Eco depletion: The impact of hunger on prosociality by means of environmentally friendly attitudes and behavior

The present research investigated the impact of hunger on prosociality in a consumer choice context by means of environmentally friendly attitudes and behavior. Two eye-tracking studies were conducted with hunger measured (Study 1) and manipulated (Study 2). The data were analyzed through bivariate correlations, Pearson's chi-square tests, and analyses of variance (ANOVAs). Our findings, based on cross-sectional and experimental evidence from field and lab settings, revealed that hungry consumers express more prosocial attitudes than their satiated counterparts in terms of general environmental concerns and importance ratings of buying eco-labeled products. However, we found no significant difference between hungry and satiated consumers regarding choice likelihood of eco-labeled products or visual attention towards prosocial (organic and sustainable) food options. Implications for retailers and organizations trying to encourage environmentally friendly behavior are discussed.     

The effects of schema congruity on consumer response to celebrity advertising

The trend of celebrity-branded products is on the rise, creating a new domain in which to explore the match-up hypothesis. Moving beyond the celebrity as an endorser, but rather, a brand promoting a brand extension, this article examines how perceived congruence between a celebrity's image and the brand image of products they have developed is related to attitudinal and behavioral measures of advertising effectiveness. Employing a 2 × 3 full factorial design, congruence between the celebrity's image and the brand's image was varied (less vs. more congruent), along with the use of the celebrity's image (present, absent, non-celebrity models) to determine how schema congruity influences consumer's response to celebrity advertising. The results of a multivariate analysis of covariance analysis indicating lower levels of congruence between the celebrity's image and the brand's image led to greater advertising effectiveness compared to higher levels of congruence. Specifically, the means of the attitudinal dependent variables in the less congruent condition were significantly higher than the means in the more congruent condition. These effects were more pronounced when a celebrity's image was featured in the advertisement compared to when it was not featured. The implication of the findings suggests that moderate violations in the consumer's celebrity schema may improve advertising effectiveness.     

The impact of COVID-19 on consumer evaluation of authentic advertising messages

This study investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 threat and consumer evaluation of a product with authenticity appeals in advertisements. We propose that threatening situations like COVID-19 motivate consumers to lower their uncertainty and increase their preference for products with authentic advertising messages. Because individuals react differently to threatening environments according to their early-life experiences, commonly reflected in childhood socioeconomic status, we examined whether childhood socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between threat and consumer evaluation of authenticity in advertisements. First, secondary data from Google Trends provided empirical support for our predictions. In additional experimental studies, participants evaluated different target products in four studies that either manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) or measured (Studies 4 and 5) COVID-19 threat. Our results provide converging evidence that consumers positively evaluate products with authentic advertising messages under the COVID-19 threat. Consumers' motivation to lower their uncertainty underlies the effect of COVID-19 threat on their evaluation of authentic messages (Study 3). This attempt to reduce uncertainty is more likely to occur for consumers with relatively higher childhood socioeconomic status (Studies 4 and 5). These findings suggest that using authenticity appeals during a pandemic could effectively reduce consumers' perceived uncertainty and generate positive consumer evaluations.     

The impact of advertising on consumer price sensitivity in experience goods markets

In this paper we use Nielsen scanner panel data on four categories of consumer goods to examine how TV advertising and other marketing activities affect the demand curve facing a brand. Advertising can affect consumer demand in many different ways. Becker and Murphy (Quarterly Journal of Economics 108:941–964, 1993) have argued that the “presumptive case” should be that advertising works by raising marginal consumers’ willingness to pay for a brand. This has the effect of flattening the demand curve, thus increasing the equilibrium price elasticity of demand and the lowering the equilibrium price. Thus, “advertising is profitable not because it lowers the elasticity of demand for the advertised good, but because it raises the level of demand.” Our empirical results support this conjecture on how advertising shifts the demand curve for 17 of the 18 brands we examine. There have been many prior studies of how advertising affects two equilibrium quantities: the price elasticity of demand and/or the price level. Our work is differentiated from previous work primarily by our focus on how advertising shifts demand curves as a whole. As Becker and Murphy pointed out, a focus on equilibrium prices or elasticities alone can be quite misleading. Indeed, in many instances, the observation that advertising causes prices to fall and/or demand elasticities to increase, has misled authors into concluding that consumer “price sensitivity” must have increased, meaning the number of consumers’ willing to pay any particular price for a brand was reduced—perhaps because advertising makes consumers more aware of substitutes. But, in fact, a decrease in the equilibrium price is perfectly consistent with a scenario where advertising actually raises each individual consumer’s willingness to pay for a brand. Thus, we argue that to understand how advertising affects consumer price sensitivity one needs to estimate how it shifts the whole distribution of willingness to pay in the population. This means estimating how it shifts the shape of the demand curve as a whole, which in turn means estimating a complete demand system for all brands in a category—as we do here. We estimate demand systems for toothpaste, toothbrushes, detergent and ketchup. Across these categories, we find one important exception to conjecture that advertising should primarily increase the willingness to pay of marginal consumers. The exception is the case of Heinz ketchup. Heinz advertising has a greater positive effect on the WTP of infra-marginal consumers. This is not surprising, because Heinz advertising focuses on differentiating the brand on the “thickness” dimension. This is a horizontal dimension that may be highly valued by some consumers and not others. The consumers who most value this dimension have the highest WTP for Heinz, and, by focusing on this dimension; Heinz advertising raises the WTP of these infra-marginal consumers further. In such a case, advertising is profitable because it reduces the market share loss that the brand would suffer from any given price increase. In contrast, in the other categories we examine, advertising tends to focus more on vertical attributes.

The impact of creative media advertising on consumer responses: two field experiments

Abstract

Creative media (CM) advertising is an advertising strategy wherein a non-traditional medium is creatively used for advertising purposes. This novel advertising strategy is gaining marketers’ interest; however, little is known about its persuasive effects on consumers’ cognitive, affective and behavioural responses and the processes that underlie them. Therefore, to convey a genuine experience to consumers, two field experiments with a one-factor (advertising type: creative vs. traditional) between-subjects design were conducted within a supermarket context. Results showed that creative (vs. traditional) media ads not only improve consumers’ affective and behavioural responses but also consumers’ cognitive responses. Even though no mediations were found through perceived surprise or perceived persuasive intent, results do provide evidence for the notion that perceived humor and perceived value are the underlying mechanisms through which affective and behavioural responses to creative media advertising can be explained.     

The Role of Moral Emotions and Consumer Values and Traits in the Decision to Support Nonprofits

We investigate the mediating role of moral emotions and their contingency on individual characteristics between perceptions of corporate ethical/unethical actions and consumer support for nonprofits. We conducted two between-subjects experiments to test our hypotheses on a sample of adult consumers. The results show that social justice values moderate elicitation of gratitude upon exposure to corporate ethical actions, which subsequently impacts consumer support for nonprofits. Furthermore, important individual characteristics (social justice values, moral identity) moderate the elicitation of negative moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) upon perception of corporate unethical actions, which then leads to consumer support for nonprofits. Our study adds to extant research on prosocial behavior by investigating how actions by for-profit companies impact individual helping and by examining a new psychological mechanism (i.e., moral emotional processes and their contingencies) underlying consumer support for nonprofits.     

The moderating effect of self-esteem on consumer responses to global positioning in advertising

The study investigates consumers' responses to global positioning in advertising from the perspective of self. It is suggested that consumers' attitudes toward the brand advertised through global positioning are influenced by their ideal selves and cosmopolitan orientations and these influences are moderated by one's self-esteem level. Study 1 shows that attitudes toward the globally positioned brand are more positive for those with ideal selves that are more congruent with personal traits associated with globally positioned brands, but only for those with high self-esteem. Interview results from study 2 suggest that low self-esteem informants make use of the global brands associated with ‘Western’ as a means of signaling their social selves in order to obtain social approval and that high self-esteem informants attend to ad content, whether the ad employs global or local positioning.     

The impact of service robots in retail: Exploring the effect of novelty priming on consumer behavior

This study aims to bridge a gap in the extant research by examining consumer behavior that is unrelated to, but elicited by, service robots. The results of six studies showed that participants primed with robots (vs. humans) were more likely to engage in exploratory consumption behaviors. This effect was mediated through the elicitation of a sense of novelty, affected by the degree of service robots' intelligence and moderated by consumers' subjective knowledge. The study also examines different types of exploratory buying behaviors that have implications for marketers' and retailers’ use of service robots to promote exploratory consumption.     

The impact of death on consumer responses to celebrity endorser misbehavior

A well‐established stream of research on celebrity misbehavior suggests that negative information may have an adverse effect on an endorsed brand because of its association with a celebrity considered as blameworthy. However, the present research calls into question the generalizability of these results to fatal misbehaviors (i.e., misbehaviors that lead to the celebrity's death). Indeed, after death, a celebrity may gain spiritual meanings, and consumers may find it more difficult to blame a sacred individual. As such, the current article investigates the impact of a celebrity's death on blame attribution and consumer attitudes in the context of celebrity endorser misbehavior. The results of three experiments uncover that death favors a partial blame attribution transfer from the celebrity endorser to the brand, but only when the misbehavior implies a product related to the brand. In addition, the findings reveal a positive effect of death through celebrity sacredness on brand attitude.     

The effects of competitive context on consumer response to price changes

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to understand how a brand’s price level, relative to its competitors, will affect consumers’ responses to price changes of the brand. The study uses experiments to examine brand choice responses to price increases and decreases across contexts differing in competitor brands and their respective prices. These experiments are conducted with six consumer goods categories. The research identifies three key factors that affect the size of responses to brand price changes – (1) passing a competitor brand’s price, (2) narrowing versus widening the price gaps with competitors, and (3) whether competitors are predominantly higher or lower priced brands.     

The impact of weather on consumer behavior and retail performance: Evidence from a convenience store chain in China

Despite extensive use of weather data to adjust replenishment and inventory strategies in the retail industry, these companies do clearly know the effect of weather on consumer behavior and retail performance. How does weather affect consumers' purchasing behavior and thus retail performance? We study empirically these questions by analyzing more than 6 million transactions made by more than 1.62 million unique consumers at 146 convenience stores in a convenience store chain in China. We choose sun, rain, temperature, and air quality index as the main weather variables. We use the average number of items per order and the average price of each item in each order as indicators of consumer behavior, and use store daily sales as an indicator of retail performance. We found that under rainy weather, people will buy more products with higher item prices in one order. When temperature rises, people will buy fewer products with a lower item price in one order. In addition, sunny weather and rainy weather have a positive impact on daily sales than cloudy weather. Air quality has a negative impact on daily sales, while temperature has a positive impact on sales. Finally, we study the impact of weather on different product categories. We find that the results depend on the product category characteristics.     

The impact of anti‐consumption on consumer well‐being

Although consumption is a symbol of an individual's socio‐economic status, an increasing number of individuals voluntarily prefer to consume less. This phenomenon is called anti‐consumption and it mainly occurs in developed countries where consumption levels have reached excessive amounts. One of the main aims of individuals following an anti‐consumption lifestyle is to increase their own well‐being. However, researchers have yet to investigate whether anti‐consumption, indeed, leads to greater positive consumer well‐being. Hence, through this paper this gap in research is addressed by first deriving a conceptual framework and hypotheses, followed by developing an anti‐consumption scale, and then by testing the impact of anti‐consumption on consumer well‐being. The insights of our analysis highlight the implications for both academia and consumers.     

The impact of telephone notification strategies on response to an industrial mail survey

The mail questionnaire is a popular method of gathering data among marketing academics. However, response rates from industrial populations are often low. A number of alternative strategies designed to enhance response from industrialists are evaluated. The results show that satisfactory response rates can be achieved by the integration of telephone and mail contacts within a survey design without loss of response quality nor distortion of sample composition.     

Charitable maximizers: The impact of the maximizing mindset on donations to human recipients

The majority of donations are dedicated to helping human recipients. Building on prior literature that demonstrates the role of downward social comparisons between donors and donation recipients in elevating willingness to help those in need, we propose that a maximizing mindset increases such downward social comparisons, which in turn promote donations to human recipients. A set of seven studies, including online and field experiments and a secondary dataset, provides convergent support for the effect of the maximizing mindset (whether measured as an inherent individual difference or activated as a temporary mindset) on donations and the mediating role of downward social comparisons. This research enriches the understanding of donations to human recipients by showing that donations can be enhanced by a maximizing mindset. Our findings offer important insights to donation-raising agencies. Specifically, activating the maximizing mindset among prospective donors—by embedding certain words in donation appeals or encouraging donors to think about their best choices in everyday life—could benefit charities and social-cause platforms in their efforts to raise donations to support the needy.     

Interacting with background music engages E-Customers more: The impact of interactive music on consumer perception and behavioral intention

The current study investigates the potential of applying interactive music to the design of e-commerce websites, aiming to create more engaging consumer experience. The model of Theory of Interactive Media Effects (TIME) is applied to propose two psychological mechanisms – heightened consumer control and perceived vividness of the website – that explain the effect of interactive music on consumer engagement. A single-factor experiment with three conditions (the control condition without background music, the static background music condition, and the interactive background music condition) was conducted and data from 248 consumers were collected. Results found that consumers in the interactive music condition were more affectively engaged in the shopping task compared to those in the other two conditions due to a higher level of novelty. The novelty dimension of affective engagement subsequently led to stronger behavioral intention and more positive perception toward the website and its brand. Whereas consumer control explained only affective engagement with the online store, perceived vividness of the website predicted both cognitive and affective engagement. In conclusion, the present study contributes to scholarship by addressing limited discussion on interactive music under the context of consumer behavior and drawing attention to perceived control and vividness as critical mediators of consumer engagement in the digital retailing environment.     

The role of product history in consumer response to online second-hand clothing retail service based on circular fashion

The circular fashion system (CFS) posits that clothes not only need to be designed and produced sustainably but also need to circulate among consumers for as long as possible to minimize waste. Fashion industry experts believe that circular fashion will be the dominating future trend of the industry, and many brands and start-ups have launched platforms following the CFS where consumers can exchange or donate their used clothes. However, circular fashion still needs to overcome the negative images associated with second-hand clothes, such as contamination. What can decrease consumers' concerns with used clothes as well as promote circular fashion effectively among consumers? Based on the narrative competence theory, this study examines the effects of providing the product history of clothes on enhancing consumers' trust, perceived benefits, attitude, and usage intentions toward circular fashion service. An online experiment was conducted with 238 U.S. consumers. Results revealed that providing product history enhances consumers' trust toward the service and the perceived hedonic, social, and economic benefits of the service. Greater trust and hedonic benefits of the service enhance consumers’ attitude toward the service, which consequently increase their intentions to use the service. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in this paper.     

The effect of affective response to corporate social irresponsibility on consumer resistance behaviour: validation of a dual-channel model

ABSTRACT

This paper delineates a dual-channel model of consumer resistance towards corporate social irresponsibility. The model assumes a conditional mediational relationship among affective response to corporate social irresponsibility and ethical judgement as drivers of consumers’ inclination towards boycotting, protesting and negative word-of-mouth. Mediation-analysis results are largely in line with the model hypotheses: Affective response to corporate social irresponsibility solely has a significant direct effect on resistance inclination of consumers with a low preference for ethical products. Moreover, contractualistic and moral equity (utilitarian) judgement mediate(s) the effect of affective response on resistance intention for consumers with high (low) ethical product preferences. Based on the empirical findings, the paper presents practical implications and avenues for future research.     

Looking forward,looking back: The impact of goal progress and time urgency on consumer responses to mobile reward apps

The authors conduct two studies to examine how time urgency affects consumer responses to mobile reward apps. For participants who have made high progress toward reaching goals, short expiration dates (“collect 10 stamps for a free coffee by tomorrow”) cause to-go framing (”2 more stamps to go”) to be more effective than to-date framing (”8 stamps collected so far”), but for participants who have a long way to go before reaching the goal, short expiration dates cause to-date framing to be more effective than to-go framing. However, a long expiration date produced no difference between to-go and to-date framings, under both high and low progress.     

The impact of response format on relations among intentions,attitudes, and social norms

This research investigates the response consistency error which may be induced by certain common methodological practices in tests of predictive models such as the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980). Specifically, the physical presence of a questionnaire was expected to provide respondents an inducement and basis for maintaining consistent responses. In addition, the practice of presenting all measures of a given construct together seemed likely to heighten correlations among constructs, resulting in heightened predictions. Two experiments were conducted in which respondents completed measures of the theory of reasoned action for a variety of behaviors using either a paper or computer-administered questionnaire with items in standard or random order. The results of these studies indicate that, contrary to expectations, the degree of attitude-intention consistency across behaviors may be attentuated in standard paper administrations.     

Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine the role of anticipated negative emotions on channel intention: The case of an embarrassing product

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is successful in predicting consumer intentions for a wide variety of products and behaviors. However, little is known about how effective the TPB is when the behavior under study is embarrassing. To this end, this paper extends the TPB to create a conceptual model to examine the role of anticipated negative emotions on channel intention. An empirical study was conducted whereby the model was tested using survey data on the purchase of Regaine (a hair loss product that is embarrassing to buy) in Boots (a well-known UK multichannel drugstore). The embarrassing nature of Regaine created differences in the importance that emotions played when consumers intend to purchase using face-to-face channels (such as the physical drugstore) as against multichannel options or the internet. The results were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The effectiveness of the TPB was improved. The variance explained (R² to intention) was 0.44% for the total sample, 49% for the drugstore, 58.4% for the internet, and 42.5% for multichannel.