Salesperson stereotypes,consumer emotions,and their impact on information processing

This study examines salesperson stereotypes and their effect on the selling environment. After reviewing relevant literature, the authors advance a hierarchical structure of salesperson stereotype categories. Experimental results suggest that stereotypes influence consumer emotions, and these emotions then mediate the relationship between stereotype activation and subsequent consumer cognitions. He received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in 1991. His expertise is in the area of consumer behavior and research methods. Current research topics center on consumption-related emotions, their measurement, and their impact on decision making. His research appears in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Advances in Consumer Research, as well as in numerous other national and regional publications. He received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. His research centers on sales management and the conflicting roles of salespeople. His work appears in prestigious outlets such as theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Marketing Education, as well as in various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. He was named Outstanding Marketing Educator by the Academy of Marketing Science in 1990. He has published more than 400 scholarly articles in prestigious outlets such as theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, andJournal of Marketing.     

Information content and consumer readership of print ads: A comparison of search and experience products

This study builds on past research involving the economics of advertising information (Nelson 1970, 1974) to examine the interplay between advertisers' provision and consumers' readership of information. The authors focus on the prepurchase verifiability of advertising claims in three product categories: search products, experience shopping products, and experience convenience products. They use a broader measure of the information content of advertising than in past research, together with Starch readership scores for a sample of ads from nine U.S. magazines. The results show that the relationship between information provision and readership is positive for search products, negative for convenience products, and nonsignificant for shopping products. Average information levels are significantly higher in ads for shopping products than for convenience and search products. These findings suggest that advertisers may be underinforming consumers when promoting search products. George R. Franke (gfranke@cba.ua.edu) is a professor and Reese Phifer Fellow of Marketing at the University of Alabama. His Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina. His research interests include public policy, ethics, advertising, and research methodology. His previous research on the information content of advertising includes articles that received best-paper awards from theJournal of Advertising and theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing. Bruce A. Huhmann (bhuhmann@nmsu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at New Mexico State University. His Ph.D. is from the University of Alabama. His research interests include advertising, consumer behavior, and international marketing. His primary stream of research focuses on verbal and visual appeals in advertising. He has also coauthored a study on sources of information used in consumer decision making. He has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Health Care Marketing, theAsia Pacific Journal of Management, and in other journals and conference proceedings. David L. Mothersbaugh (dmothers@cba.ua.edu) is an associate professor and Board of Visitors Research Fellow in marketing at the University of Alabama. His Ph.D. is from the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include advertising, rhetorical language, consumer knowledge, search and decision making, e-commerce, and services marketing. He has publications in journals such as theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Consumer Affairs, as well as in various conference proceedings.     

Ethical sensitivity to stakeholder interests: A cross-cultural comparison

This study applied Hofstede’s typology to examine the effect of culture on ethical sensitivity toward various stakeholders. It was found that uncertainty avoidance had a positive effect and that power distance and individualism/masculinity had negative effects on ethical sensitivity. The results also indicated that ethical sensitivity to stakeholder interests is dependent on which stakeholder is affected. Although Americans and Taiwanese sales agents were equally sensitive to customer interests, the Taiwanese were more sensitive to the interests of their company and a competitor but were less sensitive to the interests of a colleague. This study should prove valuable to international marketers because the cultural typology allows managers to identify differences in work-related values of employees across different nationalities and thus provides a theoretical base for designing more effective sales management practices. Jeffrey G. Blodgett (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer complaint behavior and cross-cultural issues. His work has been published in theJournal of Retailing, Journal of Services Research, Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, and in other marketing journals. Long-Chuan Lu is an assistant professor of marketing at the National Chung-Cheng University of Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi. His work has previously appeared in theJournal of Business Ethics, in addition to other journals and conference proceedings. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Marketing, and other journals and proceedings. Scott J. Vitell is the Phil B. Hardin Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi, receiving his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. His previous work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, andResearch in Marketing and the Journal of Business Ethics, in addition to numerous other journals and conference proceedings.     

The dynamics of long-term business-to-business exchange relationships

A framework for business-to-business interaction is proposed that integrates approaches to bargaining from social psychology and economics to provide a conceptual paradigm emphasizing long-term exchange relationships rather than individual transactions. The authors propose a classification of negotiation behavior along two continuous dimensions and examine the mechanics of the dyadic negotiation process that translate negotiation behavior into long-term relationships. They suggest that exchange relationships are formed by achieving mutually beneficial outcomes from a series of exchange transactions and that there is a bi-directional link between negotiation behavior and exchange relationships mediated by negotiation outcomes. The framework also explores the determinants of negotiation behavior in dyadic negotiations between businesses in terms of organizational, individual, and “other party” influences. Propositions are developed, using both role theory and economic bargaining theory, to support the overall framework. Finally, the classification of negotiation behavior is revisited to examine the evolution of exchange relationships over time. She received her Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Her research interests include attitude and choice models, services marketing, customer satisfaction, and business-to-business relationships. She has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, and theJournal of Health Care Management, as well as various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include organizational buying behavior, negotiation strategies, small group dynamics, and cross-cultural differences in buyer-seller interactions. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of International Business Studies, andIndustrial Marketing Management, as well as numerous conference proceedings. She also holds an M.B.A. from the Uni- versity of Tennessee. Her research interests include consumer value determination, consumer satisfaction, and business-to-business relationships.     

Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework

Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship between an individual’s relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and conative antecedents of relative attitude are identified as contributing to loyalty, along with motivational, perceptual, and behavioral consequences. Implications for research and for the management of loyalty are derived. His research interests include consumer decision making, information processing, and consumer loyalty. He has published in theJournal of Consumer Research andAdvances in Consumer Research. His research interests are consumer information processing, persuasion cues in advertising, and international marketing. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, andCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences as well as in a number of conference proceedings.     

Implications of accurate usage of nutrition facts panel information for food product evaluations and purchase intentions

The nutrition facts panel on food packages was designed to provide comprehensible quantitative nutrition information that would allow consumers to make more informed food choices that could result in significant long-term health benefits. This study (1) examines how accurately consumers can use nutrient information in the facts panel to determine if a product has more or less than the recommended daily values of certain nutrients and (2) offers predictions and tests of the relationships between this usage ability and product nutrition evaluations and purchase intentions. Results show that more accurate use moderates the effect of product nutrition value on consumer evaluations, as predicted. Findings also reveal that several variables (e.g., measures of nutrition knowledge, attitude toward the “facts” label) are related to accuracy in the usage task. Implications based on these findings are offered. Scot Burton is a professor and Wal-Mart chairholder in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. His research interests include public policy and consumer welfare concerns, consumer price and promotion perceptions, and survey research measurement issues. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, and other journals. Judith A. Garretson is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include promotion issues public policy and consumer welfare, and consumer behavior in general. Her work has appeared in journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and theJournal of Professional Services Marketing, as well as in conference proceedings such as the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. Anne M. Velliquette is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include consumer behavior and public policy. She has published in theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Professional Services Marketing, and proceedings of the Association for Consumer Research as well as other conference proceedings and journals.     

A measure of service quality for retail stores: Scale development and validation

Current measures of service quality do not adequately capture customers’ perceptions of service quality for retail stores (i.e., stores that offer a mix of goods and services). A hierarchical factor structure is proposed to capture dimensions important to retail customers based on the retail and service quality literatures as well as three separate qualitative studies. Confirmatory factor analysis based on the partial disaggregation technique and cross-validation using a second sample support the validity of the scale as a measure of retail service quality. The implications of this Retail Service Quality Scale for practitioners, as well as for future research, are discussed. She received her Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Her research interests include attitude and choice models, service quality and customer satisfaction issues, technology in service delivery, and business-to-business relationships. She has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, Journal of Health Care Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing, andPsychology and Marketing, as well as in various conference proceedings. She also holds a B.S. and an M.S. from Florida State University and an M.B.A. from Mercer University. Her research interests include services marketing, service quality, retailing, and manager-employee relationships. Her publications include articles in theJournal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, The Service Industries Journal, and in various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. His research interests include cohort analysis, measurement issues, generalizability studies, and customer satisfaction. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, as well as in several conference proceedings.     

An assessment of country of origin effects under alternative presentation formats

Empirical research concerning the effects of country of origin (COO) on consumers’ evaluative reactions to products has produced mixed and sometimes inconsistent results. Potential explanations for this situation include differences in the countries considered, populations sampled, products investigated, availability of product cues other than COO, the format in which the product cues were presented to the subjects, and the types of evaluative reactions considered. The authors present the results of three experiments designed to investigate the impact of three presentation formats (i.e., single cue, explicit multiple cues, and implicit multiple cues) on COO effects for four evaluative reactions (i.e., perceived quality, product evaluations other than quality, affect, and purchase intentions). COO effects were strongest for the single-cue format and weakest for the implicit multiple-cues condition. Perception of product quality was most strongly affected by COO, followed by product evaluations other than quality; COO had its smallest effect on purchase intention. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Indiana University. His work has appeared in many journals including theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Management International Review, Psychology and Marketing, andJournal of Health Care Marketing, as well as conference proceedings. His research interests include consumer inference and decision-making processes, research methods, export marketing, and competitive strategy. He received his MBA from Notre Dame and his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His research interests include consumer choice processes, consumer response to advertising, and marketing communications. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Psychology and Marketing, and elsewhere. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Administration from Purdue University. His research interests include buyer-seller negotiations, channel relationships, and marketing strategy. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of Consumer Research.     

Socializing children about television: An intergenerational study

This article describes a study on mothers’ views of television and children’s perceptions of their mothers’ socialization efforts regarding television. Results from the investigation involving 174 mother and child (in Grades 3–6) dyads suggest that mothers’ perceptions of their responsibilities regarding children’s television viewing vary by parental style. In addition, children’s perceptions of mothers’ verbal interactions about TV and coviewing together with opinions, monitoring, and controlling of television similarly vary across parental styles. These findings support previous research that parental styles play a role in determining the manner in which mothers socialize their offspring about television. Les Carlson (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is a professor of marketing at Clemson University. His research interests center on consumer socialization and environmental advertising. His work has appeared inInternational Marketing Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Journal of General Psychology, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and various conference proceedings. He is a past editor of theJournal of Advertising. Russell N. Laczniak (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is a professor of marketing and chair, Departments of Management and Marketing, at Iowa State University. His primary research interests deal with marketing communication. His research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Marketing Communications, Marketing Letters, and various conference proceedings. Ann Walsh (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is an assistant professor of marketing at Western Illinois University. She has published in theJournal of Advertising, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Affairs, and American Marketing Association Educators’ Proceedings.     

The measurement of intergenerational communication and influence on consumption: Development, validation, and cross-cultural comparison of the IGEN scale

This article develops and validates measures of intergenerational communication and influence about consumption. Despite the widespread belief that parents play a pivotal role in the consumer socialization of their children, empirical research on the skills, attitudes, and preferences transmitted from one generation to the next is quite limited. One factor that may explain this deficiency is the lack of appropriate instruments for assessing intergenerational issues. Drawing on consumer socialization theory and research, intergenerational transmission is defined in terms of three components directly relevant to marketplace transactions: (1) consumer skills, (2) preferences, and (3) attitudes toward marketer-supplied information. Multi-item scales are developed to measure each of these components. The findings of three studies supporting the reliability, dimensionality, and validity of the intergenerational scales are reported. Validation efforts incorporate cross-cultural analyses from the United States and Thailand, as well as dyadic-level comparisons between parents and children. Madhubalan Viswanathan is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His research interests include consumer psychology and measurement. His research appears in several journals including theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Applied Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, andPsychology and Marketing. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Consumer Psychology andPsychology and Marketing. Terry L. Childers is a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. His research interests include visual information processing, measurement, and psychometrics. His work has been published in several journals including theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, and theJournal of Mental Imagery. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Consumer Research and theJournal of Business Research. Elizabeth S. Moore is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Her research interests include consumer decision processes within the household, the effects of advertising and promotion on children, as well as marketing and society issues. Her work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research (in press), and theJournal of Macromarketing, as well as other books and conference proceedings.     

Multisource effects on the satisfaction formation process

Customer satisfaction research is integrated with research on higher education in developing a model of alumni satisfaction with college education. The model proposes that alumni satisfaction with higher education is a function of two performance and disconfirmation attributes: intellectual environment and employment preparation. The model was tested among 475 alumni of a major Eastern undergraduate business school and demonstrates the advantage of modeling the disconfirmation paradigm with multiple sources of satisfaction. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. Her work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. She was formerly an account executive at Needham Harper Worldwide and Director of Marketing at Maxwell Advertising. Her research interests include consumer satisfaction, complaining behavior, and advertising management. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. His work has appeared in theJournal of Advertising, Journal of Retail Banking, Journal of Services Marketing, and theHaring Symposium Proceedings. He has held several positions in the banking industry, most recently as Group Vice President at Michigan National Bank in Grand Rapids. His research interests include services marketing, consumer satisfaction, and direct marketing. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Retailing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and other marketing-related publications. Her research interests include not-for-profit organizations, consumer satisfaction, and services marketing.     

Decision-making time in organizational buying behavior: An investigation of its antecedents

This study reports an empirical investigation focusing on the length of time firms take in making major purchase decisions (DMT) and examines antecedents such as buyclass, firm size, decision-making unit (DMU) size, information sources, and size of the consideration set. Data were provided by a national sample of organizations involved in the purchase of telecommunications systems. Findings suggest that firm size, buyclass, DMU size, information sources, and size of consideration set all significantly affect DMT. Antecedent relationships among the independent variables were also largely as expected. This study provides a starting point for a fertile area of research with important implications for organizational buyers and sellers as well as researchers. She holds a B.S. in Marketing and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Marketing from Northwestern University. Her research interests are in the areas of technology diffusion and management as well as consumer behavior, advertising, and macromarketing. She has published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Macromarketing, European Journal of Marketing, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Telematics and Informatics, andJournal of Economic Psychology. She is a member of the Editorial Policy Board of the Journal of Macromarketing and President of the International Society for Marketing and Development. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Johnson’s research interests focus on interorganizational relationships in marketing contexts, such as distribution channels or business-to-business marketing with emphasis on cross-culture interorganizational marketing relationships. Dr. Johnson’s research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Research, andCurrent Issues and Research in Advertising, among other journals and conference proceedings. She has also presented her work at a variety of domestic and international conferences. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His research interests are in the areas of pricing, consumer behavior, and marketing research. He is coauthor ofConsumer Behavior: Concepts and Applications, currently in its fourth edition, and his research has been published inDecision Sciences, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Retailing, Journalism Quarterly, and other leading journals and publications of professional societies. He holds degrees in engineering and management from India and a Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University. Dr. Dholakia’s research deals with technology, innovation, market processes, globalization, and consumer culture. Dr. Dholakia has published over 70 papers in professional journals and proceedings in management, marketing, and technology. Among his books areEssentials of New Product Management (coauthored, Prentice-Hall, 1987).     

An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity

This study explores the relationships between selected marketing mix elements and the creation of brand equity. The authors propose a conceptual framework in which marketing elements are related to the dimensions of brand equity, that is, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and brand associations combined with brand awareness. These dimensions are then related to brand equity. The empirical tests using a structural equation model support the research hypotheses. The results show that frequent price promotions, such as price deals, are related to low brand equity, whereas high advertising spending, high price, good store image, and high distribution intensity are related to high brand equity. Boonghee Yoo (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at St. Cloud State University. His research interests include brand equity, cross-cultural scale development, service quality, retail productivity, Internet marketing, and marketing methodology. He has published previously in theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Business & Industrial Marketing, theJournal of Service Research, and theJournal of Marketing Channels. Naveen Donthu (Ph. D., University of Texas, Austin) is a professor of marketing at Georgia State University. His research interests center on research methodology, site selection models, comparative and outdoor advertising, brand equity, Hispanic consumer research, cross-cultural issues, and customer satisfaction. His work has appeared in journals such asMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Business Research. Sungho Lee (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Seoul, South Korea. His research focuses on understanding consumers’ cognitive processing of brand and price information, brand extension and brand equity, and advertising-driven persuasion processes. He has published previously inAdvances in Consumer Research, Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research, Academy of Marketing Science-World Marketing Congress, Korean Marketing Review, andKorean Management Review.     

Transaction utility effects when quality is uncertain

The existing literature finds that price discrepancy, which represents the difference between expected and observed price, helps explain brand choice and purchase intention. This effect is often attributed to transaction utility, that is, the incremental utility associated with the surprise of observing a price lower or higher than expected. This research considers the possibility, however, that transaction utility is a less important determinant of choice when quality is uncertain. We propose and find that acquisition utility (perceived value for the money) tends to dominate the explanation of purchase intention, but transaction utility is significant only when consumers are more certain about quality. Our discussion considers the relative role of transaction utility in explaining consumer decision making and how the informative and allocative roles of price might be distinguished. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Ohio State University and his B.S. from Ohio State University. His research interests include information economics and pricing. Previously, he taught at the University of South Carolina. He has published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of Retailing, among others. He received his Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina, his M.B.A. from the University of Georgia, and a B.S. degree from Clemson University. Previously, he taught at the University of Alabama. His research interests include consumer perceptions of value and interpersonal influences. He has published in theJournal of Consumer Research and theJournal of Marketing Research, among others. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina and has a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Delhi. His research interests include price bundling, price effects on perceived quality perceptions, and segmentation of business-to-business markets. He has published in theJournal of Business Research and theAdvances in Consumer Research series, published by the Association of Consumer Research. He previously taught on the faculty of Valdosta State University. She received a B.S. in statistics, a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina, and a M.S. in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She previously taught at Lehigh University. Her research interests include market segmentation, discrete data analysis, and pricing. She has published in theJournal of Marketing Research, as well as in theProceedings of the American Marketing Association and theAssociation for Consumer Research.     

A scale for measuring attitude toward private label products and an examination of its psychological and behavioral correlates

A measure of consumers’ attitude toward private label brands is developed, and its psychometric properties are assessed. Predictions are then tested regarding relationships between private label attitude and (1) latent perceptual and sales promotion constructs, and (2) purchase behaviors measured in a field setting. The measure is positively related to value consciousness, deal proneness, and smart-shopper self-perceptions, and negatively related to the propensity to be brand loyal and hold price-quality perceptions. Predictive validity of the private label measure is supported by a positive relationship with private label purchases from a grocery store shopping trip. Despite a positive relationship between the latent constructs of private label attitude and deal proneness, the consumer segment that allocated a high percentage of total purchases to private label products made fewer purchases on sale or with a coupon. These findings suggest that consumers may choose between price-related deals and private label purchases. Scot Burton is professor and Wal-Mart chairholder in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. His research interests include public policy and consumer welfare concerns, consumer price and promotion perceptions, and survey research measurement issues. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, theJournal of Applied Psychology, and others. Donald R. Lichtenstein is a professor in the Department of Maketing at the University of Colorado. His research interests include consumer processing of price and sales promotion information and consumer welfare issues related to marketplace choice. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, and others. Richard G. Netemeyer is a professor in the Department of Marketing, E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration at Louisiana State University (LSU). He received his Ph.D. in business administration from the University of South Carolina in 1986. Since then, he has been a member of the marketing faculty at LSU. His research interests include measurement and scaling, public policy, maladaptive behaviors, and consumer behavior in general. His research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and others. He is also a member of the editorial review boards of theJournal of Consumer Research and theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing. Judith A. Garretson is a Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include promotion issues and public policy and consumer welfare. her work has appeared in theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Professional Services Marketing, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association and Association for Consumer Research.     

The role of competitive alternatives in the postchoice satisfaction formation process

A general model of satisfaction formation is proposed that extends the seminal disconfirmation of expectations model by explicitly incorporating the processing of both chosen and nonchosen alternatives. Using presidential election data, the results show that satisfaction with the nonchoice does remain salient in the determination of overall postchoice satisfaction. Disconfirmation related to either the chosen or the nonchosen alternative influences satisfaction with both the chosen and the nonchosen alternative. Overall, the model suggests that the nonchoice alternative may continue to be relevant in the satisfaction formation process. She received her Ph.D. from McGill University. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Decision Sciences, Journal of Macromarketing, and numerous other journals and conference proceedings. She is also coauthor of three books. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. Her work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science; Journal of Business Research; International Journal of Research in Marketing; Journal of Services Marketing; Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior; and other journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Halstead was formerly an account executive with Needham Harper Worldwide and Director of Marketing and Media Services at Maxwell Advertising. Robert D. Mackoy received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and is an assistant professor of marketing at Butler University. His research has appeared in theJournal of Retailing; Journal of Macromarketing; Journal of Services Marketing; Journal of Social Psychology; Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior; and the proceedings of the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, and Marketing and Public Policy conferences.     

The role of brand personality in charitable giving: An assessment and validation

Marketing concepts such as corporate identity, image, and branding are important strategies for nonprofit organizations. In particular, brand personality has been advocated by practitioners but has not been empirically investigated in the nonprofit context. According to social exchange theory and trust, the authors argue that nonprofit stakeholders perceive nonprofit organizations at an abstract level because of the organizations’ intangibility and social ideals. This study develops and refines a parsimonious measure of brand personality specifically for the nonprofit context. The authors conduct a series of six multimethod studies of nonprofit stakeholders to validate the role of brand personality in nonprofit organizations. The results yield four dimensions of brand personality for nonprofits: integrity, nurturance, sophistication, and ruggedness. Thus, current and potential donors ascribe personality traits to nonprofit organizations and differentiate between nonprofits on the basis of the organizations’ personality. Finally, nonprofit brand personality may influence potential donors’ likelihood to contribute. Beverly T. Venable (venable_beverly@colstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Mississippi) is an assistant professor of marketing at Columbus State University. Her research interests are in nonprofit marketing, branding, and ethics. She has published in theJournal of Business Ethics and several national and international proceedings. Gregory M. Rose (rosegm@u.washington.edu; Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Washington, Tacoma. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology, as well as other journals and proceedings. Victoria D. Bush (vbush@bus.olemiss.edu; Ph.D., University of Memphis) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. Her research interests include cultural diversity in buyer-seller relationships, advertising ethics, and Internet marketing. Her research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, andIndustrial Marketing Management, as well as other journals and proceedings. Faye W. Gilbert (faye.gilbert@gcsu.edu; Ph.D., University of North Texas) is a professor of marketing and dean of the J. Whitney Bunting School of Business at Georgia College and State University. Her research interests are in customer relationship management, health care marketing, and sales management. She has published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Retailing, Psychology and Marketing, as well as other journals and proceedings.     

The facilitating influence of consumer knowledge on the effectiveness of daily value reference information

As a means of enhancing consumer understanding of nutritional information, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 requires the provision of percentage daily values (%DVs) on food labels. Findings from existing research, however, vary in their support for the assumption that including %DVs will assist consumers in their efforts to comprehend nutritional information. To shed further light on this issue, the present study examines the moderating role of consumer knowledge about how to use %DVs in evaluating a product’s healthiness. The results indicate that the usefulness of providing %DVs on a nutritional label depends strongly on this form of knowledge. Implications for public policy and directions for future research efforts are presented. Fuan Li (Ph.D., Florida International University) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Walker School of Business at Mercyhurst College (Erie, Pennsylvania). He has been a faculty member at East China Normal University (Shanghai, China) and St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota). His current research interests include consumer choice, consumer responses to trust advertising appeals, and relationship marketing. His work has been published both in English and in Chinese. Paul W. Miniard (Ph.D., University of Florida) is the BMI professor of marketing and the Ph.D. program director in the College of Business Administration at Florida International University (Miami, Florida). His research focuses on consumer behavior and advertising and has been published in a number of business and psychology journals. He is also a coauthor of a consumer behavior textbook. Michael J. Barone (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is an associate professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration at Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa). His research, which primarily involves consumer responses to advertising and consumer choice, has been published in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Marketing Letters, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, andJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, as well as in various conference proceedings.     

The effects of job autonomy, customer demandingness, and trait competitiveness on salesperson learning, self-efficacy, and performance

Although self-efficacy has been demonstrated to be positively associated with performance-related variables, few studies have looked at its possible antecedents in the context of personal selling. Applying social cognitive theory, this study posits that while self-efficacy positively affects performance, the salesperson's learning effort directly affects self-efficacy. Furthermore, two task-related factors (perceived job autonomy and customer demandingness) and one individual difference variable (trait competitiveness) are proposed to affect salesperson learning effort and self-efficacy. Two empirical studies show consistent results regarding the positive effects of learning on efficacy and efficacy on performance as well as the influences of three exogenous constructs on learning and efficacy. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Guangping (Walter) Wang is an assistant professor of business at Penn State University at Hazleton. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Louisiana State University in 2000. His research interests include sales management, relationship marketing, database marketing, and e-commerce. His work has appeared or been accepted for publication in theJournal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Relationship Marketing, Journal of Global Marketing, and a number of national and international conference proceedings. Richard G. Netemeyer is a professor of marketing in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina in 1986. His research interests are primarily consumer and organizational-behavior issues. His research has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, OBHDP, JAMS, and others.     

Re-examining salesperson goal orientations: Personality influencers, customer orientation, and work satisfaction

Several scholars have noted the importance of relationship marketing and the critical role that salesperson knowledge plays in the formation of buyer-seller relationships. However, research on salesperson learning motivations has been relatively scarce compared with research on firm-level learning orientations. One promising stream of research in this area is salesperson goal orientation. Drawing from previous work in control theory, the authors extend previous research in this area by proposing relationships between personality influencers, goal orientations, customer/selling orientation, and overall work satisfaction. Their hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a sample of 190 real estate agents. The results provide support for their hypothesized model. Specifically, learning orientation is shown to positively influence customer orientation, while performance orientation is shown to positively influence selling orientation. Eric G. Harris (eharris@lklnd.usf.edu Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Florida. His current research interests include goal orientation, customer orientation, and personality models applied to consumer and employee behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Business & Psychology, Services Marketing Quarterly, theJournal of Services Marketing, and theJournal of Marketing Management. John C. Mowen (jcmmkt@okstate.edu) Ph.D., Arizona State University) is Regents Professor and holds the Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy at Oklahoma State University. He has published articles in numerous leading journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Decisions Sciences, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology. He is a past president of the Society for Consumer Psychology. His teaching and consulting interests focus on consumer behavior and motivating the workforce. His research focuses on the factors that motivate and influence the decisions of consumers and employees. Tom J. Brown (tom.brown@okstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is Ardmore Professor of Business Administration and an associate professor of marketing at Oklahoma State University. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His current research interests include causes and effects of corporate reputation and the customer orientation of service workers. He is cofounder of the Corporate Identity/Associations Research Group. Teaching interests include marketing research, services marketing, and corporate communications. He is coauthor (with Gilbert A. Churchill Jr.) ofBasic Marketing Research (5th ed.). Consulting interests include marketing research, corporate reputation, and the customer orientation of service workers.