Toward Consumption Reduction: An Environmentally Motivated Perspective

Faced with the threat of climate change, there is a challenge to promote more environmentally friendly consumption patterns. This work seeks to unearth psychographic and socio‐demographic factors that could trigger environmentally motivated reductions in consumption. The context of empirical investigation is the European Union (i.e., a large‐scale sample of European citizens), with a focus on two key types of environmentally motivated consumption reduction: domestic and “out‐of‐home” (purchasing) activities. The findings show the interrelated effects of environmental knowledge and ecological motivations (in both aggregated and disaggregated forms) on positive and negative environmental attitudes, which in turn influence consumption reduction. There is also evidence of significant moderating influences of perceived environmental threat, gender, age, education, and country value orientation—particularly on “environmental knowledge” links. The findings reported here contribute to theory and practice toward environmental sustainability.     

Benefits of heroes to coping with mortality threats by providing perceptions of personal power and reducing unhealthy compensatory consumption

Mortality threats are among the strongest psychological threats that an individual can encounter. Previous research shows that mortality threats lead people to engage in unhealthy compensatory consumption (i.e., overeating), as a maladaptive coping response to threat. In this paper, we propose that reminders of heroes when experiencing mortality threat increases perceptions of personal power, which in turn buffers the need to engage in unhealthy compensatory consumption. We test and find support for our predictions in a series of four studies that include real-world Twitter data after a series of terrorist attacks in 2016–2017, and three experimental studies conducted online and in the field with behavioral measures after Day of the Dead and during COVID-19 pandemic. These findings advance the literature on compensatory consumption, mortality threats, and the psychological functions of heroes.     

More than a mere cup of coffee: When perceived luxuriousness triggers Chinese customers’ perceptions of quality and self-congruity

While prior research shows that atmospheric cues such as visual design trigger customers' cognition and emotions, thus leading to approach-avoidance responses, this article proposes self-congruity as a mediator, paralleling cognitive evaluation (i.e., perceived quality). More specifically, this article, situated in the context of the coffee shop industry in China, investigates how perceived luxuriousness, reflected from the service provider's visual design, affects customers' willingness to pay a price premium (WTPP). The findings show that perceived luxuriousness leads to customers' inferences of high quality of the coffee and high self-congruity, thus increasing WTPP. Further, cosmopolitanism moderates the effect of perceived luxuriousness only via self-congruity, but not via perceived quality. This article contributes to the existing literature on atmospherics, self-congruity, brand equity, and cosmopolitanism. More importantly, this article provides managerial implications for global coffee/food brands that aim to set up their chain outlets and expand rapidly in China, one of the largest emerging markets.     

Not All Threats are Created Equal: How Implicitness and Timing Affect the Effectiveness of Threats in Negotiations

The effectiveness of threats in negotiations was examined by exploring two factors likely to affect it: implicitness, or the extent to which the threat mentions what action the perpetrator would take if the target does not comply; and timing, or the time when the threat is stated. Participants were given a negotiation scenario that differed only by the nature of the threat made by their counterpart. The design was a 2 (implicit vs. explicit threat) × 2 (early vs. late threat) factorial design with a control condition (no threat). The study showed that early-implicit and late-explicit threats were both more likely to elicit concessions than early-explicit and late-implicit threats. The two more effective threats were also the ones that made the perpetrator seem less aggressive. Further, perceived credibility mediated the positive effect that late-explicit threats had over late-implicit threats in eliciting concessions. These results support the claim that whether making the threats sanction implicit is effective depends on its timing, as the nature of bargaining moves and perceptions varies over time (Pruitt 1981). They suggest that the way in which a threat is stated may dramatically influence its effect on the target.     

Understanding recreational shopping: A new approach

Abstract

In this article recreational shopping is of concern, the course of action whereby individuals experience enjoyment from shopping. The article reviews previous research in the area and suggests directions for further research. It is suggested that research in the area would benefit from drawing more upon research that focuses on the sociocultural, experiential, and symbolic aspects of consumption, such as, for instance, consumer culture theory (CCT). Thus, it is argued that recreational shopping needs to be acknowledged as a multifaceted activity that may be performed in various ways and embody different types of consumer meanings. It is also argued that there is a need to focus more on the influence of retail environments on individuals engaged in recreational shopping.     

What makes people choose within-domain versus across-domain compensation following a self-threat? The role of self-verification motives

ABSTRACT

Consumers who experience a psychological threat may compensate by acquiring a product that directly boosts the threatened aspect of their self-concept (i.e., within-domain compensation), or they may compensate by acquiring a product that boosts an unrelated aspect of their self-concept (i.e., across-domain compensation). The current research investigates how self-verification motives influence consumers’ preference between these two compensation strategies. In two studies, participants with a self-verification motive displayed an increased preference for within- (vs. across-) domain compensatory products following a self-threat. Underlying this effect, those with a self-verification motive reported a greater desire for products that re-confirmed the threatened domain of their self-concept.     

企业并购情境下群际冲突对员工信任的影响机制研究——一个有中介的调节模型

文章从社会分类视角分析了被并购企业员工对并购企业员工信任的形成机理,并基于问卷调查收集的数据进行实证检验。研究发现：（1）真实性冲突和象征性冲突感知会导致被并购企业员工对并购企业员工较低的内群体偏好;（2）真实性冲突和象征性冲突会通过内群体偏好的中介作用,降低被并购企业员工对并购企业员工的信任;（3）相对于象征性冲突,真实性冲突对被并购企业员工对并购企业员工信任的负面影响更大;（4）被并购企业员工对并购企业认同度越高,真实性冲突感知对被并购企业员工对并购企业员工内群体偏好的负面影响越小,且真实性冲突通过被并购企业员工对并购企业员工内群体的中介作用对并购企业员工信任的负面影响越弱。研究结果对于我国企业提升并购效率,促进被并购企业员工的信任与合作,具有很强的现实启示。     

The moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status on the impact of nudging on the perceived threat of coronavirus and stockpiling intention

Communications that include nudges and framing strategies are ubiquitous in our daily lives. In this paper, we investigate how different nudging strategies during a public health campaign, particularly supplementary information and statistics, influence perceptions of threat and stockpiling intentions, while also considering the role of childhood socioeconomic status. Specifically, building upon prior work in behavioral economics, we hypothesize that the presence of additional statistics elicits lower perceived threat and intention to stockpile. In addition, we predict find that the childhood socioeconomic status of individuals influences these effects. Three studies offer evidence for those predictions and demonstrate the importance of message framing in uncertain circumstances. Overall, this work contributes to the literature on nudging and life history theory by investigating how communication strategies can be used to increase or decrease perceived threat in order to achieve desired outcomes (e.g., limiting stockpiling or respecting social distancing).     

Dimensions of cosmopolitanism and their influence on political consumption: an analysis focused on Spanish consumers

The purpose of this study was to confirm the hypothesis that political consumption – a form of consumerism whose importance has increased during the past few years – can be considered a form of critical action, and that cosmopolitanism contributes to its development. The main objective was, first, to analyse an unexplored dimension of political consumption and, second, to obtain a measurement proposal for what some authors have called ordinary cosmopolitanism. The study, based on a survey, was divided into three sections. The first section offers a theoretical introduction to the study proposal. The second describes the hypothesis and the data analysis strategy, and proposes an operationalization of cosmopolitanism in three dimensions – symbolic cosmopolitanism, experiential cosmopolitanism and moral cosmopolitanism – which have been obtained by means of the application of categorical principal components analysis. By applying one‐way analysis of variance and Tukey's test, the third section shows the existence of significantly higher scores in these three dimensions for those individuals who have bought or boycotted products for ethical, political or environmental reasons. Finally, an ordinary least squares regression analysis was performed to test the association between cosmopolitanism and political consumerism, controlling the effect of the main socio‐demographic variables. The study confirms the initial hypothesis; therefore, political consumption could be considered a type of consumerism that is clearly related to cosmopolitanism.     

Inspiration and Cynicism in Values Statements

The adoption of codes of ethics or values statements is intended to guide everyday decisions, as well as to influence the perceptions of external stakeholders. Questions have emerged in the literature about whether the effort to substantively direct decision-making in an organization is marginalized by the more obvious symbolic role of values statements. Here the perceived impact of values statements (defined broadly) on decision-making in organizations is explored, and a number of positive effects observed. Respondents report that values statements create positive externalities providing guidelines for decision-making, increasing accountability, and clarifying expectations. Yet, both cynicism and perceived management hypocrisy emerged in the survey, which together had strong negative effects on the perceived decision-making impact of values statements. Finally, positive external effects (e.g., more symbolic effects) are almost never mentioned by respondents who give their firms high marks on the quality of values statement development, training, and implementation. Yet, such external effects get significantly greater representation in the comments of respondents who report less substance in their firms’ values statement development and implementation processes. In all, the results suggest that the substantive and symbolic roles of values statements are not independent and that external symbolism without internal legitimacy may in the long-run be problematic.     

Neutralizing environmental uncertainties: the evolution of leadership in the South Korean TV station,KBS

ABSTRACT

Leadership studies on public TV companies are few and far between due to their peculiar status as a monopoly in the market. TV leadership has been deemed less important than the government that regulates it or the corporate advertisers who buy its air time. Using the theory of environmental threats and leadership evolution, this study analyses the personal data of CEOs at the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), which is owned and controlled by the state from its conception in 1961. This contribution finds that different types of CEOs were favoured for each evolutionary stage with dissimilar environmental threats. Over the years, CEOs at KBS have become much more professionalized and were selected from inside rather than from the government. However, CEOs continue to pursue their political, rather than professional, roles to neutralize its external threats. It continues to be genuine that the most critical environmental threat for KBS is the state itself. The continuous political nature of KBS leadership makes it very difficult for the organization to be free from internal and external crises, including general strikes by employees and the sweeping layoff of key decision-makers in the firm by the government. It is expected that new CEOs at KBS should play professional roles for their long-term survival.     

The Process of Consumer Reactions to Possession Threats and Losses in a Natural Disaster

This paper examines involuntary possession disposition associated with a natural disaster. Results of a naturalistic investigation involving group and depth interviews with wildfire survivors are consistent with previous research proposing that disposition is a symbolic and meaningful process. Overall, these consumers reactions to possession threats and losses appear to follow a sequence of stages. We also find this process to have some unique characteristics that distinguish it from other types of disposition.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

A new perspective on the female expatriate experience: The role of host country national categorization

This study was designed to investigate host country national (HCN) categorization of female expatriates, in two samples—U.S. and India. Two hundred and twenty-two HCNs (104 in the U.S. and 118 in India) participated in the study. Consistent with prior research [e.g., Tung, R. L. (1998). American expatriates abroad: From neophytes to cosmopolitans. Journal of World Business, 33: 125–140], we found that female expatriates from the U.S. were not discriminated against. Indeed, we found that female expatriates from the U.S. were preferred by Indian HCNs, as co-workers, significantly more than male expatriates from the U.S. We discuss implications for organizations and offer suggestions for future research.     

A global perspective on combating Shanzhai products: Cross-cultural solutions

To compete on the world market, companies from emerging economies often adapt their innovations to satisfy unique cultural needs. They do so, in part, by copying the products of their western counterparts with a degree of modification. This approach is referred to as Shanzhai, which is a Chinese neologism meaning “copycat.” In this article, we discuss the Shanzhai phenomenon and explain Shanzhai's development stages and threats to original brands across the globe. Then, we examine how cultural factors (i.e., power distance belief, face consciousness, and analytic vs. holistic-thinking style) influence consumers’ perception towards Shanzhai products. We further suggest that original manufacturers should adopt selected strategies to combat Shanzhai threats vis-à-vis three cultural drivers. One driver entails launching full product lines and developing new distribution channels in high power distance belief cultures but promoting brand originality in low power distance belief cultures. A second alternative involves embracing a sustainable and green brand image in low face-sensitive cultures but strengthening brand logo impacts and enhancing intangible brand benefits—such as social value (e.g., brand user profile, prestige)—in high face-sensitive cultures. The third entails communicating integrated product values in holistic-thinking cultures but highlighting an offering's most competitive and unique features in analytic-thinking cultures.     

“Seeing is being”: Consumer culture and the positioning of premium cars in China

Researchers recognize the indispensable role of inwardly vs. outwardly-focused social identities as predictors of consumers' attitudes toward local vs. global brand positioning. Extant studies typically report symmetric assimilative identity effects, meaning that consumers high on national/ethnic identity favor brands with a local (vs. global) consumer culture positioning, and vice-versa for consumers high on an outward (e.g., cosmopolitan) identity disposition. Such identity outcomes may not be generalizable, but rather, be affected by the specific consumption context as well as the individual trait of consumer need for uniqueness (NFU). Focusing on the Chinese premium car market, our experimental study consistently supported assimilative effects for the role played by ethnic identity. For cosmopolitanism however, such effects only held for low NFU consumers, whereas contrastive identity effects emerged for high NFU consumers. These results challenge some findings reported in the literature. Implications of these asymmetric identity effects for marketing theory and practice are discussed.     

Consumers as legitimating agents: How consumer‐citizens challenge marketer legitimacy on social media

Previous research has shown that consumers increasingly challenge the legitimacy of marketers and unsolicited marketing communication in online contexts. Based on a qualitative study, this article examines how and for what reasons consumers challenge marketer legitimacy—the perceived appropriateness of marketers and their activities—in the empirical context of Reddit, a popular social news and community website. The study suggests that consumers challenge or accept marketer legitimacy in online communities based on particular, community and situation specific, legitimacy criteria that reflect and reproduce the values and norms of the community. In doing so, it is argued, consumers play a role as legitimating agents—consumer‐citizens that have the power to confer or deny legitimacy in the context of business‐society relations. Overall, the study advances knowledge in the field of consumer studies in two ways. First, it builds a symbolic interactionist perspective on consumer‐citizens as legitimating agents who enact their active citizenship role in the marketplace by assessing and constructing marketer legitimacy in online communities. Second, it offers an empirically grounded account of how and for what reasons consumer‐citizens challenge or accept the legitimacy of marketers and unsolicited marketing communication in online communities.     

Community and aftershock: New venture founding in the wake of deadly natural disasters

The entrepreneurship literature has advanced our understanding of how natural disasters affect new venture founding in their wake. However, despite providing valuable insights, most existing studies focus on theoretical mechanisms that, explicitly or implicitly, invoke material losses or do not hone in on the theoretical effect of human losses caused by these events. This is an important omission because the social psychology literature suggests that individual reactions to human death are not only stronger than (i.e., higher in scale), but qualitatively different (i.e., infinitely stronger) from, those involving other types of losses. The present study addresses this oversight by drawing from the social psychology literature on the emotive and cognitive heuristics (e.g., the incidental emotion and availability biases) induced by human death and developing and testing a theory of how the death toll caused by natural disasters decreases new venture founding by inducing irresolvable uncertainty. Moreover, the study draws from research on how strong pre-disaster local participation in voluntary associations—by increasing the social, symbolic, cultural and material resources in a community—protects against such negative effects. Contributions to both the post-disaster venturing and the broader resiliency literatures are discussed.Executive summaryNatural disasters are on the rise, and the United Nations predicts that these phenomena will pose the single most important threat to social, political and economic stability in the upcoming decades. Entrepreneurship holds great promise for helping regions recover from the havoc wreaked by these events. However, much of the existing entrepreneurship research has not focused sufficiently on how the human death toll caused by natural disasters affects subsequent new venture creation. This is an important question because the existing psychology literature suggests that human death elicits disproportionately high negative individual reactions, which may lead prospective entrepreneurs in afflicted regions to stop or delay their plans to start new ventures, precisely at the time when those ventures are needed the most to help with regional recovery. This study fills this gap by examining how the death toll caused by natural disasters affect new venture creation in counties in the United States between 1991 and 2018. The study finds that the death toll caused by natural disasters in a county has a negative effect on post-disaster venturing in that county, but that strong pre-disaster participation in voluntary associations (e.g., the Girl Scouts, parent teacher associations, etc.) protects against this effect because it allows communities to work together to overcome the challenges posed by these deadly events. This last result highlights the importance that policymakers at every government level and local communities realize the critical role that local participation in voluntary associations prior to deadly disasters can have in fostering entrepreneurship after such events, thereby accelerating regional recovery.     

Why Do Responses to Age‐Based Marketing Stimuli Differ? The Influence of Retirees’ Group Identification and Changing Consumption Patterns

This study analyzes how retired consumers respond to age‐based marketing stimuli using survey data from 236 retirees over the age of 60 years. Specifically, it investigates the factors that influence retirees’ intentions to use senior discounts and intentions to accept exclusive offers for seniors (e.g., educational classes for seniors), as well as their evaluation of age‐related labels (e.g., “60+”). The results show that retirees who identify more strongly with other retirees and who generally change their consumption patterns following retirement are more likely to respond positively to age‐based marketing stimuli. Additionally, the data suggest that cognitive age negatively moderates the role of retirees’ identification with other retirees in terms of their responses to age‐based marketing stimuli. However, the influence of these variables differs significantly across the types of stimuli considered. The findings help to explain ambiguities in previous studies that did not consider differences among mature consumers beyond age and age‐group membership or among the types of stimuli. The implications of these findings with respect to effective marketing to retired consumers are discussed.     

Information Privacy and Online Behaviors

Abstract

This study explores several key potential influences of privacy concerns on consumers' attitudes toward websites. Using a sample of 221 subjects, it was found that privacy concerns could decrease the likelihood of purchasing online. This finding highlights the importance of privacy concerns and contributes to the understanding of Internet marketing in that the early literature incompletely addresses the issue of consumer privacy empirically, which represents a potential threat to the growth of e-commerce. Thus, online marketers should be careful not to abuse (e.g., distribute it without permission) the personal information of consumers. In sum, it is advised that online marketers assure the public that consumer information will not be tracked and traded without the individual consumer's knowledge or consent.     

Good global citizen? ASEAN’s image building in the United Nations

ABSTRACT

Based on role theory, the article examines the images that ASEAN member governments project of their organization. It rests on a discourse analysis of 198 speeches in the United Nations General Assembly between 1998 and 2017. Findings suggest that ASEAN does not figure as a top priority for delegates and that an overarching ASEAN role conception is missing. However, their addresses reveal parameters on which a collective role conception can be built. Individual ASEAN countries undertake great efforts to project themselves as ‘good global citizens,’ a role conception that could also be applied to ASEAN.