Why bad feelings predict good behaviours: The role of positive and negative anticipated emotions on consumer ethical decision making

Research suggests that emotions can greatly influence consumer decision making and behaviours. Notwithstanding, our understanding of the role of anticipated emotions in what is an inherently complex deliberation process—that of consumer ethics—is still quite limited. The present study thus aims to address this gap, in two key ways: first, by measuring the influence of positive and negative anticipated emotions at each stage of the consumer ethical decision making process; and second by describing the specific emotions that most affect each component of the consumer ethical deliberation process and assessing their relative weight in predicting decisions involving ethical issues. Through the examination of 603 ethical situations and using multiple regression analysis, the findings indicate that anticipated emotions can account for up to 59% of the variance in consumer decisions involving ethics. Anticipating the experience of negative emotions as a result of carrying out an unethical behaviour was the affective component found to most influence consumer ethical deliberation process; and anticipated guilt was the discrete emotion exerting the greatest effect on consumer decision making in ethical situations. The findings indicate that more than feeling good, consumers avoid feeling bad; such that ethically favourable decisions emerge to prevent experiencing negative emotions in the future.     

Risk-reduction strategies in competitive convenience retail: How brand confusion can impact choice among existing similar alternatives

Consumers tend to deliberate over their options by relying on risk reduction to facilitate the entire purchase journey. The present study was designed to be the first to investigate how brand confusion can impact consumers’ choice among existing similar alternatives with the use of risk-reduction strategies (i.e., decision postponement and inertia) in competitive convenience retail. The findings reflect two opposing strategies that consumers adapt to, that is, respond rationally or irrationally to brand confusion. Consequently, such a response either delays their purchase to search for additional external information or motivates them to depend on their behavioral inertia; whereas cognitive inertia completely relegates the decision-making process to the behavioral type. Taken together, the findings imply that rational decision-making could not function well to choose among existing similar alternatives. Accordingly, the study also provides some recommendations for marketers to reconnect cognitive inertia back to the process of decision making, and thereby encourage the acceptance of the new belief system.     

The nature of information and overconfidence on venture capitalists' decision making

Venture capitalists (VCs) are considered experts in identifying high potential new ventures—gazelles. Thus, the VC decision process has received tremendous attention within the entrepreneurship literature. Yet, most studies on VC decision-making focus on which decision criteria are central to selecting gazelles. Although informative, the majority of these studies has neglected cognitive differences in how VCs make decisions. This is surprising considering the influence cognitive differences are likely to have on the exploitation of an opportunity as well as its influence on likely success. The current study investigates whether VCs are overconfident, as well as the factors surrounding the decision that lead to overconfidence.Overconfidence describes the tendency to overestimate the likely occurrence of a set of events. Overconfident people make probability judgments that are more extreme than they should, given the evidence and their knowledge. In the case of the new venture investment decision, overconfident VCs may overestimate the likelihood that a funded company will succeed.The results of the current study indicate that VCs are indeed overconfident (96% of the 51 participating VCs exhibited significant overconfidence) and that overconfidence negatively affects VC decision accuracy (the correlation between overconfidence and accuracy was 0.70). The level of overconfidence depended upon the amount of information, the type of information, and whether the VC strongly believes the venture will succeed or fail.As more information becomes available, people tend to believe they will make better decisions; they are making a “more informed decision.” More information ideally should enable the VCs to assess any potential pitfalls. However, additional information makes the decision more complex. Information factors may contradict and relate to other information in unexpected ways. Even if more information is available, people usually don't analyze all of it (even though they believe they do). Thus, more information creates greater confidence, but it also leads to lower decision accuracy.The type of information that is available also impacts overconfidence and decision accuracy. VCs are intuitive decision makers. When people are familiar with a decision and the structure of the information surrounding that decision, they resort to automatic information processing. On the other hand, if information surrounding the decision is structured in an unfamiliar way, people need to decipher what each piece of information means and how that impacts their overall accuracy. In the case of expert VCs, that means they must deviate from their intuitive style. It seems that forcing them outside their “comfort zone” has a negative effect on their confidence and has an even greater effect (negative) on their accuracy.There is evidence of an “availability bias” in VC decision-making; VCs rely on how well the current decision matches past successful or failed investments. VCs are overconfident in their prediction of venture success when they predict a very high level of success. VCs are also overconfident in their prediction of venture failure when they predict a very low likelihood of success. This high level of overconfidence in success predictions (or failure predictions) may encourage the VC to limit information search and fund a lower potential investment (or prematurely reject a stronger potential investment).Although overconfidence in itself does not necessarily lead to a wrong decision, the bias is likely to inhibit learning and improving the decision process. Overconfident VCs may not fully consider all relevant information, nor search for additional information to improve their decision. Moreover, the natural tendency for people to recall past successes rather than failures may mean that VCs will make the same mistakes again. VCs can take simple steps to reduce the effect of overconfidence, including counterfactual thinking (i.e., imaging scenarios where current assumptions might not hold), formally recording how past decisions were made at the time of the decision (versus trying to recall how that decision was made from memory), and using actuarial decision aids that decompose decisions into core components. Reducing overconfidence may lead to stronger decisions. It is hoped that this study illustrates the power of cognitive theories for understanding VC decision-making.     

Refuting fear in heuristics and in recycling promotion

This paper deals with emotions in order to demonstrate that recycling behavior is associated more with positive emotions than with cognitions. The resulting model displays a marked contrast to the classic cognitive paradigm in the sense that this perspective highlights the idea that consumers act on the basis of their affective reactions, with cognitive factors playing a minor role. In addition, showing alternative routes to achieve both recycling involvement and behavior depending on both the emotional and cognitive characteristics of individuals within the hedonic process.     

The impact of affective and cognitive antecedents on negative word-of-mouth intentions

Negative word-of-mouth (WOM), defined as derogatory information disseminated from person to person and aimed at defaming a product, highlighting a product complaint, and/or highlighting unsatisfactory service experiences, influences consumer behavior and can harm a company’s image. The present study was conducted to ascertain the impact of affective antecedents (negative emotions) and cognitive antecedents (distrust) in the intent of negative WOM. A proposed theoretical model was employed to analyze the effect that perceived injustice had on negative WOM and how this effect was mediated by emotional and cognitive aspects. The research was a pre-experimental design – one treatment leading to one observation – with 252 students. Through an OLS regression and mediation analyses, we found an indirect link between perceived injustice and negative WOM intent, which was mediated by negative emotions and distrust. Contributing to the field of marketing studies, this paper fills an investigative gap regarding affective and cognitive antecedents as mediators of negative WOM. The results suggest that marketing managers should create mechanisms to allow consumers to express their negative emotions and rebuild their trust in order to avoid the spread of negative WOM.     

Let the Story Go: The Role of Emotion in the Decision-Making Process of the Reluctant, Vulnerable Witness or Whistle-Blower

This paper draws on cognitive psychological theory to explain the role of emotion in the decision-making process of four reluctant, vulnerable witnesses to wrongdoing, who were persuaded to blow the whistle on matters of substantial public interest. It proposes a theoretical explanation for the role of emotion on whistle-blower or witness decision-making, based on the Iterative Reprocessing Model and drawing on appraisal-based theories of cognitive psychology. It concludes that the decision to speak is preceded by an intense emotional episode, probably due to changes in the witnesses’ coping and legitimacy appraisal structures. These changes are most likely a result of interaction with journalists and others during the decision-making process.     

Keeping anger in check: The role of personal and organizational characteristics on behavioral outcomes

ABSTRACT

The food and beverage sector of the hospitality industry is known for being an emotionally labor-intensive environment. The events that transpire over the course of a shift lead to various emotions, which ultimately dictate the behaviors of the employees working in this industry. Of particular interest to this study was the interplay between environmental antecedents (power and distributive justice) and their influence on a negative emotion (anger) and a positive emotion (affective organizational commitment). Additionally, this study sought to understand how anger and affective organizational commitment influenced positive (organizational citizenship behavior) and negative (counterproductive work behavior) workplace behaviors using the lens of the affective events theory. The results of this study revealed that anger had the strongest effect on counterproductive work behavior and that all of the relationships were significant except from anger to affective organizational commitment and affective organizational commitment to counterproductive work behavior.     

投资者状态偏好及其决定因素

Status quo bias is an important factor which affects investors’ decision-making. The extant research on this issue only takes the prospect theory into consideration. In fact, framing effect, investor emotion and information structure are also important variables affecting status quo bias. This paper explores the impact on investors’ status quo bias from the perspectives of framing effect, investor emotion and information structure, using the experimental method. Results show that investors’ status quo bias is higher in the price differential frame than in the ratio frame of the investable portfolio. In addition, investors’ status quo bias does exist in the three emotions conditions. Particularly, status quo bias is lower in the positive emotion investors and higher in the negative emotion. Respondents’ choice of certain options is five times as uncertain options. The level of status quo bias in self-status assignment group is higher than that in external-status assignment group.     

The interplay between cognitive- and affective conflict and cognition- and affect-based trust in influencing decision outcomes

Research on strategic decision-making has focused on both conflict and trust as important process variables that affect decision outcomes. Taking information processing perspective, the present study investigates the interplay between two types of conflict and two types of trust and argues that cognitive conflict and cognition-based trust are far more important than the affective conflict and affect-based trust in strategic decision-making teams. The perceptions of trustworthiness based on the competence of the executives enhance decision quality and commitment whereas the perceptions of trustworthiness based on relationships do not have any affect on outcomes. Multi-informant data from 109 hospitals revealed that cognition-based trust is a moderator in the relationship between conflict and outcomes whereas affect-based trust does not moderate the relationship. The implications of the divergence roles of both conflict and trust are discussed.     

Righteousness and Profitableness: The Moral Choices of Contemporary Confucian Entrepreneurs

This paper explores the relationship of various trait emotions to the ethical choices of 189 college students who completed a managerial decision-making task as part of an in-basket exercise in a laboratory setting. Prior research regarding emotion influences on ethical decision-making and linkages between emotions and cognition informed hypotheses about how different types of emotions impact ethical choices. Findings supported our expectations that positive and negative emotions classified as active would be more strongly related to interpersonally-directed ethical choices than to organizationally-directed ones, and that passive emotions would be less related to ethical choices than active emotions. Implications for ethical decision-making research and organizational practices are discussed.     

Sense and sensibility in personalized e‐commerce: How emotions rebalance the purchase intentions of persuaded customers

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.     

Consumer response to online apparel stockouts

In two online experiments this research investigated the process by which consumers respond to online apparel stock outages (or stockouts) and examined the effectiveness of managerial responses in mitigating the adverse impact of stockouts. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that negative emotions evoked by stockouts depressed perception of store image, lowered decision satisfaction, and reduced behavioral intent. In addition, the effect of negative emotion on behavioral intent was mediated by perception of store image and decision satisfaction. The results of Experiment 2 showed that financial compensation was most effective in mitigating the negative impact of out‐of‐stock occurrences on consumer responses. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Relationship between Processing Styles and Self-Control Behavioral Characteristics

Recent research suggests that cognitions and affect may operate independently or simultaneously during the decision process. The purpose of this exploratory research is to understand cognitive and affective processing styles by examining the self-control traits which may be associated with each style. Results suggest that individuals prone to affective decision processing (Feeling Processors) also tended towards more compulsive behavior than the other types of processors. Similarly, individuals who use both styles of processing (Combination Processors) were found to be more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior. Implications of these results and future research are suggested.     

The role of emotion in advertising

This paper addresses the reemergence of attention to the role of emotion in advertising. Conceptual clarity requires that emotions be distinguished from other motivational and affective constructs. Having thus narrowed our focus, we present a model of the emotional process and a typology of emotional content. We then address some related managerial issues in advertising strategy and methodological problems in measuring emotions. Finally, the preceding considerations suggest directions for future research on the role of emotion in advertising.     

Anger Strays,Fear Refrains: The Differential Effect of Negative Emotions on Consumers’ Ethical Judgments

Although various factors have been studied for their influence on consumers’ ethical judgments, the role of incidental emotions has received relatively less attention. Recent research in consumer behavior has focused on studying the effect of specific incidental emotions on various aspects of consumer decision making. This paper investigates the effect of two negative, incidental emotional states of anger and fear on ethical judgment in a consumer context using a passive unethical behavior scenario (i.e., too much change received). The paper presents two experimental studies. Study 1 focuses on the interaction of moral intensity (amount of change) and incidental emotion state in predicting the ethical judgment while study 2 investigates the underlying causal mechanism behind the process, using a mediation analysis. The results reveal a significant interaction between moral intensity and incidental emotion. Specifically, individuals in the state of incidental fear exhibit higher levels of ethical judgment as the moral intensity increases as compared to individuals in the state of incidental anger. Further, perceived control is found to mediate the relationship between emotional state and ethical judgment under higher moral intensity condition.     

Customer response toward employees’ emotional labor in service industry settings

In the current study, we develop and test a moderated mediation model that explores the mechanisms that underlie the influence of employees' emotional labor on customer loyalty by considering affective reactions and cognitive appraisals simultaneously and illustrating moderating factors that alter their effectiveness. A sample of 259 individuals from across the United States over 20 years old were recruited on Amazon's Mechanical Turk to participate in the survey. Our emotions as social information based model clarifies the distinct roles of customers' detection of employees' deep acting and surface acting in influencing customers' affective reactions and cognitive appraisals. The current research also reveals that impact of customers' detection of employees' emotional labor on customer outcomes varies as a function of the employees' nonverbal communication.     

Presentation Format and Financial Literacy: Accessibility and Assessability of Retirement Savings Statements

While increased financial literacy may improve individual retirement savings decisions, modifying the placement of key information in retirement savings statements can produce further improvements. We examined the extent to which placement of information and financial literacy affected the accessibility of information for individuals and assisted in their financial decision making. We also disaggregated financial literacy into numeracy and knowledge to identify key drivers. Using an experimental design, we find the increased salience resulting from modifying the presentation format improved participants' ability to locate important information (accessibility) and to evaluate the relative performance of funds (assessability). However, the incremental benefits of placement are only found for individuals with moderate numeracy skills. We conclude there is value accruing from financial literacy programs as advocated by regulators, but suggest additional benefits may be reaped from focusing on numeracy skills and from using presentation formats that improve information accessibility and assessability.     

Individual Priming in Virtual Team Decision-Making

Virtual teams have different interactions than face-to-face teams because they rely on information and communication technologies, which can impede or assist certain human cognitive processes. Past research has shown that although virtual teams exchange more information than face-to-face teams, poor decisions often result, because team members do not consider the unique information they receive from others. Drawing from cognitive psychology, our research explored a unique way to improve team decision-making through the use of cognitive priming. We proposed that priming group members to pay attention to others or to engage in counterfactual thinking would improve team members’ cognition and, therefore, team performance. Prior research with individuals and brainstorming teams has shown these forms of priming to improve performance; however, no research has attempted to use priming to improve the outcomes of virtual team decision-making, which requires deeper interaction and cognitive involvement than brainstorming. We performed two lab experiments using primes that have been found to improve the individual decision-making process. We found that priming had some impact, but it did not significantly improve decision quality. Various reasons are discussed to explain why priming techniques may not be as powerful in teams as in individuals, and future research ideas are suggested to build on our initial work on priming in virtual team decision-making.     

Positive Affect and Malleable Mental Accounting: An Investigation of the Role of Positive Affect in Flexible Expense Categorization and Spending

The present research examines the impact of positive affect on mental accounting and the underlying mechanisms. The authors find that individuals in a positive (vs. neutral) affective state are less likely to exploit ambiguity in mental accounts and justify spending, but only when processing resources are unconstrained. In contrast, when processing resources are limited (high cognitive load), those in a positive (vs. neutral) affective state are more likely to spend. These findings offer new insights into the interplay between affect and cognition in decision making, the use of mental accounting strategies, and the role of affect in spending and self‐control.