Self-relevance and purchase goals: Mapping a consumer decision

The purpose of this research is to introduce a cognitive mapping methodology designed to explore the goal structures that are activated by a consumer’s experienced feelings of self-relevance or involvement with a product or service. In particular, the authors examine how a consumer’s enduring involvement with a product class (greeting cards) and specific decision situations affect the content and structure of the activated purchase goals in a consumer’s decision map. As compared to enduring involvement, the decision situation more strongly affected the content of the goals in the decision maps. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of the method and the results for consumer behavior and marketing strategy research. He received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University, his M.B.A. from the University of Missouri, and his B.S. from Southwest Baptist University. His work has been presented at American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, and Academy of Marketing Science national conferences. Cognitive mapping and marketing strategy processes are his primary research interests. She received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests center on the areas of consumer behavior and marketing strategy. In particular, her research emphasizes the cognitive structures and processes that underlie the formation of marketing strategy and consumer decision making. She has published her work in theJournal of Marketing Research, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Business Research, Research in Consumer Behavior, and other scholarly publications.     

Consumer legislation: A proactive or reactive response to consumerism?

The number and rate of development of new consumer legislation necessitates the evaluation of existing legislation. This paper summarizes and categorizes, in detail, the impact of select pieces of consumer legislation on consumer decision making. It is an implied objective of the paper to provide a perspective for future public policy formulation. The pieces of legislation evaluated in the paper are: (1) unit pricing; (2) product labeling; and (3) disclosure of interest rate provisions for consumer credit. The impact of these pieces of legislation have been minimal, indicating the need for an educational program for consumers.     

The effects of expertise,end goal,and product type on adoption of preference formation strategy

The global preference formation model identifies several preference formation strategies (i.e., own-based, other-based, or hybrid) that consumers use to select among alternative product offerings. This article examines how consumers’ expertise level (novice vs. expert), their end goals (satisficing vs. optimizing), and product type (search vs. experience product) collectively influence the preference formation strategy likely to be adopted. Results from an experiment indicate that the adoption of a given strategy is influenced by interactions between subjects’ expertise level and their end goals and the product type. Novice satisficers employed a higher proportion of own-based strategies than novice optimizers, but expert satisficers used a lower proportion of own-based strategies than expert optimizers. When compared to novices choosing a search product, novices selecting an experience product used a lower proportion of own-based and a higher proportion of other-based strategies. Similarly, when compared to experts choosing a search product, experts selecting an experienced product used a lower proportion of own-based strategies, but this was accompanied by a higher proportion of hybrid strategies. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Her current research interests include consumer choice processes, electronic decision aids, and measurement issues in marketing. His research interests include consumer information search, marketing communications, and measurement issues.     

How low spending control harms consumers

Self-control is a critical aspect of consumer behavior that has wide-ranging implications for individual and societal welfare. The present research builds upon previous work regarding consumer spending self-control by examining the financial, decision making, social, and psychological consequences of low consumer spending self-control. Further, the relationship between consumer spending self-control and general self-control is explored, contributing to a greater understanding of how more general traits translate into spending-related outcomes. This research includes investigations of allocations to retirement accounts, responses to credit limits, resource depletion effects from repeated decision making, and the potential for broader negative social and psychological consequences from low consumer spending self-control.     

Developing global products and marketing strategies: A construct and a research agenda

The U.S. trade deficit brings to question the effectiveness of international marketing strategies of American firms. Multinational corporations must develop better international products and improve their performance in their international marketing efforts. They must know when to globalize or localize their marketing practices. This article incorporates learning, involvement, diffusion/adoption and culture context as dimensions of a global product and marketing strategy development decision model. The model developed is “be global, act local.” The interrelationship of consumer behavior models in the context of a multinational product development decision is emphasized. This article raises research issues which need to be addressed for future success in multinational and/or multicultural markets.     

The link between attractiveness of “Extrabrand” attributes and the adoption of innovations

While innovators may rush to purchase many new products, most consumers are more conservative and do not want to buy into fads but purchase only those new products that are viable. How do the majority of consumers make judgments about whether they will adopt an innovation? This article examines the evaluative aspects of adoption as a means for better understanding consumer adoption and the market factors that may influence the success of an innovation. This research introduces a conceptual model that shows how consumers’ evaluation of product category attractiveness affects the adoption decision for really new products. These consumer evaluations are based on the attributes of the product category (“extrabrand” attributes) rather than brand attributes. Results from a test of the model indicate that consumers do use extrabrand attributes to assess the attractiveness of innovative new products.     

个性化广告：影响过程、消费者态度和交互作用

基于消费者内隐与外显偏好,个性化广告为消费者提供大量可能性选择的预筛选并根据可能的吸引力进行排序推荐,使得消费者更快地识别和找到符合需要的产品,有利于促成消费者采取与主观偏好紧密结合的决策行为。尽管个性化广告在业界实践中较为普遍,但学界鲜有探讨消费者对个性化广告的反应。总体而言,消费者对个性化广告通常持正反两方面的态度,消费者决策与个性化广告之间的交互影响表现出“良性循环”的价值链。     

Firm-hosted online brand communities and new product success

Many firms use online brand communities to support the launch of their new products. This study proposes a typology of firm-hosted online brand communities and examines whether such a classification system can improve predictions of new product success. A cross-industry analysis of 81 firm-hosted online brand communities shows that these communities reflect three archetypes. A subsequent survey of 170 community-hosting firms in the consumer durable goods industry reveals that the three types of communities are not equally important for new product success. Moreover, one archetype generally underperforms the other two as a new product support mechanism. Overall, the results demonstrate that firm-hosted online brand communities can be a predictor of new product success.     

Investigation of giving behavior to united way using log-linear modeling and discriminant analysis: An empirical study

Giving behavior toward a charitable organization is modeled by two different procedures: discriminant analysis and a log-linear model. Although the discriminant procedure is beter known in marketing, the log-linear approach has less restrictive model assumptions and may more accurately represent the conceptual basis of consumer decisions. Two situations are considered: (1) a simple binary classification of the giving decision, and (2) a three-group case of no gift, small, and large gift. Utilizing a large data base and a holdout sample for comparative purposes, the log-linear procedure is found to be an attractive alternative to discriminant analysis in terms of correct classification of individuals. Research support for this study was provided by the School of Business, University of Louisville     

Impact of country-of-origin cues on consumer judgments in multi-cue situations: a covariance analysis

The effect of country-of-origin labelling on consumers’ assessments of product quality, risk to purchase, perceived value and likelihood of purchasing was tested experimentally in a multi-product, multi-cue setting. Country-of-origin information was found to be more important in affecting product quality assessments than were price and brand information. Price was important in value assessment while brand was significant in a few product specific cases. Age, education, sex, and perceptions of ability to judge products were variously related to consumers’ ratings of quality, risk, value and likelihood of purchase especially when the product was more complex and difficult to judge. However, much of the variation in consumer judgments was not accounted for by the variables employed in this study, suggesting that future research should include more detailed studies of information processing whereby intrinsic and extrinsic product cues and a wide range of consumer characteristics are taken into consideration.     

Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence

The predictive validity of two measurement methods of self-image congruence—traditional versus new—were compared in six studies involving different consumer populations, products, consumption settings, and dependent variables (brand preference, preference for product form, consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, brand attitude, and program choice). The traditional method is based on tapping the subject’s perception of product-user image and the subject’s perception of his/her self-image along a predetermined set of image attributes and adding the self-congruity scores across all image dimensions. Three problems were identified and discussed in relation to the traditional method: (1) the use of discrepancy scores, (2) the possible use of irrelevant images, and (3) the use of the compensatory decision rule. The new method is based on tapping the psychological experience of self-congruity directly and globally. The findings demonstrated the predictive validity of the new method over and beyond the traditional method. His research interests are mostly in self-concept, quality of life, and systems theory. His research interests are mostly in pricing and product quality. Her research interests are primarily in family decision making. Her research interests focus on the social psychology of clothing and patronage of clothing retailers. His research interests are mainly in the social psychology of travel and leisure behavior. His research interests are mainly focused on self-concept, quality of life, environmental marketing, and sports marketing. His research interests are mainly in self-concept and value-expressive advertising. He is the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Professor of Business and is the founder of the Academy of Marketing Science. He currently serves as the organization’s executive director. His research interests are mostly in consumer behavior and advertising.     

When marketing strategy meets culture: the role of culture in product evaluations

This research investigates how national culture interacts with marketing strategy to influence consumers’ organic post-consumption satisfaction ratings of entertainment products rich in cultural content. Drawing upon a communication theory framework, we develop hypotheses concerning multiple interaction effects between culture and marketing strategies on consumers’ product evaluations. We test these hypotheses by analyzing consumer reviews of 260 movies in 25 country markets. In support of our hypotheses, we find that the cultural congruence between the product and the market improves consumer reviews, and that the effect is stronger in cultures characterized by collectivism, femininity, and uncertainty avoidance, as well as for products more heavily loaded with cultural content. In addition, we find that the negative effect of delay in product launch timing weakens for cultures characterized by long-term orientation, and that the positive effect of advertising spending on consumer evaluations is stronger in cultures characterized by high power distance belief. These results provide practical insights into how managers should make decisions concerning product design, launch timing, and advertising strategies in international markets.     

基于“品牌基因”视角的回族老字号品牌构成研究

品牌基因是附着在产品上的、在品牌经营中具有显著的文化表征的具有遗传特征的知识体系,携带有包含产品基因和文化基因的多种遗传信息,是决定品牌进化的基本依据。品牌通过产品基因表现为产品功能和产品结构,并表达自己的个性和价值理念,通过文化基因表现为品牌文化的独特性,最终给消费者带来品牌归属感。回族老字号是中华老字号中具有鲜明民族、区域特色的品牌,基于基因理论来分析回族老字号的品牌基因的构成,为进一步开发相应的结构化量表提供了理论依据,对于国内相关企业的成长具有借鉴意义。     

数字贸易中的消费者:角色、行为与权益

随着经济社会的发展,消费者需求偏好的个性化和多元化趋势日益显著。数字技术的发展让消费者对商品和服务的个性化需求得以显性化,同时个性化需求驱动了数字贸易的发展。数字经济背景下消费者的地位发生了巨大变化,消费者开始在数字贸易中居于核心地位。数字贸易中消费者行为方面的有关内容,包括消费者搜寻与购买决策、消费者反馈与信息不对称、消费者注意力与信息过载。数字贸易中消费者权益方面的有关内容,则包括数字贸易对消费者福利的利弊影响、消费者数据安全与隐私保护。     

Consumer decision to upgrade or downgrade a service membership

Service memberships are commonly used to support consumer relationships, yet the mechanisms for consumers’ membership decisions are poorly understood. This paper develops a model of consumers’ decision to modify (upgrade or downgrade) a service membership conditional on their decision to renew. Bridging insights from relationship marketing and consumer behavior, the proposed model conceptualizes how relational drivers differentially influence the upgrade/downgrade decision while also modeling the effect of transactional, membership and socio-demographic variables. The posited hypotheses are tested with a multinomial logit model with selection using multi-source (archival and survey) consumer-level data related to renewable service memberships in a not-for-profit context. Results suggest that modification decisions are driven by relational payoffs from ongoing experiences such that upgrade decisions evidence a “motivator” effect of consumer trust (quadratic), while downgrade decisions indicate a negative influence of consumer trust conditional on perceived knowledge. Managerially, the study indicates that, while membership modification and renewal are disparate decisions with remarkably divergent mechanisms, to examine and analyze them as independent decisions is to risk misjudgments about their determinants and waste resources in investments that are unlikely to yield desired return.     

Influences on consumer use of word-of-mouth recommendation sources

This article reports the development and testing of a theoretical model of the initial stages of recommendation-based decision making by consumers. Although consumers use a variety of recommendation sources, they have different motivations for the use of different sources. The model focuses on the factors that influence the likelihood of consumers using strong-tie sources (e.g., friends and family) and weak-tie sources (e.g., acquaintances or strangers) or recommendations. The factors used in the model are the prior knowledge level of the consumer about the product being considered, the perceived decision task difficulty level, and the type of evaluative cues sought by the consumer. Hypotheses are tested using data collected in an extensive field study with consumers. Two paths or routes of influence on the use of recommendation sources are proposed and confirmed in the study. His work has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of Marketing Research. His research interests center on consumer decision making and marketing education. He has published previously in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Strategic Change, The International Executive, andMarketing Education Review. His research interests include research methodology, quantitative methods, and competitive intelligence. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His publications have appeared in numerous journals. His books includeConsumer Behavior (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986) andMarketing Management (Simon & Schuster).     

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.     

农产品供给侧结构性改革的支持路径创新研究

目的/意义分析农产品需求结构和阶段性演变特征及其供给面存在的供需失衡问题，对调整农业供给结构体系，提高农业供给体系的质量和效率，以及满足城乡居民对农产品的需求结构升级具有重要的现实意义。方法/过程文章通过梳理GDP和城乡居民收入增长率以及居民恩格尔系数的阶段性变化，对城乡居民农产品消费需求结构升级特征和基于需求转变视角的我国农产品供给端滞后效应进行了对比研究。结果/结论提出推进农业适度规模经营与小规模农业统筹发展、创新普惠金融的支农模式与产品创新、建立消费者需求导向型农产品有效供给量化评价指标体系是提高农产品供给体系效率的重要路径。     

The role of aesthetic taste in consumer behavior

In light of the increasing interest in hedonic aspects of consumer behavior, it is clear that consumer taste plays a critical role in judgment and decision making, particularly for hedonic products and services. At the present time, however, our understanding of consumer aesthetic taste and its specific role for consumer behavior is limited. In this article, we review the literature from a variety of fields such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, and consumer behavior in order to develop a conceptual definition of consumer aesthetic taste. We then explore various issues related to taste and develop a conceptual framework for the relevance of expertise vs. taste in consumer decision-making. Finally, we present an agenda for future research on this important topic.