Criteria for evaluating structural equation models with latent variables are defined, critiqued, and illustrated. An overall program for model evaluation is proposed based upon an interpretation of converging and diverging evidence. Model assessment is considered to be a complex process mixing statistical criteria with philosophical, historical, and theoretical elements. Inevitably the process entails some attempt at a reconcilation between so-called objective and subjective norms.

On the evaluation of structural equation models

The Technology Acceptance Model and two variations of the Theory of Planned Behavior were compared to assess which model best helps to understand usage of information technology. The models were compared using student data collected from 786 potential users of a computer resource center. Behavior data was based on monitoring 3,780 visits to the resource center over a 12-week period. Weighted least squares estimation revealed that all three models performed well in terms of fit and were roughly equivalent in terms of their ability to explain behavior. Decomposing the belief structures in the Theory of Planned Behavior provided a moderate increase in the explanation of behavioral intention. Overall, the results indicate that the decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior provides a fuller understanding of behavioral intention by focusing on the factors that are likely to influence systems use through the application of both design and implementation strategies.

Understanding Information Technology Usage: A Test of Competing Models

Publisher Summary
This chapter outlines the two basic routes to persuasion. One route is based on the thoughtful consideration of arguments central to the issue, whereas the other is based on the affective associations or simple inferences tied to peripheral cues in the persuasion context. This chapter discusses a wide variety of variables that proved instrumental in affecting the elaboration likelihood, and thus the route to persuasion. One of the basic postulates of the Elaboration Likelihood Model—that variables may affect persuasion by increasing or decreasing scrutiny of message arguments—has been highly useful in accounting for the effects of a seemingly diverse list of variables. The reviewers of the attitude change literature have been disappointed with the many conflicting effects observed, even for ostensibly simple variables. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) attempts to place these many conflicting results and theories under one conceptual umbrella by specifying the major processes underlying persuasion and indicating the way many of the traditionally studied variables and theories relate to these basic processes. The ELM may prove useful in providing a guiding set of postulates from which to interpret previous work and in suggesting new hypotheses to be explored in future research.

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The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship between an individual’s relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and conative antecedents of relative attitude are identified as contributing to loyalty, along with motivational, perceptual, and behavioral consequences. Implications for research and for the management of loyalty are derived.

Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework:

This study examines the impact of transformational leader behaviors on organizational citizenship behaviors, and the potential mediating role played by subordinates' trust and satisfaction in that process. Measures of six transformational leader behaviors (Articulating a Vision, Providing an Appropriate Model, Fostering the Acceptance of Group Goals, High Performance Expectations, Individualized Support, and Intellectual Stimulation), one transactional leader behavior (Contingent Reward Behavior), employees' trust in their leader, and satisfaction were obtained from 988 exempt employees of a large petrochemical company. Matching evaluations of five citizenship behaviors of these employees (Altruism, Conscientiousness, Courtesy, Civic Virtue, and Sportsmanship) were obtained from their supervisors. In order to determine whether transformational behaviors augment the impact of transactional behaviors, their effects on followers' trust, satisfaction, and citizenship behaviors were examined in the context of the effect of transactional leader behaviors on these same variables. The results indicate that the effects of the transformational leader behaviors on citizenship behaviors are indirect, rather than direct, in that they are mediated by followers' trust in their leaders. Moreover, these results were found not to be wholly attributable to the effects of common method biases. The implications of these findings for future research on transformational leader behaviors, trust, and organizational citizenship behavior are then discussed.

Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors

Even though negative information about brands and companies is widely prevalent in the marketplace, except for case studies, there has been no systematic investigation of how consumers process negative information about the brands they like and use In the three studies in this research, the authors attempt to bridge this gap The findings of the first and second studies provide a theoretical framework for understanding how consumers process negative information in the marketplace Commitment of the consumer toward the brand is identified as a moderator of negative information effects In the third study, the authors use this theoretical framework to derive and test response strategies that companies can use to counter negative publicity for consumers who are high and low in commitment toward the brand

Consumer response to negative publicity: The moderating role of commitment.

An experiment was conducted to clarify the nature of the influence active in most prior marketing research on the social influence process. Experimental subjects were exposed to evaluations of coffee which were attributed to either a similar or dissimilar source. These evaluations were high in uniformity, low in uniformity or of unknown uniformity. Subjects then tasted and evaluated the coffee. The subjects' evaluations were made either under a visible (identifiable) condition or an anonymous condition. The data supported a hypothesis of informational social influence.

Informational and Normative Social Influence in Buyer Behavior

Attitude organization and the attitude–behavior relationship.

Two experiments manipulate self-referencing by varying copy writing strategy. It is found that increasing self-referencing increases message elaboration and can increase persuasion when message arguments are strong. However, when self-referencing is increased in the presence of other variables that also enhance elaboration, the favorable effect of self-referencing on persuasion is moderated or reversed. A two-factor explanation is employed to generate predictions and account for results.

Effects of Self-Referencing on Persuasion

Spillover refers to the extent to which a message influences beliefs related to attributes that are not contained in the message. The authors find that when consumers are not familiar with a brand, negative information spills over to attributes that are associated with the target attribute but not mentioned in the message. However, positive information does not. When consumers like the brand, a spillover occurs for the positive information as well. When consumers are committed to the brand, the spillover of negative information is minimized, but positive information spills over more freely to other associated but unmentioned attributes.

Robert E. Burnkrant

Papers

Consumer response to negative publicity: The moderating role of commitment.

Informational and Normative Social Influence in Buyer Behavior

Attitude organization and the attitude–behavior relationship.

Effects of Self-Referencing on Persuasion

The Moderating Role of Commitment on the Spillover Effect of Marketing Communications