Decision Making by Low‐Literacy Consumers in the Presence of Point‐of‐Purchase Information

Low‐literacy consumers face disadvantages when making product choices. This article presents the results of two studies designed to explore differences in decision‐making behavior across consumer literacy levels, focusing on consumers’ ability to evaluate information in print ads and product packaging. The authors demonstrate that the presence of a visual decision aid at the point of purchase can improve choice for low‐literacy consumers.     

Making choices under conflict: The impact of decision frames

How do people make choices when they see two equally positive versus two equally negative decision alternatives? The cancel-and-focus hypothesis argues that when people see options in a sequence, they tend to overweight the unique attributes of the first alternative. This leads to the prediction that when both options are positive (approach–approach conflict), the first option is preferred more but that if they are both negative (avoidance-avoidance conflict), the first option is preferred less. Based on recent research, we argue that this finding may be contingent on an unrecognized compatibility confound with the decision frame of choosing versus rejecting. In this research, we argue that the choice biases predicted by the cancel-and-focus hypothesis will be more pronounced when the decision frame (choose/reject) is incompatible with the valence of the alternatives (reject–positive and choose–negative) because such incompatibility increases processing motivation. We report two studies with varying operationalizations of decision conflict which find that cancel-and-focus effects are more pronounced under incompatibility. Taken together, these findings suggest that conflict effects are better understood by accounting for the decision frame as well.     

品牌拟人形象性别一致性和品牌态度关系研究：品牌热情与能力类型的调节作用

三个实验检验了品牌拟人形象性别与目标消费者性别一致性的积极效应以及品牌热情能力定位对其的调节作用。结果表明：出于社会认同动机，当性别刻板印象未被激活时，消费者对于拟人形象和自身性别一致的品牌态度更加积极。而当性别热情能力刻板印象被激活时，性别一致性的积极效应被品牌热情能力定位调节。具体而言，对于男性消费者，相对于能力型品牌，热情型品牌由于和男性高能力低热情刻板印象不同，男性消费者对男性拟人形象的社会认同降低，品牌拟人形象与消费者性别一致性对社会认同和品牌态度的积极效应消失；而对于女性消费者，与传统刻板印象相反的高能力低热情的女性拟人形象并未对她们的社会认同及品牌态度产生负面影响。     

Imagination matters: do consumers’ imagery processing and self-regulatory goals affect the persuasiveness of metaphor in advertising?

Abstract

In this paper, we show that individuals’ self-regulatory focus and imagery processing affect the persuasiveness of metaphorical advertisements. Study 1 show that metaphorical advertisements enhance persuasion only among individuals who are promotion focussed. They attenuate brand evaluation among prevention-focussed individuals. In Study 2, a regulatory fit between message frame and regulatory focus results in more favourable brand evaluations only among promotion-focussed individuals when a promotion-framed metaphorical advertisement is presented. In Study 3, the level of imagery processing mediates the interaction effect of metaphorical advertisements and regulatory focus on brand evaluation. Study 4 reveals that brand evaluation is enhanced when promotion-focussed consumers view a metaphorical advertisement without interpretative cues. However, the brand evaluation of prevention-focussed consumers is enhanced when they view a metaphorical advertisement with interpretative cues.     

Preference for green packaging in consumer product choices – Do consumers care?

In this paper, consumer environmental choice is studied by analysing the relative importance of green packaging when compared with other relevant product attributes. The empirical study is based on a choice‐based conjoint analysis of preferences for functional drink products of a sample of 330 consumers using these products. Our choice‐based approach on environmental behaviour brings new insights to previous research, which predominantly relies on attitude models. Results indicate that consumers differ in their preferences for packaging, brand, price and convenience of use of daily products. In addition, various distinctive consumer segments can be identified on the market. Contrary to several previous studies, we found that the largest consumer segment, one‐third of consumers, favoured environmentally labelled packaging as the most important criteria in their choice. The findings emphasize the increasing importance of ethical and environmental dimension in product choices. We also propose that the attention in environmental consumer research should be shifted from general attitude studies towards the study of actual product choices.     

品牌个性、消费者真实自我与品牌态度

基于FCB Grid模型视角,运用实证分析的方法研究品牌个性与消费者真实自我对品牌态度的影响。研究发现,高涉入度/认知型和高涉入度/情感型品牌的品牌个性与真实自我概念一致的群体比不一致的群体具有更高的品牌态度,在此类品牌的塑造上考虑注入品牌个性的五个维度中的"智"和"雅"的个性特征,低涉入度/认知品牌未显示出显著的品牌个性,低涉入度/情感型品牌的一致群体与不一致群体均显示出显著的品牌个性。     

The effects of traffic light labels and involvement on consumer choices for food and financial products

Traffic light (TL) labels that inform consumers regarding product safety have received increasing attention in different fields. Behind the background of behavioural economics, this paper presents the results of a split‐sample choice experiment conducted in Germany to evaluate the impact of TL labelling on purchases of food and financial products. We hypothesize that consumers experience different levels of involvement with these two types of products, leading to different recommendations regarding the use of TLs. The results show that TLs affect consumer purchases of both product groups by focusing their attention on specific product attributes. For food, whereas the low‐fat attribute has no significant impact on food choices that do not include TLs, this attribute has a positive impact on choices once it is signalled with a TL label. The positive evaluation of the organic production attribute of a food product without a TL decreases when the same product is labelled with a TL. In the case of financial products, TLs significantly reinforce the impact of all characteristics on choice probability. TLs also generate a halo effect with regard to return variance. Although consumers demonstrate different levels of involvement for the two types of products, involvement does not always impact the evaluation of attributes. Compared with less involved consumers, more involved consumers exhibit more heterogeneous evaluations of the return variability attribute in the case of the financial product and the organic attribute in the case of the food product.     

The effects of between‐partner congruity on consumer evaluation of co‐branded products

Branding studies, especially those focusing on brand extension, have often centered on establishing the relationship between consumer evaluation and the match between a product concept and the brand (concept congruity). This study introduces an additional type of congruity that arises in the evaluation of co‐branded products, the congruity between brand partners (between‐partner congruity). Between‐partner congruity has not previously been explicitly considered in the co‐branding literature, but is potentially an important influence on consumer perceptions of a brand partnership. Thus, this study represents an initial attempt to understand how the level of between‐partner congruity will affect consumer response to cobranded products. Several findings in the marketing literature have suggested that when respondents have the motivation to resolve incongruity, the relationship between congruity level and evaluation is nonmonotonic. In other words, moderately incongruent concepts are preferred to congruent or highly incongruent concepts to form an “inverted‐U” data function. Yet, when motivation to process is low, evaluation becomes less favorable in a linear fashion as incongruity increases. This study examines whether these findings can be extended to co‐branding. When concept congruity is controlled across brand pairs, the nonmonotonic relationship between between‐partner congruity level and product evaluation is observed when consumers are encouraged to elaborate on the rationale for the partnership (high involvement). However, when consumers attend to the global similarity of the partners (low involvement), product evaluation becomes less favorable as between‐partner incongruity increases. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumer Decision Making Regarding a “Green” Everyday Product

One of the techniques marketers use to convert low‐involvement products into high‐involvement ones is adding an important product feature. A case in point is the common practice of adding a “green” or environmentally friendly product feature to an everyday product, something which is often assumed to elevate consumer involvement in the choice of the product. However, there is a lack of research investigating whether adding such a “green” product attribute actually makes any difference to how consumers make choices. Does the way in which consumers make decisions about groceries change when both “green” and conventional alternatives are available? Does it make them deliberate more or do they just develop another, simple choice heuristic? Based on observation and follow‐up interviews of consumers at the milk counter in two supermarkets which stock both organic (a “green” attribute) and conventional milk, it is concluded that, rather than changing the way consumers make decisions when buying this type of product, the availability of a “green” alternative seems to make “green” consumers develop a new, simple choice heuristic that allows them to do their shopping as effortless and time‐efficient as consumers buying conventional products.     

The effect of attribute-based and alternative-based processing on consumer choice in context

The current research proposes that the extent to which consumer choices are affected by the decision process depends on the underlying nature of the choice problem. Specifically, choices resulting from substantial inter-brand comparisons and tradeoff analyses are vulnerable to whether product information is evaluated by attribute- or alternative-based processing. By contrast, choices resulting from a minimal cognitive processing are less sensitive to variations in the decision strategy employed. We test our theory in the well-known domain of choice context effects. Across three studies using multiple operationalizations of the decision process (i.e., information display format, product presentation mode, and processing goal), we find converging evidence that the more cognitively involving compromise choice increases when the environment facilitates attribute- versus alternative-based processing. Conversely, the choice of asymmetrically dominating option, which is characterized by relatively little analytical processing, does not depend on the type of decision strategy highlighted by the task.     

Price Awareness and Consumers’ Use of Deals in Brand Choice

There is evidence that consumer knowledge of prices is limited, implying that, on occasions, consumers may not be fully informed of prices when making a brand purchase. On such occasions, how do consumers make their brand choice decision? One possibility is that consumers use their expectation of prices. This raises an interesting question. To what extent is brand purchase either a function of preferences and posted prices or, of preferences and expectation of brand prices? Another important issue relates to the role of displays and features in simplifying consumer brand choice. First, do promotions cause consumers to restrict their attention to only promoted brands? Second, do promotions affect the price aware consumers more than the price unaware consumers? Our study uses scanner data on ketchup and peanut butter categories to answer the foregoing questions. We find that between 40 and 50% of the purchases are made by consumers using expectations of prices rather than posted prices. Consumers using price expectations may be thought of as being “unaware” of prices. We also find that promotions cause some consumers to focus exclusively on promoted brands, and this effect is greater on the price aware consumers than on the price unaware consumers. Our findings have an important bearing on the rationality of consumer expectation of prices, especially of the promoted brands. Price aware consumers act as a check against firms promoting without accompanying price cuts.     

The stakeholder product brand and decision making in retail financial services

Stakeholder products were introduced by the UK Government to help assist decision making in retail financial services. Such products are targeted particularly at low- to middle-income consumers and those in a position of vulnerability/weakness in personal finance markets due to low expertise and familiarity and a lack of interest and involvement. The current study offers a detailed investigation into whether the stakeholder policy initiative is likely to appeal to the specified target market and, hence, help the Government fulfil its objectives. A sample of 1002 consumers is employed in a quantitative study. Findings show that the stakeholder product brand (SPB) enjoys a relatively high level of general acceptance, but that it does not resonate particularly with the target market. The SPB is likely to be recognized as useful in aiding decision making by high-involvement consumers, as well as those consumers who are more familiar with financial services. Those who suffer from the illusion of expertise have marginally less positive attitudes towards the stakeholder brand when compared with other expertise groups. The data are indicative of few meaningful relationships between demographic variables and attitudes towards stakeholder products. Policy implications are highlighted.     

Love at first sight: The effect of presentation order on evaluation of experiential options in luxury tour packages

This study examined how serial order and information format jointly determine consumers' preferences of tour packages. The results showed that the option viewed first in a sequence was preferred (vs. not preferred) when the information format facilitated (vs. inhibited) narrative processing. Preference shifts to the first viewed option due to narrative processing was prominent among consumers with defensive attitudes to self-threats and in circumstances where the first option was challenged by an attractive alternative. Three experiments were conducted and showed that narrative processing enhanced attachments to the first option if consumers simulated the experience, which in turn motivated them to be consistent in subsequent evaluations. Managerially, these findings suggest that in addition to emphasizing the importance of occupying the first position in a series of advertisements and products, marketers should also facilitate experience simulations rather than focusing solely on the attributes of luxury tours.     

Attention to social comparison information and brand avoidance behaviors

This research links brand avoidance behaviors to attention to social comparison information (ATSCI). We posit that high (vs low) ATSCI consumers will suffer from more social-evaluative uncertainty, i.e., more uncertainty regarding others’ reactions to their brand choices. To alleviate this problem, high ATSCI consumers will avoid distinctive or conspicuous brands and brand icons that might draw the attention of others, playing safe in their brand choices, rather than risking social disapproval. Two preliminary studies provide support for the theoretical assumptions, confirming that ATSCI is positively associated with brand consciousness, brand social-evaluative uncertainty, and brand avoidance motivated by social-evaluative concerns. Study 1 examines brand identification and shows that although high and low ATSCI consumers identify themselves with equally prestigious brands, the former avoid identifying with distinctive brands. Study 2 demonstrates that unlike their low ATSCI counterparts, high ATSCI consumers avoid conspicuous brand logos even in the case of highly prestigious brands.     

Eclipsing: When Celebrities Overshadow the Brand

This paper applies Gestalt psychology and associative network theory to examine the effect of eclipsing in celebrity endorsement on consumer attitude towards the endorsed brand. Eclipsing occurs when the celebrity overshadows the endorsed brand by dominating in an advertisement and diminishing the associative link between the celebrity and endorsed brand. Three studies take into account match‐up, celebrity attachment, brand familiarity, and the moderating role of eclipsing, through manipulating two levels of eclipsing in advertising: (1) high eclipsing, when the celebrity is the focus, and (2) low eclipsing, when both the celebrity and brand are emphasized. Consumers who have a weak attachment to the celebrity endorser report a more positive brand attitude when they see the celebrity and endorsed brand both emphasized in an advertisement (low eclipsing) than when the celebrity overshadows and dominates the brand (high eclipsing), irrespective of whether consumers perceive the celebrity and brand to match or mismatch. For consumers with strong celebrity attachment, high eclipsing enhances brand attitude, regardless of whether they perceive the celebrity and brand to either match or mismatch. The findings of these studies have significant implications for advertisers and brand managers in the execution of their advertisements featuring endorsements.     

Feeling disconnected from others: The effects of ambient darkness on hedonic choice

This research documents a novel effect of ambient lighting on consumer choice. We propose and find that ambient darkness (vs. brightness) can result in consumers feeling disconnected from others. As a result, consumers become more authentic in their choices and they choose hedonic over utilitarian options because these choices reflect what they truly want (Study 1). Past research had suggested darkness increases hedonic choice by making choice less observable, but we find this effect emerges even when the choice is already anonymous and darkness cannot further increase anonymity. Rather, feeling disconnected from others and less weight to social norms heightened self-authenticity in darker (vs. brighter) surroundings (Study 2). When consumers are reminded of social connection, this difference is attenuated (Study 3). Thus, consumers making hedonic choices regulate their choices when reminded of their social connections. Implications of these findings and possible extensions are discussed.     

The decision processes of innovative communicators and other adopters

Based on the nature of their involvement with the target product category three market segments of consumers of fashion innovations are identified. It is hypothesised that each segment of consumers should use a different decision process when adopting an innovation. The major findings of this study are that the more innovative consumers used a less extensive pattern of decision making activity than consumers who were either less involved with the product category or were concerned about how the purchase would effect their perceived social status. These findings suggest that involvement with the category is different to involvement in the decision making process, and that the latter is somewhat contingent on situational factors.Thanks are expressed to John Rossiter, Judy Zaichkowsky, and the editor and reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft.     

When goliaths win and davids lose: The moderating role of perceived risk in brand biography effects

Brand biographies trace a brand's evolution to position it as an underdog (i.e., passion and determination that lead to success despite limited resources) or a topdog (i.e., success based on abundance of resources) brand. This study examines how consumers’ risk perceptions associated with brand choice influence brand biography effects. It demonstrates that when perceived risk associated with brand choice is low, consumers process brand biographies narratively, experience greater narrative transportation into underdog (vs. topdog) brand biographies, and evaluate the underdog brand more favorably. When perceived risk associated with brand choice is high, consumers respond more positively to topdog (vs. underdog) brand biographies, due to topdog brands’ greater perceived ability to reduce risk. The topdog effect observed at higher levels of perceived risk reverses, however, when consumers have the opportunity to process the brand biography before receiving high risk information, as this allows for narrative transportation into the brand biography. This study contributes to research on moderators of brand biography effects and suggests that perceived risk should play a role in marketers’ decision to emphasize underdog or topdog characteristics in brand biographies.