Food Label Use,Self‐Selectivity,and Diet Quality

Food labels provide measurable benefits by improving diet quality of Americans by as much as four to six points on a 100‐point Healthy Eating Index scale. Among nutritional panels, serving sizes, nutrient content claims, list of ingredients, and health claims, the use of health claims on food labels provides the highest level of improvement in diet quality. The data source for this analysis is the 1994 to 1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes for Individuals (CSFII) and the accompanying Diet and Health Knowledge Survey (DHKS).     

To Your Health: Health Insurance,Self‐Employment Exit,and Older Entrepreneurs

Drawing on a sample of 5,238 individuals in the Health and Retirement Study, we examined the relationship between having one's own health insurance and exit from self‐employment to employment. Our results indicate that individuals who have health insurance are less likely to exit self‐employment. When self‐employed individuals have their own health insurance, males, relative to females, are more likely to exit self‐employment. Additionally, when self‐employed individuals have their own health insurance, those who do not have health problems that limit work are more likely to exit. We discuss the implications that these findings have on the literature and policymakers.     

To Choose or to Reject: The Effect of Decision Frame on Food Customization Decisions

Food retailers increasingly allow consumers to customize their food by either choosing items from available options or rejecting items from a pre-prepared set of options. In this study, we examine the effect of these two decision frames (choose vs. reject) on consumers’ food customization decisions. Specifically, we depart from the previous literature's focus on the quantity of items and examine the effect of decision frames on the nature of items included in the customized food. The results of a series of studies show that decision frames influence the relative number of healthy versus unhealthy items included in the customized food, and that this influence is further contingent upon the valence of the food to be customized (e.g., “healthy” salad or “unhealthy” pizza).     

Contingent Self‐Esteem,Self‐Presentational Concerns,and Compulsive Buying

The present study investigates the influence of contingent self‐esteem (CSE) on compulsive buying tendencies. It is argued that this influence is mediated by the self‐presentational concerns of fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and the importance of social identity (SI). These core propositions are tested using a multimethod approach that includes a survey of 402 US adults and two experiments with 160 and 243 subjects, respectively. Survey results find that CSE's impact on compulsive buying is fully mediated by FNE and SI. The two experiments deepen understanding of this effect. Only under high levels of anxiety do those high in CSE exhibit compulsive buying. High CSE leads to higher FNE and SI regardless of anxiety levels, but only at high anxiety levels do FNE and SI lead to compulsive buying. The study's results increase understanding of the role and process by which CSE impacts compulsive buying in adults of all ages.     

A Taxonomy of Social Networking Site Users: Social Surveillance and Self‐surveillance Perspective

Since social networking sites (SNS) are widely used in modern society, users increasingly use SNS to manage or maintain their existing social relationships and form new ones. This research applies social surveillance and self‐surveillance to classify SNS user types and explores each type's effect on SNS’ marketing performances. Three hundred three online questionnaires are collected to test the research questions. The results of cluster analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) reveal the following four user types based on the different degrees of social surveillance and self‐surveillance: versatile users, self‐expression users, pass‐along users, and introvert users. Further, the introvert users have the least impact on product‐related information sharing, perception of social presence, purchase intention toward offers on SNS, and emotional experiences in social shopping among the four SNS user types.     

Pleasure and the Control of Food Intake: An Embodied Cognition Approach to Consumer Self‐Regulation

Consumers try to avoid temptation when exposed to appetizing foods by diverting their attention away from their senses (e.g., sight, smell, mouthfeel) and bodily states (e.g., state of arousal, salivation) in order to focus on their longer term goals (e.g., eating healthily, achieving an ideal body weight). However, when not including sensations in their decision‐making processes, consumers risk depleting their self‐regulatory resources, potentially leading to unhealthy food choices. Conversely, based on the concept of “embodied self‐regulation,” the suggestion is made that considering bodily states may help consumers regulate their food choices more effectively. A new model is proposed that facilitates understanding observed consumer behavior and the success or failure of self‐control in food intake. It is argued that bodily states and sensory information should be considered when modeling consumer behavior and developing health‐related advocacy and communication campaigns. The model proposed here leads to new perspectives on consumer consumption behavior and health policy research and strategies.     

To Price Discriminate or Not: Product Choice and the Selection Bias Problem

In this paper, we investigate a gasoline station's incentive to price-discriminate by selling full-service gasoline as well as self-service gasoline. Unlike previous research, we explicitly model a firm's incentive to price discriminate by choosing to be either single-product or multi-product as a function of market and station characteristics. This allows us to make two contributions to research in the area: First, we highlight the importance of accounting for self-selectivity considerations that can arise in an empirical analysis of price discrimination that is based on market data. Second, we are able to show how the product and pricing choices of firms depend upon the market characteristics.Using cross-sectional survey data on prices, station and market characteristics for 198 gasoline stations in the Greater Saint Louis area, we estimate a switching regression model of station decisions. Specifically, we employ a binary probit framework that models a station's decision to price-discriminate through the choice of the station-type as a function of market and station characteristics. We then estimate conditional linear regressions with self-selectivity corrections for the station's choice of prices. We show that incorrect inferences about the incentive to price discriminate and about the differences in the prices charged between single-product and multi-product stations would result if the endogeneity in the choice of the station-type were ignored in the estimation. The empirical analysis shows that a larger income spread in the market implies a greater likelihood of the gasoline station being multi-product. In addition, we have support for the various within firm and across firm price differentials as predicted by the theory of price discrimination.     

Evaluating Advice: Self‐Presentational Biases between High and Low Self‐Monitors

Previous research has demonstrated that high and low self‐monitors sought advice from others who shared their underlying motivational dispositions. Here, three studies extend the prior research by exploring how consumers’ underlying motives direct the type of advice offered and how it is evaluated. In Study 1, high and low self‐monitors were asked to evaluate the advice they gave others. As predicted, high self‐monitors rated their advice more favorably than did low self‐monitors. The underlying motivation that caused high self‐monitors to evaluate their advice more positively was investigated in Study 2. Results indicated that high self‐monitors rated their advice higher because it appeared to be meeting a social‐adjustive function (i.e., self‐presentational needs). In Study 3, high and low self‐monitors created an advertisement that featured their advice on dating for a fictitious online matchmaking service. As expected, advertisements created by high self‐monitors contained advice that addressed social‐adjustive needs while those created by low self‐monitors contained advice that addressed value‐expressive needs. The results of these studies suggest that underlying motivations of the individual play an active role in how advice is crafted and evaluated.     

The Best I Can Be: How Self‐Accountability Impacts Product Choice in Technology‐Mediated Environments

Technology‐mediated environments are important not only as the location for an increasing proportion of purchases, but also as an even more pervasive part of the purchase journey. While most research into online consumer behavior focuses on attitudes as an antecedent of product choice, this article focuses on an important but hardly explored variable that may be impacted by technology‐mediated environments: self‐accountability. Laboratory experiments suggest that self‐accountability may influence online purchases, but this has not been confirmed in field studies. Furthermore, although this prior work suggests that self‐accountability may impact product choice through the elicitation of guilt, the role of positive emotions has not been explored. Using two surveys with online retailers, this paper (a) shows that in a technology‐mediated environment, self‐accountability influences product choice; (b) proposes and confirms a complementary route for this effect through pride that is stronger than that through guilt; and (c) evidences the relationship between self‐accountability and perceived consumer effectiveness. These results show a clear opportunity for digital marketers to encourage self‐accountability, to thereby elicit pride and not just guilt, and hence to impact consumer decision making in technology‐mediated environments, particularly when choices have sustainability implications.     

To Launch or Not to Launch: An Empirical Estimate of New Food Product Success Rate

New product introduction is one of the most important activities for a company’s growth. It is generally accepted that new product introductions are essential to the health of food companies. Yet, many believe that most new products fail, therefore discouraging companies to introduce some new products. However, most of the estimates suggesting high failure rates are either anecdotal or qualitative. This article provides a quantitative approach to measuring new product success rates for food products and to show the relationship between the success of new product and entry strategies. This article uses a quantitative approach to measuring product success/failure exclusively for food products. The authors contend that failure rates for food products are not nearly as low, and success rates much higher than it was previously established in the literature and perceived by the industry professionals. There was a significant variability of success rates between various food groups ranging from 58% for both fruit and vegetables and desserts and ice-cream categories to 88% for baby food. Success rates also varied among the different introductory strategies of the new food products, ranging from 50% for new packaging to 75% for re-launch strategies.

Academics and practitioners usually quote very low success rates for new products based on subjective and/or strictly qualitative information. This empirical quantitative research shows that success rates for food products are much higher than previously reported. This should encourage greater use of new products to grow sales and profits. The previously reported low success rate may have led to the reluctance to introduce new products and therefore set many of the legacy food companies in their current poor financial condition.     

Mall Haul Videos: Self‐Presentational Motives and the Role of Self‐Monitoring

Mall haul videos or vlogs are short videos in which young women not only present their fashion and beauty purchases but express their evaluations and opinions as well. The attitudes expressed could help the vlogger reap social rewards from a reference group or demonstrate the consistency between privately held attitudes and publicly expressed ones. In four studies, using the self‐monitoring construct to identify which function an attitude may serve for an individual, the self‐monitoring propensity of mall haul vloggers and the social‐adjustive and value‐expressive functions that posting and watching such vlogs fulfill for the individual was explored. In the first study, those who post and do not post mall haul vlogs were surveyed and results suggested that more high self‐monitors than low self‐monitors posted mall haul vlogs. In Study 2, a content analysis was conducted and revealed that low self‐monitors in comparison to high self‐monitors mentioned more brand names in their mall haul vlog. In Study 3, the valence of the product evaluations conveyed in mall haul vlogs by high and low self‐monitors was analyzed. High self‐monitors generated more positive messages than low self‐monitors. Finally in Study 4, the links between self‐monitoring on individuals’ willingness to watch rather than post mall haul vlogs were examined. High self‐monitors were more likely to watch a mall haul vlog when the retailer mentioned was perceived to possess high status (compared to medium or low status); while low self‐monitors were more likely to watch a mall haul vlog when the retailer mentioned was perceived to possess low status (compared to medium or high status). Across all four studies, results indicated that mall haul vlogs were fulfilling a social‐adjustive function for high self‐monitors whereas they were fulfilling a value‐expressive function for low self‐monitors. Implications for marketing are discussed.     

More than Just an Opinion: The Effect of Verbal Self‐Expression on Consumer Choice

In an ever‐widening range of occasions, consumers have the opportunity to comment and express their opinions on brands and products. However, little is known about how voicing opinions about the choice options before actually choosing might affect consumer choice, and specifically liking of choice. This paper proposes that pre‐choice opinion expression undermines the effect of post‐choice bolstering, because opinion sufficiently satisfies self‐expressive needs and therefore supersedes the use of subsequent choice as a self‐expressive resource. This proposition is based on the assumption that opinion can psychologically substitute for choice, because the two represent alternative routes to self‐expression. Two experiments provide empirical support for this hypothesis. Study 1 showed that after articulating their opinions about the choice options, participants were less likely to idealize their choices, and this effect was mediated by a change in the construal of choice as self‐expression. Study 2 further showed that this effect is moderated by public versus private occasions of opinion voicing and by individual differences in the value of expression. Together, findings support that opinion is enough to express the self, and if such an opportunity is made available prior to choosing, consumers’ liking of their choices is weakened.     

Usefulness,Enjoyment, and Self‐Image Congruence: The Adoption of e‐Book Readers

One challenge when launching new technologies is to overcome consumer resistance to change so as to accelerate market acceptance. This is the case of e‐book readers. The present study investigates individuals’ perceptions of the utilitarian and hedonic values of such devices and their congruence with self‐image as determinants of adoption. Additionally, consumer profile and familiarity with the new technology as a whole influence individuals’ perceptions of this particular technology and its congruence with self‐image. Findings show that perceived enjoyment and self‐image congruence complement perceived usefulness in forging a favorable attitude toward e‐book readers and adoption intention, and that knowledge proves essential in the adoption process. Moreover, people highly involved with reading tend to perceive e‐book readers as useless, which hampers their adoption.     

“We Ought to Eat in Order to Work,Not Vice Versa”: MacIntyre,Practices, and the Best Work for Humankind

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper draws a distinction between ‘right MacIntyreans’ who are relatively optimistic that MacIntyre’s vision of ethics can be realised in...     

Problem‐Solving Orientations,Financial Self‐Efficacy,and Student‐Loan Repayment Stress

Using data acquired from a four‐time longitudinal survey, we tested a model linking two measures of self‐agency, i.e., problem‐solving orientations and financial self‐efficacy, to student‐loan repayment stress. Of those participants who responded at Wave 4 (N = 855) of a longitudinal study, 396 who had acquired student loans were included in our structural equation model's Mplus analysis. After we controlled for gender, college financial education, ethnicity, and participant annual income, we found that both financial self‐efficacy and negative problem‐solving orientation were related to perceived difficulty. More specifically, those participants with a greater financial self‐efficacy at Wave 4 perceived less difficulty in paying off their loans, while those with a more negative problem‐solving orientation perceived more difficulty in paying off their loans. We also found perceived difficulty to be directly related to the actual difficulty of repaying a loan, and this perceived difficulty was, in turn, associated with loan‐specific stress. We provide implications for financial education.     

Export Premium,Self‐selection and Learning‐by‐Exporting: Evidence from Chinese Matched Firms

This study empirically focuses on examining the hypotheses of export premium (exporters are more productive than non‐exporters), selection‐into‐exporting (more productive firms are ones that tend to become exporters) and learning‐by‐exporting (new export market entrants have higher productivity growth than non‐exporters in the post‐entry period). The propensity score matching method is used to adjust for observable differences of firm characteristics between exporters and non‐exporters, allowing an adequate ‘like‐for‐like’ comparison. We also use the difference‐in‐difference matching estimator to capture the magnitude of different productivity growth between matched new export market entrants and non‐exporters in the post‐entry period up to two years. Drawing on 2,340 Chinese firms in the period 2000–02, we find evidence for export premium and self‐selection, and once the firm has entered the export market there is additional productivity growth from the learning effect, in particular in the second year after entry.     

Make it Your Own: How Process Valence and Self‐Construal Affect Evaluation of Self‐Made Products

Self‐production, participation of consumers in the production process of products for their own consumption, leads to consumers’ enhanced evaluations of the self‐made products. Three experimental studies investigate how and why self‐production affects consumers’ product evaluations and reveal that not all production experiences create additional value for all consumers. In particular, Studies 1 and 2, using hypothetical stories and real experiences, show that only positive (vs. negative) production experiences enhance evaluations of self‐made products over products made by others. Positive (but not negative) experiences decrease the psychological distance between the self and the product and strengthen identification with it. Study 3 manipulates self‐construal (independent vs. interdependent) to investigate its role on evaluation of self‐made products and products made with close others as a group (i.e., group‐made). Consumers with independent self‐construal evaluate self‐made (vs. other‐made) products more favorably only if the process is positive. However, consumers with interdependent self‐construal evaluate self‐made products more favorably even if the process is negative. Additionally, consumers with interdependent (vs. independent) self‐construal exhibit more favorable evaluation of group‐made products. Finally, even if consumers know how another person feels while making a product, other people's process emotions do not affect consumers’ product judgments as strongly as their own experienced process emotions.     

The Impetus for (and Limited Power of) Business Self‐Regulation: The Example of Advergames

When people complain, government agencies often respond. When regulations are threatened, businesses often offer reassurances that the problems can be handled with a self‐regulation code. However, past analyses of the power of self‐regulation find that while companies' voluntary adherence to self‐defined guidelines may effect some change in the activities of some companies, the inherent limitations of self‐regulation in the United States may restrict its ability to actually halt or control the undesired practices of others. The recent response by major food manufacturers and marketers to criticism of online games is an example of this mix.     

To Be or Not to Be Price Conscious—a Segment‐Based Analysis of Compromise Effects in Market‐Like Framings

Numerous researchers have investigated the compromise effect, according to which a middle option of a consideration set is assumed to be perceived more attractive by consumers, thus becoming more likely to be chosen than the extreme options. However, a closer examination of the experimental designs that were used in previous studies on compromise effects clearly reveals a lack of realism in terms of forced choices between fictitious options in hypothetical choice settings of student samples. This article reports two consecutively implemented studies demonstrating that the compromise effect is robust even in an enhanced design that incorporates basic conditions of real purchase decisions in laboratory‐based experiments. Specifically, the relative share of the middle option increases significantly in an overall analysis when experienced consumers make unforced decisions between real brands in a binding choice context. However, segmented analysis indicates substantial differences, meaning that (1) the compromise effect is strong and significant among quality‐seeking consumers, whereas (2) the compromise effect is weak and insignificant among price‐conscious subjects.     

Understanding How Goal‐striving,Goal Orientation,and Shame Influence Self‐perceptions after Exposure to Models in Advertising

Marketers frequently use advertisements featuring thin models to promote the goal of self‐improvement to consumers. However, many of these appeals lead to detrimental effects on the self‐perceptions of the females who view them. This paper integrates components of goal‐striving theory and social comparison theory to explain consumer response to these advertisements and investigates how goal attainability may mitigate the negative effects of these ads. Additionally, this work investigates how a promotion‐focus goal orientation moderates the effects of the goal‐striving process and provides evidence of the mediating effects of shame. Finally, this work addresses a gap in the literature by examining how the interplay of model size and goal attainability impacts male consumers’ self‐perceptions. Study 1 reveals that high levels of perceived goal attainability mitigate the negative effects of exposure to thin models on self‐perceptions for females. Study 2 demonstrates that a high promotion‐focus goal orientation can lead to more favorable self‐perceptions for female participants exposed to a thin model with attainable goals, but it does not isolate participants from feelings of shame, which mediates the effects of goal attainability on self‐perceptions. Study 3 reveals similar findings for male consumers, but notably finds that shame does not play a significant role in understanding the comparison process for male consumers, suggesting key differences in the comparison processes between sexes.