A Problem Ignored: Dilution and Negation of Consumer Information by Antifactual Content

Current conceptions of consumer information do not consider types that may dilute or detract from facts available to consumers about products and services. The article discusses the nature and incidence of such antifactual content, identifies research and public policy that ignores the content but could benefit from recognizing it, and describes a role for the content in conceptualizing and better assessing consumer information, in order to provide researchers, regulators, advertisers, and consumers with more accurate evaluations.     

Characteristics of Consumer Participants in Federal Trade Commission Rule Making

Increasing interest has been exhibited by both consumer groups and government agencies in gaining greater consumer participation in the rule-making procedures of the federal government. Yet little is known about the characteristics and attitudes toward marketing of “participant consumers”-those consumers who have participated in the process and made their viewpoints known to federal agencies. This study investigated such consumers. Significant differences were found between the demographic and attiludinal characteristics of participant consumers and consumers in general. To gain a balanced consumer perspective as inputs for regulations, federal regulators will have to extend their information gathering activities well beyond the normal consideration of consumer briefs received.     

An Information-Based Approach to Labeling Biotechnology Consumer Products

Using an economic framework this paper explores the need for labeling of biotechnological consumer products. In particular, we assess the impact of labeling on information problems faced by consumers and regulators. Using information analysis, we propose an approach to labeling biotechnology products that attempts to respect both the real nature of consumer information-processing capacities and approaches and the environment of uncertainty in which any regulatory policy for biotechnology will operate. We conclude that the fact of uncertainty on the scientific front and the nature of consumer concerns in this area gives rise to a need for some type of labeling. Using labels to convey substantive information, however, is likely to be of limited value to consumers. A comprehensive approach to information policy for consumers in this field should aim instead to use labeling requirements to harness the incentives of producers and other private entities to effectively convey to consumers what they want and need to know. We therefore recommend that governments require a simple alert label on biotechnology consumer goods that will prompt consumers to assess their information needs and producers or others to supply those needs. Government regulation in this scheme would consist of basic health and safety regulation and direct or indirect monitoring and regulation of the content of the information ultimately conveyed to consumers by producers and others.     

网络生态系统构成要素及其相互作用关系探析

网络生态系统由网络信息主体和网络生态环境构成。其中网络信息主体包括网络信息生产者、网络信息传递者、网络信息消费者以及网络信息监管者：网络生态环境包括网络基础设施、网络信息技术、网络信息资源以及网络人文环境。这些要素之间都存在普遍的相互作用和相互联系。     

Technology and Competition Economics

Abstract

Advances in technology are creating new business models. The internet means that consumers can access a wide variety of potential suppliers. Those suppliers may have extensive data on individual consumers, and the interactions between buyers and sellers may be moderated by large, potentially dominant, platforms such as Google and Facebook. Competition authorities and policy makers are grappling with the issues raised by technology. However, the tools available to regulators are often laws that were designed for a pre-internet world. It is not clear if these laws can adapt. This article briefly surveys three areas of particular concern for both economic researchers and competition authorities: the competitive implications of two-sided markets; price restrictions imposed by internet platforms on retailers; and the use of personalized data by sellers.     

Relationships among Information Search Activities When Shopping for a Credit Card

Using data from the 1997 University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, researchers investigated consumers’ information search and the potential interdependency among search activities, using credit cards as a case study. The authors find that consumers have diverse patterns of information search that cannot be captured by a global measure or a few single measures of search and that strong interdependencies among some search activities exist.     

Subjective and Objective Criteria in Consumer Choice: An Examination of Retail Patronage Criteria

Traditionally consumer researchers and consumer educators have made a distinction between objective and subjective evaluative criteria for consumer choice. This paper examines the validity of this distinction using data on consumers evaluative criteria for department stores. The study found evidence that consumers use evaluative dimensions composed of both subjective and objective evaluative criteria, suggesting that both types of information are necessary for choosing among department stores.     

Visual attention,buying impulsiveness,and consumer behavior

Buying impulsiveness is frequently triggered by point-of-sale information. In order to impact consumer behavior, this information must be visually noticed. In this study, researchers propose that consumers’ level of buying impulsiveness impacts their visual attention to point-of-sale information (i.e., signs, displays). Specifically, individuals scoring high on the buying impulsiveness scale (BIS) fixate less on point-of-sale information. This was tested in two experiments where participants’ task was to rate their purchase likelihood for ornamental plants. Both experiments demonstrate that consumers with high BIS fixate less on in-store signs but more on displays than low BIS consumers. High BIS participants’ visual attention to informational signs positively impacts their purchasing behavior while their visual attention to the displays does not. Theoretical contributions to consumer behavior literature and implications for retail marketing efforts are discussed.     

How Do Front and Back Package Labels Influence Beliefs About Health Claims?

One dilemma with health claims is that too much information can confuse consumers and too little information can mislead them. A controlled study is used to examine the effectiveness of various front‐sided health claims when used in combination with a full health claim on the back of a package. The results indicate that combining short health claims on the front of a package with full health claims on the back of the package leads consumers to more fully process and believe the claim. The basic finding that using two sides of a package (short claim on front; long on back) increases the believability of health claims is relevant for policymakers, consumers, and researchers.     

Measurement of the relative importance of product attribute information: A review of the information display approach

In determining whether or not to mandate disclosures of product information, policymakers may wish to first investigate the relative importance of different attribute-related information cues in influencing the purchase decision-making of consumers. This paper examines the applicability of the information display approach to this research task. In addition, unresolved problems associated with the approach are addressed for the benefit of researchers interested in applying the methodology.     

Entertainment in retailing: The influences of advanced technologies

In recent years, the importance of an enjoyable experience during the shopping activity increased. As a consequence, many researchers are focusing on the best application of enjoyable elements in the points of sale in order to maintain existing consumers and attract new ones.The aim of this paper is to analyze how the introduction of advanced technologies modifies the retailing context and affects consumers shopping experience. In particular, three aspects of our results emerge from a theoretical standpoint: new advantages for retailers (the possibility to achieve fast information on consumer behavior and preferences); the improvement of the point of sale; and the positive influences on consumers shopping experience.     

Do Consumers Expect Companies to be Socially Responsible? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Buying Behavior

Companies are facing increasing pressure to both maintain profitability and behave in socially responsible ways, yet researchers have provided little information on how corporate social responsibility impacts profitability. This paper reports the findings from in‐depth interviews of consumers to determine their views concerning the social responsibilities of companies. A typology of consumers whose purchasing behavior ranges from unresponsive to highly responsive to corporate social responsibility was developed from the analysis.     

Fake news: When the dark side of persuasion takes over

In this essay, fake news is identified as a sinister form of mass persuasion. The paper reviews the history of the precursors of the construct and offers a contemporary definition. Research findings about how consumers process fake news information are discussed. The essay highlights the relevance of fake news for the marketing communications field and ends with a call to action to researchers for the development of effective interventions.     

Tie the knot: building stronger consumers’ attachment toward a brand

Extant research has promoted the importance and seeking to establish a deeper understanding of brand loyalty. However, it still remains elusive and uncertain. A study with more than 1,500 CEOs worldwide believes that creating a bond with consumers and continuing to learn how to strengthen the bond are essential for realizing strategies and delivering on shareholder expectations. Not surprisingly, firms and researchers are seeking ways to build a stronger connection with consumers, because such attachment acts as a key requisite in a firm’s success. Consequently, understanding how marketers can intensify the attachment is important. This article offers a framework for building stronger consumers’ attachment and testing it based on a survey of 432 participants. Four factors are deemed to be important: ideal self-congruence, sensory experience, responsiveness, and CSR beliefs. Attachment influences loyalty and resilience to negative information. Additionally, attachment fully mediates ideal self-congruence and responsiveness to loyalty, as well as ideal self-congruence and sensory experience to resilience to negative information.     

Eat,drink, and create content: a multi-method exploration of visual social media marketing content

As visual social media marketing (VSMM) content continues to increase in popularity, it is imperative for marketers to understand the elements of such marketing efforts that capture consumers attention. Across three empirical studies, the researchers use eye tracking technology and a scenario-based experimental design to explore the impacts of the use of figurative language (i.e., antithesis and alliteration) and Snapchat’s drawing feature on consumers attention to the verbal element (i.e., caption) of company-generated and consumer-generated VSMM content (i.e., snap), specifically, on Snapchat. Results demonstrate the positive impact of the use of figurative language on consumers attention to the caption in VSMM content. Furthermore, consumers attention to the caption in company-generated (consumer-generated) VSMM content is greater when the caption uses antithesis (alliteration). Finally, the presence of pictorial information (i.e., drawings) in VSMM content may impact the relationship between the use of figurative language (i.e., alliteration) and consumers attention to the caption in consumer-generated VSMM content. Implications for marketing and advertising theory and practice are discussed.     

Menu price endings that communicate value and quality

This paper investigates the extent to which restaurant marketers use the price endings .00 and .09 to communicate quality and value images, and whether consumers use those price endings as information cues when choosing where to dine out. The experimental data shows that marketers probably rely on price cues and that consumers use those cues. Moreover, many other researchers have found that there is a perceived relationship between prices ending in 0 and overall quality, and prices ending in 9 and overall value. This paper discusses three theories that might explain why consumers associate the price endings 0 and 9 with quality and value: the Schemer Schema Intuitive theory, the Persuasion Knowledge Model, and signaling theory. Those theories suggest that consumers learn from the behavior of marketers and that consumers use their intuition, persuasion knowledge, and coping behavior to interpret, evaluate, and adapt to the marketers' pricing practices.     

Spatial Economics: Implications for Food Market Response to Retail Price Reporting

Recent research has used the information theory approach to consider the effects of retail food price reporting systems (RFPRS) on price levels and interstore dispersions within metropolitan retail food markets. The information theory paradigm suggests that consumers may lack sufficient information to match preferences (price, product, service) with store offering. Although researchers have concluded that empirical findings generally support the information theory approach, a number of unanswered questions and inconsistent findings remain. This paper contributes to the debate by utilizing spatial microeconomic theory to provide answers to five questions posed by McCracken, Boynton, and Blake [22] in a recent Journal article. It is argued that price effects typically observed in RFPRS studies result primarily from alterations in the information to retailers, rather than consumers. Furthermore, inclusion of costly distance in the theoretical model leads to conclusions that are quite different from those derived by “spaceless” models.     

Convergence across American and Korean young adults: socialisation variables indicate the verdict is still out

A study was undertaken to examine consumer socialisation variables among Korean and American young adults. Many studies have been undertaken that focus on American consumers and the consumer socialisation process, but very few cross-cultural studies exist on this topic. However, efforts are increasing to suggest that consumers are converging on a global scale and research is needed to adequately assess the reality of these claims. Specifically the research explored Korean and American consumers’ media use patterns and the believed importance of different agents (media and interpersonal) for consumption-related information. The study also examined the relative importance of social structural variables on consumers’ perceived influences of key socialisation agents. Results indicate that American and Korean consumers are quite similar in how they allocate their time across media. Both groups spent the most time with television and the internet. However, differences were evident in the perceived importance of information sources, as well as the influence of socialisation agents when making purchase decisions. These differences do call into question the ability of standardised advertising campaigns and the ability to present one strategy to a unified global target market. Implications for advertisers and consumer researchers are provided.     

虚拟社群中的品牌定位——基于用户生成内容点互信息的实证研究

互联网的迅速发展使得虚拟的品牌社群不断涌现,如何测量用户生成内容中有关品牌的定位,从而了解用户对品牌的感知情况,对于营销理论界和实务界都具有重要意义。在研究中,开拓性地使用了点互信息理论和语义分析方法,从用户生成的文本信息中挖掘用户对品牌的感知情况,并将其量化得到品牌知觉图。通过对数据的分析,了解品牌在虚拟社群的用户中感知定位与公司定位初衷的差异,并且得到相互竞争的品牌在相同的定位维度上的差异。     

大数据技术下消费者个人信用信息共享的治理机制

大数据技术下,消费者个人信用信息可以通过共享被加工成知识,从而促进消费者人格的发展以及征信等行业的升级。从本质来讲,信息共享发挥着知识服务的功能。然而,在云计算和区块链等大数据技术支持下,信息共享呈现出信息的集中收集与传输、分节点存储与利用特征,这在方便信息共享与知识服务的同时,造成了共享者组织有序与共享整体高效之间难以调和的矛盾,共享知识服务功能的实现由此受阻。在对我国治理共享实证资料进行文本分析、对现有共享治理机制效果进行测评的同时,重点借鉴欧美共享治理经验特别是英国沙箱监管模式,并运用知识治理理论进行研究发现,与我国现有治理机制相比,知识治理机制更适合化解当前面临的矛盾,有利于实现大数据技术下信息共享的知识服务功能。根据知识治理机制,我国宜加强对共享者准入与退出的外部监管,引导共享者自我完善内部组织并寻求彼此协作,以确保共享有序;同时提高消费者对共享的参与度,合理配置消费者和共享者对信息享有的权利,强化权利保护与侵权规制,激励信息共享高效开展。在知识治理机制实施过程中,治理者既要借助法律等正式制度的规制作用,也要借助行业自律规范的引导作用。在评估知识治理机制绩效时,要着重考察信息共享对相关行业发展的促进作用以及消费者对知识服务的满意度。