The role of rationalization in consumer decision processes: A revisionist approach to consumer behavior

Consumer behavior theory, as it has largely evolved from economics with its rigid adherence to marginal utility theory, suggests that consumers are highly rational and that they basically strive to maximize utility or satisfaction by the careful rationing of resources. In this paper, the typical assumptions in consumer decision process models are reviewed and analyzed, the empirical evidence supporting the models of the rational consumer is challenged, the concept of rationalization is developed and the existential support for the concept is examined, the role and significance of alternative ego state on consumer decision processes are explained and finally, the rudiments of a revisionist approach to consumer behavior are advanced. An earlier draft of this paper entitled “Consumer Decision Processes: The Role and Influence of Rationalization” was presented at the annual meeting of The American Psychological Association Division 23 in 1977. The author was assisted in the preparation and development of this earlier draft by Dr. Chem Narayana. This assistance is herewith acknowledged.     

Leisure and consumer behavior

The topic of consumer's leisure-time behavior is receiving increasing attention by marketers as Americans' leisure-related spending rapidly approaches the $200 billion level. This paper first examines the concept of “leisure” and then reviews various measurement issues. It concludes with several marketing implications and suggested issues needing further research.     

Stress and consumer behavior

Although stress research has received increased attention in the behavioral and social sciences, it has been virtually ignored by marketing researchers. This paper attempts to advance the stress perspective as a useful framework in consumer research. First, the author presents theoretical and conceptual foundations of stress research. Second, the author develops a general conceptual model of the causes and consequences of stress on the basis of theory and research. The model serves as a blueprint for presenting theory and research on stress, organizing and interpreting findings of consumer studies in the context of stress theory, and developing propositions for needed research. Finally, the author provides a research agenda to guide future studies in this area.     

The role of expectations in the determination of consumer satisfaction

The purpose of this paper is to explore the three determinants of consumer satisfaction, i.e. Predictive Expectations, Normative Expectations and Comparative Expectations. This study applied the confirmation of expectations paradigm to each of the types of expectations. The efficacy of the paradigm in the prediction of consumer satisfaction is examined. Comparative analyses of the three types of expectations show that normative expectations and their confirmation are the best predictors of satisfaction. Suggestions for further research on measurement and conceptual development of consumer satisfaction are also offered.     

Life course perspectives on consumer behavior

Although marketing researchers have recognized the importance of early life experiences in shaping patterns of consumer behavior in later life, they have inadequate theoretical and methodological bases for investigating consumption-related issues over the life course. As a result, relatively little is known about the changes consumers experience over time, how they respond to these changes, and how early life experiences affect their consumer behavior. The life course approach, developed as an interdisciplinary program for studying various aspects of behavior, offers a framework for filling gaps in previous efforts to study consumer behavior over time. The purpose of this article is to advocate the life course approach for studying various types of market behavior. First, the author presents a general conceptual life course framework that serves as a blueprint for discussing theoretical perspectives and organizing, integrating, and reporting consumer research relevant to the life course paradigm. Second, methods of data analysis compatible with life course research are discussed. Finally, select areas of interest to marketing researchers (materialism and compulsive consumption) illustrate how the life course approach might contribute to previous efforts to study these consumer behaviors in an innovative way.     

中国居民消费行为的几点分析

消费,一直是国民经济中极为重要的一个组成部分。而中国居民的消费行为明显有着其自身独特的习惯和偏好,研究中国居民独特的消费行为特征对于如何刺激我国居民消费和扩大内需有着十分重要的意义。本文即指出了中国居民比较突出的几点消费者行为特征,并分析了其成因及影响,最终在此基础上给出了相应的政策建议。     

影响二手车市场消费者购买行为的因子分析

随着汽车大量进入家庭,我国汽车保有量和二手车消费群体数量不断增加,国内二手车市场不断成熟和扩大。本文通过实证研究方法,对汽车消费者的二手车购买行为进行因子分析,归纳出汽车消费者二手车购买行为的影响因子,为经销商改善二手车服务质量提供一定的理论依据。     

The impact of alternative consumer education strategies on safety knowledge and behavior

The article describes an experimental study which attempted to increase children's awareness of proper safety behavior as well as to increase actual safe behavior in the use of playground equipment. Results indicated that modest to substantial gains were made in both knowledge and behavior, and that among the alternative consumer education programs, the strategy that was most successful was the use of the greatest amount of information with the youngest children.     

On the significance of statistically insignificant results in consumer behavior experiments

Experimentation is the sine qua non of consumer behavior research, and much of what is thought to be known about the behavior of consumers is based on findings from experiments. However, many articles that report consumer behavior experiments contain one or more results that are significantly insignificant. That is, one or more experimental results are so unusually weak or minuscule that they are unlikely to have come about by chance. As such, significantly insignificant results can be due to the “failure” of the theory underlying an experiment and/or the flawed design or implementation of an experiment. Consequently, significantly insignificant results have implications for the theories and methodologies employed in consumer behavior experiments, the quality of conclusions drawn from the experiments, and the credibility of the consumer behavior research discipline as a whole.     

Factors influencing the likelihood of customer defection: The role of consumer knowledge

Customer satisfaction is the predominant metric firms use for detecting and managing customers' likelihood to defect. But while satisfaction and defection are related, satisfaction is only a weak predictor of whether a customer will defect. This article suggests that for repurchase decisions that involve an information-based evaluation of alternatives to the incumbent, likelihood of defection will be influenced by “how much” customers know about those alternatives. The relationship between level of knowledge about alternatives and defection is examined in the context of actual health insurance choices. Results suggest that the level of objective and subjective knowledge about alternatives has a direct effect on likelihood of defection—above and beyond satisfaction level. The view of defection forwarded in this article suggests that managers may be able to gain additional control over customer defection through actions aimed at influencing how much customers know (or come to know) about alternative vendors. Anthony J. Capraro (tcapraro@unca.edu), an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, earned his Ph.D. in marketing in 1999 from the University of Texas after having spent 20 years in industry in marketing and marketing management positions. His current research interest focuses on developing and enhancing the value of a firm's customer base. Susan Broniarczyk (Susan.Broniarczyk@bus.utexas.edu), an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, earned her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Florida. She serves on the editorial boards of theJournal of Consumer Research and theJournal of Marketing Research and the advisory board for the Association for Consumer Research. Her research, which examines consumer decision making and how consumers' knowledge structures affect their reaction to missing or conflicting product information, appears in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, andOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Rajendra K. Srivastava (Rajendra.Srivastava@bus.utexas.edu) is the Jack R. Crosby Regent's Chair in Business and a professor of marketing and management science and information systems (MSIS) in the McCombs School of Business at the University Texas at Austin. He is also the Daniel J. Jordan Research Scholar at Emory University. He earned his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. His research, which spans marketing and finance, has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, and theJournal of Banking and Finance. His current research interests focus on the impact of marketing strategy and market-based assets on corporate financial performance, particularly in the context of technology-intensive products and services.     

An empirical test of the Causative Markov model of consumer behavior

This paper examines an extension of the Markov model of consumer brand switching behavior, which captures the nonstationarity in the consumer decision processes over time. The extended model has been labeled as the Causative Matrix model. The model is put to test on empirical data, and compared with the stationary version of the model. The Causative Matrix model is shown to be a better forecasting tool. Its ability to yield additional insights into consumer brand choice processes is also discussed.     

消费者行为学本科教学模式研究

消费者行为学是市场营销理论的重要组成部分之一,而且随着流通领域竞争的不断加剧,消费者行为学已经成为营销专业的热门课程。为适应社会主义市场经济的发展,必须建立适合社会发展和人才培养需求的教学模式,通过教学引导学生发现和掌握消费者在消费活动中的心理与行为的特点及其规律,改善和优化其消费行为,提高学生的综合能力。     

The role of emotional exhaustion in sales force attitude and behavior relationships

Emotional exhaustion is a potentially important construct in examining sales force behavior and attitude relationships. A conceptual model and hypotheses are developed to study the antecedents and consequences of the emotional exhaustion construct. The hypotheses are tested using LISREL 7 to analyze data from a sample of field salespeople from a large international services organization. The empirical results offer strong support for relationships involving role ambiguity and conflict antecedents and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention-to-leave consequences of emotional exhaustion. Emin Babakus (Ph.D. University of Alabama, 1985) is a professor of marketing and associate dean for faculty at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics, University of Memphis. His research interests are in the areas of measurement, sales management, services, and international marketing. His research has been published in a number of journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, andJournal of Advertising Research. David W. Cravens holds the West Chair of American Enterprise Studies at Texas Christian University. He is a former editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is the author ofStrategic Marketing (Irwin/McGraw-Hill). Mark Johnston is a professor of marketing at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College. He earned his Ph.D. in marketing in 1986 from Texas A&M University. Prior to receiving his doctorate, he worked in industry as a sales representative for a leading distributor of photographic equipment. Dr. Johnston's research interests focus on sales force management issues that include analyzing the affect of role stress on salesperson attitudes and behavior, reducing unwanted turnover, and improving performance. In addition, he conducts research on a wide range of other topics, including international marketing management, ethics, and promotional strategy. His research has been published in a number of professional journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. William C. Moncrief is a professor of marketing at Texas Christian University and former chair of the Marketing Department. He has published extensively in the sales and sales management areas. He is coauthor ofSales Management (Addison-Wesley).     

略谈当代审美文化的“审美”内涵

“审美”有一个基本内涵就是以人为本,所以,当代的审美文化应当以人为本。以人为本不仅是对资本主义的一种批判,同时在社会主义时期,对当代审美文化和精神文明的建设,对人的生存状态的体贴和关怀,对人的自由个性的肯定,对人自身修养和人生境界的提升,对塑造美好的心灵和人的全面发展等等,都有着非常重要的意义。当代审美文化,包括各种文学艺术的创作,都要体现出对人的关怀,对人的生存和命运的关怀,特别应当体现出对人的终极关怀。     

略谈当代审美文化的"审美"内涵

"审美"有一个基本内涵就是以人为本,所以,当代的审美文化应当以人为本.以人为本不仅是对资本主义的一种批判,同时在社会主义时期,对当代审美文化和精神文明的建设,对人的生存状态的体贴和关怀,对人的自由个性的肯定,对人自身修养和人生境界的提升,对塑造美好的心灵和人的全面发展等等,都有着非常重要的意义.当代审美文化,包括各种文学艺术的创作,都要体现出对人的关怀,对人的生存和命运的关怀,特别应当体现出对人的终极关怀.     

An empirical study of innate consumer innovativeness,personal characteristics,and new-product adoption behavior

This article explores the relationships between innate consumer innovativeness, personal characteristics, and new-product adoption behavior. To do this, the authors analyze cross-sectional data from a household panel using a structural equation modeling approach. They also test for potential moderating effects using a two-stage least square estimation procedure. They find that the personal characteristics of age and income are stronger predictors of new-product ownership in the consumer electronics category than innate consumer innovativeness as a generalized personality trait. The authors also find that personal characteristics neither influence innate consumer innovativeness nor moderate the relationship between innate consumer innovativeness and new-product adoption behavior. Subin Im is currently an assistant professor of marketing at San Francisco State University. His primary scholarly interest includes the organizational aspects of innovation, new-product development for marketing strategy, the consumer side of the innovation adoption process, organizational learning in new-product development, moral hazard and adverse selection model, and research methodology using multivariate statistical techniques. His current research projects include creativity in new-product development, market orientation and innovation, consumer innovativeness, entrepreneurship and organizational learning in new-product development, the development of the creativity measure, the validation of the innovativeness measure, and the testing of nonlinear effects in structural equation modeling. He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Subin worked in banking and semiconductor industries before he joined academia. Barry L. Bayus is a professor of marketing in the University of North Carolina's (UNC) Kenan-Flagler Business School. Prior to joining the marketing faculty at UNC, Barry worked in both industry and academia. He has also served as an expert witness in patent infringement cases involving high-tech products. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of new-product design and development, marketing analysis and strategy, and technological change. His recent research is concerned with the creation and evolution of new markets and the historical evolution of products, as well as new-product development issues such as speed to market, product life-cycle management, new-product preannouncements, product proliferation, firm entry, and exit timing in dynamically changing markets. Charlotte H. Mason is an associate professor of marketing in the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, where she leads the MBA Customer and Product Management concentration. Her industry experience includes work for Procter & Gamble, Booz, Allen and Hamilton, as well as consulting projects. Her research focuses on the development and testing of marketing models and applications of multivariate statistics to marketing problems. She is currently investigating issues relating to the analysis and use of large customer databases as well as strategic issues surrounding customer portfolio management. Her research has been published inMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, Marketing Letters, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Business Research. She is on the review boards of theJournal of Marketing Research and theJournal of the Academy of Marketign Science and is coauthor (with William Perreault) ofThe Marketing Game!, a strategic marketing simulation.     

浅析美术欣赏课中的审美

美术欣赏，是人们在观赏、品鉴美术作品时产生的一种审美活动，是一种创造性的精神活动。审美教育使受教育者树立正确的审美观念和健康的审美趣味，为塑造完善人格有着不同一般教育的特殊性。     

The effects of company offshoring strategies on consumer responses

This paper develops a unique theoretical framework for explaining consumer reactions to corporate offshoring by testing the impact of the decision to offshore or to maintain domestic activities on two dependent variables: consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication. We conduct two controlled experiments administered in the field with adult consumers. Study 1 analyzes the processes underlying consumer reactions to corporate offshoring from the perspective of the perceived moral harm and good that offshoring produces. Results verify the mediating role of positive and negative moral emotions (i.e., gratitude and righteous anger) felt by consumers. Study 2 demonstrates the moderating role of consumer perceived risk of offshoring on the linkage between company offshoring and the same moral emotions and through these moral emotions on consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication. An unexpected finding is the mediation of the positive moral emotion of elevation on consumer attitudes.     

论经济活动中的审美性

在现代社会的生产、消费和流通等经济活动中充满了审美性。这种经济审美活动的日益发展是人类文明不断进步的必然。它对于人类生活质量的提升、人性的丰富乃至美学自身的发展都将产生广泛而又深远的影响。     

Student surrogates in consumer research

The issue of using students as subjects in consumer research is discussed. Data are collected at both behavioral and attitudinal levels from both student and general population samples, and the results are compared. Results are discussed in light of the practical advantages inherent in student samples.