Consumer behavior in later life: Multidisciplinary contributions and implications for research

The recent focus on the aging population has created increasing interest in studying older consumers. Numerous theories, models, and frameworks available in various disciplines have been or could be used to study the behavior of older adults in the marketplace. This article presents many of these approaches and assesses their current status and relevance to consumer research. Contributions of various approaches to the study of consumer behavior in later life are discussed in the form of propositions and implications for consumer research and marketing practice, methodological issues related to some of these approaches are highlighted, and a research agenda is recommended to help investigators in future research.     

Attitudes of advertising executives toward the consumer behavior course

What should be taught to marketing students has always been an intriguing question. The marketing curriculum as a whole and specific courses have been the topic of much debate. One of the marketing courses, consumer behavior, was the subject of this research. A survey of advertising executives revealed some interesting perceptions regarding the consumer behavior course. Most executives believed the course was helpful in making decisions in the advertising area. However, the advertising executives ranked the consumer behavior course as only moderately important in usefulness to advertisers when compared with nine other marketing courses. Interestingly, the executives that had completed a consumer behavior course ranked the course lower in importance than the executives who had not taken the course. Generally, advertising executives believed the consumer behavior course was too abstract and theoretical in orientation and could be imporved through the use of case studies and more direct application examples of the consumer behavior theories presented in the course.     

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.     

Shopping orientation segmentation of the elderly consumer

Elderly consumers are generally acknowledged as a growing force in the marketplace. Research on the elderly, to date, has been rather narrow in focus and considers this group as homogeneous. This research extends earlier research and identifies distinct sub-segments of elderly consumers, based on their shopping orientations. These segments are then profiled with respect to other aspects of their marketplace behavior. The results indicate a viable segment which should not be ignored by retailers.     

边际效用学派消费思想的兴起及主要成果

边际效用学派兴起于19世纪70年代的边际革命中,在经济环境与学术风气的双重作用下,其研究重心从生产转向消费,并将边际增量等数学分析方法应用到消费者行为的分析中,提出了边际效用价值理论,构成了微观经济学消费者理论的核心内容,其研究方法极大地影响了后来消费理论的发展,具有重要的理论地位。从边际学派消费理论产生的背景入手,回顾了边际效用学派消费思想的兴起过程,探究其研究重心的转移、主要研究内容的提出以及研究方法的改变,并对其理论价值进行简要评价。     

Experimentation in the 21st century: The importance of external validity

Much of the consumer behavior literature is devored to what has been referred to as theory applications (TA) research in which the main focus is on laboratory experiments with student subjects and high internal validity. In this articlee, the author argues that external validity concerns should be given more attention, particulary in TA research. Three recommendations are made for implementing these concerns: (1) consumer behavior articles should be required to have a section indicating how increased levels of external validity can be obtained with other studies, (2) “joint ventures” between consumer behavior and marketing science researchers can be profitable and should be encouraged, and (3) analyses of electronic scanner panel data or other secondary data can be used to generate higher levels of external validity. Three examples are given from the marketing literature of how findings from experiments and scanner data can be combined to advance a stream of research. Russel SS. Winer is the J. Gary Shansby Professor of Marketing Strategy, the associate dean for academic affairs, and the chair of the marketing group at the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley. He received a B.A. in economics from Union College (New York) and an M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial administration from Carnegie-Mellon University. He has been on the faculties of Columbia and Vanderbilt universities and has been a visiting faculty member at M.I.T., the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and ócole Nationale des Ponts et Chauséee. He has written three books,Marketing Management, Analysis for Marketing Planning, and Product Management, and has authored more than 50 papers in marketing on a variety of topics, including consumer choice, marketing research methodology, marketing planning, advertising, and pricing. He is the editor of theJournal of Marketing Research and is on the editorial boards of theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Interactive Marketing. He is the academic director of the Fisher Center for the Strategic Use of Information Technology. He has participated in executive educattion programs around the world and is an academic trustee of the Marketing Science Institute.     

The evolution of consumer knowledge and sources of information: Hungary in transition

The authors’ research in Hungary during the period of transition to a market economy provides an opportunity to examine the evolving relationships between consumer product knowledge and its antecedents, including advertising, personal search, interpersonal sources, and brand experience. Their findings, based on survey data collected in Budapest in 1992 and 1998, indicate that the market information variables explain more variance in consumer knowledge later rather than earlier in the transition. Advertising is an important predictor of consumer knowledge later but not earlier in the transition, personal search is important at both times, and interpersonal sources are not important in either time period; brand experience is negatively related to knowledge earlier in the transition and positively related later in the transition. This study allows one to begin to understand the boundary conditions associated with studies conducted in developed economies. Managerial implications for firms investing in transitional economies are presented. Robin A. Coulter (robin.coulter@business.uconn.edu) is Ackerman Scholar and an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include branding, cross-cultural consumer behavior, advertising, and research methods. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Applied Psychology, and theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing. Linda L. Price (llprice@email.arizona.edu) is Soldwedel Professor of Marketing in the Eller School of Management at the University of Arizona. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine the active, emotional, imaginative aspects of consumers’ decisions and activities, and the social and cultural context of marketplace behaviors. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and other leading marketing, management, and social science journals. Lawrence Feick (feick@katz.pitt.edu) is a professor of business administration in the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. His current research focuses on cross-cultural consumer behavior, consumer word-of-mouth, and referrals. His work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Bulletin, andPublic Opinion Quarterly. Camelia Micu (camelia.micu@business.uconn.edu) is a marketing doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include advertising and product trial and cross-cultural consumer behavior.     

消费者情感依恋形成机理研究演进

消费者情感依恋是消费者与产品或者品牌之间的情感联结,是研究消费者忠诚形成的一条新路径,也是近年来消费者行为研究的新视角.综观20多年来国外心理学依恋理论及营销学中有关消费者情感依恋的研究成果,人们对情感依恋理论的起源、内涵、影响因素及作用机理已有相当了解,这对于企业与消费者形成稳固的长期关系、赢得持续竞争优势具有重要的...     

A vision of theory, research, and the future of business schools

The authors have distinguished between two broad types of research: studies dedicated to development and testing of theoretical explanations and studies seeking to generalize observed effects to settings of interest. Winer (1999 [this issue]) argues that the goal of making research conducted by marketing academics more relevant can be served by coupling theory studies with effects studies. Outcomes observed in the former type of study would gain external validity from the latter. While this notion has much intuitive appeal, the authors believe it is flawed. Generalizing the effects obtained in theory testing research by conducting additional effects studies using realistic data, such as scanner data, fails to take into account that theoretical explanation is not inherent in any set of data. An alternative view is offered in this article in which theoretical explanation serves as the basis for solving real-world problems and is the appropriate focus of business school education. Bobby J. Calder, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania. His current empirical research is in two areas: (1) detecting theoretically meaningful patterns across separate individual behaviors and (2) explaining attitudinal affect in terms of emotions. In addition, he has a continuing interest in meta-methodological issues. He teaches the BMA consumer behavior course at Kellogg and various executive program sessions on developing marketing strategies based on an understanding of consumers. Alice M. Tybout, Harold T. Martin Professor of Marketing, received her Ph.D. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Her research explores how people process, categorize, and use information in consumer decision making. She also has written about philosophical and methodological issues related to the domain and conduct of scientific research. At the Kellogg School, she teaches the introductory course on marketing management to MBA students and serves as faculty for a variety of executive education courses. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association and a former trustee of the Marketing Science Institute.     

An investigation of consumer product warranties as market signals of product reliability

Several explanations of the purpose for consumer product warranties can be found in the marketing liteature. However, comparatively little research has been done to develop and test a theory of the consumer product warranty. Recently the Market Signal Theory which posits that warranties serve as signals of product reliability, has emerged in the economic, legal, and marketing literature. In this article, a test of the Market Signal Theory is conducted usign pre- and post-Magnuson-Moss Act warranties. Marketing and public policy implications of the Market Signal Theory and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Social character and the structure of behavioral intention

Measures of attitude and behavioral intention have played a significant role in the study of consumer behavior. Since behavioral intention may function as a precursor to a behavioral act, its component elements suggest approaches to marketing mix development. In marketing, the most widely used measure of behavioral intention is the Fishbein model, and it is this model's requirement for data aggregation which is the focus of this research. Findings suggest that differences in individual consumers may seriously impair the usefulness of data derived from this model.     

当前金融业行为监管理论研究前沿与实践思考

目的/意义 梳理近年来国内外金融行为监管和消费者保护的研究进展,对完善行为监管的框架体系具有理论意义,对防控金融风险、稳定金融秩序、保护金融消费者合法权益具有现实意义,进而为金融改革方向提供新的思路。 方法/过程在现有研究的基础上,从行为监管的理论基础出发,分析行为监管对金融消费者保护的作用,简单归纳行为监管的体制结构,并提出行为监管未来的研究方向。 结果/结论要明确监管主体,加强执法力度,发挥行业协会的积极作用,注重金融知识教育的普及,并结合Fintech(金融科技)和Regtech(监管科技)的相关技术来提高金融监管效率,以真正达到保护金融消费者的目的。     

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 consumer retail search process: A conceptual model and research agenda

Consumers are continually faced with the task of finding their way through a wide variety of retail environments. Surprisingly, very little research has addressed questions about how consumers physically search through retail settings. This article explores this important, yet little researched behavior. A conceptual model of the consumer’s retail search process (CRSP) and several research propositions are advanced. The CRSP model integrates research findings relevant to an understanding of consumer retail search behavior. Literature from such diverse fields of scientific inquiry as environmental psychology, human factors, architecture, and marketing are reviewed and serve as the theoretical basis of the CRSP model. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Pennsylvania State University in 1991. His current research interest concerns how consumers interact with the physical environment and how this interaction influences subsequent behavior. His research has been published in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing and theJournal of Marketing Education. His teaching and research interests focus on marketing and the environment and services marketing. He has carried out extensive research under sponsorship of federal, state, and local agencies on consumer behavior and urban travel and energy consumption. He received a B.S. degree in psychology from the University of Washington in 1966 and a Ph.D., also in psychology, from the University of North Carolina in 1972.     

Micro-level product-market dynamics: Shared knowledge and its relationship to market development

This work draws on consumer and psychology research to explain sociocognitive aspects of product-market dynamics at a higher level of specificity than prior research. The authors extend the field’s understanding of market-shaping shared knowledge through a theory-informed discussion of how shared product knowledge comes to exist and how it changes as product markets develop. They define shared knowledge as the aspects of product representations that are common across the minds of market actors, making it possible for them to understand one another. The authors also discuss ways to track shared knowledge content that is expressed in market narratives. As the characteristics of shared knowledge are explained and linked to stages of product-market development, the authors develop a set of researchable propositions to guide future research. The theoretical arguments and propositions in this article complement extant marketing strategy research by integrating individual-level consumer theory with market evolution models. José Antonio Rosa (jose.rosa@case.edu; Ph.D., University of Michigan) is an assistant professor of marketing at Case Western Reserve University. His research interests include product markets as sociocognitive phenomena, embodied knowledge in consumer and managerial sensemaking, consumer illiteracy and coping, commitment and motivation among members of network marketing organizations, and buying group satisfaction. His research has been published in marketing and management publications, including theJournal of Marketing and theAcademy of Management Journal. Before entering academia, he worked in the automotive and information systems industries. Jelena Spanjol (jspanjol@tamu.edu; Ph.D., University of Illinois) is an assistant professor of marketing at Texas A&M University. Her research interests include product market dynamics, product portfolio management, innovation, sensemaking, and organizational and managerial cognition in marketing strategy. Her research has been published in marketing and management publications, including theJournal of Marketing and several book chapters. Before academia, she worked in the scientific software industry.     

Deliberation revisited

Because the consumer is the focus of all marketing activities, knowledge of his/her behavior is one of the most important aspects of marketing. Empirical studies are needed to determine, how consumer arrives at decision to make a particular purchase, what kind of deliberation exhibited by consumers and correlates of deliberation are analyzed.     

供需主权变化与营销理论的重建

传统的市场营销理论以供给方主权为基础 ,而不是真正集中于消费者的需求。随着互联网络的普及发展 ,消费者逐渐获得主权。传统理论已无法解释一些新的经济现象。进入网络经济 ,必须重建以消费者主权为前提的市场营销理论。     

Stress and consumer behavior

Although stress research has received increased attention in the behavioral and social sciences, it has been virtually ignored by marketing researchers. This paper attempts to advance the stress perspective as a useful framework in consumer research. First, the author presents theoretical and conceptual foundations of stress research. Second, the author develops a general conceptual model of the causes and consequences of stress on the basis of theory and research. The model serves as a blueprint for presenting theory and research on stress, organizing and interpreting findings of consumer studies in the context of stress theory, and developing propositions for needed research. Finally, the author provides a research agenda to guide future studies in this area.