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In this research, we propose that although consumers view the scientific process as competent, they also perceive it as cold. Across 10 experimental studies, we demonstrate that these lay beliefs impact consumers' reactions to marketers touting the science behind their brands. Specifically, since hedonic attributes are associated with warmth, the coldness associated with science is conceptually disfluent with the anticipated warmth of hedonic products and attributes, reducing product valuation. In contrast, when products are positioned as utilitarian, invoking science in marketing appeals has a positive effect, as the perceived competence of the scientific process is more compatible with the competence associated with utilitarian products. We further demonstrate that when the necessity of science to create a hedonic product is made salient and thus more fluent, this backfire effect is attenuated. Finally, we identify three theoretically and practically relevant individual differences (endorsement of the lay belief, trust in scientists, and whether the consumer works in a STEM field) that moderate the backfire effect of pairing science with hedonically positioned products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, conversation on diversity and inclusion has been at the forefront in the media as well as the workplace. Though research has examined how diversity impacts organizational culture and decision-making, little attention has been given to how corporate diversity impacts consumers' responses to the firm. This article establishes a link between diversity and the perceived morality of market actors. A series of studies demonstrate that greater diversity (racial, gender, or national) in a corporate team leads to perceptions of greater morality of the firm and its representatives and, as a consequence, results in more favorable consumer attitudes and behavior toward the firm. This positive effect arises because consumers perceive diverse teams as possessing higher perspective-taking abilities. Since marketplace morality is concerned with the greater good, we argue that higher perceptions of perspective-taking signal that the team will safeguard the broad interests of the community rather than serve narrow interest groups. The findings have broad implications since consumers are increasingly concerned with moral consumption. Our research suggests that diversity in the workforce is not only important for team performance and social equity but can shape consumers' sentiments and behavior toward the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to explore the psychological analysis of sports consumers and its application in the rural collective economy industry. Select the top six cities in GDP ranking, namely (A city, B city, C city, D city, E city, F city), in each city, 4 out of 24 comprehensive operational sports and fitness service enterprises with fitness projects as their main business were selected based on consumer satisfaction, and 600 consumers' consumption behaviour was randomly selected as the research object. In terms of purchasing attitude, the most significant impact is the substantive stimulus among the stimulus factors, the correlation coefficient between the two is as high as 0.789, indicating that consumers' actual purchasing attitude is still influenced by factors such as the quality and function of sports products or the relevant services and prices provided in sports consumption venues. The product information reflected in stimulating factors and the consumer's own nature reflected in external factors are interrelated, which plays an important role in influencing consumer preferences and adjusting real consumption behaviour. The study also contributed a significant results which suggest the need for sports businesses to prioritize service-oriented offerings and invest in product quality and facilities to enhance consumer satisfaction and stimulate sports consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers rely on physical touch in offline shopping and vicarious touch (i.e., imagining touch) in online shopping to develop their attitudes toward a product. The subject of how touching (versus not touching) affects consumer attitudes toward a product merits studying. However, past research has drawn controversial conclusions regarding the effect of product touch on consumer attitudes. This study conducted a meta‐analysis to resolve this inconsistency and explore the reasons for this inconsistency. It quantitatively analyzed 185 effect sizes in 42 empirical studies conducted between 2003 and 2022. In general, relative to not touching, touching had a positive effect on consumers' attitudes toward a product (ρ $\rho $ = 0.242, p < 0.001), and the effect size was moderate. Furthermore, the positive touch effect was mediated by consumers' cognitive experiences relating to the product and their affective experiences relating to the product. The cognitive path (total indirect effect = 0.068, p < 0.001) being stronger than the affective path (total indirect effect = 0.067, p < 0.001). Importantly, it showed that past inconsistency regarding the touch effect could be explained by moderators including product type (utilitarian versus hedonic), participants' uncertainty avoidance, and type of touch (physical touch versus vicarious touch). This study provides new insights into the product touch literature and offers valuable implications for online and offline retailing and consumer well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Routine business activities often lead to unintended side effects. Prior research suggests that consumers ascribe greater corporate foreknowledge when side effects are harmful (vs. helpful) but offers a controversial explanation and insufficient exploration of its consequences. The current research fills these gaps, offering a heuristic‐based explanation steeped in consumer behavior, while demonstrating the importance of this asymmetry to consumer response. First, a Pilot Study confirms the theoretical processes underlying our explanation. Study 1 tests the role of this foreknowledge asymmetry in predicting implicit bias toward the company. Studies 2 and 3 provide moderation evidence for our heuristic‐based explanation and connect the phenomenon to motive inferences and blame judgments, respectively. In sum, this work provides a novel explanation for a common marketplace phenomenon while establishing its effects on several important consumer response variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses spiritual consumption from a corporal perspective, with a specific focus on pain and suffering as vehicles to a higher spiritual state. It applies a comparative auto-ethnography of the pain that people participating in two pilgrimages – the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain and the Quebec Compostela in Canada – feel in their toes and uses this to discuss how the experience and manifestation of pain actualises the spiritual experience. The results show that corporal pain transforms into a spiritual experience in the way that it connects to both the spiritual features associated with a particular context and the spiritual capital of the person experiencing the pain. They also reveal that displaying corporal pain during rituals – much like the sense of communion that is generated through the act of sharing – fosters further transformations leading to spiritual experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the fresh start mindset, defined as a belief that people can make a new start, get a new beginning, and chart a new course in life, regardless of their past or present circumstances. With historical roots in American culture and neoliberalism, and with contemporary links to liquid modernity and global consumer culture, this mindset structures reasoning, experience, and everyday language, and guides behavior across self- and other-transformative consumption domains. We develop a six-item scale (FSM) to measure the fresh start mindset and situate it within a broader nomological network, including growth mindset, personal capacity for change, optimism, future temporal focus, internal locus of control, self-efficacy, perseverance, resilience, and consumer variety seeking. Individuals with a stronger (vs. weaker) fresh start mindset invest in transformative change through changing their circumstances, including their own consumption choices (e.g., buying a new pair of sunglasses and getting a new self); they also are more supportive of transformative programs that assist those who are challenged to get a fresh start (i.e., disadvantaged youth, at-risk teens, veterans, and tax-burdened adults). Our work significantly contributes to transformative consumer research with attention to self-activities and programs for vulnerable populations that enable new beginnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study suggests that, in addition to willingness, ability is a relevant and important dimension of self-service technology (SST) acceptance and, going beyond prior studies’ exclusive focus on willingness, develops an SST acceptance model that captures both consumer ability and willingness to use such technologies. Previous research on consumer acceptance of SSTs has focused primarily on consumers’ willingness, while neglecting their ability – this is evident in many SST studies investigating adoption intentions. However, using an SST often requires skills and some level of confidence. Drawing upon the ability–willingness framework, this study adopts a cross-sectional field survey approach to recruit real consumers using self-checkout technology at a supermarket. Results from structural equation modelling based on 281 consumers highlight the relevance and importance of ability, and show that consumers’ willingness and ability to use SSTs are determined by different factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses as study which examined four place-related constructs, country and people images, product images, affinity and animosity, among ethnic consumers. Topics covered include the influence of the constructs on consumers' attitudes towards the product of countries perceived as friendly or hostile in relation to their original home countries, the influence of affective and cognitive factors on product and people evaluations, and implications from the findings.

This ethnography outlines experiences of the marketer-facilitated World Series of Beer Pong. Consumers, in carnival spirit, augment marketer-facilitated mimetic (moderate, controlled) forms of experience with non-mimetic (dangerous, uncontrolled) consumption rituals, enacted in pursuit of contemporary excitement. Consumers serendipitously hijack the facilitating brand’s ideology resulting in the promotion of marketplace tensions. This study contributes to marketing and consumer culture theory by extending current experiential marketing frameworks via the introduction of the branded carnival, a non-mimetic communal brand-centric phenomenon; showing how non-mimetic excitement emerges in marketplace contexts; highlighting the implications for experiential and brand community marketers; and positioning the branded carnival within a broader cultural gravitation towards non-mimetic behaviour opposing marketplace ideology. Finally, limitations are discussed, and directions for further research are suggested. Readers are encouraged to engage with carnival spirit: profanities go uncensored. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study identifies and profiles market mavens among the baby boomer generation in the United Kingdom. Boomers are an important market segment, yet most advertising targets younger audiences, making word-of-mouth communications crucial among this older cohort. Findings suggest boomer mavens place great importance on ‘respect’ values, are particularly concerned with fashion and compared with non-mavens are more likely to try new brands, watch more television, hold positive attitudes towards advertising and seek out bargains. The study is useful to those businesses wishing to target a mature consumer who people perceive as a good source of marketplace information and who likes introducing new brands to others. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sport consumer behavior (SCB) research continues to grow in both popularity and sophistication. A guiding principle in much of this research has focused on the nature of sport-related experiences and the benefits sport consumers derive from these experiences. This emphasis has generated new knowledge and insights into the needs and wants of sport consumers. Although these efforts have contributed to the field's understanding of SCB, the vast majority of this research has centered on psychological phenomena and the evaluative and affective components of these sport experiences. Approaches to this work have also narrowed, with SCB research predominately relying on cross-sectional studies and attitudinal surveys to collect information. This has resulted in limited findings that seldom account for how various situational or environmental factors might influence attitudinal data patterns at the individual and group level. This special issues seeks to deepen our understanding of SCB by providing seven papers that demonstrate or validate findings using multiple studies or data collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a rapidly growing number of consumers experiencing migration around the world, the need for new research methodologies to understand ethnic consumption becomes more pressing for managers operating in global markets. The objective of this contribution is to show that Greimasian semiotics is a very relevant interpretive framework to capture the symbolic and dynamic dimensions of ethnicity. In the context of a three-cities research programme (Paris, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur), we use the spatial identity semiotic square to interpret consumers' discourses in the context of dominated and non-dominated acculturation experiences. We show that informants' discourses are structured around four identity anchors and that dual culture consumers use products, brands, ingredients and retail environments to construct their identities. Managing two spatial reference points within a coherent self can be, at times, challenging for consumers coming from 'third' or 'first' world countries. The issue is even more pressing for ethnic consumers who experience discrimination, since they are constantly reminded of their difference. This research confirms the relevance of semiotics, in terms of market research methodology, for grasping the deeper symbolic dimensions of ethnic consumers' discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some unsustainable consumer behaviours have proved extremely hard to change or even challenge. Despite the fact that flying can be more damaging than any other activity that an individual can undertake, many otherwise green consumers still choose to fly, offering an opportunity to elicit narratives about the differences between their attitudes and behaviours. Qualitative interview data were gathered from self-selected green consumers and set within a cognitive dissonance analytical framework. Four strategies were uncovered: not changing travel behaviour (but offering justifications related to travel product, travel context or personal identity); reducing or restricting flights; changing other behaviours to compensate for flying; and stopping flying. This analysis furthers research on green consumer rationales for (un)sustainable behaviours and suggests several avenues for sustainable marketing management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This eye tracking experiment (N= 149) investigates the influence of different ways of disclosing brand placement on viewers’ visual attention, the use of persuasion knowledge, and brand responses. The results showed that (1) a combination of text (“This program contains product placement”) and a product placement (PP) logo was most effective in enhancing the recognition of advertising and that a logo alone was least effective; (2) this effect was mediated by viewers’ visual attention to the disclosure and brand placement; and (3) the recognition of advertising consequently increased brand memory and led to more negative brand attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prior research has suggested that many consumers prefer domestic to foreign products, even when the quality is lower and the price is higher. Such bias is attributed to consumer ethnocentrism. This study critically examines the current conceptualizations of consumer ethnocentrism and proposes an extension of its conceptual boundaries and measurement. It determines that consumer ethnocentrism is a multidimensional construct that encompasses five dimensions: prosociality, cognition, insecurity, reflexiveness, and habituation. Empirical evidence from the United Kingdom and the United States demonstrates that the extended measurement instrument better predicts consumers' preferences for local brands at the expense of foreign brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sponsorship is a significant element of today's marketing communication. Nevertheless, managers and researchers lack of systematic and integrative understanding of key factors that influence sponsorship outcomes and the contexts in which the relationships between sponsorship effectiveness antecedents and outcomes are stronger or weaker. The authors attempt to address this gap by providing a systematic meta-analytic review of sponsorship effectiveness that incorporates (1) cognitive, affective, and conative consumer-focused sponsorship outcomes; (2) sponsor-related, dyadic, and sponsee-related antecedents to consumer-focused sponsorship outcomes; and (3) sponsorship-related and methodological moderators of the relationships between the three antecedent categories and three outcome categories. Our findings help assess the validity and robustness of the predictive capability of the antecedents, and they also offer a more generalizable and empirically established set of factors that are vital to the achievement of key sponsorship outcomes. Several of our results afford noteworthy implications for improving the effectiveness of sponsorship research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the variation in brand growth and decline across many different product categories. It uses recent consumer panel data from the UK, covering 639 brands across 28 categories, including food, personal care, home care and pet food, over a five-year period from 2008 to 2012. Consistent with the literature, the study finds that most brands in the consumer packaged goods market are stationary, as only 14% of the brands change their market share by more than three points. However, the study discovers that some categories are more dynamic than others. The percentage of brands that change their share by more than three points is different across the categories, varying from 0% to 44%. The study further examines some potential factors that can affect the variation and finds that category penetration and purchase frequency have significant effects on the variation. The lower the category penetration and category purchase frequency, the lower the brand share stationarity. On the other hand, proportion of sales on promotion in the category and new SKU introductions do not have a significant effect on the variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As competition online increases, website owners investigate ways in which they can attract and retain more users. One avenue is to reduce frustration and stress for the users. Furthermore, many website users are rushed when browsing for specific information on a website. To save time and prevent frustration, website owners should try to maximize information scent, that is, visual, audio, and semantic cues that are meant to lead or guide the user to his or her informational goal. This paper presents and tests a model to predict how information scent can reduce the amount of stress that consumers experience when seeking information under time constraints. The study also demonstrates the relationships between information scent, time constraints, stress, performance, and attitudes toward the website. Results demonstrate that high information scent is an important design goal for a website, and latent semantic analysis can be a useful tool for measuring scent. In addition, rather than an attribute of an overall site, the concept of scent is demonstrated to be dependent on both the website and the task(s) being performed by the user. This finding demonstrates that to maximize users’ satisfaction and ability to accomplish their goals, website designers need to determine what tasks users need to accomplish, and to make sure that the links on each page point clearly to the appropriate destination to meet those goals. The latent semantic analysis tool can provide an indication of strength and clarity of the links. Clear links gain even more importance when considering the time constraints of users. Measurable stress explains some of the variance in performance and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the role of perceived value in the relationship between brand attitude, perceived fit, extension attitude and consumers’ purchase intention of downscale vertical extensions of luxury and premium brands in two product categories: cars and shoes. Results from 236 individuals with different income levels show that extension attitude is positively related to purchase intention both directly and indirectly, via the perceived value of the extension; the latter is more strongly correlated than extension attitude to consumers’ purchase intention. Brand attitude is also positively associated with perceived value. Overall, perceived value partially mediates the relationships of brand attitude and of extension attitude with purchase intention. The product category affects the strength of some of the relationships in the model, including the role of fit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Diverse customer desires coupled with technological advances have forced companies to manufacture products with ultimate performance, low cost, high quality and much shorter time-to-market. Recently, the popularity of smart phones has given rise to seriously declined product sales of digital cameras. In this paper, a two-phase framework is presented to offer decision supports on developing next-generation cameras. In the phase of market segmentation, Kansei engineering is employed to capture customer perceptions of affective features. Then, rough set theory is conducted to generate decision rules for partitioning the whole market into the consumer segment and the professional segment, respectively. In the phase of product customisation, conjoint analysis is applied to extract customer preferences for functional features. Furthermore, Grey relational analysis is conducted to select the top three varieties with regard to two distinct segments. In particular, this paper is capable to help brand companies or camera manufacturers better capture customer perceptions and preferences for digital cameras, effectively perform market segmentation (based on affective features) and efficiently conduct product customisation (based on functional features). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is noticeable that forecast information is always subject to some deviations, but it helps reduce the product time-to-market. This is important as customer loyalty decreases as the waiting time becomes longer; thus, to have a balance between forecast error and customer loss becomes essential. This paper presents a production approach that aims at compensating the forecast error and the possible customer loss in waiting for either a product (or a service) to boost the profit. A novel model to tackle this scenario is presented. The results showed that it could offer a better production solution than the Make-To-Stock or the Make-To-Order approaches by starting the production sometime in between these two traditional approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This lecture was intended to continue the discussions on why and how to establish a distinctive sport management discipline that was initiated by previous Earle F. Zeigler Lecture Award recipients. Through applying the dual process theory (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006), it was intended to explore the differences between tangible and intangible variables, how they have been studied as distinct perspectives, and how they can be integrated through two application examples, one on service quality of sport event operations and the other on market demand for sport events. Hopefully, this lecture would help reenergize the discussions and inquiries on this important matter. These illustrations are certainly debatable and subject to further empirical examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research undertaken into the role of gamification in online surveys has already clearly demonstrated that applying some gamification principles can significantly increase the richness of spontaneous data and participant engagement, as well as the time that participants take to complete a survey. It is obviously appreciated that consumer engagement is critical for ensuring completion rates, reducing boredom within survey and also for panel membership moving forward, but the primary consideration and focus when designing any research survey has to be on accessing reality for the consumer and hence data validity. This paper shares the results of a research-on-research study that was conducted to understand the role of gamification, not only in terms of participant engagement and richness of data but also data validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the importance of religious identity amongst young second- and third-generation British Muslims. It further seeks to understand the influence, if any, religious identity has on their consumer behaviour, examining the global rise of an Islamic consumer against a more localised set of needs and preferences. Primary research for this paper consisted of qualitative interviews with young British Muslims in London and Greater Manchester, as well as a written reflection on identity and consumption completed by participants ahead of their interview. The findings of this research challenge existing assumptions around young British Muslims, and as such will be of interest to brands and research agencies alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While scent is generally considered the more important factor determining consumers' choice of cosmetics, the first impression gained by a potential purchaser is the sight of the packaging design. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative roles of sight and smell in consumers' choice of body lotion, using a combination of sense testing, questionnaire and interview. A total of 492 convenience-selected volunteers were asked to designate their favourite scents of five prepared body lotion samples by sight and by smell. They then undertook a questionnaire survey, and 21 of the group took part in semi-structured in-depth interviews. Most participants chose different scents when relying on sight or smell, and this difference affected their purchasing intention and purchasing motivation, with visual features of products influencing intentions more than olfactory properties. While scent was not the major reason for purchasing a cosmetic, for many participants it was an important factor. The method used may have advantages in market research over others not utilising one or other of the components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have documented that many consumers have positive attitudes towards responsible products but do not consistently buy these alternatives. In this paper we present a new perspective, based on categorisation theory, to examine the attitude-behaviour gap. Through a qualitative study, we identify two dimensions that influence consumers' categorisation of ethical products: (1) construing the decision as altruistic or self-interested and (2) perceiving the context of the behaviour as private or public. Using these dimensions to assess the consumption situation, consumers construe four types of responsible purchase that rest on different motivations. Analysing the categorisation process allows a more nuanced understanding of the potential reasons that underpin the attitude-behaviour gap. We show that the inconsistency between words and deeds has different explanations depending on the frame applied by consumers to the decision, and suggest that a deeper understanding of framing processes is necessary for the development of more effective marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development of a new online tool for collecting data about customer preferences. The tool was created to produce comprehensive data on the connections between important variables, while offering an interesting and easy-to-use tool for respondents and researchers. The tool uses the principle of a mind-map. It was applied to two cases concerning housing preferences, and to one of municipal construction. Consumer preferences are complex and the authors thought that a visual tool could prove helpful in data collection. We present examples of network analysis, which give good insights into the complexity of preferences. Ways to improve the usability and analytical potential of the tool are also discussed. The mind-map tool shows potential for being a good data collection method, although further development is necessary to uncover the whole potential of the tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For print advertising, it has been shown that rhetorical figures, tropes in particular, are used abundantly and that the effect on ad appreciation depends on the ad being perceived as comprehensible. To help the audience arrive at the intended interpretation, sometimes anchoring information is provided. The question is to what extent the same holds for TV commercials. A content analysis of 200 TV commercials revealed that the vast majority contained tropes and (verbal and visual) anchoring information that either hinted at the intended interpretation or spelled it out completely; this anchoring information could be presented before/during the trope or after. For each commercial, aggregated consumer response data were analyzed. Verbally and visually spelling out the intended interpretation increased the perceived comprehensibility. For the visual anchoring information, this led to higher appreciation scores; for verbal anchoring information, increased comprehensibility canceled out the negative effect on appreciation caused by providing this information. Verbal anchoring information presented after the trope improved appreciation compared to it being presented before or during. Advertisers appear to take into account that solving the riddle posed by a trope may be difficult if the processing pace is set by the medium and provide additional help. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite strong evidence on the effectiveness of advertising rhetoric, the extant literature has not theorized or empirically assessed conditions under which this effectiveness may be nullified. The present research argues that the application of rhetoric in advertisements grounded in controversial topics such as violence and eroticism may be ineffective. Results from two studies suggest that the application of a widespread rhetorical figure such as resonance within controversial ad settings cannot attenuate consumers’ negative responses and under certain conditions may even worsen them. Implications for advertising theory and practice, along with study limitations and future research avenues, are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Consumer embarrassment is a concern for many advertisers. Yet little is known about ad-induced embarrassment. The authors investigate when and why consumers experience embarrassment as a result of exposure to socially sensitive advertisements. The theory distinguishes between viewing potentially embarrassing ads together with an audience that shares the social identity targeted by the ad and viewing the same ads together with an audience that does not share the targeted social identity. Four studies provide support for the theory, demonstrating that advertising targeting and social context jointly influence feelings of embarrassment and advertising effectiveness. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for advertisers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Identity appeals—marketing communications that invoke one of the target market's identities—are typically well liked by consumers. In contrast with this notion, this research examines a situation when consumers respond negatively to identity appeals in advertising. Through three studies, we find that identity appeals fail when consumers judge an identity-congruent ad as portraying information about them that they would rather not have widely broadcast. In these cases, self-presentation concerns arise, leading to ad dislike. Thus, although identity-congruent ads resonate with consumers, such ads may lead to negative responses if consumers believe the ad airs their “dirty laundry.” We discuss implications for targeted advertising and identity marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on schema theory and advertising rhetoric, this article contributes to research on incongruent communication with three studies exploring consumer responses across different degrees of ad–brand incongruity. Study 1 reveals an inverted U-shaped pattern, indicating the superiority of moderate incongruity on ad processing time, recall, and attitude toward the ad (Aad) and the brand (Ab). Studies 2A and 2B replicate this pattern and further demonstrate that the affect already stored in the brand schema drives brand attitude formation for congruent and extremely incongruent ads, whereas both schema- and stimulus-based affect determine brand attitude for moderately incongruent ads. Study 2B also shows that participants are able to resolve ad–brand incongruity and comprehend the ad unless discrepancies are extreme. Finally, it is revealed that comprehension of more cognitively challenging ads mediates the effect of incongruity on both Aad and Ab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research investigates whether a brand's prior commercials create expectations against which consumers compare its new commercials. Extending the expectation–disconfirmation paradigm, this article proposes that the degree to which consumers’ expectations are disconfirmed affects their attitudes toward a new commercial, which then influence their brand attitudes. Studies 1, 2, and 3 tested these predictions by exploring consumers’ expectations with regard to creativity, humor, and specific ad features (e.g., spokescharacters) in new commercials. The findings support the predictions; both value-laden and value-neutral expectations exert the proposed influences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mobile applications markets with app stores have introduced a new approach to define and sell software applications with access to a large body of heterogeneous consumer population. This research examines key seller- and app-level characteristics that impact success in an app store market. We tracked individual apps and their presence in the top-grossing 300 chart in Apple's App Store and examined how factors at different levels affect the apps' survival in the top 300 chart. We used a generalized hierarchical modeling approach to measure sales performance, and confirmed the results with the use of a hazard model and a count regression model. We find that broadening app offerings across multiple categories is a key determinant that contributes to a higher probability of survival in the top charts. App-level attributes such as free app offers, high initial ranks, investment in less-popular (less-competitive) categories, continuous quality updates, and high-volume and high-user review scores have positive effects on apps' sustainability. In general, each diversification decision across a category results in an approximately 15 percent increase in the presence of an app in the top charts. Survival rates for free apps are up to two times more than that for paid apps. Quality (feature) updates to apps can contribute up to a threefold improvement in survival rate as well. A key implication of the results of this study is that sellers must utilize the natural segmentation in consumer tastes offered by the different categories to improve sales performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet has become a competitive platform from which organizations can market their services and consumers can garner information through electronic word of mouth (eWOM). While eWOM has been examined in many different contexts, little research has been done on the impact of eWOM in a sport setting. This study examined the persuasiveness of eWOM on the attitudes and behaviors of consumers through online reviews of the Chicago Bears Bar, a hypothetical brand extension of the Chicago Bears. Through an online experiment with the elaboration likelihood model providing a theoretical framework, 2 major findings emerged from this research. First, it was found that the attitudes of highly identified fans are influenced by high-quality reviews. Second, the behaviors of highly identified fans were significantly influenced by high-quality reviews. Both findings suggest that highly identified fans prefer to align with messages that are reflective of their attitudes toward a brand and its extensions. The results of the study provide significant theoretical and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertisers put considerable effort into developing messages that appeal to a persuadable target group. Based on the characteristics of these audiences, as well as a number of situational factors, advertising messages can be described as primarily informational or emotional. The purpose of this study was to test how the value orientation of a sports-related event and situational involvement moderate consumers' information processing and attitudes toward the event advertisement. Consistent with dual-process theory, the results indicate that, when dealing with information about a utilitarian sports career-fair event, consumers rely on either effortful or effortless processing depending on their level of situational involvement. However, consumers use both effortful and effortless processing for a hedonic sporting event. This study extends the dual-process theory and planning models by suggesting that a traditional, theory-based dichotomous dual-process model should give way to a co-occurrence model for hedonic sporting events in high-involvement situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, maximum difference scaling (MDS) analysis has gained a significant increase in popularity in market research. MDS represents a valid and better alternative when collecting preference measurements, being scale-free and providing more differentiation when measuring attribute importance than standard rating scales. With growing popularity there is a clear need to better understand the potentialities and limitations of MDS. While some work has already been done (among others, Orme 2005), there are still many unexplored areas, in particular regarding the impact of the key elements in an MDS design on the accuracy of results. With this paper we try to understand to what extent the number of versions, the number of tasks and the number of respondents impact on the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that differences in manufacturing location can affect consumer preferences through lay inferences about production quality. In this article, the authors take a different approach to this topic by demonstrating how beliefs in contagion (the notion that objects may acquire a special aura or "essence" from their past) influence perceptions of authenticity for everyday consumer products and brands. Specifically, they find that due to a belief in contagion, products from a company's original manufacturing location are viewed as containing the essence of the brand. In turn, this belief in transferred essence leads consumers to view products from the original factory as more authentic and valuable than identical products made elsewhere. The authors further reveal that consumers who are higher in sensitivity to contagion are more likely to exhibit this effect and that activating the concept of contagion enhances preferences for products made in the brand's original factory. The authors close by discussing theoretical and practical implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agenda-setting theory is used to investigate if consumers' online opinions on “greenwashed” advertisements (misleading green advertisements) are influenced by the agenda set by online newspaper articles and environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) blogs. Leximancer is initially used to obtain attributes and identify themes from four different online stakeholder discussions on greenwashing. Content analysis and cross-lagged correlations are further used to verify if blogs and news articles set the substantive attribute salience in the consumer discussions over a 12-month period (January–December 2009). We found two significant themes in the various stakeholder discussions on greenwashing: marketing communication credibility and impact on natural environment. Results also indicate a bidirectional agenda-setting relationship between consumers and other stakeholders from the same country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article revisits the widely believed notion of the skeptical green consumer, in other words, that green consumers tend to distrust green advertising. Study 1, a survey of U.S. consumers, found no positive relationship between green consumerism and general ad skepticism. However, green consumerism was negatively related to green advertising skepticism. Study 2, a survey of Austrian consumers, addressed the underlying mechanism of this negative relationship in a mediation analysis. It was shown that green consumers saw more informational utility in green ads than nongreen consumers did. This, in turn, decreased their green advertising skepticism. The emotional appeal of green ads, however, had no impact on green advertising skepticism. Findings suggest that the “dilemma for marketers who desire to target the green consumer” (Zinkhan and Carlson 1995, p. 5) is far less serious than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sexual appeals grab attention and elicit emotional responses, yet the existing literature surrounding this area of research has yielded inconsistent findings with regard to their ability to influence consumer liking and preference. Little attention has also been given to investigating sexual appeals beyond the scope of the effects of gratuitous sexual stimuli (nudity), and as such, most of what is known about sexual appeal advertising is centred on the effects of nudity alone. The current study examines sexual-stimuli intensity (explicit vs. mild) in print advertising and assesses its influence on advertising effectiveness and how this varies by gender for Australian consumers. An experiment is conducted as a test of the hypothesised relationships, with findings indicating that the level of sexual-stimuli intensity in print advertising is more effective in influencing consumers’ attitudinal and behavioural responses when depicted at a mild intensity level than at an explicit intensity level. These findings offer important insights for marketers in the design and configuration of sexual appeals used in advertising to maximise the effectiveness of ads to achieve favourable consumer behaviour outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Words prime semantic and conceptually related associates and concepts. This article documents a novel route of priming disparate meanings relevant to consumer behaviors. Reading processes use word sound, not spelling, to activate word meaning in memory. Reading a homophone (e.g., "bye")-a word with identical pronunciation as another word but with different spelling and meaning-activates meanings and concepts related to the complementary homophone (e.g., "buy"). Homophone priming occurs when a secondary process fails to suppress activated meanings associated with the complementary homophone, which may influence meaning-relevant consumer behaviors downstream. Two experiments (with replications) demonstrate this effect occurs when consumers experience diminished cognitive resources, which reduces the ability to suppress complementary homophone meanings. This research identifies word sound as an associative link between otherwise unrelated concepts that can result in priming of judgments and behavior. Importantly, these results are difficult to predict from a purely semantic or associative priming perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long lists of ranked items, such as Bloomberg Businessweek's rankings of MBA programs, are ubiquitous in Western culture, and they are often used in consumer decision making. Six studies show that consumers mentally subdivide ranked lists into a smaller set of categories and exaggerate differences between consecutive items adjacent to category boundaries. Further, despite prior work suggesting that people might subjectively produce place-value categories (e.g., single digits, the twenties), this research shows that consumers interpret ranked lists by generating round-number categories ending in zero or five (e.g., top 10, top 25). Thus, for example, consumers will more favorably evaluate improvements in rank that cross round-number-category boundaries (e.g., shifting from rank 11 to rank 10) than improvements in rank that cross place-value-category boundaries (e.g., shifting from rank 10 to rank 9). This phenomenon, labeled the top-ten effect, occurs because round numbers are cognitively accessible to consumers due to their prevalent use in everyday communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the ubiquity of fateful predictions in consumers' lives, little is known about how these forecasts impact subsequent choice. This research concerns fate as an inevitable outcome and posits that consumers who believe in fate have an implicit theory about the nature of fate, such that some consider that their fate is preordained and outside of individual influence, whereas others believe that their fate is malleable and can be changed. Two studies demonstrate that the choice share of an indulgent (vs. virtuous) option increases only among consumers who believe that their fate is malleable when an unfavorable day ahead is predicted for them. This result appears consistent with an argument that they intentionally choose an indulgent option as a deliberate strategy to compensate for an unfavorable day ahead. However, analysis of verbal protocols points to an incidental nature of indulgent choice among those who believe in malleable fate. The research also discusses boundary conditions and casts doubt on an alternative explanation based on reactance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes are at the heart of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), but problems in defining and measuring attitudes have contributed to typically low ability to predict behaviour. This article investigates the impact of potential disjuncture between evaluations that an individual externally verbalises (explicit attitudes), and evaluations that are internally held and may exist outside of conscious awareness (implicit attitudes), on the predictive ability of TRA. We study consumers’ attitudes towards eating healthy food and subsequent behaviour in a context of socially consensual behaviour. An Implicit Association Test (IAT) is used to measure implicit attitudes, and these scores are contrasted with self-reported explicit attitude scores. Ninety one participants took part in the study. We found, surprisingly, that implicit attitude has no significant effect on behavioural intention. However, a disjuncture between an individual’s implicit and explicit attitudes, reflecting internal psychological conflict, affected behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines two types of information commonly used by group-buying sites to induce purchasing. The first study indicates the number of people who have bought a deal ("buy" information). The second one indicates Facebook friends who "like" a deal ("like" information). The effects of the group-buying information on opinions (attitude and intention) and emotions were examined using a controlled experiment. Our results show that positive and negative "buy" information has an asymmetric influence on attitude and intention, whereas "like" information has a positive influence on intention. The presence of "buy" information is associated with EEG activity that is generally linked to negative emotions. However, the addition of "like" information is associated with EEG activity that is generally linked to positive emotions. The different effects of the two types of group-buying information can be explained by the different social influences exerted by the information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using subject indexes and text mining of author abstracts, the authors track the evolution of content in Journal of Marketing Research since its inception 50 years ago. These data reveal that the journal has expanded beyond its initial emphasis on marketing research methods and advertising to increase its coverage of other substantive topics and consumer behavior. Moreover, a joint space of topics and editors reveals that editorial orientations appear largely evolutionary rather than revolutionary and that a major shift in journal coverage occurs at the time Marketing Science began publication. The authors conclude their analysis with several policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]