Moral Emotions and Self-Construal in Charity Advertising: Communication on Focus

Many charity organizations face ongoing challenges to promote monetary donations and other helping behaviors. Integrating the literature on the role of emotion in persuasive communication and intercultural communication, two studies were conducted to explore the impact of moral emotions and self-construal in charity advertising. A survey investigated the extent to which moral emotions with different referent of focus operated differently among individuals with varying self-construal in affecting the intent to donate. An experiment examined the impact of ego- versus other-focused emotional appeals in the processing of charity advertising. Results indicated that moral emotions significantly influenced participants' purchase intention towards social-cause products. In addition, self-construal moderated the influence of positive moral emotions on purchase intention, as well as the influence of positive emotional appeals on the intent to donate. Specifically, the persuasive effectiveness was enhanced when independents were associated with ego-focused emotions or ego-focused emotional appeals; and interdependents with other-focused emotions or other-focused emotional appeals. These two studies expanded the knowledge on the effects of emotions on communication and persuasion, and provided relevant implications for practitioners in creating effective messages to promote social causes. Limitations and directions for future research were also outlined.     

A consumption emotion measurement development: a full-service restaurant setting

This article describes the development of a consumption emotion scale for use in the full-service restaurant industry. The current emotion measures utilized in consumer and marketing research are reviewed, along with the conceptualization of consumption emotions. The adequacy of employing a categorical approach to assess restaurant customers' emotional responses is discussed. Moreover, the appropriate procedure for a scale development is described. Based on quantitative analyses, a multi-item scale involving four dimensions of consumption emotions (excitement, comfort, annoyance, and romance) is developed. Further analyses provided strong evidence of the scale's unidimensionality, reliability, and validity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed with study limitations and recommendations for future research.     

The Impact of Moral Emotions on Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns: A Cross-Cultural Examination

This research was focused on investigating why some consumers might support cause-related marketing campaigns for reasons other than personal benefit by examining the influence of moral emotions and cultural orientation. The authors investigated the extent to which moral emotions operate differently across a cultural variable (US versus Korea) and an individual difference variable (self-construal). A survey method was utilised. Data were collected from a convenience sample of US (n = 180) and Korean (n = 191) undergraduates. Moral emotions significantly influenced purchase intention for a social-cause product. The influence of an ego-focused moral emotion (i.e., pride) on purchase intention was greater for US than Korean participants. The influence of another-focused moral emotion (i.e., guilt) on purchase intention was greater for high-interdependent participants than for low-interdependent participants. The findings of this research provide important and relevant implications to marketers and policy makers in developing persuasive messages and customer relationship programmes.     

Emotional Intelligence and Venture Performance

Scholars emphasize the importance of emotion in entrepreneurship and the potential of emotional intelligence, but research is sparse in the field. We develop and test a novel partial mediation model of emotional intelligence, interpersonal processes, and venture performance. The results indicate that interpersonal emotional skills, which entail the recognition and management of emotions in others, has a direct effect on venture performance, but intrapersonal emotional skills pertaining to self‐awareness and regulation of emotions do not. Additionally, both the intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of emotional intelligence have an indirect influence on firm performance via interpersonal processes that entail functioning in key activities within the firm. We discuss the implications and address potential avenues for future research on this important topic.     

情绪表达潜规则对组织内部员工情绪耗竭的影响——以情绪表达策略为中介

组织内部员工的工作内容主要围绕同事展开，组织一般对其无明确的情绪表达要求，因而他们有表达自我真实情绪的自由。但出于人际交往和工作沟通的需要，组织内会存在多种形式的情绪表达潜规则约束。为了揭示情绪表达潜规则导致内部员工情绪耗竭的作用路径，文章以资源保存、认知失调和自我损耗理论为基础构建了组织内情绪劳动者的“情绪表达潜规则—情绪表达策略—情绪耗竭”的理论模型。通过问卷调研和数据分析，证实了积极情绪潜规则可推动员工采用深层扮演策略，使内心感受和外在情绪保持一致，减少了情绪耗竭。而消极情绪潜规则会抑制员工情绪的深层扮演，并助长表层扮演来伪装情绪，造成情绪资源流失，最终导致情绪耗竭。研究还证实了组织内的情绪劳动者在表达情绪时，虽然可同时采用深层与表层扮演两种策略，但由于情绪资源有限，他们对两种策略的选择偏好显著负相关。     

An Examination of Emotional Information Management in Gift Giving and Receipt

Gift giving is prominent in marketplace exchanges and has robust emotional implications for both the giver and recipient. For example, prior to and during the selection of a gift, the giver endures positive and negative emotions, as he/she grapples with selecting the perfect gift, and ponders if the recipient will actually cherish the purchased item. During this dynamic exchange process, emotional recognition, management of emotions, emotional empathy, and anticipated elation are oft experienced by both the giver and recipient. However, research examining such emotions quantitatively in a gifting context is scant and models of these faculties in the gift‐giving milieu are nonexistent. To help fill this research fissure, four studies are developed; they, in general, investigate determinants of feelings linked with the gestation, prestation, and reformulation stages of the gift‐giving event. Specifically, Study 1 (giver's perspective) and Study 2 (receiver's perspective) reveal a mediation void in the models tested. Heeding these results, Study 3 (gift given) and Study 4 (gift received) introduce anticipated elation as a key factor between the aforementioned emotive factors and the emotional responses inherent in the gift‐giving stages, among others. Managerial implications and future research directions are offered.     

Consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns: Construct conceptualization and scale development

This study conceptualizes the consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns, which are important tools in improving the interactions between brands and consumers. We offer a comprehensive definition of this construct and discuss the nature and dimensionality of it. Further, this paper reports the development and validation of a 12‐item scale for measuring the aforementioned construct. This scale development process comprises four studies. Study 1 begins by generating a pool of items and then employs both a panel of experts and some Instagram users to examine the content validity of the items. To validate the scale, this paper carries out several online surveys in subsequent studies. Study 2 uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to remove the problematic items and evaluate the dimensionality of the construct. In Study 3, we conduct iterative CFAs to purify the scale and reassess the psychometric properties of the scale. Study 4 uses structural equation modeling to test the nomological validity. Our analyses reveal that consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns is a second‐order construct encompassing three first‐order dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement). The results also support the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, known group validity, and nomological validity of the engagement scale.     

Place the good after the bad: effects of emotional shifts on consumer memory

Marketing research has a limited understanding about the effects arising from emotional shifts (i.e., the transition from one emotion to another) during the same advertising message. This paper sheds light on this topic through two studies. Study 1 examines whether an advertising message that features a negative-to-positive emotional shift (i.e., a shift from a negative to a positive emotion) generates greater recall of an advertised brand than an advertising message with a neutral-to-positive emotional shift (i.e., a shift from a neutral to a positive emotion) or one with no emotional shift. Study 2 examines whether an advertising message that simulates a buyer-seller encounter—with the seller reproducing a negative-to-positive emotional shift via facial expressions—generates a greater recall of the advertised content than an identical advertisement with no emotional shift. Results confirm that a negative-to-positive shift facilitates the recall of both the brand and the advertised information.     

On the effectiveness of ego- and other-focused ad-evoked emotions

Emotional advertising is generally believed to be persuasive. However, not all emotional advertising is equally effective. Previous research has illustrated the importance of the pleasure dimension of emotions in the sense that positive emotions usually induce more positive attitudes than negative emotions. This paper deals with another dimension of emotions – the ego-other-focus dimension of emotions – referring to the degree to which these emotions make people see themselves as independent from or interdependent with others in a specific situation. Our findings indicate that, for a privately consumed product, ads evoking an egofocused emotion score better than ads evoking an other-focused emotion, whereas the reverse is true for a publicly consumed product. This match between product and emotion does not matter for introverts, but is important for extravert people. As such, we show that not only the pleasure dimension, but also the ego-other-focus dimension of emotions determines the effectiveness of emotional advertising.     

Materialism through the eyes of Polish and American consumers

The research applies the Material Values Scale (MVS; Richins and Dawson, 1992) cross-culturally by comparing materialism among Polish and American business students. Cultural differences (e.g., greater humanistic/collectivistic/Christian values in Poland) suggest lower MVS scores for Poles than for Americans. This prediction is consistent with the Local Culture hypothesis (i.e., that a strong local culture results in maintenance of traditional values in defense against global forces). Contrary to predictions, data suggest no Polish-American materialism differences, a finding consistent with the globalization hypothesis (i.e., increasing globalization leads to relatively uniform worldwide materialism). As a precursor to hypotheses testing, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tests the construct validity and cross-cultural validity of the MVS. The findings suggest substantial difficulties with the scale that limit the confidence in conclusions based on the scale. Based on these findings, future research discussion aims at developing a measure of materialism with potentially greater construct validity for cross-cultural applications.     

Besting the status quo: the effect of abstract versus concrete mindsets on emotional trade-off difficulty and avoidant coping behavior

Building on past emotional trade-off difficulty and construal level research, we investigate the conditions under which consumers engage in avoidant coping behavior to reduce negative emotions that arise from trading off valued attributes (e.g., quality and price). Results from three studies offer evidence that an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset systematically decreases avoidant coping behavior (e.g., the selection of a status quo option) by reducing the intensity of the negative emotion consumers experience. This effect replicates across construal level manipulations and product categories. Thus, in addition to the harmful effects of negative emotions and coping behavior on consumer choice identified in past research, we find that an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset can help consumers make better (i.e., more normative) choices. Together, these findings have implications for marketers of new or unfamiliar products as well as products that are not incumbents or category leaders (i.e., status quo options) when consumers face difficult trade-offs.     

The Ethics of Meaningful Work: Types and Magnitude of Job-Related Harm and the Ethical Decision-Making Process

This research on the ethics of meaningful work examined how types of job-related harm (physical, economic, emotional, and cognitive) and their magnitude of consequences (MOC, low, high) influenced components of ethical decision-making (moral recognition, moral evaluations, and moral intentions). The research also investigated the moderating effects of individual differences (experience with carpal tunnel syndrome, experience with layoffs, ability to read others’ emotions, and intrinsic motivation orientation [IMO]) on the relation between the MOC and the ethical decision-making elements for each type of harm. Using a sample of 185 Chinese professionals, a between-subjects, fully crossed experimental scenario design revealed that physical and economic job-related harm were recognized as moral issues to a greater extent than cognitive or emotional harm. Second, physical job-related harm stimulated a higher level of moral evaluations than economic and cognitive harm. Third, individuals intended to act ethically when MOC was high versus low. Finally, experience with layoffs and IMO helped explain the relations between MOC and moral evaluations for economic and cognitive job-related harm, respectively. Implications for research and management are discussed.     

Anger Strays,Fear Refrains: The Differential Effect of Negative Emotions on Consumers’ Ethical Judgments

Although various factors have been studied for their influence on consumers’ ethical judgments, the role of incidental emotions has received relatively less attention. Recent research in consumer behavior has focused on studying the effect of specific incidental emotions on various aspects of consumer decision making. This paper investigates the effect of two negative, incidental emotional states of anger and fear on ethical judgment in a consumer context using a passive unethical behavior scenario (i.e., too much change received). The paper presents two experimental studies. Study 1 focuses on the interaction of moral intensity (amount of change) and incidental emotion state in predicting the ethical judgment while study 2 investigates the underlying causal mechanism behind the process, using a mediation analysis. The results reveal a significant interaction between moral intensity and incidental emotion. Specifically, individuals in the state of incidental fear exhibit higher levels of ethical judgment as the moral intensity increases as compared to individuals in the state of incidental anger. Further, perceived control is found to mediate the relationship between emotional state and ethical judgment under higher moral intensity condition.     

The Relationship between task complexity and information search: The role of self‐efficacy

Prior research suggests the complexity of a product choice task is inversely related to the extent of consumers' external information search. The resource‐matching perspective holds that cognitive effort (e.g., external information search) is greatest when available cognitive resources (e.g., as determined by self‐efficacy) match the cognitive demands of a task (e.g., perceived task complexity). Within a brand‐choice context, the relationship between self‐efficacy and extent of information search appears nonmonotonic. In support of the resource‐matching perspective, consumers conduct the most extensive information search when their self‐efficacy matches perceived task difficulty. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An Alternative Approach to the Measurement of Emotional Attachment

Emotional attachment (EA)—the emotional bond connecting an individual with a specific target—has been identified as an important construct within the marketing domain. Despite all the research, there is no consensus on how the construct should be measured. A major factor contributing to this confusion is that current definitions and, consequently, scales of EA focus on describing reactions toward specific referents of attachment rather than on capturing the extent of emotion an individual feels; hence, hindering construct validity. In this article, the authors scrutinized the concept validity of EA. After defining the construct, scale development procedures were followed to propose an alternative one‐dimensional scale that reflects the abstract nature of EA. Three studies support the scale's reliability as well as the discriminant, convergent, criterion, and nomological validity of the measure. The studies tested the scale under different marketing contexts. Moreover, by employing the new measure, the findings showed that EA and self‐concept maintenance (SCM) are related, yet different constructs. Specifically, the results showed that these constructs interact to predict willingness to pay (WTP) for a brand such that when SCM is low, WTP is predicted by EA. However, when self‐concept is high, the effect of EA on WTP is not that strong. This new scale will help researchers extend research on EA to a broader set of contexts, explore the relationship between EA and related constructs, develop nomological networks, and prevent the confounding of terms.     

Empathic Relationships in Professional Services and the Moderating Role of Relationship Age

Empathy has been identified as a key success factor for employees who interact with customers. Despite its overall relevance, only a few studies have acknowledged its multidimensional nature. Knowledge remains scarce about the relative impact of cognitive and affective empathy on relational outcomes. In addition, few pieces of research have explicitly acknowledged empathy as theorized within stage‐models focusing on the communication of empathy. The authors conceptualize empathy as a multidimensional construct perceived by the client. Empathy has to be communicated to be effective, while customers’ perceptions of empathy may also be more complex as they distinguish between cognitive and affective empathy. This article investigates the effects of perspective taking, emotional concern, and emotional contagion on trust and commitment. Drawing upon relationship stage concepts, the authors further argue that the influence is moderated by relationship age. Finally, this study investigates if employees benefit from being perceived as empathic partners in terms of “hard facts” (objective sales performance). Based on a data set from 215 business clients of a large consulting firm, this study adopts a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach by using multigroup analysis. To test the empathy–performance link, the authors aggregate customer responses nested in 84 employees and link perceived empathy with performance data. The results show that within B2B relationships, perspective taking exerts the strongest influence on trust, whereas emotional concern is the strongest driver for commitment. The results also confirm the moderating role of relationship age and that perspective taking leads to an increase in actual sales performance. This study underpins the relevance of empathy within services marketing, while providing a more detailed approach to account for empathy as a relation building tool. Practical and academic implications are also addressed.     

Emotion and advertising effectiveness: A novel facial expression analysis approach

Neuroscience has revealed the importance of emotion in the human cognitive process. For the first time, a GfK-EMO Scan, a facial expression recognition software developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIs, is used to investigate the long-term effect of advertising on individual attitudes toward driving. The effects of high emotional and low emotional advertising were measured using the GfK-EMO software on 60 participants with a 50/50 male to female ratio. Each participant was subjected to either a high emotional or low emotional safe driving video advertisement. While watching the advertisement, the GfK-EMO facial recognition software recorded the unconscious emotions of participants who were also requested to fill a modified version of the National Survey of Speeding Attitudes and Behavior. A driving attitude score was then computed using this survey directly after the participant had viewed the advertisement and again two weeks later. Noticeable differences in the attitude score were recorded between participants having watched the high emotional advertisement against participants having watched the low emotional advertisement. The high emotional advertisement generated a higher and more durable safe driving attitude score in comparison to the low emotional advertisement.     

Do mind and body agree? Unconscious versus conscious arousal in product attitude formation

Marketing research addressing the role of arousal in attitude formation and change mostly looks at arousal as a merely conscious emotion. However, a substantial body of research, in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, now offers insights on the implicit, subliminal reactions of individuals to external stimuli, sustaining that unconscious emotions may drive to different attitudinal responses. Following a conceptualization of conscious and unconscious arousal and its influence on product attitude formation, this study provides empirical evidence of the hypothesised relationships through a laboratory experiment on 160 subjects. By employing electrodermal activity, a physiological measure, to assess unconscious arousal and self-reported scales to assess conscious arousal, the study reveals that conscious and unconscious arousal are two independent emotional responses and they influence attitude toward the product differently. The study extends theory on emotions and provides an initial step toward using physiological measures to evaluate consumer emotional response to new products.     

公仆型领导:概念的界定与量表的修订

采用一组管理者-员工配对样本数据和一组管理者样本数据对西方的公仆型领导的结构与含义进行了深入分析并对量表的效度进行了验证.探索性因素分析(N=285)表明,公仆型领导由利他主义、情绪抚慰、智慧、说服引导和社会责任感五个维度构成.验证性因素分析(N=304)表明,五维度的结构模型对数据拟合最佳.为了更好地考察公仆型领导量表的结构效度和实证效度,采用"管理者-员工"配对样本(N=209)数据进行分析,结果表明,公仆型领导量表具有较高的结构效度和实证效度.