Valuation and management of money-back guarantee options

In this article, we model money-back guarantees (MBGs) as put options. This use of option theory provides retailers with a framework to optimize the price and the return option independently and under various market conditions. This separation of product price and option value enables retailers to offer an unbundled MBG policy, that is, to allow the customer to choose whether to purchase an MBG option with the product or to buy the product without the MBG but at a lower price. The option value of having an MBG is negatively correlated with the likelihood of product fit and with the opportunity to test the product before purchase, and positively correlated with price and contract duration. Simulation of our model reveals that when customers are highly heterogeneous in their product valuation and probability of need-fit, and if return costs are low, an unbundled MBG policy is optimal. When customers have high likelihood of fit or return costs are excessive, no MBG is the best policy. When customers have small variance in product valuation, but vary greatly in likelihood of product fit, the retailer may prefer to offer a bundled MBG contract, extracting consumer surplus by charging a price close to the valuation level.     

E-tailer׳s return policy,consumer׳s perception of return policy fairness and purchase intention

While e-commerce is growing, returns are proving to be a major problem for e-tailers (i.e. internet retailers). We argue that e-tailers׳ return policies play a strategic influence on consumer behavior. Specifically, we focus on the effect of return depth - full return policy (FRP) vs. partial return policy (PRP) – on consumer׳s perceived fairness of return policy and purchase intention. Using a structural equation model (SEM), we empirically show that an e-tailer׳s return depth has a positive influence on the consumer׳s perceived fairness of the return policy and purchase intention. Further, e-tailer׳ competition and its reputation significantly moderate the relationships between the return policy depth and the perception of the return policy׳s fairness and purchase intention. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our results.     

Online fraudulent returns in Taiwan: The impacts of e-retailers’ transaction ethics and consumer personality

While online return policies are a guarantee of consumer rights that strengthens competitiveness, how to avoid unethical returns by consumers is a vital issue. This study examines the influences of e-retailers’ ethical efforts and consumer personalities on fraudulent returns through relationship building and maintenance. We found that commitment effectively reduces unethical returns. E-retailer's transaction ethics and consumer shopping orientation and relationship proneness can improve consumer trust in and commitment to the retailer, and prevent fraudulent returns. Scholarly and management implications are presented based on our findings.     

Locus of Control and the Moral Reasoning of Managers

Rotter’s theory of internal-external locus of control evolved from Carl Jung’s work. In Psychological Types (1923), Jung defined two opposing tendencies in personality introversion and extroversion. While both tendencies are present in all individuals, one tends to dominate the other. The internal–external control construct was conceived as a generalized expectancy to perceive reinforcement either as contingent upon one’s own behaviors (internal control) or as the result of forces beyond one’s control, such as chance, fate, or powerful others (external control) (Lefcourt, 1981, p. 15). Locus of control refers to those causes to which individuals attribute their successes and failures. Individuals are responsive to some external motivators (e.g. better jobs, promotions, higher salaries), but the more powerful are internal pressures (the desire for increased job satisfaction, self-esteem, and quality of life). Research indicates that an individual’s internal–external locus of control impacts their ethical behavior in an organization. Rotter’s I–E Scale (1966, Psychological Monographics 80(1), 1–28), a 29 item forced choice instrument, is the most widely used instrument to measure the degree of internality versus externality. Each respondent’s score for this scale had a potential range from 0 to 23. As there are six filler items used to mask the intent of the questionnaire a score of 23 being extremely external in nature and a score of zero being extremely internal in nature. The I Scale (Internal Scale) measures the extent to which people believe that they have control over their own lives; the E Scale (External Scale) measures the extent to which people believe that they do not have control over their own lives. This study utilized the I–E Scale. Jones (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation) and Deflumeri (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation) investigated the likelihood of an individual to engage in unethical behavior in an organization. This research suggests that when employees perceive that locus of control resides internally they themselves decide what is appropriate behavior, but with an external locus of control, employees will look at others to decide appropriate behavior. The researcher in this study investigated the relationship between managers’ locus of control and their moral reasoning.     

改革开放三十年城市居民消费演变实证研究

改革开放三十年来,社会生活的各个方面都发生了巨大变化。消费日益成为人们日常生活不可或缺的组成部分。本文深入分析了不同时期城市居民的消费特征,对改革开放三十年来城市居民的消费演变进行系统梳理。总体来看,改革开放后至20世纪80年代,城市居民消费结构连渐优化,在20世纪80年代中后期形成耐用消费品热潮;在消费态度方面．居民从被动消费向主动消费转变,但“他人取向”仍占据主流。20世纪90年代至今,城市居民耐用消费品升级,形成“倒金字塔”结构．居民文化消费领域扩大,个性化消费意识增强。     

考虑回购成本的供应链回购策略研究

产品生命周期的变短和消费者购买力、个性需求的增强,使得企业不得不面对市场需求的高度不确定性,企业必须制定相应的策略以最大限度地满足市场需求和自身效益。同时传统研究回购策略时具有未考虑经济规模效应和处理成本的缺陷。因此本文在考虑回购成本的基础上对供应链回购策略进行了研究。     

The extension of animosity model of foreign product purchase: Does country of origin matter?

Although a growing literature has investigated how animosity and consumer ethnocentrism change customers’ perceptions of foreign products in developed markets, research examining these effects in developing markets is scarce. Additionally, the role of country of origin on such effects has received far less attention. The current paper is developed to bridge these gaps. The primary objectives of this paper are to examine whether the animosity and consumer ethnocentrism models that work in the Western world could be applied into a developing market like Vietnam, and whether these relationships are moderated by country of origin (USA versus China). Data from 485 Vietnamese customers illustrate that most of the main effects are significant except for the relationship between ethnocentrism and product judgement, and the relationship between cosmopolitanism and willingness to buy. Furthermore, out of the three moderation effects, the influence of country of origin on the relationship between ethnocentrism and willingness to buy is significant. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research.     

The Intertextual Construction of Emerging Consumer Culture in China as Observed in the Movie Ermo

Summary

The rapid development of consumer culture in China is chronicled and caricatured in particularly revealing ways in the movie Ermo. It concerns the story of a rural Chinese woman, Ermo, who undergoes a metamorphosis in seeking to make enough money to buy a television set. Since popular culture texts, such as movies, often serve to mirror a culture back to itself, we conducted a discourse analysis of this film. We found that cultural intertextuality, that is the hybridizing construction of global and local meanings, was central. This intertextu-ality had two emergent themes: (1) longstanding versus postmodern narratives and (2) a Sinicization or Chinese indigenization of meanings. Managerial and research implications are drawn which direct marketing efforts toward the needs of Chinese consumers embodied in their indi-genized and particular local expression of new postmodern lifestyles.     

Review of emotions research in marketing, 2002–2013

Study of emotions has been an important area of research for past several decades. Since emotions play an important role in purchase decisions, this area has particular importance for marketing scholars. In this study, we review the emotions research conducted within the marketing field between 2002 and 2013. Within the broad domain of emotions, this study focuses on social/personality issues, cognitive factors, the development of emotions and their interactions with other consumption factors. We found a total of 340 emotion-related articles, published in 19 marketing journals. There was a gradual increase in number of articles published every year with the trend peaking in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The review of extant literature offers interesting insights into emotion-related research, and helps in identifying clear directions for future studies.     

Effects of perspective taking and entitlement on consumers

Perspective taking involves mentally putting yourself in another's shoes and has been shown to offer interpersonal benefits, however, despite its use in campaigns targeting adolescents, it has been relatively neglected in marketing. This paper examines the moderating effect of entitlement in young adolescent consumers, focusing on perspective taking encouraging a prosocial behavior. This research extends existing marketing literature which to date has examined perspective taking in relation to adult behavior (Davis et al., 2004; Galinsky et al., 2008; Dietvorst et al., 2009), contributing to the study and understanding of adolescent consumers' consumer behavior.     

Why do boycotts sometimes increase sales? Consumer activism in the age of political polarization

In this article, we argue that the occurrence, trajectory, and impact of consumer activism are in large part driven by the political environment in which firms operate, particularly by their country’s level of polarization and the political makeup of their core customer base. In environments characterized by low levels of political polarization, companies are embroiled in a relatively small number of political controversies, and as a result are rarely the target of consumer activism. Conversely, in highly polarized environments, people’s political sensibilities are easily offended, which leads to a relatively large number of political controversies. These controversies tend to arise along party lines, meaning they elicit a consumer boycott exclusively from one side of the political spectrum. Such partisan boycotts lead people on the other side of the political spectrum to rally around the company at the center of the controversy and to purchase more of its products. Whether a company’s sales end up decreasing or increasing depends on the nature of the issue at the heart of the controversy as well as on the political beliefs of its core customer base. We conclude by describing how companies can successfully navigate this complex interplay between political polarization, consumer activism, and customers’ political preferences.     

Consumer–brand relationship quality: When and how it helps brand extensions

Two studies demonstrate that strong brand relationship quality (BRQ) enhances consumer judgments about brand extensions. Different methods (survey vs. experiment), participants (real consumers vs. college students), and cultural contexts (Korea vs. Canada) demonstrate that this effect generalizes. Study results suggest that this effect only occurs for two moderately-low-fit extensions: the extension and the parent are similar product categories with inconsistent attributes, or dissimilar product categories with consistent attributes. Two different cognitive processes underlie the BRQ effects depending on these conditions.     

The Use of Marketing Plans and Advertising Among Accounting Firms

A decade has passed since accounting firms were allowed to advertise. While the response has been mixed, a more important question is whether accounting firms have embraced a marketing orientation as measured by their use of marketing plans. This study investigates the attitudes toward and use of advertising and marketing plans by accounting firms. The results provide insight into the marketing orientation of the accounting profession and the viability of efforts b marketers to develop a marketing orientation. It is suggested that the current environment provides a real opportunity for marketers to become an important part of the accounting firm's organizational structure and provide the expertise needed for the firm to be competitive into the next century.     

Convergence and divergence in consumer behavior: implications for international retailing

Converging technology and disappearing income differences across countries will not lead to homogenization of consumer behavior. Rather, consumer behavior will become more heterogeneous because of cultural differences. As consumer incomes converge across countries, the manifestation of value differences will become stronger. This phenomenon makes it increasingly important to understand values of national cultures and their impact on consumer behavior. Retailing strategies for one country cannot be extended to other countries without adaptation. Hofstede’s model of national culture is applied to understand differences in consumer behavior across countries. Examples are provided of consumption differences, their relationships with culture discussed, and selected implications for international retailing management detailed.     

Blessings and the spiritual life of consumers

The growing social phenomenon of ritually blessed animal companions suggests that the concept of the blessing should receive more attention in the field of consumer behavior. By documenting the importance of perceived sacred power and by capturing the words, gestures, and artifacts of the animal-blessing ritual, Holak highlights the role that these factors can play in the efforts of individuals and businesses to express, to those they care about, the wish that good should follow.