Variety-seeking as an emotional coping strategy for chronically indecisive consumers

The present research provides evidence that variety-seeking is a generalized emotional coping strategy for chronically indecisive consumers. Recent research reveals that (1) chronic indecisiveness is associated with increased variety-seeking behavior and (2) chronically indecisive consumers (vs. not) feel more positive after choosing a mix of products. The present research demonstrates that chronically indecisive consumers’ increased tendency to seek variety can be further inflated by inducing them to experience negative emotion unrelated to the choice task. This finding is directly at odds with past research that has repeatedly found an increasing effect of positive emotion on variety-seeking behavior. The present research shows that this effect does not hold for chronically indecisive consumers, who variety-seek even more when made to feel negative.     

The Gender Pay Gap for Private‐Sector Employees in Canada and Britain

The gender earnings differentials for private‐sector employees in Britain and Canada are similar, substantial and significant. Using linked employer–employee data, we show that women are more likely to be employed in low‐wage workplaces than men in both counties. After accounting for the workplace, women continue to earn less than comparable men. Although men and women face a more equal pay structure within their workplace than they do across workplaces, a substantial portion of the gender pay gap in both countries remains unexplained by the individual characteristics or workplace effects considered in this study.     

Pension coverage and retirement savings of young and prime-aged workers in Canada, 1986–1997

In this paper, we assemble data from several household surveys to document how pension coverage of young and prime‐aged workers has evolved in Canada between the mid‐1980s and the mid‐1990s. We show that between 1986 and 1997 pension coverage has fallen significantly for men, has dropped slightly for young women, and has increased for prime‐aged women. The decline in union density and employment shifts towards low‐coverage industries explain most of the decline in pension coverage of men and young women. In contrast, most of the increase in coverage of prime‐aged women remains unexplained. While pension coverage has fallen for men and young women, their real average contributions to registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) have increased substantially. As a result, the sum of the amounts they contributed to registered pension plans (RPPs) and RRSPs has increased markedly. JEL Classification: J26, J32 Couverture des régimes de rentes et épargnes pour la retraite des travailleurs jeunes et de ceux dans la force de l'âge au Canada (1986–1997). Dans ce mémoire, les auteurs assemblent des données de plusieurs enquêtes sur les ménages pour documenter l'évolution de la couverture des régimes de rentes des travailleurs jeunes et dans la force de l'âge entre le milieu des années 80 et le milieu des années 90. On montre que cette couverture a chuté de manière significative pour les hommes, a décliné légèrement pour les femmes, et s'est accrue pour les femmes dans la force de l'âge. La chute du taux de syndicalisation et les déplacements de l'emploi vers des secteurs où la couverture est plus faible expliquent le gros du déclin de couverture pour les hommes et les jeunes femmes. Quant à l'accroissement de la couverture pour les femmes dans la force de l'âge, il demeure inexpliqué. Alors que la couverture des deux premiers groupes a décliné, leurs contributions aux régimes enregistrés d'épargne retraite (REER) ont augmenté substantiellement. En conséquence, le total des sommes qu'ils ont contribuées aux régimes de rentes enregistrés et aux REER ont augmenté de manière importante.     

Consumer Control and Empowerment: A Primer

This paper introduces consumer empowerment as a promising research area. Going beyond lay wisdom that more control is always better, we outline several hypotheses concerning (a) the factors that influence the perception of empowerment, and (b) the consequences of greater control and the subjective experience of empowerment on consumer satisfaction and confidence.     

Decision making and brand choice by older consumers

Older adults constitute a rapidly growing demographic segment, but stereotypes persist about their consumer behavior. The goal of this review was to develop a more considered understanding of age-associated changes in consumer decision making. Our theoretical model suggests that age-associated changes in cognition, affect, and goals interact to make older consumers’ decision-making processes, brand choices, and habits different from those of younger adults. We first review literature on stereotypes about the elderly and then turn to an analysis of age differences in the inputs (cognition, affect, and goals) and the outcomes (decisions, brand choices, and habits) of decision processes.     

Age-related differences in responses to affective vs. rational ads for hedonic vs. utilitarian products

This research investigated the moderating role of product category type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) on age-related differences in responses to affective vs. rational ads. An experiment showed that elderly consumers (age 65 plus) had more favorable attitudes toward affective (vs. rational) ads, regardless of product category type. In contrast, young adult consumers (age 18–25) favored affective ads only for hedonic products. They favored rational ads for utilitarian products. Results of the experiment imply that, to explain age-related differences in decision making, researchers must take into account age-related differences in motivational states apart from apparent shortfalls in cognition.     

Commentary: the role of age in consumer’s retrieval and evaluation of consumption experiences

Si, K., & Dai, X. Marketing Letters (2022), have introduced an intriguing and potentially useful construct to the marketing literature: memory-search frame. Our commentary centers on Si and Dai’s study 3. This study focuses on the possible moderating effect of age on the typical length of consumers’ memory-search frame. Its results imply that older consumers have longer memory-search frames compared to younger consumers. However, these correlation-based results are not strong evidence. We briefly review past research that is inconsistent with these results and pose additional questions to the authors that they might pursue in future research.