The power of consumption-imagery in communicating retail-store deals

We show that subtle differences in textual marketing communications can impact the evocation of consumption-imagery, implicitly subsuming all the senses, which consequently affects consumer attitudes toward the communication and the product. Specifically, we demonstrate, through four experiments, that retail-store deals which communicate stronger association between products (“get matching shirt free”) are more imagery-evocative compared to those with weaker association (“get second item free”), thereby impacting consumer evaluations. We use literature on imagery, sensory perception, and information processing, specifically relational and item-specific processing, to build our hypotheses. We also provide evidence for how working memory capacity limitations disrupt imagery processing. Our results on effective communication of retail-store deals are even more crucial in today's digital marketplace where imagery is especially important.     

Development and validation of the active empathetic listening scale

This article presents a scale to measure active empathetic listening (AEL) of salespeople. AEL is defined as a form of listening practiced by salespeople in which traditional active listening is combined with empathy to achieve a higher form of listening. The AEL scale is composed of three dimensions: sensing, processing, and responding. Itemgeneration procedures and the results of three empirical studies are presented. Study 1 establishes that the item set is suitable for differentiating between effective and ineffective listeners from the point of view of customers. Study 2 determines that the item set is suitable for use by self‐report of salespeople, establishes that it conforms to the three theoretical dimensions, and that it possesses convergent validity. Study 3 further refines the item set, confirms the dimensionality of the scale, and establishes that the scale possesses construct validity in the form of discriminant and nomological validity. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns: Construct conceptualization and scale development

This study conceptualizes the consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns, which are important tools in improving the interactions between brands and consumers. We offer a comprehensive definition of this construct and discuss the nature and dimensionality of it. Further, this paper reports the development and validation of a 12‐item scale for measuring the aforementioned construct. This scale development process comprises four studies. Study 1 begins by generating a pool of items and then employs both a panel of experts and some Instagram users to examine the content validity of the items. To validate the scale, this paper carries out several online surveys in subsequent studies. Study 2 uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to remove the problematic items and evaluate the dimensionality of the construct. In Study 3, we conduct iterative CFAs to purify the scale and reassess the psychometric properties of the scale. Study 4 uses structural equation modeling to test the nomological validity. Our analyses reveal that consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns is a second‐order construct encompassing three first‐order dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement). The results also support the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, known group validity, and nomological validity of the engagement scale.     

扫描SAR成像中SPECAN算法的FPGA实现

为满足扫描成像合成孔径雷达(SAR)系统小型化和低功耗的迫切需求,给出一种频谱分析（SPECAN）算法的现场可编程逻辑门阵列（FPGA）实现,整个成像流程被划分为多个时分的阶段并分配到可复用的运算单元和控制逻辑中,并且提出一种基于FPGA的优化处理结构,将所有的信号处理功能集成在单片FPGA中。在实验与验证部分,通过FPGA处理结果与MATLAB运算结果的对比,以及实际成像试验结果表明了设计正确性和结构的工程实用性,适用于机场跑道、汽车高速公路的检测和定位。     

Measures of cognitive effort

In studying choice processes, it is generally assumed that the cognitive effort involved has a major influence on which process a consumer uses. However, a valid measure of such effort is lacking. To analyze convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability, several models of cognitive effort are tested using 14 measures. The best-fitting model has three constructs: total cognitive effort, cognitive strain, and time. Predictive validity is also tested. For choices involving a single period of processing, decision time and two verbal protocol measures are recommended. For choices that occur over multiple periods of processing, three self-report items are recommended.I would like to thank Robert J. Thomas, Johny K. Johansson, and Sandra Burke for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper and the editor for his encouragement.     

The effect of imagery on information processing strategy in a multiattribute choice task

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of imagery instructions on information processing in a multiattribute choice task. Subjects were instructed to imagine owning and using alternatives or to avoid the use of imagery and to evaluate alternatives in a more analytical manner. Instructions to use imagery produced relatively more processing by alternative. In addition, imagery instructions appeared to encourage subjects to gather more information per alternative and to gather a constant amount of information per alternative. The data also support the claim that level of familiarity affects processing strategy.     

How product representation shapes virtual experiences and re-patronage intentions: the role of mental imagery processing and experiential value

Despite the lack of physical contact, innovative technologies in online stores are able to engender compelling virtual product experiences. The primary objective of this study is to clarify the mechanisms through which these virtual product experiences occur. The study proposes and tests a model in which mental imagery processing and consumers' perceptions of experiential value function as potential mechanisms through which virtual experiences in online stores are established, thereby determining re-patronage intention. The model was tested in an experimental study investigating two versions of a fast fashion online store that varied in terms of product representations: dynamic (i.e., a mix-and-match feature allowing the creation of visual images of apparel combinations) and static (i.e., rigid pictures). A sample of 660 valid cases involving individuals of Generation Y (born in 1977–1994) was obtained. The structural equation modeling technique was used to analyze the proposed research model. The results indicate that the dynamic mix-and-match technology arouses more mental images of physical product interaction than do static pictures. Moreover, mental imagery processing can be considered an important underlying source of online experiential value, which consumers subsequently exploit with repeated visits to the online store. By introducing psychological constructs such as mental imagery and perceived value, this study augments prior research on online product experiences by proposing and validating the underlying mechanisms through which the way of representing products affect consumer responses. Finally, both theoretical and practical contributions of the findings are discussed, as well as directions for further research.     

The influence of consumer mood state as a contextual factor on imagery-inducing advertisements and brand attitude

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of consumer preexisting mood as a contextual factor on consumers' response to imagery-inducing advertisements. The results showed that positive mood seemed to be the most productive context for an imagery ad. Positive mood increased consumers' positive affective state and increased their subsequent brand attitudes. In addition, the results showed that consumers' mood state can also affect the processing mode consumers actually adopt while viewing an ad, and thus indirectly affect brand attitude. Positive mood state was shown to facilitate the induction of mental imagery processing, and at the same time distract detail-oriented analytical processing. As a result, evaluation of the ad was enhanced. On the other hand, negative mood was shown to reduce the intended mental imagery processing, but it appeared to encourage a detail-oriented analytical processing. As a result, consumers remembered more accurately the specific ad claims, but were not affected as much by the imagery-inducing appeals.     

Let Me Imagine That for You: Transforming the Retail Frontline Through Augmenting Customer Mental Imagery Ability

The rapid development of augmented reality (AR) is reshaping retail frontline operations by enhancing the offline and online customer experience. Drawing on mental imagery theory, this paper develops a conceptual framework to reflect how AR emulates customer’s cognitive processes offloading those to the technology. Consequently, the AR-enabled frontline improves decision comfort, motivates positive WOM and facilitates choice of higher value products. The underlying mechanism is a sequential mediation via improved processing fluency and decision comfort. The findings also demonstrate boundary conditions of customers’ visual processing styles and product contextuality. Object-visualisers benefit more from AR induced imagery processes, and the effect of processing fluency on customer decision comfort is moderated by product contextuality. The results are verified with repeat studies to control for novelty of AR, and a field study that highlights the impact of AR on customers’ choice and spending. We discuss implications for theory and practice of AR-enabled frontline retailing.     

A scale for measuring advertisement-evoked mental imagery

This study reports on the formulation and validation of a multidimensional scale designed to measure the properties of advertisement-evoked mental imagery. The scale was developed using (1) procedures suggested by psychometrics researchers, (2) three separate subject samples and (3) 55 advertisements drawn from print, radio and television media. The scale designed to measure imagery vividness, quantity, valence and sensory modality, exhibited reliability as well as discriminant, nomological and criterion validity. The analyses revealed that the dimensionality of the scale is stable whether the advertising medium is print, radio or television.     

Facing Ethical Challenges in the Workplace: Conceptualizing and Measuring Professional Moral Courage

Scholars have shown renewed interest in the construct of courage. Recent studies have explored its theoretical underpinnings and measurement. Yet courage is generally discussed in its broad form to include physical, psychological, and moral features. To understand a more practical form of moral courage, research is needed to uncover how ethical challenges are effectively managed in organizational settings. We argue that professional moral courage (PMC) is a managerial competency. To describe it and derive items for scale development, we studied managers in the U.S. military and examined prior work on moral courage. Two methods were used to measure PMC producing a five dimensional scale that organized under a single second-order factor, which we termed overall PMC. The five dimensions are moral agency, multiple values, endurance of threats, going beyond compliance, and moral goals. Convergent and discriminant validity are analyzed by use of confirmatory factor analysis procedures. We conclude by presenting a framework for proactive organizational ethics, which reflects how to support PMC as a management practice.     

Imagination matters: do consumers’ imagery processing and self-regulatory goals affect the persuasiveness of metaphor in advertising?

Abstract

In this paper, we show that individuals’ self-regulatory focus and imagery processing affect the persuasiveness of metaphorical advertisements. Study 1 show that metaphorical advertisements enhance persuasion only among individuals who are promotion focussed. They attenuate brand evaluation among prevention-focussed individuals. In Study 2, a regulatory fit between message frame and regulatory focus results in more favourable brand evaluations only among promotion-focussed individuals when a promotion-framed metaphorical advertisement is presented. In Study 3, the level of imagery processing mediates the interaction effect of metaphorical advertisements and regulatory focus on brand evaluation. Study 4 reveals that brand evaluation is enhanced when promotion-focussed consumers view a metaphorical advertisement without interpretative cues. However, the brand evaluation of prevention-focussed consumers is enhanced when they view a metaphorical advertisement with interpretative cues.     

组织学习量表的开发

组织学习的定义与量表呈现多元化,基于国内外主要组织学习定义与量表的系统研究,整合界定了一个组织学习定义,并适用该定义,参照Churchill的量表开发程序,开发了一个组织学习量表,新开发量表包括发现、获取、比较、反思、纠错、记忆六个测量维度和18个测量项目,以两组中国企业样本数据进行了实证检验,结果表明具有较好的信度与效度。     

The effects of schematic memory on imaginal information processing: An empirical assessment

The relationship between verbal and nonverbal modes of processing consumer information was examined in an investigation of schematic processing, a predominantly verbal mode, and visual imagery, a nonverbal method of information processing. It was found that individuals with a schema for a marketing event exhibited both a higher incidence and greater vividness of imagery during retrieval than did subjects without a schema. No differences were observed in either the frequency or clarity of images related to actions of varying degrees of abstraction in the event schema. These results indicate interdependence between schematic and imaginal processing consistent with the Cyclical Processing Model (Hampson and Morris 1979). A number of implications, both methodological and strategic, are developed from the observed relationship between imaginal and schematic information processing.     

The shopping list in goal-directed shopping: scale development and validation

This paper aims to develop and validate a shopping list scale in a goal-directed shopping context based on three complementary study phases (and literature review): shopper interviews (exploratory stage to identify the items and dimensions), a pilot study with 162 respondents for scale purification, and a refined questionnaire administered to 213 respondents (to establish reliability, convergent, discriminant and nomological validity). An exploratory factor analysis shows that the items load onto four factors: memory aid, money controller, shopping controller, and deviation controller. We performed confirmatory factor analysis to test the model and check for reliability and validity of the anticipated scale. The model fit and reliability levels are acceptable, as are the convergent and discriminant validities of the scale. The scale is a second-order factor, thus satisfying nomological validity. The shopping list scale should be of interest to researchers and retail managers in exploring factors and outcomes of goal-directed shopper behaviour.     

Proposition for an improved version of the consumer entitlement inventory

This note proposes an improved version of the Consumer Entitlement Inventory (CEI) developed by Boyd and Helms ( 2005 ). Two studies, conducted in two different cultural settings—France (n = 203) and the United States (n = 181)—raised some issues with the original version of the CEI. The underlying theoretical reasons for these results are discussed and an analysis of the CEI's content validity is performed. An improved version of the CEI, enriched with items that more closely capture the consumer entitlement construct, is proposed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

On building better construct measures: Implications of a general hierarchical model

Four problems occur in the scale development process: (a) defining the construct, (b) drawing items from multiple domains, (c) identifying dimensions, and (d) showing nomological validity. In order to minimize these problems, the authors propose a general hierarchical model (GHM) that provides an organizational structure for placing many of the individual difference constructs used in marketing and consumer behavior. Three principles, which were derived from the GHM, add to the current scale development paradigm: (a) Define and test the construct within a hierarchical network that includes antecedents and consequences, (b) define and test the construct's dimensionality, and (c) match the construct's items to its level in the hierarchical system. By using these steps in scale development, researchers can build more precise measures possessing higher levels of validity and reliability. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Measures of aesthetic dimensions and reactions in advertising

Advertising increasingly uses discrepant imagery featuring unsettling portrayals rather than traditional imagery featuring aspirational models, products, and settings. Thus, the need for more valid and reliable measures has limited much research investigating advertising aesthetics to conceptual or qualitative approaches. To meet this need, the current research applies art and aesthetic theory in developing scales that measure aesthetic dimensions and reactions of advertising visuals. First, it develops and validates measures for the aesthetic dimensions of ideal beauty and the antithetical aesthetic as well as aesthetic reactions of transgression and artistic quality. Then, it demonstrates predictive validity by testing each dimension's influence on aesthetic reactions, attention, and attitudes toward the ad and brand.