The Role of Anticipated Emotions in Purchase Intentions

Key personal inputs to decision making reside in expectations about whether a purchase or nonpurchase will make one feel better. Integrating several theoretical approaches, this research proposes a holistic framework formed by four kinds of anticipated emotions (AEs) resulting from the crossing of positive‐ or negative‐valenced emotions with action or inaction. Specifically, this research proposes that consumers under a purchase scenario tend to consider positive and negative AEs of both purchase and nonpurchase in their decisions. Research in this area to date has been sparse and focused mostly on AEs with regard to purchase, but not nonpurchase. The results of four studies confirm that AEs influence purchase decisions in a coordinated way depending on their instrumentality, motivating purchase or nonpurchase. AEs also partially mediate the effect of outcome valence on purchase decisions. Taking the status quo bias as a theoretical basis, this work proposes that the amount of information of favorable and unfavorable outcome messages has a greater influence on AEs motivating purchase than AEs motivating nonpurchase. Finally, future research lines are proposed to expand the use of this fourfold framework and more generally to understand the role of forward‐looking emotions in decision processes.     

Profiling consumers based on information use and trust in a developing economy

In the wake of the intense debate about the effect of poultry imports on domestic poultry industries in sub‐Saharan Africa, information campaigns have evolved to encourage the consumption of domestic poultry meat products. Nevertheless, consumers use numerous channels to find information, and thus, the extent to which resources should be allocated to these channels to reach segments of consumers is vital. The purpose of this paper is to identify consumer groups based on use and trust in information sources and then profile the segments using sociodemographic variables, purchase motives, and meat consumption. Face‐to‐face interviews were used to collect data amongst 500 urban consumers in Ghana, which were analysed with factor analysis and two‐step cluster analysis. Results show that consumers frequently use personal sources of information about chicken. Cluster analysis revealed three consumer segments: cautious consumers (18.2%), enthusiastic consumers (53.0%), and optimistic consumers (28.8%). The segments differed significantly regarding the type of information searched for, sociodemographic characteristics, purchase motives, and chicken meat consumption patterns. The findings can aid actors and institutions seeking to increase the consumption of domestic poultry meat in developing targeted communication strategies that suit the characteristics, motivations, and information needs of different consumers.     

Budget over health unless overweight: A Solomon four‐group study

Budget and health motivations for food purchase (e.g., discounts and health consciousness, respectively) affect consumer choice while shopping and well‐being afterward. However, not all findings from research have suggested that discounts/taxations on healthy/unhealthy food encourage health‐conscious food choice. On the other hand, the consumer behaviour line of research on the influence of front‐of‐package health messages has mostly echoed similar results that such communication leads to overconsumption; thus, obesity. We examined the influence of market practices targeting consumers’ budget and health‐related motivations for food purchase in a 2 (price: recommended retail price, discount price) × 2 (product: regular potato chips, potato chips with ‘75% less saturated fat’) experiment using six Solomon four‐group designs. Our results indicate that overweight consumers are not prone to discounts, unlike their normal‐weight counterparts. A price cut nullifies the influence of health messages on purchase intentions among normal‐weight buyers when the regular and healthier packaged foods are both on discount.     

Motives for purchase decision-making: combining attribution and functional approaches

The motivations which lead to consumer decisions have been given relatively little research attention, since motivations are difficult to quantify. The four part typology developed by Katz,¹ when combined with self-perceived attributions, provides a useful method of examining the motivational underpinnings of consumer-purchase decisions. This study involved an experimental design to evaluate self perceptions of the four functional motives—ego defensive, value expressive, knowledge and utilitarian. A sample of 105 undergraduate students attributed their use or purchase for each of 52 items to one of the four functional motives. Using these responses as self-perception attributions, two research questions were examined: (i) would the four part typology be useful in explaining self-perceptions of past behaviour? and (ii) would one function of the typology dominate these reports for each item? An across-subject analysis suggested the four part typology could be meaningfully employed within a self-perception context. However, one functional motive dominated attributions for only six of 52 items. Since motivations and consumer behaviour are clearly linked, this research offers a method of providing additional insight into that linkage. The paper concludes with further research possibilities that integrate the functional motive approach and self-perception attributions.     

Consumers’ perception of CSR motives in a post‐socialist society: The case of Serbia

Questionnaire‐based consumer research was conducted in Serbia, as a country in a long post‐socialist transition. The focus was on consumers’ opinions of benefits and attitudes which motivate companies to act in a socially responsible way. Analysis resulted in a division of CSR motives into two main clusters: cluster I—stakeholder and value‐driven motives, and cluster II—egoistic motives, performance, and market‐driven motives. The division obviously concerned motives which were the socialist legacy (endogenous motives in cluster I), and motives imported from open market economies (exogenous motives in cluster II). Consumers’ perceptions are significantly different for endogenous and exogenous CSR motives. Exogenous motives are perceived as principal companies’ motives to practice CSR, but there are no significant correlations between the perception of these motives and consumers’ purchase decisions. Endogenous, value, and stakeholder‐driven motives are perceived in a significantly lower degree as CSR motivators with highly divided consumers’ opinions and female consumers rating them significantly higher. Consumers’ purchase decisions are in a statistically significant positive correlation with attribution of endogenous, value, and stakeholders’ needs‐driven motives.     

“Why Do Young Thai Women Desire White Skin?” Understanding Conscious and Nonconscious Motivations of Young Women in Bangkok

Skin whitening has been studied mainly using a postcolonial attitude analysis emphasizing conscious reasons behind skin bleaching. Studies dedicated to gaining a rich understanding of nonconscious motivations for skin whitening are scarce, especially in Asia. Therefore, two studies were conducted by using an innovative mix of research protocols to access to both conscious and nonconscious motivations. The studies were conducted among 92 female regular skin whitening users, aged 18–24 years, in Bangkok, Thailand. Study 1, among 42 women, used three‐combined qualitative research techniques of laddering, projective technique, and photo elicitation. Study 2 was conducted among 50 women to quantitatively test nonconscious motives implicitly associated with different white skin tones. The results revealed that motives are not linked to westernization. In a very competitive environment, light skin is seen as a strategic method to maintain men's loyalty, enhance self‐esteem, and guarantee career success. Managerial and methodological implications for marketers are discussed.     

Many-to-many exchange without money: why people share their resources

This paper extends our knowledge of the growing movement of collaborative consumption, or people sharing with others, in a collective shift away from the outright purchase of things. The focus of the study is on the sharing of land, one of our most widely held and debt-laden assets, for food production, a fundamental human need that has not been the topic of other collaborative consumption research. The research presents a netnographic study of the motivations to participate in Landshare, a non-profit scheme operating in the UK, Canada, and Australia, which “connects growers to people with land to share.” The study finds there are significant social belonging and other benefits stemming from collaborative consumption and, in the case of Landshare, a new finding not previously reported in consumer behaviour research, of physical and mental health benefits. This expands the study of exchange as a consumer-to-consumer phenomenon, where no money changes hands.     

Values,socially conscious behaviour and consumption emotions as predictors of Canadians’ intent to buy fair trade products

Over the last two decades, a growing concern about ethical behaviour has been observed among consumers. Ethically minded consumers are more inclined towards the consumption of ethical goods, such as green products and fair trade (hereafter, ‘FT’) products, organic products and local products. Establishing the motives that predict FT consumption behaviour provides ground for understanding how consumers make purchase decisions. This research postulates that the intention of buying FT products is influenced by socially conscious behaviour, consumers’ values and emotions. The study, conducted among 268 Canadian consumers, shows that the high intention of buying FT products is linked to high levels of pride, enthusiasm, satisfaction, happiness and joy related to FT product consumption. The FT consumption experience provides consumers with hedonic gratification. It shows that the higher the levels of self‐centred, equality and social justice values are, the higher the intention of buying FT products. An increase in socially conscious behaviour generates an increase in intention of purchasing FT products. The research contributes to a preliminary analysis of the role of emotions in this field and calls for the development of cognitive‐affective models of purchase and consumption behaviour. Understanding the dimensions of hedonic values and the significance of pleasure experience is essential to the development of the theory and practices of FT consumption.     

Why Create Value for Others? An Exploration of Social Entrepreneurial Motives

Social entrepreneurs create value for and with target communities in need. This paper responds to calls for research addressing social entrepreneurs’ drive to benefit others. We draw from psychology to augment the understanding of motives in entrepreneurship before conducting a phenomenon‐driven, instrumental case study of social entrepreneurs’ motives. We find some emotions, such as entrepreneurial passion and frustration, lead to self‐oriented motives, while sympathy and empathy are precursors for other‐oriented motivations, such as altruism and social justice. This work provides a theoretical platform for future studies in entrepreneurial motivation that addresses the importance of nonfinancial motives and associated rewards for fostering engagement in the sector.     

How psychological contracts motivate employer-brand patronage

Research on employees’ purchase of their employer’s product is scarce. In this paper, we investigate how psychological contracts will impact employees’ purchase motivations of their employer brand. Two studies examining real and imagined purchase behaviors show that employees with relational type of psychological contracts are more likely to purchase their employer brand than are employees with transactional type of psychological contracts. This is because the former type of psychological contracts will encourage both intrinsic and extrinsic motives to support the employer brand.     

The “little emperor” and the luxury brand: How overt and covert narcissism affect brand loyalty and proneness to buy counterfeits

The authors build on approach‐avoidance motivations theory to investigate the relationship between narcissism and luxury brand consumption. Narcissistic consumers, that is, those showing excessive conceit, are prone to consuming high‐prestige products and are thus attractive targets for luxury brands. Yet despite research in psychology distinguishing two types of narcissism, overt (or grandiose) and covert (or vulnerable) narcissism, little is known about how luxury consumption varies by these forms of narcissism. This paper focuses on Chinese Generation Y consumers to examine how overt and covert narcissism differ in their effects on luxury brand loyalty and proneness to purchase counterfeits as well as the moderating role of brand‐image self‐image congruity on the relationship between overt/covert narcissism and brand loyalty. Findings highlight the need for marketers to understand narcissistic targets more clearly in order to develop successful strategies to foster brand loyalty and diminish counterfeit consumption.     

Health motive and the purchase of organic food: A meta‐analytic review

There are many empirically determined influential factors known to control the organic food purchase behaviour. Of these known factors‐ health, product quality and concern for natural environmental degradation are seen as the major motives behind the organic food purchase. We, therefore, attempted to investigate the most prominent reason(s) for buying organic food, using the meta‐analyses of studies published during the last 25 years as our basis for conviction. Multilevel meta‐analyses was applied to the studies in review, in order to find the major reason(s) for the purchase of organic grocery, milk, fruits and vegetables. Although the three motivational factors mentioned above have been echoed throughout the history of organic food purchase research, the health factor has always topped the priority chart. The study in its overall empirical scale contributes to managerial implications and sets an agenda for future research.     

“Green cannibalism” or an “organic inside job”? Empirical insights into the rivalry of ethical grocery types

Despite having favorable purchase intentions toward organic groceries, the respective purchase behavior falls often short. This so‐called intention–behavior gap is investigated by exploring the impact of competing ethical products fulfilling green consumption motives (“green fit”) as well or lacking credibility of organic groceries on organic purchase behavior. The first two studies (n ₁ = 225; n ₂ = 321) assessing actual and reported purchase behavior are testing the impact of perceived substitutability of local and fair trade alternatives compared with organic groceries. A third study ( n ₃ = 145) examines the impact of food miles and packaging on perceived product quality and credibility as possible reasons for a lacking “green fit” of organic groceries in terms of an experimental design. Local (fair trade) and organic groceries are perceived as substitute (complementary) alternatives. Additionally, local (organic) “green fit” impedes (enhances) the transformation from organic intentions into a respective purchase behavior. Wrapped organic produces with high food miles are linked to lower quality and credibility perceptions, reducing organic sales rates in favor of local groceries.     

The Tax Incidence of Lotteries: Evidence from Five States

The nature of revenue generation for state‐sponsored lotteries has been an issue of public debate for quite some time. Although most studies have found lotteries to have a regressive tax incidence, several have concluded otherwise. Unfortunately, the vast majority of academic studies address this concern by examining the tax incidence of only one state's lottery and/or by using only one time period's data. In addition, many assessments of the tax impact of lotteries fail to consider other demographic variables that may influence purchase patterns and, thus, be of interest to policymakers. To remedy this, the current paper assesses the incidence of the lottery excise tax for five states using county level data spanning multiple years. Also assessed are changes in incidence across demographic groups as the lotteries matured. Lottery tax incidence is assessed with multiple regression estimates of the income elasticity of demand for lottery products. The predominant finding is that the lottery tax for these states had a regressive incidence. Otherwise, few consistencies in either change in lottery tax incidence or purchase patterns across demographic variables were found.     

The phenomenon of purchasing second-hand products by the BOP consumers

This study explores the motivations and consequences of purchasing second-hand (SH) products by the rural and sub-urban (RSU) base of the pyramid (BOP) consumers using a qualitative phenomenological approach. This study has also examined the preferred purchase points for buying SH products by the RSU BOP consumers. Findings revealed that the RSU BOP consumers preferred their personal sources over offline and online retails while buying a SH product. The economic motivations, need for fulfilling aspirations, apathy towards cheap brands, need for social recognition, and pester power of school/college going children were found as the motivations behind the purchase of SH products by the RSU BOP consumers. This study has also identified that increasing consumption of branded SH products results in compensatory consumption, increased consumerism, and overwhelming recurring cost at the RSU BOP. This study has put forth a conceptual model leading to a comprehensive understanding of the purchase points, motivations, and consequences of SH purchase by the RSU BOP consumers. It has advanced the social comparison theory and the theory of compensatory consumption in the context of SH buying by BOP consumers. This study would fill the gap in the literature on consumer behaviour and BOP by examining such a novel issue. The practical and social implications of the study have been discussed.     

Maximising business returns to corporate social responsibility communication: An empirical test

Based on a classic conceptual model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, we developed an empirical research study to test how several aspects of CSR message content (i.e., issue importance, impact, motives, fit, commitment) are associated with external support responses (i.e., purchase, advocacy). We also tested the moderating role of stakeholder‐ and company‐specific factors (i.e., issue support and industry, respectively) in the proposed model. Data were collected from 302 participants who evaluated the same CSR information displayed in the websites of a fictitious bank and a fictitious restaurant chain. The findings suggest that better perceptions on how the CSR message reinforces issue importance, corporate CSR impact and altruistic motives lead to higher purchase and advocacy intentions. CSR fit is related only to advocacy, while CSR commitment does not have any significant impact on participants’ responses. Some new interdependence relationships are also identified among issue importance, motives, fit, and commitment. The moderating role of issue support and industry is confirmed.     

Do they shop to stand out or fit in? The luxury fashion purchase intentions of young adults

A three‐study examination of young adults suggests that their motivation for status in terms of their luxury fashion purchase intentions is impacted by a bandwagon effect. In Study 1, qualitative research informs what fashion items represent status to young adults, how they view these items, and how they view others owning these items. In Study 2, survey research establishes the link between the motivation for status (status consumption) and purchase intention/ownership of these fashion items. In Study 3, a national survey of young adults examines what mediates and moderates the motivation for status to lead to luxury fashion purchase intentions. Results from the three studies indicate that status consumption has a positive impact on purchase intention of luxury fashion. This research also finds that cultural variables have an impact (mediate) the relationship between status consumption and purchase intention. Specifically, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity mediate the relationship between status consumption and purchase intention. Finally, the moderating impact of the bandwagon effect has a significant effect on the relationship between status consumption and fashion purchase intention for the cultural variables of uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation, and power distance. Implications for marketers are provided based on the findings.     

Morality or economic interest? The impact of moral motives and economic factors on the purchase of fair trade groceries

In this article, we compare the impact of moral motives and economic factors on the purchase of fair trade groceries. Moral motives are measured by three different constructs, which are derived from different theoretical perspectives: one from the classical theory of attitude, one from the subjectively expected utility theory and one from the norm‐activation model. The empirical results of the analysis show that moral motives as well as economic factors are important determinants for explaining the purchase of fair trade groceries. Furthermore, the study indicates that the impact of moral motives is greater than that of economic factors, and among the moral factors, the personal norm is especially explanatorily powerful.     

Understanding consumption behaviours for fair trade non‐food products: focusing on self‐transcendence and openness to change values

Using the Schwartz value system, this study explored the personal values of consumers related to fair trade product consumption. This study further investigated how the values determine beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions associated with fair trade non‐food products. Data were collected using an online survey from a random sample of 1824 nationwide consumers. The results of this study revealed that fair trade purchasers show a higher level of self‐transcendence (universalism, benevolence) and openness to change values (self‐direction, stimulation) than non‐purchasers. These values also have positive effects on the formation of beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions pertaining to fair trade non‐food products. Fair trade purchasers were also found to possess distinctive socio‐demographic characteristics concerning age, education and income. Findings can offer marketers specific information regarding consumers' motivations to purchase fair trade goods, which can improve targeting of products and ultimately increase the business and benefits of fair trade.