other important consumer goal contexts are discussed.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20893   open full text
• Dead Celebrity (Deleb) Use in Marketing: An Initial Theoretical Exposition.
  Denver D'Rozario.
  Psychology and Marketing. June 09, 2016
  The market for dead celebrities (Delebs) is large and growing. According to recent estimates, it is now worth $2.25 billion in annual licensing and royalty revenues (CBC, 2013; Kirsta, 2012). The practice is now so prevalent that Forbes began its annual ranking, in 2001, of the postmortem earnings of the “top‐earning dead celebrities.” In this paper, the author examines this practice and does the following. First, key terms are defined. Next, some of the major similarities and differences between living and dead celebrities are looked at. Following this, six major streams of theory that might pertain to Delebs are examined. They are used to explain (a) why Delebs remain popular in the consumption culture (“Nostalgia” theory), (b) why Deleb possessions are often in demand (“Celebrity Contagion” theory), (c) why many people willingly accept the products of Deleb morphing and reanimation efforts, even though they know they are not real (the “Pleasure of Imagination”), (d), why Deleb morphing and reanimation efforts sometimes fail with some audiences (the “Savanna Principle”), (e) how Deleb reanimations are typically perceived by human audiences (the “Uncanny Valley”), and (f) how Delebs should be properly used by marketers (“Fit” theory). The author concludes with some key principles learned, in addition to looking at the limitations of this paper and future directions for Deleb research.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20892   open full text
• Relational Domain Switching: Interpersonal Insecurity Predicts the Strength and Number of Marketplace Relationships.
  Jodie Whelan, Allison R. Johnson, Tara C. Marshall, Matthew Thomson.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 10, 2016
  In this paper, the authors test a compensation model of interpersonal and marketplace relationships. Guided by an attachment theory perspective, the authors argue that reflecting on or experiencing insecure interpersonal relationships can induce consumers to seek surrogate relationship partners in the marketplace. This general prediction is supported by results from an experiment and two surveys. Specifically, results show that interpersonally anxious consumers report more and stronger brand relationships. Furthermore, interpersonally avoidant consumers report more and stronger brand relationships, as well as more numerous but weaker service relationships. These studies support the prediction that people employ marketplace solutions to offset deficiencies in their personal relationships. The paper concludes by contextualizing the results within research on loneliness and materialism.

  May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20891   open full text
• Employee Mere Presence and Its Impact on Customer Satisfaction.
  Magnus Söderlund.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 10, 2016
  Existing research suggests that humans are hardwired to be sensitive to the presence of other humans, and that the mere presence of someone is likely to affect human behavior. So far, however, this issue has been under‐researched in physical environments in which retail and service transactions take place and with respect to the mere presence of employees. This study examined empirically if the mere presence of an employee in a physical environment has an impact on customer affect (in terms of pleasure) and customer satisfaction. Two between‐subjects experiments, in two different settings, showed that the absence of an employee produced lower levels of pleasure and lower levels of customer satisfaction than the mere presence of an employee. The results also indicate that pleasure mediated the association between employee presence and customer satisfaction. In addition, a field study with mystery shoppers confirmed that the employee absent condition produced lower levels of satisfaction than conditions in which employees were visible.

  May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20890   open full text
• Sacred Attributions: Implications for Marketplace Behavior.
  Elizabeth A. Minton.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 10, 2016
  Prior research in marketing has extensively examined attribution theory and how this influences product evaluations; however, such research has only examined secular attributions to a company, employees, other consumers, or one's self. Thus, through a series of three studies, the research herein examines a new category of attributions—sacred attributions—to determine when consumers make secular versus sacred attributions and how this influences product evaluations. Study 1 shows that religiosity is positively correlated with sacred attributions. Additionally, Study 1 finds that sacred attributions to God are more likely in positive consumption situations, while sacred attributions to Satan are more likely in negative consumption situations. Study 2 finds that God (Satan) attributions lead to positive (negative) product evaluations, and these effects are pervasive, regardless of religious priming. Study 3 increases external validity by using real businesses to show that sacred attributions are greatest for businesses with a sacred value system, although these effects differ based on situational affect. Findings build upon the literature on attribution theory and priming.

  May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20889   open full text
• Brand Authenticity: Testing the Antecedents and Outcomes of Brand Management's Passion for its Products.
  Julie Guidry Moulard, Randle D. Raggio, Judith Anne Garretson Folse.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 10, 2016
  While customer orientation is accepted as a core marketing principle, this research suggests that an opposing orientation—product orientation—may offer an advantage. Managers who follow a product orientation focus on products that interest and inspire them rather than on products that fulfill consumers’ desires. This research suggests that a consumer's perception that managers follow a product orientation is consistent with prior conceptualizations of brand authenticity. That research suggests that brands perceived as authentic are evaluated more positively, yet that research does not empirically assess brand authenticity's effects nor suggest its antecedents. To fill this gap, the authors develop a conceptualization and model of brand authenticity grounded in self‐determination theory, attribution theory, and extant authentic human brand research. Brand authenticity is defined as the extent to which consumers perceive that a brand's managers are intrinsically motivated in that they are passionate about and devoted to providing their products. The model proposes four antecedents of brand authenticity—two related to rare brand behaviors (uniqueness and scarcity), and two related to stable brand behaviors (longevity and longitudinal consistency). It also proposes two perceptual outcomes of brand authenticity—expected quality and trust. Two 2 × 2 experiments (n = 136 for Study 1; n = 155 for Study 2) demonstrate a positive impact of the antecedents on brand authenticity and of brand authenticity on the outcomes. Brand authenticity mediates these effects.

  May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20888   open full text
• Being True to Oneself: Investigating Celebrity Brand Authenticity.
  Jasmina Ilicic, Cynthia M. Webster.
  Psychology and Marketing. May 10, 2016
  Celebrity brand authenticity is introduced as a construct that represents consumer perceptions of celebrities being “true to oneself” in their behaviors and interactions with consumers. A scale is developed through two purification stages and the scale's predictive validity is assessed. First, the meaning of celebrity brand authenticity to consumers is explored. Second, the Authenticity Inventory from the psychology literature is adapted to develop a scale for consumer perceptions of celebrity brand authenticity. Celebrity brands are perceived as true to self when they appear genuine in their relationships with consumers and behave in accordance with their perceived held values. Evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of the celebrity brand authenticity scale is provided, which confirms celebrity brand authenticity as distinct from celebrity attachment, despite containing relational items. Finally, the predictive power of celebrity brand authenticity is confirmed through positively influencing consumer intentions to purchase an endorsed brand. Brand managers can use celebrity brand authenticity to position or develop celebrity brands, as well as in the selection of celebrity endorsers.

  May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/mar.20887   open full text
• When Stress Frustrates and When It Does Not: Configural Models of Frustrated versus Mellow Salespeople.
  Alexander Leischnig, Björn S. Ivens, Stephan C. Henneberg.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 08, 2015
  The purpose of this study is to elucidate the stress–strain relationship by examining compound causes of frustration in the workplace. Drawing on configuration theory, this article describes stress patterns, that is, configurations of role stressors and social stressors, and underlying frustration and its negation, that is, mellowness. In addition, this article describes potential sources of such frustration‐stimulating stress patterns by examining constellations of employee and task characteristics. Based on a sample of 118 salespeople, the authors analyze the data using fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis—an analytic method pertinent to describing configurational patterns of causal factors. The findings from this study indicate the coexistence of alternative patterns of stressors for frustration. In addition, the findings show that configurational patterns for frustrated salespeople are quite different from those characterizing mellow salespeople. In summary, knowledge of these constellations of stressors helps sales managers detect conditions that frustrate, and develop strategies to diminish these conditions in order to improve sales force performance.

  October 08, 2015   doi: 10.1002/mar.20849   open full text
• The Vigor of a Disregarded Ally in Sponsorship: Brand Image Transfer Effects Arising from a Cosponsor.
  Philip Gross, Klaus‐Peter Wiedmann.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 08, 2015
  Typically, brands vie for image transfer from an event or other property when entering a sponsorship engagement. Yet, this practice leaves a valuable part of a sponsorship alliance unexploited. This study addresses a new opportunity for brand collaboration that may arise from the vigor of a disregarded ally. Specifically, the authors infer from congruity theory and associative learning theory to propose a research model that advocates the idea of a sponsor to also gain from brand attitude and personality traits innately tied to a cosponsor paired with the same event. Structural equation and, respectively, path model testing provide evidence for direct transfer of attitudes as well as for carryover of personality traits between two sponsor brands. These transfer effects turn out to be moderated by perceived fit between the sponsor brands’ images and by familiarity with the target sponsor brand. Brand managers may want to bring these findings to bear in sponsorship policy design and execution by purposefully choosing with whom they share a perimeter billboard or any other sponsorship signage. Such a deliberate approach stands in contrast to current sponsorship practice where agents tend to disregard linked cosponsors and, instead, fortuitously yield up to their fate.

  October 08, 2015   doi: 10.1002/mar.20848   open full text
• A Fluency Heuristic Account of Supraliminal Prime Effects on Product Preference.
  Nobuyuki Fukawa, Ronald W. Niedrich.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 08, 2015
  The effects of supraliminal primes on product preference have been explained by two activation mechanisms, goal activation and trait activation. In this research, an additional activation mechanism not explained by goals or traits is identified. Using the implicit association test as a process measure, this article provides evidence that the effect of supraliminal primes on product preference is the result of conceptual fluency and the fluency heuristic. To provide evidence that this mechanism affects preference nonconsciously, this article proposes a dual‐processing framework where conscious effects are mediated by explicit attitude and nonconscious effects are mediated by implicit attitude and moderated by the motivation and opportunity to process information. The experimental findings support the authors’ propositions, which provide a number of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.

  October 08, 2015   doi: 10.1002/mar.20845   open full text
• The Paradox of a Warranty: Can No Warranty Really Signal Higher Quality?
  Byungkuk Noh, Adilson Borges.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 08, 2015
  Signaling theory predicts that the duration of warranty correlates positively to the perception of product quality. Longer warranty lengths would lead to more favorable product quality perceptions, which in turn would foster more favorable consumer evaluations. However, the handicap principle predicts that the absence of a warranty could actually increase consumer evaluations based on the premise that only the sellers that are very confident about the quality of their products would make such an offer. Through two studies, this research shows that the no‐warranty condition can actually produce more favorable product evaluations and purchase intentions as opposed to a longer warranty offer.

  October 08, 2015   doi: 10.1002/mar.20843   open full text
• Make it Your Own: How Process Valence and Self‐Construal Affect Evaluation of Self‐Made Products.
  Sukriye Sinem Atakan, Richard P. Bagozzi, Carolyn Yoon.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 22, 2014
  Self‐production, participation of consumers in the production process of products for their own consumption, leads to consumers’ enhanced evaluations of the self‐made products. Three experimental studies investigate how and why self‐production affects consumers’ product evaluations and reveal that not all production experiences create additional value for all consumers. In particular, Studies 1 and 2, using hypothetical stories and real experiences, show that only positive (vs. negative) production experiences enhance evaluations of self‐made products over products made by others. Positive (but not negative) experiences decrease the psychological distance between the self and the product and strengthen identification with it. Study 3 manipulates self‐construal (independent vs. interdependent) to investigate its role on evaluation of self‐made products and products made with close others as a group (i.e., group‐made). Consumers with independent self‐construal evaluate self‐made (vs. other‐made) products more favorably only if the process is positive. However, consumers with interdependent self‐construal evaluate self‐made products more favorably even if the process is negative. Additionally, consumers with interdependent (vs. independent) self‐construal exhibit more favorable evaluation of group‐made products. Finally, even if consumers know how another person feels while making a product, other people's process emotions do not affect consumers’ product judgments as strongly as their own experienced process emotions.

  April 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20707   open full text
• Inferential Evaluations of Sustainability Attributes: Exploring How Consumers Imply Product Information.
  Verena Gruber, Bodo B. Schlegelmilch, Michael J. Houston.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 22, 2014
  Consumers are often confronted with incomplete product information. In such instances, they can eliminate the product from further consideration due to higher associated uncertainty or ask for more information. Alternatively, they can apply subjective theories about covariation to infer the value of missing attributes. This paper investigates the latter option in the context of sustainability and provides an in‐depth exploration of consumers’ inference formations. Drawing from rich qualitative data, it offers a conceptualization of the underlying relationships consumers use to infer product sustainability based on other product attributes. The study further assesses whether these findings can be captured in a quantifiable way. To this end, inferred sustainability is conceptualized as a formative second‐order construct, thereby depicting the influence of inference‐triggering product attributes.

  April 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20706   open full text
• Redefining Confidence for Consumer Behavior Research.
  Antonis C. Simintiras, Volkan Yeniaras, Emrah Oney, Tajinder K. Bahia.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 22, 2014
  Although quintessential to market exchange and trade, consumer confidence evokes little interest from marketing scholars, and largely persists as an untapped dimension in consumer behavior research. Nevertheless, the dearth of confidence research provides a most useful foundation for investigating how it is both relevant and informative to the study of consumer decision making and behavior. Following a comprehensive review of the theoretical foundations of confidence, an integrated conceptualization is mapped out, and examples of consumer behavior research areas deemed to benefit from a more honed study of confidence are highlighted.

  April 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20705   open full text
• Understanding the Relationship between Individualism and Word of Mouth: A Self‐Enhancement Explanation.
  Anders Hauge Wien, Svein Ottar Olsen.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 22, 2014
  This study examines factors moderating the relationship between individualism and word‐of‐mouth (WOM) transmission. The conceptual model is based on the premise that high‐individualism consumers are highly driven by the self‐enhancement motive when they transmit WOM and that they change their willingness to provide WOM based on the perceived opportunity for self‐enhancement. The results reveal that high‐individualism consumers are more willing than low‐individualism consumers to transmit WOM in relation to satisfactory consumption experiences (vs. unsatisfactory), when WOM is unsolicited (vs. solicited), and when the context involves high perceived social risk (vs. low perceived social risk). Thus, the findings indicate that self‐enhancement may indeed be the underlying mechanism in the relationship between individualism and WOM transmission.

  April 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20704   open full text
• Product Packaging Metaphors: Effects of Ambiguity and Explanatory Information on Consumer Appreciation and Brand Perception.
  Thomas J. L. Rompay, Martijn Veltkamp.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 22, 2014
  Product packaging is an important means for communicating product and brand benefits. Research suggests that visual metaphors may be particularly suited in this context, however, the conditions under which metaphors are effective are not yet well understood. In the research reported herein, effects of metaphor ambiguity and explanatory information on consumer appreciation and brand personality perceptions are tested. Study 1 shows that explicit information explaining the metaphor increases consumer appreciation and positively affects brand perception, but only for ambiguous metaphors. Study 2 shows that drawing consumer attention to packaging design by means of a visual packaging cue may be equally or even more effective for enhancing consumer appreciation and steering brand personality perceptions. In addition, Study 2 shows that effects of explanatory information and information type vary with participants’ readiness to engage in metaphor processing. Together, the results provide greater insight into the effects of metaphors in product design and provide guidelines to packaging designers.

  April 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20703   open full text
• How Do Salespeople Make Decisions? The Role of Emotions and Deliberation on Adaptive Selling, and the Moderating Role of Intuition.
  David A. Locander, Jay P. Mulki, Frankie J. Weinberg.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 22, 2014
  This research explores how salespeople make decisions and what factors influence these decisions. Research in psychology suggests that, in making decisions, people use both intuition and deliberation, often relying on some degree of both processes. This study examines the impact of emotion, intuition, and deliberation on a salesperson's adaptability and resulting performance. Intuition is found to play a significant moderating role in the relationships between both deliberation and regulation of emotions on adaptive selling. However, as anticipated, the role of this moderation variable differs for each of these relationships. Findings suggest that intuition provides an important input to deliberative and emotive thought processes, and plays an important role in salesperson adaptiveness. Implications for salesperson mentoring and training programs are explored.

  April 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20702   open full text
• The Effect of Brand Gender on Brand Equity.
  Theo Lieven, Bianca Grohmann, Andreas Herrmann, Jan R. Landwehr, Miriam Tilburg.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 10, 2014
  Brand personality has been suggested as an important source of consumer‐based brand equity, yet empirical research on the relation between brand personality perceptions and brand equity is scarce. This article examines the link between masculine and feminine brand personality and brand equity as well as the underlying process of this relationship. Study 1 reported herein involves 140 existing brands and demonstrates that high levels of brand masculinity and femininity relate positively to brand equity, and that this relation is not moderated by participants’ sex. Study 2 demonstrates that brand gender accounts for brand equity ratings above and beyond other brand personality dimensions. Study 3 identifies ease of categorization as the underlying mechanism for the relationship between brand gender and brand equity.

  April 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20701   open full text
• An Alternative Approach to the Measurement of Emotional Attachment.
  Fernando R. Jiménez, Kevin E. Voss.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 10, 2014
  Emotional attachment (EA)—the emotional bond connecting an individual with a specific target—has been identified as an important construct within the marketing domain. Despite all the research, there is no consensus on how the construct should be measured. A major factor contributing to this confusion is that current definitions and, consequently, scales of EA focus on describing reactions toward specific referents of attachment rather than on capturing the extent of emotion an individual feels; hence, hindering construct validity. In this article, the authors scrutinized the concept validity of EA. After defining the construct, scale development procedures were followed to propose an alternative one‐dimensional scale that reflects the abstract nature of EA. Three studies support the scale's reliability as well as the discriminant, convergent, criterion, and nomological validity of the measure. The studies tested the scale under different marketing contexts. Moreover, by employing the new measure, the findings showed that EA and self‐concept maintenance (SCM) are related, yet different constructs. Specifically, the results showed that these constructs interact to predict willingness to pay (WTP) for a brand such that when SCM is low, WTP is predicted by EA. However, when self‐concept is high, the effect of EA on WTP is not that strong. This new scale will help researchers extend research on EA to a broader set of contexts, explore the relationship between EA and related constructs, develop nomological networks, and prevent the confounding of terms.

  April 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20700   open full text
• Organic as a Heuristic Cue: What Spanish Consumers Mean by Organic Foods.
  Manuela Vega‐Zamora, Francisco José Torres‐Ruiz, Eva Mª Murgado‐Armenteros, Manuel Parras‐Rosa.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 10, 2014
  One of the strategies employed by companies to differentiate themselves from others, in the food market, has been to market organic products according to the assumption that environmental values are an important influence on people's behavior. However, studies of the behavior of organic food consumers show that there is some debate on this subject. Although some studies associate organic food consumption with motives and attitudes in which the environment plays a predominant role, a greater number conclude that the motives for consuming this type of food are basically egoistic (related to health, food safety, or the quality or flavor of the food). This can lead to problems in deciding the central thrust of the marketing strategy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the meaning and interpretations placed on the term “organic,” and how they are integrated, as a way to explain consumption behavior. Qualitative research methods were adopted for this purpose. Four focus group sessions with different sociodemographic profiles, held in the cities of Madrid and Seville, in Spain, displayed two evident paradoxes, which could indicate that environmental motives are not important for consumers in this market. It is concluded that the term “organic” plays an important role as a heuristic cue to superiority, irrespective of the consumer's knowledge about the real features of organic food. Three alternative models are presented to explain consumer behavior. These results could be useful to food companies, largely in connection with positioning this type of product and with their communications policy.

  April 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20699   open full text
• Green Consumption Behavior Antecedents: Environmental Concern, Knowledge, and Beliefs.
  Anastasios Pagiaslis, Athanasios Krystallis Krontalis.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 10, 2014
  The present study adds to the evolving literature on green consumer behavior by examining through statistically robust methods the effect and interrelationships of the key constructs of environmental concern, consumer environmental knowledge, beliefs about biofuels, and behavioral intention (i.e., willingness to use and pay) in the context of biofuels. Data were collected through a survey of 1695 respondents. Hypotheses are based on a literature review and a pilot study, and the conceptual structural model developed is tested through structural equation modeling. Results show that concern for the environment has a positive and direct impact on environmental knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral intention. Also, demographics determine levels of concern for the environment and environmental knowledge. All constructs associate positively with one another delineating that the interdependencies between them are important when accounting for environmental behavior. Future research should validate present results with the use of cross‐cultural samples and investigate whether environmental concern increases due to social desirability response bias.

  April 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20698   open full text
• Investor Expertise as Mastery over Mind: Regulating Loss Affect for Superior Investment Performance.
  Wujin Chu, Meeja Im, Eun‐Ju Lee.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 10, 2014
  For most people, investing in stocks is a stressful experience, and this is particularly true in a loss situation. The emotional stress from a significant loss is quite likely to hamper effective decision making with respect to future investments. In three separate studies, with a combined sample of 60 professional investors and 154 lay investors, the authors compare differences in the magnitude of gain and loss affect felt by experts and lay investors as well as differences in affect regulation strategies employed. The findings demonstrate that professional investors are more effective than lay investors in coping with ups and downs of investing. In particular, professional investors show a lesser degree of gain and loss affect than lay investors with regard to both anticipated and experienced affect. Additionally, professional investors demonstrate a pronounced tendency to reappraise a loss situation as a positive learning experience, and to attribute failure in investment to themselves rather than blaming the market or blaming others. These types of affect regulation strategies result in a lower loss affect experienced by professional investors, which in turn leads to greater loss realization and better investment performance.

  April 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20697   open full text
• Intergenerational Influence in Consumer Deal Proneness.
  Robert M. Schindler, Vishal Lala, Colleen Corcoran.
  Psychology and Marketing. April 10, 2014
  Although there has been ample research on the correlates of consumer deal proneness, there has been little research on how deal proneness develops. In two studies of parent/adult–child dyads, considerable parent–child similarity both in overall deal proneness and in the pattern of preferences for particular types of sales promotions was found. Further, the second of these two studies indicates that parent–child similarity is mediated by communication between parents and their children and tends to be stronger among parents with a permissive parenting style. These results provide evidence that consumer enthusiasm for sales promotions is, to at least some extent, transmitted from parents to their children.

  April 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20696   open full text
• How Visual Brand Identity Shapes Consumer Response.
  Barbara J. Phillips, Edward F. McQuarrie, W. Glenn Griffin.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 24, 2014
  Most brands are represented visually in print advertisements, and these visual representations must consistently identify the brand to the consumers who encounter it. At the same time, some of the particular visual elements used to represent the brand must change over time, because it is not acceptable to run the same ad year after year without refreshing its visual content. To explore these issues, a qualitative exploration was conducted with ad agency art directors and ordinary consumers. The focus was the criteria used by each group to determine when changes in the visual representation of the brand succeed, by staying consistent with the brand's identity, or fail, by violating expectations. Professionals, with their greater aesthetic sensitivity, had a more narrow latitude of acceptance for changes. A follow‐up experiment with consumers showed that aesthetically aware consumers were likewise more sensitive to alterations in visual brand identity than consumers for whom aesthetics were not central. Results are interpreted in terms of assimilation effects and degree of incongruity along with the moderating effect of aesthetic skill.

  January 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20689   open full text
• Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure Timing on the Processing of Sponsored Content: A Study on the Effectiveness of European Disclosure Regulations.
  Sophie C. Boerman, Eva A. Reijmersdal, Peter C. Neijens.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 24, 2014
  This study investigates whether the timing of sponsorship disclosure affects viewers’ processing of sponsored content, and whether a disclosure influences the persuasive effect of the sponsored content. A model is proposed in which sponsorship disclosure enhances the recognition of sponsored television content as advertising, which leads to critical processing of the sponsored content. Ultimately, this negatively affects the attitude toward the brand in the sponsored content. This model was supported, but only when the disclosure was displayed prior to or concurrent with the sponsored content. These effects were not found for a sponsorship disclosure shown at the end of the program after the sponsored content. Theoretically, the findings emphasize the importance of disclosure timing. A disclosure displayed prior to or concurrent with the sponsored content, primes the sponsored content and provides sufficient processing time, so viewers recognize the content as advertising and can process it critically. In addition, the findings show that persuasion knowledge and critical processing are important underlying mechanisms for the effect of sponsorship disclosure on brand attitude. Regarding the practical implications for legislators and advertisers, this research demonstrates that sponsorship disclosure can make viewers aware of the sponsored content in television programs. Furthermore, this changes the processing of sponsored content and can also ultimately lead to resistance against persuasion.

  January 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20688   open full text
• Exploring Attitudes and Affiliation Intentions toward Consumers Who Engage in Socially Shared Superstitious Behaviors: A Study of Students in the East and the West.
  Di Wang, Harmen Oppewal, Dominic Thomas.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 24, 2014
  Existing literature on superstitious beliefs focuses on consumer purchasing behavior. However, little is known about how superstition‐based consumption behaviors are socially perceived. This paper investigates students’ attitudes toward consumers who engage in socially shared superstitious behaviors. Two studies show that students from Eastern and Western countries have negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions toward consumers engaging in socially shared superstitious behaviors. As predicted by social judgment theory, this effect is driven by perceived low competence but not by perceived warmth. These negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions are moderated by the student's superstitiousness. The managerial implications of social perceptions regarding consumer superstitious behavior are discussed.

  January 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20687   open full text
• Using Polynomial Regression Analysis and Response Surface Methodology to Make a Stronger Case for Value Congruence in Place Marketing.
  Sebastian Zenker, Tobias Gollan, Niels Quaquebeke.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 24, 2014
  Values are an important concept in marketing because they comprise part of peoples’ identity and can thus help marketers separate and target different audiences. Unsurprisingly, places and their marketing initiatives increasingly try to appeal to (potential) residents’ identity by communicating core values. While the notion of value congruence is not novel, most empirical methods in marketing to date only account for the degree rather than the level of congruence. To address this issue, the present article utilizes polynomial regression and response surface methodology (Edwards & Parry, ) in the context of place marketing. Accordingly, the first study shows that the perceived congruence of residents’ own values and the values of stereotypical city inhabitants significantly affect residents’ feelings about their own cities (N = 1257), but with different effects for different values and levels of congruence. This finding holds not only for popular target groups such as the “creative class” but also across all groups. The second study (N = 449) shows that city slogans can effectively communicate specific values and that value congruence leads to a more positive evaluation of the city brand. Finally, the article discusses the benefits of differentiating between levels of congruence both in marketing research in general, and place brand management in particular.

  January 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20686   open full text
• Exploring the Role of Productivity Propensity in Frontline Employee Performance: Its Relationship with Customer Orientation and Important Outcomes.
  Eric G. Harris, Tom J. Brown, John C. Mowen, Andrew Artis.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 24, 2014
  Numerous studies have investigated the performance of frontline employees (FLEs) and how these employees influence organizational success. Because customer‐perceived outcomes are important, much attention has been devoted to the customer orientation (CO) construct. The weak influence of CO on external measures, however, has led to numerous research questions. The current work addresses these questions by introducing a new construct, “productivity propensity,” while examining its relationship with CO and multiple outcome measures. Results from two distinct samples suggest that the construct is a valuable addition to the FLE literature.

  January 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20685   open full text
• The Effect of Requests for Positive Evaluations on Customer Satisfaction Ratings.
  Michael A. Jones, Valerie A. Taylor, Kristy E. Reynolds.
  Psychology and Marketing. January 24, 2014
  In order to focus service employees’ attention on delivering high levels of customer satisfaction, many companies directly reward (or punish) employees who deliver high (low) levels of satisfaction as reported in companies’ formalized satisfaction measurement processes. As a result, many frontline service employees attempt to influence their customers’ satisfaction evaluation by specifically asking them for positive ratings on surveys completed after the service encounter. Using psychological reactance theory, this research considers the impact of requests for positive evaluations on customers’ satisfaction and future intentions. The results indicate that customers who were asked to provide a positive evaluation actually report lower levels of satisfaction compared to customers who were not asked. The results also indicate that the request for positive evaluation has a negative influence on customers’ repurchase intentions and positive word‐of‐mouth intentions, but only for customers who had a more internal locus of control compared to those with a more external locus of control.

  January 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/mar.20684   open full text
• Problem Gamblers’ Harsh Gaze on Casino Services.
  Catherine Prentice, Arch G. Woodside.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  This study provides a first look at the perspectives and profiles of casino problem gamblers. The study proposes that problem gamblers (1) have unique antecedent conditions and (2) evaluate their casino service more favorably than nonproblem gamblers. While first proposition receives support, the findings counter the second; surprisingly, problem gamblers view casino service with a harsh gaze. The coverage here includes overall and specific findings from face‐to‐face interviews with gamblers (n = 348) inside seven casinos in the world's largest gaming destination (Macau). The interviews included asking participants to complete the “Problem Gambling Severity Index” (identified to participants as “My gambling‐related experiences”). The study includes both fit and predictive validities of overall service quality models for each of the seven casinos—these findings support the nomological validity that specific patterns of antecedents and outcomes associate with problem gambling. Policy and managerial implications inform how to go about creating unique marketing service designs to assist problem gamblers in managing their gambling behavior.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20670   open full text
• How Task Structure and Outcome Comparisons Influence Women's and Men's Risk‐Taking Self‐Efficacies: A Multi‐Study Exploration.
  David Forlani.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  To explore inconsistent findings in the perceived self‐efficacy and entrepreneurship literatures as they relate to the type of complex, risky decisions (i.e., those that commit financial resources to generate new revenue) made by marketing managers, entrepreneurs, and corporate intrapreneurs, this paper uses a series of four theoretically driven, empirical studies to investigate gender differences in risk‐taking self‐efficacies (i.e., one's perceived abilities to make financially risky, business development decisions). The results indicate the following: (1) no gender differences in risk‐taking self‐efficacies absent a task; (2) after performing a complex, risk‐laden task, the risk‐taking self‐efficacies of subjects receiving negatively valenced outcome information and women were less than those of subjects receiving positively valenced outcome information and men; (3) this effect remains for women when experience in the task domain is high and when diagnostic information about prior outcomes is provided; (4) the reason for the effect appears to be that men and women use information about their prior decision's outcomes differently when assessing their risk‐taking self‐efficacies; and (5) the effect disappears when social cues intended to facilitate accurate performance comparisons are introduced into the task environment. These findings support existing theories, identify areas needing development, and show how these effects can limit participation in both complex, risk‐laden tasks and careers that are thought to involve performing such tasks.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20669   open full text
• Gucci versus Old Navy: Interplay of Brand Personality and Regulatory Focus in Advertising Persuasion.
  Dong Hoo Kim, Yongjun Sung.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  The present research examines how brand personality and regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention) interplay in affecting advertising message persuasiveness. In Experiment 1, the moderating role of brand personality with respect to regulatory focus is tested. The results show that a promotion‐framed advertising message is more persuasive for a fictitious exciting brand than is a prevention‐framed message, whereas a prevention‐framed (vs. promotion‐framed) message is more effective for a fictitious competent brand. To replicate Experiment 1 and further test the hypothesis, in Experiment 2, two real brands representing two additional brand personality dimensions (sophistication vs. sincerity) are tested and the influence of individuals’ self‐construal level is controlled. The findings reveal that individuals exposed to the sophisticated brand show a more positive attitude when the brand message is promotion framed. By contrast, individuals exposed to the sincere brand react more favorably when the brand is presented with a prevention‐framed advertising message.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20668   open full text
• More than Just an Opinion: The Effect of Verbal Self‐Expression on Consumer Choice.
  Michail D. Kokkoris, Ulrich Kühnen.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  In an ever‐widening range of occasions, consumers have the opportunity to comment and express their opinions on brands and products. However, little is known about how voicing opinions about the choice options before actually choosing might affect consumer choice, and specifically liking of choice. This paper proposes that pre‐choice opinion expression undermines the effect of post‐choice bolstering, because opinion sufficiently satisfies self‐expressive needs and therefore supersedes the use of subsequent choice as a self‐expressive resource. This proposition is based on the assumption that opinion can psychologically substitute for choice, because the two represent alternative routes to self‐expression. Two experiments provide empirical support for this hypothesis. Study 1 showed that after articulating their opinions about the choice options, participants were less likely to idealize their choices, and this effect was mediated by a change in the construal of choice as self‐expression. Study 2 further showed that this effect is moderated by public versus private occasions of opinion voicing and by individual differences in the value of expression. Together, findings support that opinion is enough to express the self, and if such an opportunity is made available prior to choosing, consumers’ liking of their choices is weakened.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20667   open full text
• Option Framing and Product Feature Recommendations: Product Configuration and Choice.
  Andreas Herrmann, Christian Hildebrand, David E. Sprott, Eric R. Spangenberg.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  When configuring a customized product, consumers must decide which product features to include. While many times firms allow consumers to add features to a base item (hereinafter referred to as additive option framing), it is also possible in some settings to remove undesired features from a fully equipped product (subtractive option framing). At the same time, companies not only provide different option‐framing formats, but also include recommendations from different sources such as what other customers have chosen previously or what is recommended by the company. This research provides evidence from two field experiments using a German car manufacturer's online configurator that customer recommendations in an additive option‐framing format affect customer spending equally well as subtractive option framing. A follow‐up experiment reveals that customer recommendations lead to increased positive thoughts about the recommended option, which stimulates consumers’ intention to buy the final product.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20666   open full text
• Customer Preferences for Frontline Employee Traits: Homophily and Heterophily Effects.
  Sandra Streukens, Tor W. Andreassen.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  Although previous research has underscored the significance of the personality traits of frontline employees (FLEs) in employee service behaviors, knowledge about customer preferences for FLE personality traits is lacking. This study responds to this gap in the literature, empirically assessing customers’ preferences for FLE personality traits. The main research objective is to investigate whether and how these preferences vary with the customer's own personality. The study proposes and tests a conceptual framework that reconciles two opposing theoretical perspectives—homophily and heterophily. The existing research in interpersonal psychology has only given limited support to the heterophily effect, whereas it has consistently evidenced the homophily effect. Moderator analyses indicate these effects are largely invariant across customer and service characteristics. Notwithstanding this, post hoc tests show that the level of preferred FLE traits is positively related to the level of customer traits. Equity theory helps explain these seemingly conflicting results.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20665   open full text
• My Anger Is Your Gain, My Contempt Your Loss: Explaining Consumer Responses to Corporate Wrongdoing.
  Simona Romani, Silvia Grappi, Richard P. Bagozzi.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 25, 2013
  Two forms of consumer response to corporate wrongdoing are constructive punitive actions (i.e., those designed to induce firms to change their behavior but with the hope of sustaining relationships with consumers) and destructive punitive actions (i.e., those intended to discredit or harm firms, ultimately leading to disengagement from firms). This study investigates the conditions under which one or the other actions are taken and shows that anger regulates the former, whereas contempt governs the latter. Hypotheses are tested in two studies: a laboratory experiment and a naturalistic field study with an actual instance of recent corporate malfeasance. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

  October 25, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20664   open full text
• I Know What I Know, but I will Probably Fail Anyway: How Learned Helplessness Moderates the Knowledge Calibration–Dietary Choice Quality Relationship.
  Torben Hansen, Thyra Uth Thomsen.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  Prior research suggests that knowledge calibration (KC) supports consumers’ maintenance of a healthy diet. However, no previous studies have considered that learned helpless consumers may refrain from using their knowledge, even though they may be fully aware that they possess it. This research gap is considered in three studies. Study 1 investigates the moderating effect of learned helplessness (LH) by means of a cross‐sectional survey. Studies 2 and 3 are online choice studies. Besides from replicating Study 1, Studies 2 and 3 eliminate potential social desirability bias by objectively measuring respondents’ dietary choice quality. In addition, Study 3 takes into account the possibility that respondents’ responses may be biased by food preferences, medical conditions, and/or food allergies. Moreover, Studies 2 and 3 both investigate the consequences of the findings on consumers who live under a dieting regime. These studies demonstrate that consumers suffering from LH do not stand to gain from calibrating their dietary knowledge to the same degree as other consumers. It is also shown that dieting behavior has a tendency to weaken this negative moderating effect of LH on the relationship between KC and dietary choice quality. Finally, the implications of the findings for marketers and public policymakers are discussed.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20663   open full text
• Determinants of Community‐Based Sponsorship Impact on Self‐Congruity.
  Pascale Quester, Carolin Plewa, Karen Palmer, Marc Mazodier.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  Sponsors increasingly shift from large professional to community‐based properties, as these can deliver an engaged audience and enable them to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility (CSR). This research comprises two studies and shows that community‐based sponsorship may improve CSR image and, in turn, self‐congruity, a key determinant of consumer behavior. Study 1 investigates perceived sponsor–club fit, confirming attitude and corporate positioning similarity as relevant predictors. Importantly, CSR image similarity does not impact fit, suggesting sponsorship opportunities for organizations independent of their initial CSR image. Study 2 shows perceived sponsor CSR image to mediate the relationship between the perceptions of a community‐based property's CSR image and consumers' self‐congruity with the sponsor. While perceived sponsor–club fit and sponsorship awareness moderate the relationship between property and sponsor CSR image, attitudes toward CSR moderate the association between sponsor CSR and self‐congruity. The paper concludes with implications and future research directions.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20662   open full text
• The Role of Product‐Premium Fit in Determining the Effectiveness of Hedonic and Utilitarian Premiums.
  Mariola Palazon, Elena Delgado‐Ballester.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  This research explores how the effectiveness of hedonic and utilitarian premiums is contingent with the degree of product‐premium fit. It is proposed that the effectiveness of utilitarian/hedonic premiums is higher at a high/low degree of fit between the premium and the focal product. Specifically, a series of three experimental studies were conducted. Consistent with expectations, Study 1 found that at high product‐premium fit utilitarian premiums were preferred over hedonic ones, while Study 2 revealed that hedonic ones were preferred at a low‐fit condition. To further validate these preliminary results, Study 3 developed a full factorial experimental design wherein the interaction effect between the nature of the premium and product‐premium fit on consumers’ liking, purchase intention and positive word‐of‐mouth was evaluated. This study confirmed the existence of a significant interaction effect and the direction of the simple effects was consistent with findings from Studies 1 and 2. However, the differences were only significant at a low‐fit condition.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20661   open full text
• In Search of Negativity Bias: An Empirical Study of Perceived Helpfulness of Online Reviews.
  Philip Fei Wu.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  A basic tenet of psychology is that the psychological effects of negative information outweigh those of positive information. Three empirical studies show that the negativity bias can be attenuated or even reversed in the context of electronic word of mouth (eWoM). The first study analyzes a large sample of customer reviews collected from Amazon.com and concludes that negative reviews are no more helpful than positive ones when controlling for review quality The second study follows up with a virtual experiment that confirms the lack of negativity bias in evaluating the helpfulness of online reviews. The third study demonstrates that the negativity effect can be reversed by manipulating the baseline valences. This work challenges the conventional wisdom of “bad is stronger than good” and contributes to the understanding of the eWoM phenomenon.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20660   open full text
• Consumption‐Focused Self‐Expression Word of Mouth: A New Scale and Its Role in Consumer Research.
  Christina Saenger, Veronica L. Thomas, Jennifer Wiggins Johnson.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  This research represents the first systematic empirical examination of the motivation to spread word of mouth about consumption activities in order to self‐express, a phenomenon that has been observed in both the academic literature and the popular press. Consumption‐focused self‐expression is a motivation to engage in word‐of‐mouth communication that is distinct from other word‐of‐mouth motivations that have been discussed in the literature. This work defines consumption‐focused self‐expression word of mouth as communication about one's consumption activities for the purpose of expressing one's self‐concept and attracting attention to oneself. A scale to measure consumption‐focused self‐expression word of mouth is developed and shown to exhibit a consistent scale structure, acceptable reliability, and convergent, discriminant, nomological, and predictive validity. Scores on the consumption‐focused self‐expression word‐of‐mouth scale are shown to predict differences in the quantity and nature of consumers’ actual word‐of‐mouth communications via the social networking Web site Facebook.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20659   open full text
• Measurement Characteristics of Aaker's Brand Personality Dimensions: Lessons to be Learned from Human Personality Research.
  Martin Eisend, Nicola E. Stokburger‐Sauer.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  By referring to research on the measurement of the Big Five personality factors, this article investigates measurement characteristics of brand personality (BP) dimensions. The authors apply a meta‐analysis and investigate the intercorrelations and reliabilities of the BP dimensions of Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness, as suggested by Aaker (1997). Similar to the Big Five personality factors, the measurement of BP reveals interdependence of the dimensions and one General Personality Factor. Furthermore, the reliabilities reveal instability across method characteristics, for instance, the use of facets as opposed to traits in measuring BP drives up the reliabilities of those dimensions with a larger number of items (e.g., Sincerity). Finally, as with the Big Five, the BP dimensions show differential effects on performance measures (as assessed by brand attitude) and thus support the predictive power of the single dimensions. The findings provide insights into the dimensional structure of BP and its stability, and support the transferability of the Big Five personality factors to nonhuman domains. Importantly, the article outlines relevant avenues for future research on BP measurement.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20658   open full text
• Predicting Consumer Behavior and Media Preferences: The Comparative Validity of Personality Traits and Demographic Variables.
  Carson J. Sandy, Samuel D. Gosling, John Durant.
  Psychology and Marketing. October 06, 2013
  It is common practice for organizations selling a product to divide potential consumers into segments to allow them to target those most likely to buy their products. Two broad approaches to market segmentation can be delineated. The most common approach relies on segmenting by demographic variables (e.g., age, gender). The second approach (known as “psychographics”) identifies market divisions in terms of psychological variables such as values, attitudes, and personality traits. There has been little research comparing the efficacy of the two approaches. Based on analyses of over 45,000 participants, the present research empirically compares the effectiveness of the two approaches among segmentation variables ranging from cell phones and lottery tickets to newspapers and television shows. Overall, both approaches explained surprisingly small amounts of variance in consumer behavior. Nonetheless, for the variance that was predictive, the relative contribution of demographics and psychographics varied dramatically across consumer behaviors; for some behaviors (e.g., electronic purchases), demographics had superior predictive potential but for others (e.g., television shows) psychographics were more useful. Therefore, an approach that integrates both methods is recommended.

  October 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20657   open full text
• Does Service Employee Arrogance Discourage Sales of Luxury Brands in Emerging Economies?
  Xuehua Wang, Cheris W. C. Chow, Chung Leung Luk.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  Upscalex stores selling luxury brands from Western, developed countries are having a strong presence in many emerging markets. However, it is not uncommon to find that the service employees of these stores are arrogant and inhospitable. This article uses a dual attitudes perspective to show how service employee arrogance affects customers’ attitudes and purchase intentions toward luxury brands in emerging markets. Experimental findings show that arrogance produces dual attitudes, with positive implicit attitudes exerting a stronger influence than unfavorable explicit attitudes on purchase intentions. In addition, for customers with high self‐esteem, service employee arrogance has a negative effect on their purchase intentions. In line with the expectation disconfirmation model, when service employees change their arrogant attitudes and subsequently show hospitality, customers also change their expectations. When the improved service exceeds customers’ expectations, their explicit attitudes turn positive and exert a stronger influence on purchase intentions than when service employees are consistently hospitable.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20655   open full text
• Customer Personal Features as Determinants of the Formation Process of Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions.
  Andrea Pérez, Ignacio Rodríguez del Bosque.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  The authors of this paper introduce three customer demographic features (age, gender, and educational level) and three psychological traits (support, collectivism, and novelty seeking) as moderators in a classic model to better explain the formation process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions. The results of the paper can assist CSR and marketing practitioners in better segmenting the market in order to adapt their CSR and communication strategies and make them more effective. The authors test a causal model that allows them to anticipate CSR perceptions based on customer evaluations of (1) the congruence between the company and its CSR strategy, (2) the motivations of the company to implement CSR activities, and (3) the corporate credibility in developing CSR programs. Results suggest that customer psychological features are more effective for marketing segmentation than demographic features because they explain more differences among customers in the formation of CSR perceptions. CSR support and novelty seeking are the most valuable characteristics that can be applied to marketing segmentation.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20654   open full text
• How Affirmational versus Negational Identification Frames Influence Uniqueness‐Seeking Behavior.
  Liyin Jin, Yanqun He, Deqiang Zou, Qian Xu.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  This research tested the proposition that consumers presenting under a negational identification frame are more likely to choose unique products than when they present themselves affirmationally. Study 1 demonstrated this main effect in a real‐choice setting. Study 2 underlined temporary accessibilities to one's desired (undesired) identities when an affirmational (negational) identification frame is adopted. Study 3 further demonstrated that identity valence interacts with identification frames in driving uniqueness‐seeking tendency. Additionally, this effect was found to be mediated by self‐other distinction in Study 4. The research implications for both the “what” and the “how” aspects of identity‐driven consumption are discussed.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20653   open full text
• Scared Stiff? The Effectiveness of Threat Appeals in Counseling Services Advertising to High‐Anxiety Students.
  Jayne Krisjanous, Nicholas J. Ashill, Katrin Eccarius, Janet Carruthers.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  This exploratory study proposes and tests a theoretical model that analyzes threat appeals in regard to their effectiveness for high‐anxiety students, one of the major target groups for counseling services. In particular, affective and cognitive responses to a threat appeal advertisement and their effects on attitude toward the advertisement and behavior are examined. The results suggest that a strong threat appeal is not effective for counseling services but that positive emotions toward the advertisement and cognitive involvement have a positive impact on advertising outcomes. The study contributes further to knowledge of threat appeal effectiveness, targeting “anxious” audiences.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20652   open full text
• Neural Correlates of Impulsive Buying Tendencies during Perception of Product Packaging.
  Marco Hubert, Mirja Hubert, Arnd Florack, Marc Linzmajer, Peter Kenning.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  Research has shown that people differ in their susceptibility to impulsive buying. The appeal of product packaging has the potential to trigger impulsive buying even for consumers with no intention to make a purchase. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether individual differences in consumers’ impulsive buying tendencies affect unconscious neural responses during the perception of product packaging. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was applied to measure neural responses to the perception of product packages in participants with different impulsive buying tendencies. The results of the study support and expand prior research in impulsive and reflective information processing and behavior. First, attractive versus neutral packages evoked more intensive activity changes in brain regions associated with an impulsive system. Second, attractive and unattractive versus neutral packages led to less intensive activity changes in regions associated with a reflective system. Third, attractive packages activated regions associated with reward, whereas unattractive packages activated regions associated with negative emotions. The results suggest that there is indeed a corresponding relationship between stronger impulsive buying tendencies and activity in brain areas associated with impulsive and reflective processes.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20651   open full text
• Who Benefits from Multiple Brand Celebrity Endorsements? An Experimental Investigation.
  Arthur Cheng‐Hsui Chen, Rita Ya‐Hui Chang, Ali Besherat, Daniel W. Baack.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  Advertisers commonly use celebrity endorsers to increase the effectiveness of advertising in persuading consumers. In many cases, these celebrities endorse more than one brand. Little is known, however, about the benefit to brands from these multiple endorsements by the same celebrity. This research applies classical conditioning theory to an exploration of multiple brand endorsements by a single celebrity, and examines how brand concept consistency between endorsed brands affects consumers’ evaluations of the endorsed brand. The findings, over two separate studies, indicate that exact and high concept consistency between endorsed brands positively influences consumers’ attitude toward these brands.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20650   open full text
• A Qualitative Study of Consumer‐Generated Videos about Daily Deal Web sites.
  Edward Boon.
  Psychology and Marketing. September 06, 2013
  Deal of the day, also known as social couponing, is an e‐commerce business model that offers consumers heavily discounted deals on a regular (daily) basis, and gives merchants access to a mailing list of potential new customers in exchange for a commission. There are thousands of deal Web sites worldwide, offering deals from industries as diverse as hospitality, consumer electronics, fashion, and medical services. This study was performed to learn more about consumers’ attitude toward deal of the day, and their motivations for purchasing (or not purchasing) daily deals. A systematic qualitative methodology called BASIC IDS was used to analyze 30 consumer‐generated YouTube videos about deal Web sites. The analysis showed that many deal‐prone consumers can be considered “deal mavens”; they take effort to learn about different sites and offerings and are eager to share their knowledge with others. Although many of these mavens show hedonistic shopping tendencies, others appear to focus mainly on utility, that is, monetary savings. Consumers with a negative attitude toward deal of the day are often worried about receiving poor service, and some believe that redeeming a deal voucher makes them look cheap.

  September 06, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20649   open full text
• The Beliefs Which Influence Young Males to Speed and Strategies to Slow Them Down: Informing the Content of Antispeeding Messages.
  Ioni Lewis, Barry Watson, Katherine M. White, Barry Elliott.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  Young male drivers are overrepresented in road‐related fatalities. Speeding represents a pervasive and significant contributor to road trauma. Antispeeding messages represent a long‐standing strategy aimed at discouraging drivers from speeding. These messages, however, have not always achieved their persuasive objectives that may be due, in part, to them not always targeting the most salient beliefs underpinning the speeding behavior of particular driver groups. The current study elicited key beliefs underpinning speeding behavior as well as strategies used to avoid speeding, using a well‐validated belief‐based model, the theory of planned behavior, and in‐depth qualitative methods. To obtain the most comprehensive understanding about the salient beliefs and strategies of young male drivers, how such beliefs and strategies compared with those of drivers of varying ages and gender, was also explored. Overall, 75 males and females (aged 17–25 or 30–55) participated in group discussions. The findings revealed beliefs that were particularly relevant to young males and that would likely represent key foci for developing message content. For instance, the need to feel in control and the desire to experience positive affect when driving were salient advantages; while infringements were a salient disadvantage and, in particular, the loss of points and the implications associated with potential license loss as opposed to the monetary (fine) loss (behavioral beliefs). For normative influences, young males appeared to hold notable misperceptions (compared with other drivers, such as young females); for instance, young males believed that females/girlfriends were impressed by their speeding. In the case of control beliefs, the findings revealed low perceptions of control with respect to being able to not speed and a belief that something “extraordinary” would need to happen for a young male driver to lose control of their vehicle while speeding. The practical implications of the findings, in terms of providing suggestions for devising the content of antispeeding messages, are discussed.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20648   open full text
• Shame‐Free Guilt Appeals: Testing the Emotional and Cognitive Effects of Shame and Guilt Appeals.
  Vanessa Boudewyns, Monique M. Turner, Ryan S. Paquin.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  Although many health communication researchers use the terms “shame” and “guilt” interchangeably, arguably these constructs are distinct and have widely divergent psychological consequences. The purpose of this study was to explore distinct cognitive and emotional outcomes resulting from shame relative to guilt appeals. Specifically, this paper provides empirical evidence that negative outcomes such as anger and perceived manipulative intent are more likely to be associated with shame than guilt. Using an experimental design, participants were randomly assigned to view either a shame or a guilt appeal about getting tested for STDs and completed an online questionnaire. Shame was correlated with both anger and perceived manipulative intent whereas guilt was not. Participants who viewed the shame appeal reported higher levels of shame, anger, and perceived manipulative intent. Tactics for creating shame‐free guilt appeals and future research are discussed.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20647   open full text
• The Effect of Consumer Multifactorial Gender and Biological Sex on the Evaluation of Cross‐Gender Brand Extensions.
  Isabelle Ulrich.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  Introducing cross‐gender brand extensions—masculine or feminine brands that extend to the opposite gender—is a growing trend on the marketplace, though not always a successful one. This research examines the effect of consumer multifactorial gender and biological sex on consumers’ evaluation of cross‐gender brand extensions. The influence of gender role attitudes is demonstrated: consumers with traditional gender attitudes are significantly more reluctant to accept these extensions than consumers with more liberal attitudes. Hence the extensions have a negative impact on the subsequent attitude of the former group toward the parent brand, contrary to their effect on more egalitarian consumers. No significant impact of the consumer's biological sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation is identified. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for the development of cross‐gender brand extensions are discussed.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20646   open full text
• Shopping Orientation and Mindsets: How Motivation Influences Consumer Information Processing During Shopping.
  Oliver B. Büttner, Arnd Florack, Anja S. Göritz.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  This research examines the cognitive procedures that underlie experiential versus task‐focused shopping orientations. The authors propose that consumers with a task‐focused shopping orientation and consumers with an experiential shopping orientation apply different cognitive procedures during shopping. Studies 1, 2, and 3 show that consumers with a task‐focused shopping orientation are more likely to activate the cognitive procedures of an implemental mindset, whereas consumers with an experiential shopping orientation are more likely to activate the cognitive procedures of a deliberative mindset. Study 4 demonstrates a fit effect between activated cognitive procedures and shopping orientation. Activating a mindset that matches the shopping orientation increases the monetary value that consumers assign to a product. The studies extend previous research by linking shopping orientations to mindsets and by providing evidence for mindset fit. The findings suggest that marketers and retailers will benefit from addressing experiential and task‐focused shoppers via the mindsets that underlie their shopping orientation.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20645   open full text
• The Impact of Food‐Related Values on Food Purchase Behavior and the Mediating Role of Attitudes: A Swiss Study.
  Mirjam Hauser, Fridtjof W. Nussbeck, Klaus Jonas.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  Personal values and attitudes can help to explain food choice. This study confirmed a hierarchical organization of the value–attitude–behavior chain: Food‐related values influence attitudes, and these, in turn, impact behavior. Contrary to previous findings, values are only partially mediated by attitudes: Some food‐related values are fully mediated, whereas others are partially mediated, and still others have exclusively direct effects on purchase behavior. Questionnaire data from a roughly representative sample of 851 adults living in Switzerland was complemented with actual food purchase behavior measured by a loyalty card of a Swiss retailer over the period of one year. Four theoretically derived structural equation models were compared across eight different food product categories (organic, fair trade, low‐budget, fresh convenience, ready‐to‐eat, light, functional foods, fruits and vegetables). The results question central assumptions of the theory of planned behavior and emphasize the role of food‐related values in food consumption. Implications for marketing and future product developments of food companies are discussed.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20644   open full text
• The Interplay of Information Diagnosticity and Need for Cognitive Closure in Determining Choice Confidence.
  Demetra Andrews.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  This research augments efforts to produce a richer understanding of the drivers of choice confidence. It investigates the interplay of a contextual factor that is readily influenced by marketing channel members (i.e., information diagnosticity) and an individual difference variable that alters the nature and extent of information processing (i.e., Need for Cognitive Closure; NFCC). Findings from two experimental studies demonstrate a positive influence of NFCC on choice confidence when information diagnosticity is low, but not when it is high. Furthermore, at high levels of NFCC, the influence of information diagnosticity is fully attenuated such that people with high NFCC derive equivalent choice confidence from information that is high or low in diagnosticity. The NFCC effect appears to operate by undermining the influence of information diagnosticity on perceptions of information adequacy and performance expectations. This research holds implications for marketing communications strategy, targeted marketing practices, and public policy.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20643   open full text
• Consumer Risk Perceptions and Marketing Strategy: The Case of Genetically Modified Food.
  Diane M. Phillips, William K. Hallman.
  Psychology and Marketing. July 23, 2013
  New technologies are hitting the marketplace every day. In trying to make sense of these new technologies, consumers perceive a series of risks and benefits of consumption and use those perceptions to form product judgments. One way for managers to mitigate organizational related risk is to understand how consumers perceive consumption‐related risk. To illustrate this point, the case of genetically modified (GM) food is examined and a series of focus groups is conducted in which participants examined different product labels that either framed the technology as a benefit gained or as a risk avoided. The results indicate that consumers do indeed form very different product evaluations based on how the new technology is framed, but these evaluations vary based on the level of the consumers’ preexisting knowledge. This study provides support for the contention that a better understanding of consumer risk perceptions is an important first step in developing marketing strategies for new technology‐oriented products.

  July 23, 2013   doi: 10.1002/mar.20642   open full text