How effective are public policy decissions?…The need for a general evaluation model

The successful inplementation of public policy decisions depends heavily upon knowing what information is required by the consumers and knowing the situational factors that determine whether or not the consumer will use the information. Implementation will only succeed if there is an attempt made to educate the consumer through methods other than “full disclosure.” The successful education of the consumer will only succeed if the policy decision makers are able to determine what the consumers need to know and how best to communicate this to them. The purpose of this paper is to present a general methodology for gathering information about groups of consumers or industries that will be affected by the policy decision. One of the major thrusts of the model is the emphasis placed on acquiring the information before the policy decision is made. The second major thrust is the proposal to “test market” policy decisions before they are actually made.     

Seeing relationships through the lens of psychological contracts: the structure of consumer service relationships

Serving as mental models, psychological contracts guide consumers’ service interactions with their service providers. This study incorporates a psychological contract perspective into the relationship marketing literature, exploring service customers’ beliefs about the terms and conditions of the resource exchange process and the types of relationships they form with service providers. It provides new insights that explain why and how some customers respond favorably to a company’s relationship overtures and investments while others do not. A latent class analysis on a sample of 700 consumers across three different service industries reveals that consumers form four distinct types of psychological contracts: relational, standard, transitional, and captive. To further validate the differences between the contract types, open-ended responses from the respondents were sorted by each class. The distinctive themes that emerged provide a richer understanding of the characteristics of each class beyond those inferred from the quantitative results. Each contract type is also profiled against its underlying level of trust, satisfaction, and commitment to understand the relationship between the contract types and these traditional relationship marketing variables. Marketers can differentiate their relationship marketing strategies and allocate their resource investments more effectively by segmenting consumers according to their psychological contract type.     

Agency and trust mechanisms in consumer satisfaction and loyalty judgments

The authors propose a framework for understanding key mechanisms that shape satisfaction in individual encounters, and loyalty across ongoing exchanges. In particular, the framework draws together two distinct approaches: (1) agency theory, rooted in the economic approach, that views relational exchanges as encounters between principals (consumers) and agents (service providers) and (2) trust research that adopts a psychological approach toward consumer-provider relationships. In so doing, the authors specify how trust mechanisms cooperate and compete with agency mechanisms to affect satisfaction in individual encounters and influence loyalty in the long run. Because a multidimensional conceptualization of trust is used, the hypothesized framework offers a fine-grained understanding of the interrelated mechanisms. The high level of specificity allows extraction of multiple propositions, facilitates empirical testing, and encourages theoretical development of the proposed model. Several directions to guide future research are provided. Jagdip Singh is Professor of Marketing at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. His current research interests include consumer dissatisfaction and complaint responses, O-P-C (organization-person-customer) processes that occur in frontline/boundary roles, and measurement issues in marketing. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Business Studies, andPsychological Assessment, among others. Deepak Sirdeshmukh is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. His current research involves a multiindustry examination of the role of trust in building consumer-firm relationships. Other research interests include consumer evaluation of brand extensions and consumer information processing. He has published in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology.     

互联网金融：消费者行为变迁及银行变革

中国经济转型升级发展中,商业模式的变化比经济周期的波动给各行业带来更大冲击。由于互联网的发展以及投融资需求缺口的存在,金融消费产品的不断丰富唤醒了消费者潜在金融意识。金融消费者需要的是金融功能的增进与实现,而金融功能的着眼点在于金融产品创新和金融服务创新,因此银行业变革势在必行。商业银行应当以客户为中心,构建嵌入金融消费者生活场景的金融场景,利用互联网技术促进金融服务升级,提升客户金融服务体验。     

The link between attractiveness of “Extrabrand” attributes and the adoption of innovations

While innovators may rush to purchase many new products, most consumers are more conservative and do not want to buy into fads but purchase only those new products that are viable. How do the majority of consumers make judgments about whether they will adopt an innovation? This article examines the evaluative aspects of adoption as a means for better understanding consumer adoption and the market factors that may influence the success of an innovation. This research introduces a conceptual model that shows how consumers’ evaluation of product category attractiveness affects the adoption decision for really new products. These consumer evaluations are based on the attributes of the product category (“extrabrand” attributes) rather than brand attributes. Results from a test of the model indicate that consumers do use extrabrand attributes to assess the attractiveness of innovative new products.     

消费者商场“手机钱包”初始信任影响因素的实证分析——基于长株潭试点区域

消费者在商场移动支付情境中对＂手机钱包＂初始信任的影响因素众多,研究发现结构保证因素对处于推广初期的＂手机钱包＂业务的初始信任影响最显著,其他影响因素依次为感知手机钱包优点、风险因素、个人信任倾向、声誉因素。基于以上结论,企业应通过提高＂手机钱包＂优点认知、寻求政府支持、引入第三方认证、采取差异化营销策略等措施来构建安全和谐的消费环境。     

Managing rewards to enhance relational worth

In this study, cognitive evaluation theory illustrates how the controlling aspects of reward redemption policy (stringent versus flexible) interact with the type of offered reward (social versus economic) to influence relational program effectiveness. We look at effectiveness by defining and measuring relational worth, the non-financial value of consumers to organizations. The hypotheses are empirically tested with a sample of season ticket holders of a professional sports team (n = 373) and then replicated in a second study with experimental data using scenarios in a hotel reward program context. Results indicate that perceived social rewards lead to affective commitment, while perceived economic rewards lead to continuance commitment. Involvement is a significant determinant in how reward type and policy influence commitment types; specifically, low-involvement consumers are more influenced by reward program signals than high-involvement consumers. Affective commitment produces the most relationally valuable consumer to an organization in terms of relational worth. Controlling policies have an undermining effect on all commitment types, regardless of reward type.     

Exploring consumer conflict management in service encounters

Consumer researchers have yet to examine how consumers frame and deal with conflict. Understanding how consumers manage conflict is essential for service providers seeking to effectively recover instances of service failure, and avoid the costs associated with increasing instances of consumer anger. Using a modified grounded theory approach, we develop a model of consumer conflict management drawing on 39 informant accounts of service failures. The emergent model proposes that consumers’ conflict style is related to whether conflict is framed in task or personal terms. Task-framed conflicts resulted in more productive conflict styles than those framed in personal terms. Self vs. other orientation moderated the relationship between conflict frame and conflict style. These findings help us better understand the nature of consumer conflict and identify the importance of carefully targeting service recovery efforts to reduce instances of anger.     

预付式会员卡诈骗行为的界定及其规制

预付式会员卡为人们提供快捷、方便消费服务的同时,也存在一定隐患。实践中不法分子多采用虚假宣传与隐瞒真相的手段实施诈骗。预付式会员卡民事诈骗行为有别于刑事诈骗行为,主要表现为构成要件和行为后果不同。为充分保护持卡人正当权益,我国有必要建立以登记制度为依托的全国后台监管系统,预防跨区作案;实行用卡实名制,增设预付卡短信对账提示功能;突出保护弱者,明确利于保护消费者利益的举证分配。同时,公诉机关也应以合同诈骗罪对预付式会员卡刑事诈骗行为进行衡量与规制。     

数字贸易中的消费者:角色、行为与权益

随着经济社会的发展,消费者需求偏好的个性化和多元化趋势日益显著。数字技术的发展让消费者对商品和服务的个性化需求得以显性化,同时个性化需求驱动了数字贸易的发展。数字经济背景下消费者的地位发生了巨大变化,消费者开始在数字贸易中居于核心地位。数字贸易中消费者行为方面的有关内容,包括消费者搜寻与购买决策、消费者反馈与信息不对称、消费者注意力与信息过载。数字贸易中消费者权益方面的有关内容,则包括数字贸易对消费者福利的利弊影响、消费者数据安全与隐私保护。     

Brand personality appeal: conceptualization and empirical validation

A substantial literature stream indicates there are benefits to having a favorable brand personality, such as enhanced brand attitudes and purchase intentions and higher levels of consumer trust and loyalty. Contemporary advertisements and promotional activities by a host of firms demonstrate a managerial belief in the value of establishing a brand personality that mirrors that of branding scholars. Yet extant research has yet to fully evaluate the perceived appeal of brand personality to consumers. This issue is important to managers because it is precisely this level of appeal that influences target consumers’ purchase decisions and helps to sustain the endurance of a brand’s perceived personality between promotional cycles. This article conceptualizes, develops, and validates measures for assessing a consumer’s perception of brand personality appeal (BPA). Three dimensions of BPA (favorability, originality, clarity) emerge and are empirically demonstrated to directly and positively impact consumer purchase intentions.     

个性化广告：影响过程、消费者态度和交互作用

基于消费者内隐与外显偏好,个性化广告为消费者提供大量可能性选择的预筛选并根据可能的吸引力进行排序推荐,使得消费者更快地识别和找到符合需要的产品,有利于促成消费者采取与主观偏好紧密结合的决策行为。尽管个性化广告在业界实践中较为普遍,但学界鲜有探讨消费者对个性化广告的反应。总体而言,消费者对个性化广告通常持正反两方面的态度,消费者决策与个性化广告之间的交互影响表现出“良性循环”的价值链。     

消费者对３Ｇ移动通信增值业务使用意向的影响因素研究

为研究消费者对第三代移动通信增值业务使用意向的影响因素,以科技接受模型为基础,添加“消费者创新性”与“感知成本性”两个变量构建出扩展科技接受模型,并通过对１８－３５岁年轻消费者的调查,使用结构方程模型等方法,证实了感知有用性、感知易用性、感知成本性、消费者创新性等因素对消费者态度有直接影响。而态度进一步作用于消费者对３Ｇ移动增值业务的使用意向。     

上海市消费者对猪肉质量安全风险的认知和信息搜寻行为分析

本文以上海居民在购买猪肉过程中的风险认知和信息搜寻行为作为研究样本,并对相关问题进行理论分析和实证研究。结果显示:(1)上海市猪肉购买者对食品质量安全风险的总体认知度较高(49%),对风险信息的需求程度也相当高(72.3%)。不同教育程度和性别的消费者对风险认知程度存在显著的差异;(2)新鲜程度(14.1%)、卖方信誉(11.5%)是消费者最常使用的信息,而电视(24.8%)和报纸(23.1%)是消费者最重要的信息渠道;(3)消费者比较信任那些具有权威性的信息发布主体,如政府部门(34.9%),而对一些大众化的信息发布主体,如大众媒体等(21.9%)的信任度较低;(4)产品特征、消费者个人特征、认知和购买经验对消费者的食品质量安全信息搜寻行为都有不同程度的影响。结合本文研究成果对我国的食品质量安全信息制度和管理体系建设提出建议,旨在提高我国的食品安全信息管制水平。     

When marketing strategy meets culture: the role of culture in product evaluations

This research investigates how national culture interacts with marketing strategy to influence consumers’ organic post-consumption satisfaction ratings of entertainment products rich in cultural content. Drawing upon a communication theory framework, we develop hypotheses concerning multiple interaction effects between culture and marketing strategies on consumers’ product evaluations. We test these hypotheses by analyzing consumer reviews of 260 movies in 25 country markets. In support of our hypotheses, we find that the cultural congruence between the product and the market improves consumer reviews, and that the effect is stronger in cultures characterized by collectivism, femininity, and uncertainty avoidance, as well as for products more heavily loaded with cultural content. In addition, we find that the negative effect of delay in product launch timing weakens for cultures characterized by long-term orientation, and that the positive effect of advertising spending on consumer evaluations is stronger in cultures characterized by high power distance belief. These results provide practical insights into how managers should make decisions concerning product design, launch timing, and advertising strategies in international markets.     

汽油市场垄断溢价及消费者福利分析:基于中国市场结构的多主体模型结果

自从1998年起,中国成品油市场定价机制已经进行了四次改革,市场定价将是未来的发展趋势。但是鉴于现在成品油市场尚处于寡头垄断的市场结构,完全放松管制可能出现无法预料的严重后果,采用基于Agent的计算经济学的方法,建立了基于信念学习的中国汽油市场模型,并重点分析了垄断溢价形成的影响因素,以及消费者的刚性需求和收入约束对消费者福利的影响。通过对不同原油价格水平下汽油市场的模拟,得到了描述消费者生存率的二次方程。通过建立虚拟变量模型,发现当消费者决策受收入约束时,油价、收入和刚性需求对其福利的边际影响都相应变小。模型的结果对燃油税政策的制定有一定的参考意义。     

Views from consumers next in line: The fundamental attribution error in a service setting

Consumers often have the opportunity to observe the service encounters of other consumers. Previous research indicates that observers tend to attribute the outcome of an event to the disposition of the actor, regardless of the actor’s situational constraints. In most retail service settings, there are at least two actors: a person providing service and a consumer. In an unsuccessful service encounter, who is more likely to be blamed? In Study 1, both allocentric and idiocentric observers spontaneously attribute outcomes to the disposition of the service provider. In Study 2, idiocentric observers do not revise their initial attributions; they always blame the service provider. In contrast, allocentric observers take the service provider’s situational constraints into account except when they believe that they will become outcome dependent on the service provider who has behavioral control. The results reveal that attributions affect observers’ expectations about their own service encounter.     

Influences on consumer use of word-of-mouth recommendation sources

This article reports the development and testing of a theoretical model of the initial stages of recommendation-based decision making by consumers. Although consumers use a variety of recommendation sources, they have different motivations for the use of different sources. The model focuses on the factors that influence the likelihood of consumers using strong-tie sources (e.g., friends and family) and weak-tie sources (e.g., acquaintances or strangers) or recommendations. The factors used in the model are the prior knowledge level of the consumer about the product being considered, the perceived decision task difficulty level, and the type of evaluative cues sought by the consumer. Hypotheses are tested using data collected in an extensive field study with consumers. Two paths or routes of influence on the use of recommendation sources are proposed and confirmed in the study. His work has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of Marketing Research. His research interests center on consumer decision making and marketing education. He has published previously in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Strategic Change, The International Executive, andMarketing Education Review. His research interests include research methodology, quantitative methods, and competitive intelligence. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His publications have appeared in numerous journals. His books includeConsumer Behavior (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986) andMarketing Management (Simon & Schuster).     

基于信任转移理论的湖南移动电子支付采纳研究

以信任转移理论为视角,基于技术接受模型(TAM)和信任理论,构建了一个湖南移动电子支付的用户采纳模型,并实证研究了湖南长株潭用户对互联网支付的信任能否转移至同一公司移动环境下的支付服务,如何构建用户对移动支付的初始信任,以及初始信任如何影响用户对移动支付服务的采纳意向等问题,同时探讨了影响用户采纳移动电子支付的其他关键因素,以期对湖南移动电子商务研究有所裨益。     

秒杀式营销下消费者的购买决策过程探析

秒杀作为一种新兴的网络营销方式正日益受到关注,但对于秒杀情境中消费者购买决策的心理过程及行为机制还少有研究.基于理论研究和实证分析,文章分析了秒杀式营销下消费者的购买决策过程,指出消费者参与秒杀有求廉、求同和求新3种动机;秒杀式营销下的消费者簇群可以划分为冲动型、理智型和摇摆型;秒杀情境下消费者存在计划性秒杀和即时性秒杀两种购买决策型态.最后,针对理论分析,提出了企业开展秒杀式营销的策略建议.