Regulatory focus theory and the entrepreneurial process

Regulatory focus theory delineates how people engage in self-regulation, the process of bringing oneself into alignment with one's standards and goals. At any given point in time, people may engage in self-regulation with a promotion focus or a prevention focus. When promotion-focused, people's growth and advancement needs motivate them to try to bring themselves into alignment with their ideal selves, thereby heightening the salience of potential gains to be attained (felt presence of positive outcomes). When prevention-focused, people's security and safety needs prompt them to attempt to bring themselves into alignment with their ought selves, thereby increasing the salience of potential losses to be avoided (felt absence of negative outcomes). For certain aspects of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., generating ideas with the potential to be successful), greater promotion focus is necessary. For other aspects of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., doing the “due diligence” when screening ideas), greater prevention focus is necessary. In addition to providing a framework for future research on entrepreneurship, regulatory focus theory offers some informed speculations about the level and nature of entrepreneurship that may be expected in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.     

Regulatory focus as a moderator of retail shopping behaviour

This paper examines the effects of regulatory focus orientation on several aspects of consumer retail shopping behaviour such as shopping values, impulsiveness, shopping duration, repurchase intention and word-of-mouth communication. Theoretical propositions were developed banked on relevant literature. A structured questionnaire is used to collect data across several retail formats (n = 300). Statistical techniques such as MANOVA and t-test were used to analyse the data. Results reveal that promotion-focused shoppers report higher levels of hedonic shopping values, and impulsiveness, whereas prevention-focused shoppers report higher levels of utilitarian shopping values, shopping duration, repurchase intention and word-of-mouth communication. Discussion of the results and their theoretical and managerial implications, limitations of this study and its future research scopes are further discussed.     

Ethical myopia: The case of “framing” by framing

The behavioural decision-theoretic concepts of mental accounting, framing and transaction utility have now been employed in marketing models and techniques. To date, however, there has not been any discussion of the ethical issues surrounding these significant developments. In this paper, an ethical evaluation is structured around three themes: (i) utilitarian justification (ii) the strategic exploitation of cognitive habits, and (iii) the claim of scientific status for the techniques. Some recommendations are made for ethical practices. Alan E. Singer is a senior lecturer in Strategic Management at the Department of Management, University of Canterbury. He has previously authored papers in the Journal of Business Ethics and in several other journals including Decision Sciences, Accountancy, International Journal of Forecasting and International Journal of Research in Marketing. Steven Lysonski is an Associate Professor at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a former member of the marketing faculty at the University of Canterbury. He has published widely in such journals as the Journal of Marketing, The European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Advertising and the Journal of Product Innovation Management. Ming Singer is a senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Canterbury. Her research interests lie in the area of organisational and personnel psychology, particularly organisational justice. She has published numerous research articles including papers in Personnel Psychology, The British Journal of Psychology and the International Journal of Psychology.David Hayes is currently an East-West Center graduate student at the University of Hawaii, studying energy resources through the Geography Department. He is also a member of the Energy Program of the Resource Systems Institute, East-West Center. He has an Engineering and Commerce degree from Canterbury University.     

When and why attribute sorting affects attribute weights in decision-making

Information about alternatives often appears in a multi-option multi-attribute table, with the alternatives hierarchically sorted on attribute levels. This research shows that the choice of the primary sorting attribute can affect peoples' evaluations. Three studies show that the attribute on which options are primarily sorted becomes more important in preference formation, but only if this attribute is hard to evaluate. This sorting effect disappears if attribute level evaluation is rendered easier. Eye-movement data further show that the time to evaluate a given attribute level, a proxy for evaluation effort, mediates the effect of choice of sorting attribute on attribute weight in option evaluation.     

Narrow framing: Professions,sophistication, and experience

We document support for the narrow framing effect proposed by Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1981). Our findings that traders in an options market frame complicated investment decisions into simpler ones support the narrow framing effect. Traders' professionalism, sophistication, and trading experience are negatively correlated with the degree of narrow framing, implying that these factors help to reduce investors' behavioral bias. Our study bridges the gap between the psychological literature and financial literature in terms of the relationship between experience/sophistication and narrow framing. The article sheds light on the decision‐making process in an options market, and the relationship between narrow framing and sophistication/experience. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:203–229, 2010     

焦点

车市7月提前触底众车企负字当头前日中汽研公布的数据显示,截至7月,国内汽车生产123.8万辆,环比下降4.34%;销量105.62万辆,环比下降6.7%。这是自今年5月来,国内汽车销量连续第3个月出现下滑。全国乘用车市场信息联席会(下称乘联会)副秘书长崔东树表示,根据6～7月零售数据交流信息看,往年7月中旬至8月初才出现的年度终端零售谷底,今年提早形成。不过,随着长达5个月的调整,到7月中旬,车市普遍被认为出现回暖迹象。7月第4周销量持续回升。第4周的厂家销量相对7月第3周日均销量上升14%,环比6月的同期销量上升7%,同比2009年的7月第4周销量增长28%,同比和环比增速均有回升。崔东树表示。     

Consumers' perceptions of promotional framing of price

This article focuses on consumer perceptions of transaction value when presented with deals that are equivalent on a unit‐cost basis but worded differently. Through an experimental design setting, it examines the effect of three such frames: one, stated in terms of a straight price promotion (“50% off”), the second, as an extra‐product or volume promotion (“buy one, get one free”), and a third as a “mixed” promotion (“buy two, get 50% off”). Four typical supermarket categories are considered which permit the investigation of the effect of two category‐based moderating factors: stock‐up characteristic and price level. Results show that the nature of framing appears to differentially affect consumer perceptions of value from “equivalent” deals. Also, perceptions of deal value from price versus extra‐product promotions are moderated by the stock‐up characteristic of the category. However, consumers' internal reference prices remain unaffected across one‐time price and extra‐product promotions. These findings provide some understanding of the role of deal framing on consumers' responses, and offer implications for industry practitioners interested in communicating the maximum value in their deals. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Multiattribute perceptual mapping with idiosyncratic brand and attribute sets

This article proposes an extremely flexible procedure for perceptual mapping based on multiattribute ratings, such that the respondent freely generates sets of both brands and attributes. Therefore, the brands and attributes are known and relevant to each participant. Collecting and analyzing such idiosyncratic datasets can be challenging. Therefore, this study proposes a modification of generalized canonical correlation analysis to support the analysis of the complex data structure. The model results in a common perceptual map with subject-specific and overall fit measures. An experimental study compares the proposed procedure with alternative approaches using predetermined sets of brands and/or attributes. In the proposed procedure, brands are better known, attributes appear more relevant, and the respondent??s burden is lower. The positions of brands in the new perceptual map differ from those obtained when using fixed brand sets. Moreover, the new procedure typically yields positioning information on more brands. An empirical study on positioning of shoe stores illustrates our procedure and resulting insights. Finally, the authors discuss limitations, potential application areas, and directions for research.     

Social interaction effects in the framing of buying decisions

The reported study is a response to the Kahneman and Tversky (1984; 1988) proposal that systematic examination of alternative framings of decisions offers a useful reflective device that can help decision makers assess the values that should be attached to the primary and secondary consequences of their choices. We investigate the effect of social interaction as a mediator of responses to the theater ticket problems of Tversky and Kahneman (1981). The hypothesis is supported that attending the theater with a friend (social interaction) versus alone reduced the effect of the lost ticket versus the loss of a $10 bill on willingness to spend a second $10 to see the play. A further hypothesis, that social interaction results in a positive main effect on attending the theater after the ticket ($10 bill) loss receives limited support. The results support the views of Payne (1982), Schoemaker (1982), and Bettman, Johnson, and Payne (1991) that context effects influence a decision maker's judgment and, hence, the outcome of the decision process. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Inoculating consumers against deception: The influence of framing and executional style

This study examines conditions affecting consumer susceptibility to advertising deception and educational efforts designed to inoculate consumers against it. Results show that consumers are best able to detect deception when their frame of reference (cognitive or affective) is incongruent with the advertisement's executional style (attribute or emotional). Attempts to inoculate consumers against deception by providing factual brand comparisons have their strongest effect among consumers with an affective frame of reference and for emotionally charged ads.

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Die Immunisierung von Konsumenten gegen werbliche Irreführung: Der Einflu der persönlichen Informationsausrichtung und des werblichen Argumentationsstils

Zusammenfassung Die Studie befa\t sich mit den Bedingungen werblicher Irreführung von Konsumenten und mit den Bemühungen der Verbrauchererziehung, Konsumenten durch vergleichende Warentestergebnisse gegen solche Irreführung zu immunisieren. Ihre Ergebnisse zeigen, da\ Konsumenten werbliche Irreführung am ehesten dann durchschauen, wenn ihre persönliche Informationsausrichtung (kognitiv oder affektiv) nicht mit dem werblichen Argumentationsstil (informativ oder emotional) übereinstimmt. Versuche, Konsumenten mit Hilfe vergleichender Warentest-Informationen gegen werbliche TÄuschung zu immunisieren, sind am wirkungsvollsten bei Konsumenten mit affektiver Informationsausrichtung und bei emotionshaltiger Werbung.

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The authors wish to thank Joel Cohen and the Editors and reviewersof Journal of Consumer Policy for their valued suggestions, and Jill Joyce for assistance in data collection and analysis.     

Provenance as a filtering and framing device in the qualification of wine

This research examines how provenance – where a product was produced, by whom, how and when – features in the work of cultural intermediaries in the Australian premium wine market, at two different stages in the career of a wine. First, evaluations of provenance attributes (in terms of sincerity, tradition and transparency) serve as filters through which wine promoters identify market-worthy wines; second, those attributes are strategically deployed to frame the wine as a worthy choice for consumers (focusing on the use of the winemaker as a framing device). The article offers a distinctive account of the qualification of wine, and makes the case for a cultural economic conceptualization of provenance as a negotiated, accomplished quality. In foregrounding wine promoters’ emotional attachments to provenance attributes of wines they choose to promote, the research highlights the affective dimensions of markets, which are made, in part, through the consuming passions of cultural intermediaries.     

The effects of incentive types and appeal regulatory framing in travel advertising

What types of incentives and regulatory-framed advertising appeals are preferable when the promoted travel destination in a travel advert is spatially distant vs. near? Based on construal-level theory, this paper addresses this question by investigating whether there is a matching effect between the spatial distance of the travel destination and the incentives or the regulatory-framed appeals in ads. The experimental results indicate that when the promoted travel destination is spatially distant, consumers prefer non-monetary incentives and promotion-framed appeals. When the travel destination is spatially near, however, monetary incentives and prevention-framed appeals can generate better advertising effectiveness.     

Lack of attribute searchability: Some thoughts

Established theory about the searchability of product attributes has advanced a tripartite classification of product attributes and, correspondingly, a three‐pronged view of consumer evaluation procedures. Using this theory as a springboard, this article takes a closer look at the procedures consumers seem to utilize for evaluation of products that vary in their attribute searchability. Reflecting on current theory and practice, the consumer is construed to employ evaluation procedures different from those indicated by the product‐attribute typology. This is so both because consumers view the attributes differently and because they rely on biased heuristics, as might suit their expertise and involvement. To capture these consumer assessment dynamics, propositions are advanced and empirical methods to test them are suggested. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The impact of word-of-mouth communication on attribute evaluation

Wright and Lynch (1995) propose that the medium that best communicates the type of attributes is the one most congruent with that type of information. This paper extends on this media congruence hypothesis by examining the impact of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication on the WOM recipient's ratings of search and credence attributes in two different service contexts. Results from two experiments suggest that negative WOM (but not positive WOM) is more effective in changing the evaluation of credence attributes than that of search attributes for unfamiliar brands. This finding implies that marketers of such unfamiliar brands need to have different approaches to deal with the impact of negative WOM on different attribute types.     

Ad framing effects for consumption products: An affect priming process

This research examines why positively framed messages work more effectively than negatively framed messages in product advertising by establishing an affect priming process model. Findings from Experiment 1 showed that positively framed ad messages evoked higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect than did negatively framed ad messages. Accordingly, positively framed ad messages generated more favorable ratings on ad believability, ad liking, and brand attitudes. Most importantly, this research demonstrated the process by which frame‐evoked affect exerted influence on brand attitudes via its impacts on priming affect‐congruent cognitive responses. Experiment 1 also found that positively framed ads encouraged participants to be attentive to and elaborate on messages more so than negatively framed ads. Findings from Experiment 2 further showed that ad framing effects were moderated by the type of product attributes being featured. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Search for the underlying mechanism of framing effects in multi-alternative and multi-attribute decision situations

This paper extends previous research on the framing effect from single-alternative and single-attribute to multi-alternative and multi-attribute situations. Two experimental studies demonstrate that attribute framing and goal framing influence consumer decision-making in multi-attribute and multi-alternative situations. The results indicate that attribute framing influences only the perceived evaluation of the specific alternatives along a framed attribute, in that the perceived evaluation of the framed attribute is higher in the positive attribute framing condition than in the negative. On the other hand, goal framing influences only the weight of a framed attribute. Specifically, the weight of the framed attribute becomes more important in the positive goal framing condition than in the negative. Further, the results suggest that the attribute framing effects are attributable to the changes in mental representation in the encoding stage of the decision, rather than in the judgment stage.     

Contrasting the impact of framing pain versus pleasure for high and low involvement consumers

In this paper we contrast the impact of positive and negative frames on brand attitude formation for an enjoyable product category. We are particularly interested in the role of involvement in this process. We find that (1) positive frames have a greater impact than negative frames on brand attitude formation and (2) enduringly involved consumers are more influenced by positive frames, while less-involved consumers are influenced by negative frames.     

Motivational compatibility and the role of anticipated feelings in positively valenced persuasive message framing

Previous research on message framing has focused on the effect of overall valence on persuasion, since most studies compare positively versus negatively valenced frames that are anchored by the same end‐state. Unlike previous studies, this paper investigates the role of end‐states, or outcome focus, in message framing by using two positively valenced, factually equivalent message frames that are anchored by opposing end‐states: the presence of gain (P/G) frame versus the absence of loss (A/L) frame. It is proposed that anticipated feelings and persuasion are greater when the end‐state of the message frame is motivationally compatible with a consumer's regulatory focus, either chronic or situational. The major hypothesis is that the P/G frame leads to the anticipation of more intense positive feelings and subsequently produces greater persuasion when promotion focus versus prevention focus is salient, whereas the opposite holds for the A/L frame. Furthermore, it is proposed that the effect of motivational compatibility on persuasion is mediated by the anticipation of positive feelings. These hypotheses are generally supported in two experiments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Visualizing CSR: A visual framing analysis of US multinational companies

The aim of this research study is to investigate how different levels of corporate social responsibility are visually framed through corporate publications used in marketing communications. Photographs used as visual marketing communication tools in the annual and sustainability reports of top American multinational companies that practice and promote measures of corporate social responsibility were analyzed. Findings indicate the corporations overall emphasize environmental sustainability efforts and visually communicate their practices through depictions of employees while other social responsibility efforts are often communicated through depictions of consumers. A discussion on the patterns of visual frames that communicate corporate social responsibility and the impact of visuals on organizational identity, brand image, and reputation are offered.