The impact of private labels on consumer store loyalty: An integrative perspective

This research studies the role of private labels (PLs) on consumers’ store loyalty. It offers an integrative approach that comprises several store loyalty drivers (in-store and economic factors), analyzing the role that PLs play among different types of retailers. Data were collected through an online survey. Using structural equation modeling, we run our analysis across different retail formats, assessing which factors lead to store loyalty and to what extent PLs contribute to it. Findings suggest that depending on retailers‘ market positioning, different factors contribute to loyalty and that the impact of PLs is mostly significant for medium-cost and premium supermarkets.     

Money-off coupons and the consumer: are they worth the effort?

Is the use of coupons a worthwhile practice for consumers? What defines a cost-effective money-off coupon user? In this study, the time cost of clipping and organizing grocery coupons is compared to actual savings received. Forty per cent of consumers did not reap savings at least equal to their time cost of coupon clipping. Cost-ineffective consumers are identified and compared to the cost-effective group on several demographic and shopping characteristics. Differences are discussed in relation to consumer economics and super-shopper role models.     

Manipulating dissonance to improve mail survey response

Despite the large amount of research on mail questionnaires, there has been little effort toward the development of a questionnaire response theory that might guide the design of mail survey research. The authors conceptualize mail questionnaire response as a series of responses to a set of stimuli rather than a single decision to respond or not respond. A review of the mail survey response literature is provided and cognitive dissonance theory is used to explain why particular techniques are effective. Four types of nonrespondents are identified and suggestions are provided for the use of incentives, prenotification, follow-up contacts, type of postage, and cover letter treatments.     

Effects of perceived behavioral control on the consumer usage intention of e‐coupons

To investigate changes that e‐coupons bring to consumers' coupon usage, the authors of this article developed and estimated models of coupon‐usage intention. The models are based on the theory of reasoned action or the theory of planned behavior. Results show that the theory of planned behavior explains e‐coupon usage intention better than the theory of reasoned action. On the other hand, the intention to use traditional coupons is effectively explained by the theory of reasoned action. Both perceived behavioral control and attitude toward Internet searching have significant effects on the intention to use e‐coupons. Also, heavy users of e‐coupons are different from those of traditional coupons. Light users of traditional coupons have relatively high intention to use e‐coupons if they have more access to e‐coupons. On the other hand, heavy users of traditional coupons have relatively low intention to use e‐coupons if they have less access to them. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Using response behaviour theory to solicit survey participation in consumer research: An empirical study

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report on research that examines survey participation rates (i.e. response rates) for personal interview surveys where solicitation for participation is based on different theories of survey-response behaviour in two culturally distinct countries. Field experiments were designed to investigate the extent to which the theories of exchange, cognitive dissonance, self-perception, and involvement/commitment can influence potential respondents to participate in a personal interview survey in Australia and Hong Kong. The results show that there were significant differences in Australia with the theory of self-perception having the strongest impact on survey-response behaviour, while cognitive dissonance has the least impact. In contrast, the effects in Hong Kong were not significant. This study adds to the limited empirical research regarding why consumers participate in surveys, particularly personal interview surveys. The theories are applied at the self-introduction and invitation to participate, which is a crucial stage in the potential respondent's decision about participation.     

An integrative model of consumer satisfaction in the context of e‐services

This research examines how customer satisfaction affects its antecedent and outcome variables such as expectation, performance, disconfirmation, word‐of‐mouth, brand loyalty, attribution and repurchase. This research also takes the important integrative step of understanding the consumer behavioural constructs of consumer satisfaction. Although researchers have focused on the antecedents of consumer satisfaction, our integrative model has extended the outcomes of consumer behaviour on consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, this model strongly suggests a positive view of the inter‐relationships between the antecedent variables and outcome variables of satisfaction. In particular, our model is not consistent with Oliver's attribution models in which satisfaction is a consequence of attribution processing. All hypothesized variables were supported by our empirical study. The findings present a variety of guides to formulating marketing strategies for both practitioners and academics.     

Export market orientation: An integrative review and directions for future research

A firm’s export market orientation has long been interest of several scholars and has received theoretical and empirical research attention in the international business literature. In response, this study endeavors to critically investigate and synthesize the empirical body of research on the export market orientation phenomenon in relation to theoretical issues, context, characteristics - consisting of conceptual approaches and direct and indirect interrelationships among the constructs of interest -, and methodology. Within the scope of this systematic and comprehensive review, 80 studies on export market orientation published between 1998 and 2018 were subjected to a content-analysis. The findings delineate that in spite of the significant progress in the knowledge of export market orientation, particular concerns should be addressed to make the export market orientation literature move toward maturity.     

Displayed emotions to patronage intention: consumer response to contact personnel performance

The impact of service on consumers' brand attitudes and patronage intentions serves to stress its importance to service marketers. This study further investigates previous research by proposing an integrative model that examines the hierarchical influence underlying emotions displayed by service personnel and the subsequent effect on consumer behavioural intention in the retail service context. Results indicate that service personnel-displayed emotion hierarchically influences consumers' emotions, satisfaction with service personnel, brand attitude, and patronage intention. Findings also reveal that brand attitude plays a critical mediating role. This work discusses implications for retail service firms and marketing executives, in addition to providing direction for future research.     

Trust and direct marketing environments: A consumer perspective

The desire to establish long‐term customer relationships has led companies to consider normative as well as outcome related aspects of relationship development. Much of the research undertaken in this field has focused upon such activity in business‐to‐business markets. The current study sought to examine these issues, from the consumer perspective, in relation to approaches made by firms using direct marketing techniques, specifically direct mail. Empirical assessment was made of a sample of consumers in relation to their receptivity to product and service offerings from firms, and the effects of commitment, trust and privacy concerns upon this receptivity. In conclusion, some implications for marketing practice in developing customer relationships in direct marketing environments are discussed.     

The impact of telephone notification strategies on response to an industrial mail survey

The mail questionnaire is a popular method of gathering data among marketing academics. However, response rates from industrial populations are often low. A number of alternative strategies designed to enhance response from industrialists are evaluated. The results show that satisfactory response rates can be achieved by the integration of telephone and mail contacts within a survey design without loss of response quality nor distortion of sample composition.     

Stop arguing! How childhood exposure to interparental conflict affects consumer response toward product review dispersion

This paper explores how exposure to interparental conflict (IPC) during one's childhood impacts online buyer behavior later in adulthood. We show that people who report having witnessed higher (vs. lower) levels of IPC as children evaluate products less favorably when they are associated with product reviews exhibiting a higher (vs. lower) dispersion of opinion. This result is driven by a desire to avoid conflict. The research deepens the understanding consumer responses to review dispersion by identifying a novel psychological factor. It also contributes to the developmental psychology and socialization literatures by documenting the long-lasting impact of early childhood family communication processes on adult consumer behavior. Future research avenues are discussed.     

Patterns of consumer response to retail price differentials

Decomposing price elasticity suggests that the major impact of promotions is on brand switching rather than increased consumption. Consumers may also buy smaller quantities of more expensive brands when compared to cheaper ones (inter-brand elasticity). Using panel data for the purchases of 80 consumers buying nine product categories over a 16-week period, we verified that inter-brand elasticities occur, and report the relative importance of intra- and inter-brand elasticities in determining quantity price elasticity per shopping occasion for the product category. Brands were classified by informational (socially mediated) and utilitarian (product-mediated) benefits. Intra-brand elasticity was higher than utilitarian inter-brand elasticity, which was higher than informational inter-brand elasticity.     

Exploring ethnic consumer response to crossover brand extensions

This research uses a social identity theory approach to investigate the impact of cultural identity on ethnic consumer response to ethnic crossover brand extensions—brands associated with one ethnic group that crossover into a product category associated with another ethnic group (e.g., McDonald's Café con leche). Study 1 demonstrates that the manner in which crossover brand extensions blend ethnic consumers' in-group and out-group cultural representations impact brand extension cultural fit and parent brand attitudes, and perceived ethnic target market impacts brand extension attitudes. Study 2 demonstrates that high ethnic embeddedness extensions strengthen ethnic consumers' self-brand connections. These findings provide managerial implications for practitioners considering a crossover brand extension strategy.     

Making sense of metaphor: The impact of target-group-specific headlines in direct mail

Metaphors are used extensively to cut through the increasing volume of noise in contemporary, hyper-competitive markets. Whilst there is a growing body of literature on the impact of metaphor in marketing communications, much of it concerns style, whilst relatively little is understood about the relationship between creative execution and target audience response. In an exploratory study designed to measure the effectiveness of metaphor in direct mail, we introduce and investigate the concept of target-group-specificity. We find that carefully crafted headlines that contain target-group-specific (TGS) metaphors – in other words, both content and style created specifically for a particular audience – outperform less target-specific metaphors and their literal alternatives. Positive results are found in relation to attention, attitude and behavioural intention. The findings offer evidence that TGS metaphors are more persuasive than the alternative and have strong advertising effects.     

Sponsorship and follow-up effects on response quality of mail surveys

This paper reports the results of an investigation of response quality in a mail survey. Survey sponsorship (university versus consulting firm) was evaluated in relation to the classification of the respondent (university alumni versus general public) on the dependent variable. In addition, response quality of the follow-up questionnaire was compared to that of the initial mailing. The findings revealed that there were differences in response quality between the initial and follow-up mailing. No differences were found in response quality for the four experimental conditions within the initial mailing, but differences were found within the follow-up mailing. Interpretations of the findings are discussed and implications for further research are presented.     

The effects of schema congruity on consumer response to celebrity advertising

The trend of celebrity-branded products is on the rise, creating a new domain in which to explore the match-up hypothesis. Moving beyond the celebrity as an endorser, but rather, a brand promoting a brand extension, this article examines how perceived congruence between a celebrity's image and the brand image of products they have developed is related to attitudinal and behavioral measures of advertising effectiveness. Employing a 2 × 3 full factorial design, congruence between the celebrity's image and the brand's image was varied (less vs. more congruent), along with the use of the celebrity's image (present, absent, non-celebrity models) to determine how schema congruity influences consumer's response to celebrity advertising. The results of a multivariate analysis of covariance analysis indicating lower levels of congruence between the celebrity's image and the brand's image led to greater advertising effectiveness compared to higher levels of congruence. Specifically, the means of the attitudinal dependent variables in the less congruent condition were significantly higher than the means in the more congruent condition. These effects were more pronounced when a celebrity's image was featured in the advertisement compared to when it was not featured. The implication of the findings suggests that moderate violations in the consumer's celebrity schema may improve advertising effectiveness.     

The effects of competitive context on consumer response to price changes

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to understand how a brand’s price level, relative to its competitors, will affect consumers’ responses to price changes of the brand. The study uses experiments to examine brand choice responses to price increases and decreases across contexts differing in competitor brands and their respective prices. These experiments are conducted with six consumer goods categories. The research identifies three key factors that affect the size of responses to brand price changes – (1) passing a competitor brand’s price, (2) narrowing versus widening the price gaps with competitors, and (3) whether competitors are predominantly higher or lower priced brands.     

An integrative ethical approach to leader favoritism

Relationship building is one of the most important aspects of leadership; however, it can pose ethical challenges. Though particularistic treatment of employees by leaders, that is, leader favoritism, commonly occurs, it is conventionally regarded negatively as fairness norms require leaders to treat followers equally. In this conceptual study, we explore different views on leader favoritism based on different ethical principles. We develop an alternative to the conventional view and suggest that leader favoritism may not necessarily lead to negative outcomes when empathy‐based favoritism is applied. In this vein, we recommend drawing on the ethical principles of a utilitarian approach by balancing particularism and universalism, which is also helpful to build organizational social capital. We contribute to leadership theory by developing an early concept of an integrative ethical approach to leader favoritism.