Showing papers in "ACR North American Advances in 2014"

How Scarcity Frames Value

Abstract: Economic models of decision making assume that people have a stable way of thinking about value. In contrast, psychology has shown that people’s preferences are often malleable and influenced by normatively irrelevant contextual features. Whereas economics derives its predictions from the assumption that people navigate a world of scarce resources, recent psychological work has shown that people often do not attend to scarcity. In this article, we show that when scarcity does influence cognition, it renders people less susceptible to classic context effects. Under conditions of scarcity, people focus on pressing needs and recognize the trade-offs that must be made against those needs. Those trade-offs frame perception more consistently than irrelevant contextual cues, which exert less influence. The results suggest that scarcity can align certain behaviors more closely with traditional economic predictions.

Understanding Gamification of Consumer Experiences

Abstract: Recently, organizations have begun to tout ‘gamification’ as an effective method of increasing motivation and engagement of employees, customers, patients, and students, among other stakeholders (Wingfield 2012). Nonetheless, despite projections that such gamification will become a widely adopted phenomenon, estimates are gloomy with respect to the real impact these projects will have on the experiences of ‘players’ (i.e., participants who are supposed to have fun), and on the organizations that would like to use gamification to improve the players’ behavior in their favor (Burke 2011). Gamification is difficult, and fraught with problems that can lead to strategic and resource-based problems for the firm. In this article, we present an experience framework in order to show the effect of gamification on consumers’ experiences that is illustrated through four extended examples. We conclude this article with a few implications for future research into, as well as practical application for the successful gamification of consumer experiences. But first, we discuss what gamification is and what it is not.

In Pursuit of Good Karma: When Charitable Appeals to Do Right Go Wrong

Abstract: This research examines the implications of consumers’ belief in karma—the belief that the universe bestows rewards for doing right and exacts punishments for doing wrong—in the context of prosocial behavior. Although intuitively, believing in karma should result in greater intentions to do right by supporting a charity, karmic beliefs are found to facilitate prosocial behavior only in contexts not associated with self-gains. A series of experiments shows that those with strong (vs. weak) beliefs in karma actually respond less favorably to charitable appeals that rely on common marketing tools meant to enhance consumer responses but that also cue self-gains by offering incentives or by highlighting self-benefits. However, these effects are only obtained for donations of time, which represent a means to enhance social connections, but not for donations of money. Consistent with the proposition that prosocial behaviors motivated by self-gains do not engender karmic rewards, lower intentions to do right among those with strong karmic beliefs are driven by a shift from other-focused to self-focused attention following appeals that cue self-gains, as compared to appeals that do not. Results imply that marketers need to take into account consumers’ karmic beliefs when seeking to incentivize prosocial behavior.

Give Me Your Self: Gifts Are Liked More When They Match the Giver’S Characteristics

Abstract: Research on gift giving has devoted considerable attention to understanding whether and how givers succeed in choosing gifts that match recipients' tastes. On the contrary, this article focuses on how recipients' appreciation for a gift depends on the match between the gift and the giver. Four studies demonstrate that recipients are particularly appreciative when they receive gifts that figuratively match the giver, i.e., that contain references to the giver's characteristics, because they perceive such gifts as more congruent with the giver's identity. This effect is not conditional on inferences recipients might make about the giver's motivations or on whether recipients have a good relationship with the giver, but relies on the match concerning core rather than peripheral characteristics of the giver. Importantly for our understanding of identity-based motivation, these findings demonstrate in a gift-giving context that identity-congruence not only drives consumer behavior, but is also appreciated in other people.

Labeling Exercise Fat-Burning Increases Post-Exercise Food Consumption in Self-Imposed Exercisers

Abstract: The goal of the study was to determine whether the label given to an exercise bout affects immediate post-exercise food intake. The authors hypothesized that explicitly labeling an exercise bout ‘fat-burning’ (vs. labeling an exercise bout ‘endurance’ exercise) would increase post-exercise food intake in individuals who self-impose physical activity, because they are more likely to see the label as signal of activated fat metabolism and license to reward oneself. No such effect was expected for individuals who do not self-impose physical activity but consider exercise enjoyable. Ninety-six participants took part in an experiment manipulating the label given to an exercise bout (fat-burning exercise or endurance exercise) between participants. They cycled on an ergometer for 20 minutes at a consistent work rate (55–65% of predicted VO2 max) and were offered ad libitum food (i.e., pretzel pieces) after the exercise bout. The results showed that self-imposed exercisers, that is, individuals with low behavioral regulation and individuals with high psychological distress, high fatigue levels, and low positive well-being when exercising, ate more food after exercise when the bout was labeled fat-burning exercise rather than endurance exercise. The results help develop health interventions, indicating that the tendency to compensate for energy expended following physical activity depends on both the label given to the exercise bout and the degree to which individuals self-impose physical activity.

Keeping Consumers in the Red: Hedonic Debt Prioritization Within Multiple Debt Accounts

Abstract: In our paper we contribute to the burgeoning literature in the psychology of debt repayment. Across three experiments, we explore the effects of the type (hedonic or utilitarian) and the timing of debt on consumers' debt repayment when managing multiple debt accounts. While prior literature has demonstrated that debtors who own multiple credit cards behave irrationally by paying down smaller balances rather than balances with higher interest rates, we found that debts incurred for hedonic purchases and in the distant past (versus proximal past) amplify this effect. The anticipated impact of debt repayment on consumption enjoyment is found to mediate this effect.

Share Your Life and Get More of Yourself. Experience Sharing in Couchsurfing

Abstract: By means of a multi-sited multi-method ethnography of CouchSurfing.org, this study explores what motivates consumers to share their homes with strangers. Our findings suggest that participation is best understood by focusing on experience sharing and identify four types of experiential capital as sources of self-enhancement.

Questioning the “I” in Experience: Experiential Purchases Foster Social Connection

Abstract: QUESTIONING THE “I” IN EXPERIENCE: EXPERIENTIAL PURCHASES FOSTER SOCIAL CONNECTION Amit Kumar, Thomas C. Mann, Thomas D. Gilovich Cornell University Research on experiential and material purchases (money spent on doing versus having) has focused on the benefits of experiential consumption in terms of consumer satisfaction and the underlying mechanisms that produce this difference. Here, we present another downstream consequence of spending money on experiences: fostering social connection. In Studies 1 and 2 we show that people feel more kinship with someone who has made the same (or a similar, but “upgraded”) experiential purchase as them than someone who made the same (or a similar, but “upgraded”) material purchase. In Study 3, we find that people feel more connected to others in general when they are asked to reflect on their experiential purchases. This connection is expressed in a greater desire to engage in social activities (Study 4) and participants behaviorally demonstrate social connectedness by acting more prosocially after thinking about their experiences than after thinking about their possessions (Study 5).

A “Present” For the Future: the Unexpected Value of Rediscovery

Abstract: Although documenting everyday activities may seem trivial, four studies reveal that creating records of the present generates unexpected benefits by allowing future rediscoveries. In Study 1, we used a time-capsule paradigm to show that individuals underestimate the extent to which rediscovering experiences from the past will be curiosity provoking and interesting in the future. In Studies 2 and 3, we found that people are particularly likely to underestimate the pleasure of rediscovering ordinary, mundane experiences, as opposed to extraordinary experiences. Finally, Study 4 demonstrates that underestimating the pleasure of rediscovery leads to time-inconsistent choices: Individuals forgo opportunities to document the present but then prefer rediscovering those moments in the future to engaging in an alternative fun activity. Underestimating the value of rediscovery is linked to people's erroneous faith in their memory of everyday events. By documenting the present, people provide themselves with the opportunity to rediscover mundane moments that may otherwise have been forgotten.

The Effect of Embarrassment on Preferences For Brand Conspicuousness: the Roles of Self-Esteem and Self-Brand Connection

Abstract: Three studies were conducted to examine how embarrassment influences consumer preferences for brand conspicuousness. We predict that consumers with different levels of self-esteem will have distinct coping strategies when they feel embarrassed, resulting in differences in their preference changes related to brand conspicuousness. The results show that when feeling embarrassed, consumers with low self-esteem (high self-esteem) are more likely to have increased motivation to avoid social attention to the self in general (to repair their self-image). Thus, relatively speaking, consumers with low self-esteem (high self-esteem) prefer a more conspicuous product design over a less conspicuous one to a lesser (greater) extent when they are embarrassed than when they are not embarrassed. In addition, we demonstrate that the interaction between self-esteem and embarrassment is more likely when consumers form a strong connection with the brand.

Multisensory Brand Search: How the Meaning of Sound Guides Consumers’ Visual Attention

Abstract: Building on models of crossmodal attention, the present research proposes that brand search is inherently multisensory, in that the consumers' visual search for a specific brand can be facilitated by semantically related stimuli that are presented in another sensory modality. A series of 5 experiments demonstrates that the presentation of spatially nonpredictive auditory stimuli associated with products (e.g., usage sounds or product-related jingles) can crossmodally facilitate consumers' visual search for, and selection of, products. Eye-tracking data (Experiment 2) revealed that the crossmodal effect of auditory cues on visual search manifested itself not only in RTs, but also in the earliest stages of visual attentional processing, thus suggesting that the semantic information embedded within sounds can modulate the perceptual saliency of the target products' visual representations. Crossmodal facilitation was even observed for newly learnt associations between unfamiliar brands and sonic logos, implicating multisensory short-term learning in establishing audiovisual semantic associations. The facilitation effect was stronger when searching complex rather than simple visual displays, thus suggesting a modulatory role of perceptual load. (PsycINFO Database Record

Living in Harmony With Nature: a Post-Human Analysis of Consumers' Relationships With Nature

Abstract: ii ............................................................................................................................................ Acknowledgements iv ......................................................................................................................... Table of

Navigating By the Stars: What Do Online User Ratings Reveal About Product Quality?

Abstract: We show that user ratings are only weakly related to product quality and far less diagnostic than price. Yet, consumers mostly rely on user ratings and much less on price. Consumer trust in user ratings is largely misplaced because these ratings are biased by brand reputation and price.

I Take Therefore I Choose? the Impact of Active Vs. Passive Acquisition on Food Consumption

Abstract: This research investigates the consequences of physically taking (actively acquiring) vs. receiving (passively acquiring) food items. Specifically, we demonstrate that the act of physically taking food can generate a false impression of choice, an effect we term “embodied illusion of choice.” Across two studies, we document the mediating effect of this embodied illusion of choice on food evaluation and actual consumption, and show that these effects are moderated by an individual's need-for-control.

The Belief in a Favorable Future

Abstract: We propose that people hold a belief in a favorable future (BFF), projecting that the future will change in ways advantageous to their current interests. People believe that their political views, entertainment preferences, and scientific beliefs will be more widely held by others in the future (Study 1). BFF is greater in magnitude than the false-consensus effect (Study 2). BFF does not reflect a generalized optimism about the future or a belief that others will become more similar to the self: people believe the future will change in self-benefitting way, in particular (Study 3). BFF is greatest when people believe their views are based on objective truth (Study 4). Ironically, BFF may make the futures people anticipate less likely to occur by undermining people's motivation to take action today to bring about the favorable futures they believe to be inevitable.

Need For Narrative

Abstract: What do consumers need from a narrative? How can videographers satisfy those needs? Through semi-structured interviews with 55 Eurostar passengers from 14 countries, this film documents how people define narratives, why they need them, and how they experience the effects of need for narrative. The adjoining commentary contributes to the development of videography as an attractive method by introducing the videographer’s perspective and elucidating key story elements that can help satisfy viewers’ needs for narrative. The suggested approach maintains the vivid quality of videography and respects its methodological rigour, while increasing its effectiveness in close alignment with a consumer society that visual communication increasingly permeates. As such, the commentary and the film jointly unveil videographers’ etic and viewers’ emic use and evaluation of the videographic method.

Examining Chinese consumers’ intention to purchase luxury group package tours

Abstract: Global-openness reflects a willingness to interact with foreign people and cultures, including cultural products. Ethnocentrism is a psychosocial construct depicting the proclivity for individuals to view their own group as superior and to reject that which is culturally dissimilar. The extant research suggests that ethnocentrism should be positively related to consumption of domestic movies whereas global-openness should be positively related to consumption of and desire for watching foreign movies. Data collected from a sample of U.S. moviegoers are used to test these propositions and gather insights into U.S. consumers’ cultural choices.

If It’S Useful and You Know It, Do You Eat? Preschoolers Refrain From Instrumental Food

Abstract: Marketers, educators, and caregivers often refer to instrumental benefits to convince preschoolers to eat (e.g., “This food will make you strong”). We propose that preschoolers infer that if food is instrumental to achieve a goal, it is less tasty, and therefore they consume less of it. Accordingly, we find that preschoolers (3–5.5 years old) rated crackers as less tasty and consumed fewer of them when the crackers were presented as instrumental to achieving a health goal (studies 1–2). In addition, preschoolers consumed fewer carrots and crackers when these were presented as instrumental to knowing how to read (study 3) and to count (studies 4–5). This research supports an inference account for the negative impact of certain persuasive messages on consumption: preschoolers who are exposed to one association (e.g., between eating carrots and intellectual performance) infer another association (e.g., between carrots and taste) must be weaker.