Impulsive consumer buying as a result of emotions

The concept of impulse buying is discussed and characterized as encompassing purchases with high emotional activation, low cognitive control, and a largely reactive behavior. A study is conducted to investigate whether emotions causing impulse buying can be identified empirically by interview data and observation of the mimical expression of buyers and nonbuyers. The results support the validity of the techniques employed.     

Linear processing in a semantic network: An alternative view of consumer product evaluation

While the linear model has been very successful in explaining the product evaluation process of consumers, it is quite uncertain what the model actually means in terms of underlying cognitive processes. An alternative model is developed, based on semantic network models developed in the psychology of memory, and used to explain the product evaluation process. It is shown that in certain cases this model leads to an information integration process structurally similar to the lineat model.     

Optimal price and advertising policy for new products

Extending a model originally proposed by Bass, a “diffusion model” is developed that allows us to investigate the effects of certain price and advertising strategies during and after the introduction of new products by means of numerical computer simulation. The distinction between “innovators” and “imitators” forms the core of the model. A wide variety of implications for marketing strategies is derived.     

Influence structure in organizational buying behavior

Empirical support is needed for the wealth of existing conceptual models describing organizational buying processes. This study focuses on measuring and understanding the relative influence of different buying center components in the context of convention site selection by a sample of North American associations. Mail questionnaires were sent to members of each major buying center component of 506 associations located in the United States and Canada. Responses were received from 386 permanent association executives, 650 elected officers of associations, and 1870 association members. The study found that important differences existed in the influence of different buying center components, with elected officers generally having the most influence and members the least. This general finding was qualified, however, by two factors. First, dominance in the decision process was found not to be a generalized phenomenon. Rather, it varied with specific subdecisions. Second, the nature of influence structure was found to vary significantly across associations having different objectives, structures, and sizes.     

Consumer behavior in accumulating household financial assets

The acquisition of household financial assets by married couples are examined. Guttman scalogram analysis is used to develop and evaluate the reproducibility of the derived accumulation scales. To test the reliability of the findings, split halves and longitudinal analyses are conducted. In addition, financial asset patterns are examined across three age segments. Finally, some implications for future consumer research on financial assets are suggested.     

Industrial buying behavior: A need for an integrative approach

In recent years many conceptual and methodological developments have contributed to our understanding of industrial organizations as consumers. Yet there is still a lack of purpose and no sense of direction to much of the research in the area of industrial marketing/organizational buying. This paper develops a framework for approaching organizational buying research in a more conceptually rigorous and methodologically sound fashion. Within the proposed framework current problems in the area are discussed and needed research is highlighted.     

Marketing strategies,financial structure,and innovation in U.K. retailing

This study examines the pattern by which retailers have adapted to recent changes in consumer markets. Information was obtained on the marketing strategies and financial structures of 88 of the leading U.K. retailers. The first section identifies the key environmental developments of the later 1970's and appraises their impact on retailers. In the second section, the methods by which retailers have sought to adapt to these changes are outlined. Finally, a model is developed which distinguishes successful from unsuccessful retailing strategies and provides a methodology for evaluating alternative approaches to market positioning.     

Using voice analysis for analyzing bargaining processes in industrial marketing

Marketing processes on capital goods markets are often characterized as bargaining processes. Bargaining behavior is influenced by cognitive as well as activating factors. This article is concerned with the development of a new concept to measure the activation component by using voice analysis as an activational indicator. Literature concerning voice analysis is reviewed and two experiments are reported to support the hypothesis that the voice pitch may be used as a valid activational indicator.     

The application of probit,logit, and tobit in marketing: A review

Recent work on the analysis of qualitative dependent variables having considerable potential in marketing research are reviewed and illustrated. In particular, three related models, probit, logit, and tobit, are discussed in a nontechnical manner. In the last few years, there has been a resurgence of interest among biologists, economists, and other social scientists in developing and generalizing these three models. Yet, despite their apparent utility in marketing research, there have been only one or two rather limited applications to date. The object of this review is to enable researchers to evaluate these models and to relate them to their existing statistical procedures. The models are defined and related to the multivariate methods commonly used in marketing research. Second, the theoretical problems associated with using regression analysis and similar procedures on qualitative data are noted and the assumptions needed to resolve such problems are presented. Third, marketing applications are reviewed and an illustration of a general form of the probit model is evaluated and compared.     

Detrimental effects of television advertising on consumer socialization

As in the United States, there has been a heated discussion about possible negative effects of TV advertising on children in the Federal Republic of Germany. Results obtained in the United States are not readily transferable, owing to differences in media structure. Based on interviews with experts and a qualitative content analysis of relevant documents, this article tries to organize claims made about detrimental effects into dimensions of detrimentality.     

The linking pin role in organizational buying centers

The buying center concept has been widely accepted in the organizational buying behavior literature. Nevertheless, the application of the concept in empirical investigations has been limited in scope. Most research has examined either the composition of the buying center or the influence processes operating within it. The intraorganizational dynamics (among members of the buying center) and the interorganizational dynamics (between buying center members and outside organizations) have been ignored in buying center research. Common to these two sets of relationships is the presence of a “linking pin” or “boundary role” person.The purposes of this paper are twofold. The first is to suggest the concept of the “linking pin” role in a buying center and to highlight the conceptual importance of this role in furthering the understanding and prediction of organizational buying processes and outcomes. Explication of this role should also lead to an enriched conceptualization of the relationships between the buying and selling organizations. The second objective is to report on the results of some initial empirical investigations into the role of a designated linking pin in hospital buying centers. These results offer preliminary evidence of the value of the linking pin concept.     

More on public information and stock price

In a recent issue of this journal [2] McCain and Millar examined whether “favorable” and unfavorable” stock analyses appearing in the Wall Street Journal column “Heard on the Street” could be used to predict one-day, seven-day, and six-month price movements of the affected stocks. In this note we question the conclusions of that study based upon methodological grounds.     

Using simultaneous latent structure models to analyze group differences: Exploratory analysis of buying style items

This article shows how methods for simultaneous latent structure analysis can be used to test for intergroup differences in unobservable characteristics. In many respects these techniques are similar to those for simultaneous factor analysis. To show how these methods can be used, we analyze data obtained from the 1979 Study of Media and Markets collected by the Simmons Market Research Bureau. Five dichotomized items pertaining to buying style attitudes were chosen as “indicators” of a latent variable (or variables): brand loyalty, willingness to experiment, degree of conformity to buying style of others, persuadibility, and style consciousness. The sample was composed of full-time employed, married, white females in the middle social class categories recognized on the survey. Two groups were compared in terms of latent structure model parameters. The first group consisted of those who work “at a career” and the second consisted of those whose work was “just a job.” Using the methods advocated here there is no significant difference between these two groups once the “brand loyalty” item is excluded. The model-search procedure takes account of within-group contributions to lack of fit. Generalizations of this procedure may be useful in exploratory analysis using the simultaneous latent structure model.     

Inflation forecasts,the expected real rate and information efficiency

This paper examines the inflation forecast accuracy and rationality of a time series predictor, an expected inflation series constructed from surveys undertaken by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, and the yield on U.S. Treasury bills. A quadratic loss function is assumed, and Theil's inequality ratios are used to decompose the mean squared foreast error (MSE). Although it is the only unbiased forecast, the time series predictor does not appear to be optimal during the recent period of turbulent inflation. As for bias in the other series, the surveys are inconsistent with weak-form rational expectations and the Treasury bill is reflecting variations in more than one factor. In an examination of the latter under the assumption of no liquidity premium, the results suggest that the forecast error is in part attribute to moderate variation in the expected real rate. Given the minimal cost of observing the Treasury bill yield, the findings of this study suggest that the market, although imperfect, has performed reasonably well in forecasting inflation.     

Risk distribution and bonding mechanisms in industrial marketing

This paper models the interactive process of planning, negotiating, selling, and putting into operation a highly complex technical object as a “precarious partnership.” The process consists of several steps or phases. Typically, the participants in such a process are in different relative positions of strength and especially information. For the weaker side, these differences usually bring about the danger of being exploited by the other side. If the interactive process consisted of isolated phases only, this danger could prevent the interaction. However, in the course of the entire process, the relative positions are repeatedly switched. This fact influences incentives, behavior, and expectations of both sides, which in return reduces the potential confilict over time, strengthens the mutual commitment, and limits the risks of cooperation to the extent that cooperation becomes possible and reasonable. Many procedural and institutional characteristics of the marketing of complex technical objects fit into this interpretation. The method of analysis used in this article could help to narrow the gap between marketing science and the economic analysis of market processes.