Social learning effects of complaint handling on social media: Self-construal as a moderator

With the proliferation of social media, firms are increasingly faced with the need to respond publicly to reduce the negative effects of customer complaints. Based on social learning theory, this study examines how complaint handling efforts and comments by others may affect the responses exhibited by individuals who demonstrated either independent or interdependent self-construal. A quasi-experimental design with a sample of 247 student participants was conducted. The results show that although unsuccessful complaint handling was likely to erode perceived trust, such effects were confined to individuals with independent self-construal. Furthermore, observers with interdependent self-construal evoked more positive perception if others disconfirmed the complainants’ experiences rather than approved with negative posts; this effect was not evident for the independents.     

How power distance belief,self-construal,and relationship norms impact conspicuous consumption

Building on the idea that luxury products can signal the owner's status to others, this research elucidates how fundamental and pervasive social factors—power distance belief (PDB), self-construal, and relationship norms—dynamically impact consumers' preferences for conspicuous consumption. Through three experiments, we found that (1) high-PDB consumers are more likely to prefer conspicuous consumption compared to low-PDB consumers, and this effect is mediated by their need for status; (2) the relationship between PDB and conspicuous consumption is enhanced under interdependent self-construal, attenuated under independent self-construal, and mediated by consumers' need for status; (3) these effects are moderated by relationship norms, such that the positive effect of PDB on conspicuous consumption under interdependent self-construal is attenuated when communal relationships (vs. exchange relationships) are salient. Our conceptualization and findings contribute to the literature on the dynamics of individuals' status-related behavior in social psychology and related fields, and provide important practical applications for luxury businesses.     

The influence of self-construal and materialism on social media intensity: a study of China and the United States

This study investigated the potential influence of self-construal and materialism on intensity of usage for three social media platforms: social networking sites (SNSs), microblogging sites (MBSs), and video sharing sites (VSSs). Data were collected from China and the United States – two countries with the highest advertising expenditures and Internet populations. Drawing from the social comparison theory (SCT) and the framework of independent and interdependent self-construal, results of the hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that both independent and interdependent self-construal were positively related to SNS intensity among Chinese and American users. However, interdependent self-construal had a significant, negative relationship with the intensity of MBS use among users in the two countries. Materialism was found to positively relate to SNS intensity, MBS intensity, and VSS intensity among Chinese and American users. These results provide evidence that self-construal and materialism contribute to social media use independent of nationality. Theoretical and managerial implications for international advertising strategies are discussed.     

The influence of sharing versus self-use on the preference for different types of promotional offers

Sharing, which refers to giving something you have to someone else, is one of the most ubiquitous forms of human behavior in the world. Everyone experiences it in various situations, including buying food. Nonetheless, although buying something to share with others is quite common in our daily lives, most consumer research on buying focuses on the condition of “self-use” rather than “sharing.” The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of promotional offers on consumers' purchase decisions when buying food for self-use/sharing with others. The authors conducted four experiments to answer the main research questions. The results indicated that consumers prefer “price discounts” over “bonus packs” when the shopping task relates to self-use due to their concern about “loss reduction.” In contrast, they prefer bonus packs over price discounts when the shopping task relates to sharing with others because of their focus on “extra gains.” In addition, consumers’ perceived responsibility is a moderator. When perceived responsibility is low and the purchase is for self-use (sharing with others), price discounts (bonus pack) are favored over bonus packs (price discounts). However, when perceived responsibility is high, consumer preference to promotional offers are not significant different either in self-use or sharing with others condition. It seems that role of responsibility is influential when the shopping task relates to self-use. This study not only contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer psychology but will also be beneficial to practitioners in designing effective promotional strategies that consider motives for food shopping.     

品牌负面曝光事件中的消费者民族中心倾向

近些年越来越多的品牌出现以质量危机为核心的产品伤害事件，对企业的品牌资产、市场份额、财务绩效造成巨大的负面影响。以往研究指出消费者对品牌的情感可以在一定程度上促使个体对产品伤害事件更加包容，缓和产品伤害事件对品牌的负面影响，文章探讨了集体主义的东方人对于基于群体的消费者-品牌情感——消费者民族中心倾向——对产品伤害危机中品牌评价的影响。通过两组实验，分别选取中国样本和韩国样本，研究发现消费者民族中心倾向并不能始终维持消费者对本土品牌的偏爱，品牌负面信息消极程度调节民族中心倾向对品牌负面信息认知的影响：面对一般消极程度的品牌负面信息，相比国内品牌，消费者对国外品牌产生更多的负面情绪和负面品牌评价，但是当品牌出现重大负面信息时，消费者对国内品牌的负面情绪和负面评价均显著高于对国外品牌的负面情绪和负面评价。文章研究发现对于产品伤害危机管理和民族品牌建设具有一定的启示意义。     

Information asymmetry, pricing strategy and firm's performance in the retailer- multi-channel manufacturer supply chain

In this research paper, we assume a retailer-multi-channel manufacturer (with online and traditional retail channels) supply chain where both the multi-channel manufacturer and the retailer have private information about the state of consumer demand. In this setting, we examine the effect of an information sharing strategy on both firms' performance. Our results show that the multi-channel manufacturer always benefits from an information sharing strategy. When the product is highly compatible with the online channel, information sharing becomes much more valuable to the multi-channel manufacturer. On the other hand, the retailer's performance is not impacted by an information sharing strategy. Thus, a bargaining model is utilized to implement profit sharing for the multi-channel manufacturer and retailer so that an information sharing equilibrium can be reached. Based on our results, we derive optimal market strategies and identify probable paths of future research.     

I complain for your good? Re-examining consumer advocacy

Marketplace helping behavior such as opinion leadership, market maven, and purchase pals that benefit others has been extensively studied. A diverse but similar to other marketplace helping behaviors is the concept of consumer advocacy. Extant review of literature reveals that customer advocacy and consumer advocacy are conceptually different. The former is an organization level construct, and the latter is an individual consumer's ‘generalized tendency to share market information’. It is argued that a following dissatisfactory service encounter, consumer advocates would indulge in market placing helping behavior such as negative word of mouth to prevent other consumers' from having similar marketplace disappointments. Hence, prior studies link consumer advocacy to ‘altruistic tendencies’. On the basis of self-construal theory, this study investigates the motivations for consumer advocacy. Using a scenario-based experimentation implemented in survey method; we establish that consumer advocacy is motivated by an amalgamation of altruism and self-interest. We also operationalize third-party complaint construct and empirically test whether consumer advocacy is a predictor.     

Social isolation and social anxiety as drivers of generation Z's willingness to share personal information on social media

Generation Z's (gen z) sharing of personal information on social media is a growing phenomenon with significant ramifications. Existing research, however, focuses on examining the role of social and/or psychological factors and fails to consider how and when social, psychological, and organizational factors affect gen z's willingness to share personal information on social media. To fill this gap, we propose a conceptual model based on the tenets of sociometer theory, to understand the dynamics of gen z's willingness to share personal information while considering its process and boundary conditions. Using a sequential multi-study design, we conducted an experiment followed by a survey to test our hypotheses using data collected from gen z in India. Our findings show that when gen z feels socially isolated/anxious, they are more likely to share personal information on social media. The effect of social isolation on sharing of personal information increases when gen z fear that they are missing out on the rewarding experiences others are having, are engaged in repetitive negative thoughts and perceive their firm's privacy policy as transparent and ethical. Our findings provide a better understanding of why, how, and when gen z's are willing to share personal information on social media. We extend existing limited research on the psychological aspects of digital natives' interaction with modern technologies. Our results equip social media marketing and brand managers with the knowledge they need to increase gen z's willingness to share personal information.     

网络环境下区域物流信息资源共享模式研究

信息共享是当代社会的一个显著特征,发展区域物流,必须要全力实现区域内的物流信息资源共享。依据共享的区域物流信息资源的类型和区域物流信息资源的表现特征,讨论在网络环境下共享区域物流信息资源对经济区域内部的意义、对企业的意义和对消费者的意义,明确在网络环境下实现区域物流信息资源共享的途径。     

Interdependent self-construal in collectivist cultures: Effects on compliance in a cause-related marketing context

This study is a replication and extension of prior work on the effectiveness of cause-related marketing efforts. We show that compliance behavior across cultures can be different depending on the dominant self-construal paradigm prevalent in a given society. The original study had shown that people in independent self-construal societies (individualist countries such as the USA) are unwilling to follow up on their original commitment (to support rainforest protection) if compliance involves bearing the cost of such action (paying a higher price for a product where part of the price is donated to rainforest protection). This study, drawing on a sample of students at a mid-sized university in northern Poland, shows that commitment–consistency works in collectivist, interdependent self-construal societies in a different way: if the cause being supported is of a pro-social nature, people in such societies are willing to pay the higher product price to support it.     

Manufacturer marketing initiatives and retailer information sharing

This research examines a retailer’s incentive to share information with its supplier when the supplier can also undertake initiatives to increase retail demand. It is well known that a retailer is averse to sharing market information with a manufacturer due to concern for a manufacturer’s strategic use of such information. This research shows that despite such strategic exploitation of market information, a retailer may want to establish information sharing channels with its supplier. Information sharing essentially shifts power upstream which, in turn, enhances the manufacturer’s incentive to bear costs to boost retail demand: the manufacturer is induced to invest merely by knowing that information is on its way. Hence, the retailer benefits from information sharing ex ante despite the costly ex post exploitation by the manufacturer. This finding is a stark contrast to the most of previous results which consistently point out how bad it is for the manufacturer to have the retailer’s demand information before setting prices. In fact, due to the investment effect, information sharing can lead to gains for the retailer, manufacturer, and consumers alike.     

A Combination of Self-Reported Data and Social-Related Neural Measures Forecasts Viral Marketing Success on Social Media

Consumers often share product-related content (e.g., advertising), and highly shared advertising has a huge impact on consumer behavior. Despite its apparent effectiveness, prediction of whether such advertising will be highly shared is a poorly understood area of marketing. Advances in brain imaging techniques may allow researchers to forecast aggregate consumer behavior beyond subjective reports. Using neuroimaging techniques, previous research has established models showing that expectations of self-related outcomes (potential for self-enhancement) and the social impact of sharing (potential for social approval) contribute to the likelihood of users sharing non-commercial static content (i.e., text-based health news). However, whether this finding can be applied to forecasting the virality of dynamic commercial stimuli, which is more relevant to interactive marketing (i.e., video ads), remains unknown. Combining brain imaging techniques, cross-validation methods, and real-world data regarding sharing on social media, the present study investigated whether brain data can be used to forecast the viral marketing success of video ads. We used neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging: fMRI) to measure neural activity during three sets of theory-driven neural measures implicated in value, self, and social (mentalizing) processes while 40 participants viewed video ads that brands had posted on Facebook. Contrary to previous findings regarding value-related virality in non-commercial static content, our results indicate that social-related neural activity contributes significantly to forecasting the virality of dynamic marketing-related content. The model that included both social-related neural measures and subjective intentions to share forecasted viral marketing success better than the model that included only social-related neural measures. The model that included only subjective intention to share did not forecast viral marketing success. Overall, these findings provide a novel connection between neurophysiological measures and real-world dynamic commercial content. Contrary to previous neuroforecasting findings, social-related but not value-related neural measures can significantly improve our ability to predict market-level sharing of video ads.     

Self-Construal and Unethical Behavior

We suggest that understanding unethical behavior in organizations involves understanding how people view themselves and their relationships with others, a concept known as self-construal. Across multiple studies, employing both field and laboratory settings, we examine the impact of three dimensions of self-construal (independent, relational, and collective) on unethical behavior. Our results show that higher levels of relational self-construal relate negatively to unethical behavior. We also find that differences in levels of relational self for men and women mediate gender differences in unethical behavior. We discuss both the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

A Generalized Oligopoly Model

This paper generalizes and unifies the traditional quantity competition oligopoly models of Cournot and Stackelberg. Traditional oligopoly models predict that, under constant marginal costs, there will only be one market share (Cournot) or a single firm with a large market share and all others with the same market share (Stackelberg). Without altering the basic assumption set, in particular the assumptions of common marginal cost functions, perfect information and linear demand, the paper presents a general model that may be useful to explain many real‐life situations of oligopoly competition, where many different market shares may coexist. Finally, it is shown that certain existing social welfare results are robust to the generalization.     

The impact of self-construal and message frame valence on reactance: a cross-cultural study in charity advertising

In the context of charity advertising, this two-study design project aims to contribute at the intersection of three literatures: psychological reactance theory (PRT), messaging framing, and self-construal theory. Using a survey with student samples from the US and China, Study 1 demonstrated that self-construal affected reactance, such that independent self-construal was more associated with reactance. Further, it outperformed cultural background in predicting reactance. People with predominantly interdependent self-construals showed higher intention to purchase a product with social causes. Study 2 was a 2 (framing: gain vs. loss)?×?2 (self-construal: independent vs. interdependent) between-subjects experiment using a non-student sample in the US results on the associations between self-construal and reactance and the intent to donate were consistent with findings of Study 1. Study 2 also indicated that compared to gain-framed appeals, using loss-framed appeals in charity advertising generated more reactance, the gap was more pronounced among individuals with relatively higher interdependent self-construals (i.e. moderate and high levels of interdependent-independent self-construal). This project offers important theoretical and applied implications and provides a robust avenue for future research. Limitations were also outlined.     

What type of purchase do you prefer to share on social networking sites: Experiential or material?

Social networking sites (SNSs) have greatly changed individual lifestyles and the means of sharing information. They encourage users to participate in sharing activities and have led to a boost in user-generated content. To gain a deep insight into users' information sharing behaviors on SNSs, this study investigates what type of purchase (material or experiential) users prefer to share on SNSs. Three experiments were conducted, and the results revealed that experiential purchases were more likely to be shared through SNSs than were material ones. This disparity stemmed from the users' perceived social approval of the purchase. Additionally, the users' self-monitoring moderated the impact of the purchase type on the sharing intention. Together, our findings help to explain users’ information-sharing behaviors on SNSs and enrich the research on purchase-type comparisons. Further, the results provide practitioners with proper marketing strategies based on the product type.     

Self-construal and feature centrality

The current research investigates the interactive influence of self-construal and product feature centrality on product judgment tasks. Feature centrality refers to the extent to which a feature is integral to the product concept and its network of correlated features, and contributes to the coherence of the product’s conceptual representation. While the categorization literature suggests that central features (versus less central features) are weighted more when consumers make judgments about a product, across two studies we find such effect is bounded by individuals’ self-construal. In particular, whereas independent consumers, adopting an analytical thinking style, rely more on central features than less central features in product categorization and evaluations, interdependent consumers, employing a holistic thinking style, use both features to form their judgments.     

Perceptions of task cohesiveness and organizational support increase trust and information sharing between host country nationals and expatriate coworkers in Oman

Information sharing between expatriate and host country national (HCN) employees is strategically significant. In a sample of Omani HCNs, we hypothesize and find that perceiving task cohesiveness is positively associated with HCNs’ willingness to share information with expatriates and that trust mediates this association. In addition, perceiving organizational support strengthens the relationship between expatriates’ task cohesiveness and HCNs’ trust, whereas interpersonal similarity has no influence. This research highlights important ways in which trust and information sharing may be encouraged, and that HCN–expatriate interpersonal similarity is less important to building trust when more diagnostic cues are available.     

Comprehending product attributes and benefits: The role of product knowledge and means-end chain inferences

One hundred twenty consumers (classified as either higher or lower knowledge) read an advertisement for a camera described by either attributes or consequences, or both attributes and their related consequences. Thought listings coded for inferences at varying levels of abstraction corresponding to means-end chain theory revealed that most inferences were about self-relevant product consequences. Results also suggest that higher-knowledge consumers are more likely to infer cause-and-effect means-end associations during product comprehension. Further, compared to inferences about concrete attributes and features, inferences about self-relevant product consequences had stronger effects on consumers' brand attitudes, but not ad attitudes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

分销商渠道公平感知对战略信息分享的影响

文章从渠道分销商心理感知角度出发,实证分析了渠道建设中分销商公平感知与分销商战略信息分享之间的关系。研究结果表明,分销商对渠道关系的公平感知会影响分销商对渠道关系的评价,低劣的评价总是与低水平的分享意愿相联系,而良好的关系评价则是分销商愿意分享战略信息的前提;环境不确定性并不会对分销商战略信息分享行为产生直接的负向作用;渠道关系中的依赖不对称性也会使分销商与制造商的主要关注点发生变化,从而使影响分销商战略信息分享的因素也处于变化之中。为更好地与分销商共享战略信息,制造商应谨慎使用渠道权力,避免渠道伙伴的反感,应表现出增加渠道整体利益的意愿和承诺,并在政策完善、流程对接等方面提高分销商的程序公平感知,在利益分配的结果方面改善分销商的分配公平感知,减少分销商对分享战略信息可能存在风险的担忧。而依赖性较高的制造商应重视产品研发与供应链的整合,提供更多的渠道整体利润,积极利用分销商的战略信息升级产品,为双方带来额外利益,保证渠道关系长久发展。