“Never eat in that restaurant,I did!”: Exploring why people engage in negative word‐of‐mouth communication

What do consumers want to achieve when they engage in negative word‐of‐mouth communication (N‐WOM)? Two studies explore this question and reveal that consumers pursue specific goals when engaging in N‐WOM and that these goals systematically differ between the specific negative emotions that are experienced. For example, the results reveal that consumers who experience anger engage in N‐WOM to vent feelings or to take revenge. However, disappointed consumers engage in N‐WOM to warn others, and consumers who experience regret communicate with others to strengthen social bonds or to warn them. This reveals the functionality of specific emotions to N‐WOM, and how goals for N‐WOM are associated with these emotions. This demonstrates that rather than being uniform, the content and implications of N‐WOM are contingent on the specific emotions that consumers experience. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Firm size and the demand for energy in Dutch manufacturing, 1978–1986

As in most other industrialized countries the oil price shocks in the seventies led to major rearrangements in the production processes in Dutch manufacturing. The substitution of (expensive) energy consuming processes by less energy intensive ones is analyzed by means of a dynamic equation, relating the energy demand to the level of output, the price of energy and the prices of other inputs. Using a rather unique data set, consisting of panel data pertaining to several thousands of manufacturing firms, it is found that large firms can reduce energy costs more than small firms.This article reports on research carried out in the MOPS-project. Participants of MOPS are the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics, the Research Institute for Small and Medium-sized Business in the Netherlands, and the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics.The authors thank Bert Balk, Jos van Deventer, Peter Kooiman, Huib van de Stadt, Roy Thurik, Wim Vosselman, Ton Werkhoven and two anonymous referees for helpful comments.     

When Satisfied Consumers Do Not Return: Variety Seeking's Effect on Short‐ and Long‐Term Intentions

Even satisfied consumers frequently do not come back, which challenges loyalty theory and marketing practice. It is reasoned that variety‐seeking tendencies will significantly affect short‐term revisit intentions, whereas satisfaction and regret will mostly determine long‐term revisit intentions. Thus, the influence of satisfaction on loyalty is hypothesized to be critically dependent on the time perspective of the intentions, now or later, and variety seeking. A representative survey (N = 400) in eight Spanish cities supported these predictions. Multivariate moderated‐mediation analyses revealed that indeed the influence of satisfaction, regret, and variety seeking critically depends on the time perspective of the behavioral intentions.     

Angry customers don't come back,they get back: The experience and behavioral implications of anger and dissatisfaction in services

This article investigates the specific experience of anger and dissatisfaction and their effects on customers' behavioral responses to failed service encounters across industries. Study 1 demonstrates that anger and dissatisfaction are qualitatively different emotions with respect to their idiosyncratic experiential content. Study 2 builds on these findings and shows how anger and service encounter dissatisfaction differentially affect customer behavior. It provides empirical support for the contention that anger mediates the relationship between service encounter dissatisfaction and customers' behavioral responses. The findings of Study 2 diverge from previous findings in marketing on the interrelationships between customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, related consumption emotions, and customers' behavioral responses to service failure. The implications of these findings for services marketing theory and practice are delineated. Roger Bougie (J.R.G.Bougie@uvt.nl) is an assistant professor of marketing at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interests are emotions and their impact on consumer behavior, and consumer decision making. Rik Pieters is a professor of marketing at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interests are emotions in consumer behavior, visual attention and memory, and social networks. His work has appeared in, among others, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Economic Literature, theJournal of Marketing Research, andMarketing Science. Marcel Zeelenberg is a professor of social psychology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interest is in anticipated emotions and acutal emotional experiences and their impact on behavioral decision making. His work has appeared in, among others, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.     

Schooling,numeracy, and wealth accumulation: A study involving an agrarian population

Accumulating wealth is one of the main concerns for consumers. Higher education is widely associated with higher wealth, but the underlying reasons for this association remain unclear. Using data from a field study conducted with 218 adults in agrarian communities in Peru's Andean highlands, we explored the extent to which education, non-numeric fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and numeracy skills were related to wealth. Wealth was measured using data on asset ownership (e.g., owning a fridge) and housing characteristics (e.g., toilet facilities). Structural equation modeling revealed that the level of schooling was associated with greater numeracy as well as greater non-numeric fluid and crystallized intelligence; only greater numeracy was associated with greater wealth. Our findings are consistent with the idea that education is linked with financial outcomes, at least in part, through the enhancement of cognitive skills, particularly numeracy that then leads to greater wealth accumulation.     

Excess demand in the keller model

Summary In this paper, the Keller (1980) framework for an applied general equilibrium model is adapted to allow for rationing of households. To accomplish this, the concept of virtual prices (Neary and Roberts, 1980) is used. The calibration of the linearized model to a benchmark-year data set must be accommodated to reveal the level of the virtual prices. The modified framework is used for a disaggregated 114-sector model of The Netherlands in 1981. The results show that the adaptation allowing for rationing is quite important for the model outcomes, although further adjustments of the model remain necessary for it to become a true short-term model.The views expressed in this paper do not reflect the policy of the CBS, but are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors wish to thank Professor W.J. Keller, H.J.J. Stolwijk, F.J.H. Don and an anonymous referee for their helpful comments. The computer program used can be obtained at the Free University. The data set will be published by the CBS in 1991. The research reported in this paper is part of the Dutch VF-program Equilibrium and Disequilibrium in Demand and Supply.     

The dark side of discounts: An inaction inertia perspective on the post‐promotion dip

After a product has been on promotion, the sales of that product may temporarily decrease. This post‐promotion dip is normally explained in terms of forward buying or stockpiling. This article offers a third explanation in terms of brand switching. The results of two experiments show that after missing a discount on their regular brand, consumers may switch to another brand. Switching behavior is much more pronounced when a large discount is missed in comparison to when a small discount is missed. This finding is consistent with recent social psychological research on inaction inertia, and the results are discussed in relation to this phenomenon. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS FOR THE NETHERLANDS

In this paper the authors present Socio-economic Accounts for the Netherlands for the year 1981. Detailed information on income components, consumption components and savings for 52 household types are provided. The household types are a cross-classification of household size, income source and income level. For each income and consumption component, the sum of the amounts over the houshold types and three intermediary funds equals the macro amount in the National Accounts. The accounts are constructed by intregating macrodata from the National Accounts and microdata from the Income Statistics and the Budget Survey.