Adolescents’ perceived brand deprivation stress and its implications for corporate and consumer well‐being

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.     

Clarifying the Relationship between Involvement Variables and Advertising Effectiveness among Young People

Previous research has indicated the need for an in-depth investigation of the role of involvement variables in advertising information processing among young people, in view of the unsuitability of existing adult persuasion models for a young population, the inadequate consideration of involvement variables among young people and the unique characteristics of this population. This study examined the effects of advertising involvement and product involvement on advertising effectiveness among young people, using a quantitative study of 252 4–15-year olds. Results show that advertising involvement and product involvement had a positive direct effect on ad effectiveness. In addition, all endogenous variables—subjective product knowledge, peer and parent influence and age—had an indirect effect on ad effectiveness, via advertising involvement and product involvement. Interestingly, subjective product knowledge and peer influence had no direct effect on ad effectiveness, but rather only an indirect effect. This study presents a more accurate depiction of the complexity of the process and shows that advertising involvement and product involvement contribute to a better understanding of the process among young people.     

Delight the experts,but never dissatisfy your customers! A multi-category study on the effects of online review source on intention to buy a new product

Online reviews are a pervasive form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) that potentially accelerate—or slow down—the diffusion of recently launched services in the marketplace. While empirical research largely supports the effects of online reviews on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, less is known about the impact the source of the review—i.e., if it comes from a peer consumer or an expert—has on the recipient. Two experiments that combine reviewer- (expert, consumer), service type- (mobile package, restaurant, car repair), consumer- (level of general innovativeness), and review-related (positive, negative) characteristics reveal a challenging interaction between the review’s source and its valence: while—compared to an established baseline—a positive expert review seems more effective in increasing the recipient's intention to purchase than a review by a peer consumer, a negative consumer review lowers the recipient's intentions to a larger extent than a negative expert review. We further find effects of the consumer's innovativeness and the service category across the experiments. Our research contributes to the topical and increasing body of empirical research on the effects of involved characteristics within online reviews across several product types.     

Similar or contrastive? Impact of product–background color combination on consumers' product evaluations

Based on arousal theory, this study explores the impact of product–background color combination on consumers' product evaluations through four empirical analysis. As predicted, the interaction of product–background color combinations and product types has a significant influence on consumers' product evaluations. For functional products, the product–background similar color combination can cause consumers' higher product evaluations. However, for sensory-social products, the product–background contrastive color combination can cause consumers' higher product evaluations. Moreover, the arousal level mediates the interaction effect of product–background color combinations and product types on consumers' evaluations. This research also demonstrates that only when the product color matches product type, the interaction of product–background color combinations and product types can improve consumers' product evaluations through increasing (decreasing) the arousal level, however, the interaction effect is no longer significant when the matching degree of product color and product type is low. We contribute to the visual marketing research by providing new insights and useful implications for using color clues to present products in marketing practice.     

Effects of product-specific word-of-mouth communication on product category involvement

Drawing primarily from categorization theory, this paper presents justification for the effects of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication on product category involvement. Results of an empirical test of this relationship are presented showing an enduring effect of positive WOM communication on product category involvement; this effect was not found for negative WOM. These results suggest that positive WOM about one firm's brand may help competitors by increasing involvement, thus generating more sales (not necessarily of one's own brand) in an entire product category. Our findings, coupled with categorization theory, provide support for a series of propositions presented concerning the effects of changes in product category involvement on nondiscussed brand attitudes and purchase intentions.     

Impact of fit,involvement, and tenure on job satisfaction and turnover intention

This study examined the interactive effects of need–supplies fit, job involvement, and job tenure on service sector employees' job satisfaction and turnover intention in Turkey. Survey data collected from 252 employees who worked in three different banks and one logistics company operating in Istanbul, Turkey, confirm the three-way interaction in predicting employees' turnover intention. In particular, the effect of needs–supplies fit on turnover intention was found to be more strongly positive for longer tenured, highly involved employees. Results also reveal that while the three-way interaction does not predict job satisfaction, the two-way interaction between needs–supplies fit and job involvement is significant. Specifically, needs–supplies fit had a stronger effect on the job satisfaction of highly job-involved employees than those with lower levels of involvement. Certain implications of these results, as well as avenues for future research, are discussed.     

From digital media influencers to celebrity endorsers: attributions drive endorser effectiveness

We propose that attributions about an endorser truly liking, using, or desiring a promoted product mediate the relationship between source and message factors and persuasion via endorsement. In this paper, we integrate the persuasion literature into a framework for examining endorser effectiveness via focus factors (e.g., involvement, cognitive load) that determine whether a consumer thinks carefully or superficially about a message, and lead consumers to rely on different source and message elements (e.g., source attractiveness, argument strength). These elements then influence attributional processing. Correspondent inferences about an endorser can lead to enhanced advertisement and brand attitudes, and spur either fleeting identification with the endorsement or more enduring internalization (Kelman, The Public Opinion Quarterly 25:57–78, 1961) of the endorser’s message as a consumer’s own. Implications of our framework and research directions are discussed.     

Super Bowl ad likeability: Enduring and emerging predictors

US advertisers love the Super Bowl because it reaches a huge and highly receptive audience. One metric that Super Bowl advertisers watch closely is ad likeability as this is correlated with sales success. Tomkovick, Yelkur, and Christians (2001, Journal of Marketing Communications 7: 89–108) studied ad likeability for Super Bowl ads in the 1990s. In this paper, we replicate and extend their research using USA Today's measurement of Super Bowl ad likeability in the decade of the 2000s as our dependent variable of interest. Our findings on 438 Super Bowl ads show that humor, animals, and product category were enduring predictors of ad likeability. Product information and the presence of children in Super Bowl ads were found to be emerging predictors of ad likeability. Most notably, the amount of product information provided in Super Bowl commercials was inversely related to ad likeability. Implications for advertisers are presented, as are conclusions, study limitations and directions for future research.     

Firm-level export duration: The importance of market-specific ownership linkages

This paper explores the impact of a firm's market-specific ownership linkages and trade complementarities on different dimensions of its exporting longevity. Unlike previous studies that were mostly based on country-product-level data, this paper uses transaction-level trade data on the population of firms in Slovenia in the 2002–11 period, matched with detailed origin/direction of inward/outward FDI information to determine a firm's integration in international production networks. Our results indicate that firm's bilateral inward and outward FDI flows with an export-destination country have a strong positive effect on a firm's export survival in that market. Importance of market-specific ownership linkages for export duration is exclusively driven by intermediate goods which suggests prolonged export duration through production network involvement. However, the perseverance effect of bilateral FDI ties on export spells has been weakened during the crisis period. We find pronounced market- and product-related trade complementarities as either exporting or importing experience with the relevant market/product substantially improves the chances of a product–market export spell continuing. Finally, the risk of exports termination is lower for a firm's core export products.     

The Roles of Modality Richness and Involvement in Shopping Behavior in 3D Virtual Stores

The rapid growth of e-commerce and consumers' increasing use of 3D virtual worlds to make purchases have rendered it important to understand how consumers develop their buying intentions in this novel context. Drawing from literature on modality richness, this study examined the effects of pre-experimental product involvement and the modality of marketing information presentation on consumers' product evaluations, buying intentions, and enjoyment of online shopping. The results of a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment indicate significant interaction effects between modality richness and prior involvement. Consumers with low involvement are influenced by modality richness, whereas those with high involvement are not, thus confirming the moderating role of prior involvement for shopping behaviors inside 3D virtual environments. Managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Placing snacks in children's movies: cognitive,evaluative, and conative effects of product placements with character product interaction

ABSTRACT

Type of placement integration has been shown to influence placement effects in adults. However, no studies have explored the role of character product interaction (CPI) for product placement effects on children. We also lack knowledge about the moderating role of age in this context. We therefore exposed N = 363 children aged 6–15 years to a movie containing no placement, a static placement, or a CPI placement. The presence of placements affected cognitive and conative brand outcomes. However, children's product memory and consumption were higher for CPI placements compared to static placements. As a relevant implication for product placement research, we found that brand outcomes were independent of the children's ages and prior movie familiarity. This suggests that children's developmental stage concerning age does not mitigate product placement effects. Implications for educators and consumer advocates are discussed.     

Engaging fans on microblog: the synthetic influence of parasocial interaction and source characteristics on celebrity endorsement

Brand managers use celebrity microbloggers to endorse their products on microblogs. Previous studies on celebrity endorsement mechanisms concentrated on source factors such as celebrity's characteristics and celebrity—product congruence. This study introduces a new audience factor: the fan–celebrity parasocial interaction (PSI) to explore the celebrity endorsement mechanism within a microblog context. The study hypothesizes that PSI and source factors (credibility, attractiveness, and congruence) significantly influence endorsement effectiveness. The results of an online survey (N = 862) indicate that PSI and celebrity–product congruence are salient antecedents of endorsement effectiveness. PSI serves as a mediator of the effect of source attractiveness on endorsement effectiveness. Source credibility and celebrity–product congruence are mediators between PSI and endorsement effectiveness. The study develops and tests a conceptual model to illustrate the influential mechanism of celebrity endorsement on microblog platforms.     

Consumer Responses to English Accent Variations in Advertising

Abstract

With the growing use of different types of English accents in international advertising, it is important for marketers to understand the factors that influence the credibility of the spokesperson in order to select the most persuasive character. This study investigates the effects of a spokesperson's accent on spokesperson's perceived credibility across high and low involvement products and products of different country-of-origin. Two different accents-the standard English accent and the local Singaporean English accent (Singlish)-were tested. Results indicated that accent, product country-of-origin and product involvement significantly influence the spokesperson's perceived credibility and attitude towards the ads. The accent effects appeared to be strong enough to offset the country-of-origin, gender and product involvement effects, attesting to the importance of considering this factor in advertisements. Specifically, the Standard English accent outperformed the Singlish accent in terms of spokesperson credibility, attitude towards the ad, attitude towards the brand and purchase intentions. However, the Singlish accent outperformed the Standard English accent in terms of attention to the ad. Implications for marketers are discussed.     

Matching a cause with self‐schema: The moderating effect on brand preferences

The moderating roles of consumer brand involvement type and product type on the effect of a match between consumers' self‐schema and the cause a brand supports on consumers' preference for the cause‐supporting brand is investigated. The authors show that a schema–cause match enhances consumer preference for a brand engaging in cause‐related marketing when (1) consumers' involvement with the brand is of the impression‐relevant type (vs. outcome‐relevant type) and (2) when the branded product is functional (vs. hedonic). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mind the Gaps: Exploring How Value‐Creation Perceptions Across the Internal Triad Influence Identity and Impact

New value‐creation opportunities mean the future of supply chain management (SCM) is bright. Growing C‐suite sponsorship for supply chain contributions to enterprise value creation is a positive factor for the future of the discipline. However, rising C‐suite requests mean that supply chain professionals must manage an internal triad of relationships: horizontally with peer functions and vertically with C‐level executives. How well supply chain professionals manage this triad will determine SCM's future role in strategic initiatives. We use procurement to exemplify the opportunities and challenges that confront a maturing supply chain discipline. Focus studies conducted with procurement managers and peer functional managers combined with C‐suite interviews reveal: (1) great opportunities for cementing SCM's value‐creation role; and (2) existing gaps hinder identity construction and professional contribution.     

International expansion of U.S. manufacturing family businesses: the effect of ownership and involvement

Family firms play an important role in today's global economy. However, limited empirical research has identified factors that spur these firms' internationalization. Highlighting the altruism that pervades family firms, this exploratory study examines the individual and interactive effects of family ownership and involvement on subsequent internationalization of a firm's operations. Results from the analyses of 409 U.S. manufacturing firms show that family ownership and involvement in the firm as well as the interaction of this ownership with family involvement are significantly and positively associated with internationalization. The implications of the findings for research and managerial practice are discussed.     

An empirical study on Chinese adolescents' fashion involvement

Chinese adolescents are growing up with China's rapid economic growth and they represent the up and coming group of China's fashionistas. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of consumer socialization on Chinese adolescents' fashion involvement. Using the data collected from 169 Chinese adolescents, the research provides empirical results about the impacts of different consumer socialization agents on Chinese adolescents' fashion involvement. The study results reveal the positive and significant impacts of fashion magazines, fashion websites and peers on Chinese adolescents' fashion involvement, but a negative and significant impact of Internet on adolescents' fashion involvement. In addition, parents and TV were found to have no significant impact on Chinese adolescents' fashion involvement. Such empirical research not only deepens our understanding of the nature and strength of the relationships between the consumer socialization agents and Chinese adolescents' fashion consumer behaviour, but also makes a meaningful contribution to improving the consumer socialization framework. We believe these findings will be useful to update current consumer socialization frameworks and make it more relevant and useful for studying the new generation of consumers in the emerging market context.     

Before–after appeals: a dual-route effect model

This paper compares the effects of before–after appeals with before-use appeals, also known as problem-focused appeals, and with after-use appeals, also known as outcome-focused appeals, to demonstrate two possible routes of influence that before–after appeals may trigger. First, the before–after appeals can prompt performance-based effect processes, which enhance perceptions of product performance and encourage improved behavioural intentions. Second, they can trigger emotion-based effect processes, which arouse anticipated happiness and anticipatory hope, as well as lead to favourable brand attitudes. Studies 1 and 2 confirm the proposed model; Study 3 shows that consumers' low product involvement triggers a performance-based effect process, whereas their high product involvement triggers emotion-based effect processes.     

Children's Responses to Advertising in Social Games

This study explored children's (ages 9 through 12) level of persuasion knowledge and peer influence susceptibility concerning advertising in social games and investigated how these variables affect children's desire for the brands advertised in these games. Results showed that (1) children have a fairly good knowledge of the advertising in social games yet hold uncritical attitudes toward it and claim to be not very susceptible to peer influence; (2) the most important predictors of children's desire for the advertised brands are a low critical attitude and high peer influence susceptibility; and (3) recognition and understanding of advertising in social games is effective in reducing advertised brand desire only for children who are familiar with social games.