Stephen J. Hoch

Bio: Stephen J. Hoch is an academic researcher from University of Pennsylvania. The author has contributed to research in topics: Store brand & National brand. The author has an hindex of 35, co-authored 47 publications receiving 11626 citations. Previous affiliations of Stephen J. Hoch include University of Chicago.

Time-inconsistent Preferences and Consumer Self-Control

Abstract: Why do consumers sometimes act against their own better judgment, engaging in behavior that is often regretted after the fact and that would have been rejected with adequate forethought? More generally, how do consumers attempt to maintain self-control in the face of time-inconsistent preferences? This article addresses consumer impatience by developing a decision-theoretic model based on reference points. The model explains how and why consumers experience sudden increases in desire for a product, increases that can result in the temporary overriding of long-term preferences. Tactics that consumers use to control their own behavior are also discussed. Consumer self-control is framed as a struggle between two psychological forces, desire and willpower. Finally, two general classes of self-control strategies are described: those that directly reduce desire, and those that overcome desire through will power.

Managing What Consumers Learn from Experience

Abstract: The authors argue that what consumers learn from the experience of using products is not a simple matter of discovering objective truth. They frame the problem of learning from experience as a four...

Consumer Learning: Advertising and the Ambiguity of Product Experience

Abstract: This paper examines the influence of advertising on how and what consumers learn from product experience. A hypothesis-testing framework is adopted where consumers treat advertisements as tentative hypotheses that can be tested through product experience. Two experiments were conducted using product categories that provided either ambiguous or unambiguous evidence about product quality. The first experiment showed that when consumers have access to unambiguous evidence, judgments of product quality are dependent only on the objective physical evidence and unaffected by advertising. However, advertising had dramatic effects on perceptions of quality when consumers saw ambiguous evidence; judgments and product inspection behavior protocols showed that advertising induced consumers to engage in confirmatory hypothesis testing and search. The second experiment showed that advertising influenced quality judgments by affecting the encoding of the physical evidence; retrieval of ad-consistent evidence also appeared to occur, though to a lesser degree.

Why Store Brand Penetration Varies by Retailer

Abstract: Our objective in this paper is to explain across-retailer variation in private label performance. Although retailers have lots to gain by better understanding the determinants of successful store brand programs, this knowledge also is very valuable to manufacturers. Lessons learned from competing with other national brands may not transfer one-to-one to the store brand case because, quite simply, a popular private label program changes the status of the retailer from being solely a customer to also a competitor. When customers are competitors, standard predatory tactics may not be appropriate; instead there is a premium on creating a successful basis for coexistence. Our findings from this study are therefore expected to have a broad based appeal both to practitioners and academics working in the evolving area of store brands. Store brands are the only brand for which the retailer must take on all responsibility---from development, sourcing, and warehousing to merchandising and marketing. Unlike decisions retailers take about national brands, which in large measure are driven by the manufacturer's actions, the retailer plays a more determinant role in the success or failure of its own label. Based on data from 34 food categories for 106 major supermarket chains operating in the largest 50 retail markets in the U.S., we use regression-based analyses to show that variation in store brand performance across retailers is systematically related to underlying consumer, retailer, and manufacturer factors. The key insights provided by our analysis are as follows: 1 Overall chain strategy in terms of commitment to quality, breadth of private label offerings, use of own name for private label, a premium brand offering, and number of stores consistently enhance the retailer's store brand performance in all categories. Also, the extent to which the retailer serves a customer base containing less wealthy and more elderly households and operates in less competitive markets improves the performance of the store brand. 2 The everyday low price EDLP positioning benefits the store brand but only in lower quality categories where the value positioning of the store may be better aligned with the price advantage of the store brand. 3 Supporting recent statements in the popular press, our analysis suggests that retailer promotional support can significantly enhance private label performance. 4 Retailers often use national brands to draw customers to their stores. Retailers who pursue this traffic building strategy usually carry more national brands, deeper assortments, and offer better everyday lower price gap and promotional prices on national brands. Each of these actions works against the retailer's own brands, highlighting the important balancing act the retailer must perform to profitably manage the sales revenue and margin mix in each of their categories. At the same time, adding a higher quality premium store brand program may mitigate this tradeoff. 5 Unlike cross-category studies, our within-category across-retailer analysis shows that the national brand---private label price differential exerts an important positive influence on store brand performance. 6 When retailers obtain more than their fair share of a category high category development index, they also do much better with private labels. 7 From the national brand's perspective, encouraging the retailer to carry more brands and deeper assortments may be the most effective way to keep store brands in check. The importance of these variables, however, may depend on the national brand's market position. For example, a category leader may be glad to see a rise in store brand share if it comes at the expense of one of its secondary national brand competitors. 8 The exact impact of most of the variables depends on the underlying quality of store brands in a category. When store brand quality is high, competition at the retail and brand level is more important, as are variables capturing economies of scale and scope enjoyed by the retailer. In contrast, demographics associated with consumer price sensitivity and EDLP pricing matter more in low quality categories. 9 Finally, premium store brands offer the retailer an avenue for responding to the national brand's ability to cater to heterogeneous preferences. This appears more likely in categories where store brands already offer high quality comparable to the national brands. We argue that private labels threaten national brands most in categories when there is high variance in share across categories as opposed to high average share per se. In high variance categories, store brand share could increase dramatically if the poor performing retailers imitate best practices. Future research can extend this work in several ways both on the substantive and methodological fronts.

Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity

Abstract: The author presents a conceptual model of brand equity from the perspective of the individual consumer. Customer-based brand equity is defined as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consu...

Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes, Self-Esteem, and Stereotypes.

Abstract: Social behavior is ordinarily treated as being under conscious (if not always thoughtful) control. However, considerable evidence now supports the view that social behavior often operates in an implicit or unconscious fashion. The identifying feature of implicit cognition is that past experience influences judgment in a fashion not introspectively known by the actor. The present conclusion--that attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes have important implicit modes of operation--extends both the construct validity and predictive usefulness of these major theoretical constructs of social psychology. Methodologically, this review calls for increased use of indirect measures--which are imperative in studies of implicit cognition. The theorized ordinariness of implicit stereotyping is consistent with recent findings of discrimination by people who explicitly disavow prejudice. The finding that implicit cognitive effects are often reduced by focusing judges' attention on their judgment task provides a basis for evaluating applications (such as affirmative action) aimed at reducing such unintended discrimination.

Customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability: Findings from Sweden.

Abstract: Are there economic benefits to improving customer satisfaction? Many firms that are frustrated in their efforts to improve quality and customer satisfaction are beginning to question the link betwe...

Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value

Abstract: Consumer researchers' growing interest in consumer experiences has revealed that many consumption activities produce both hedonic and utilitarian outcomes. Thus, there is an increasing need for scales to assess consumer perceptions of both hedonic and utilitarian values. This article describes the development of a scale measuring both values obtained from the pervasive consumption experience of shopping. The authors develop and validate the scale using a multistep process. The results demonstrate that distinct hedonic and utilitarian shopping value dimensions exist and are related to a number of important consumption variables. Implications for further applications of the scale are discussed.

Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions

Abstract: Prior research has provided valuable insights into how and why employees make a decision about the adoption and use of information technologies (ITs) in the workplace. From an organizational point of view, however, the more important issue is how managers make informed decisions about interventions that can lead to greater acceptance and effective utilization of IT. There is limited research in the IT implementation literature that deals with the role of interventions to aid such managerial decision making. Particularly, there is a need to understand how various interventions can influence the known determinants of IT adoption and use. To address this gap in the literature, we draw from the vast body of research on the technology acceptance model (TAM), particularly the work on the determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and: (i) develop a comprehensive nomological network (integrated model) of the determinants of individual level (IT) adoption and use; (ii) empirically test the proposed integrated model; and (iii) present a research agenda focused on potential pre- and postimplementation interventions that can enhance employees' adoption and use of IT. Our findings and research agenda have important implications for managerial decision making on IT implementation in organizations.