Showing papers in "Journal of Consumer Research in 1987"

Dimensions of Consumer Expertise

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to review basic empirical results from the psychological literature in a way that provides a useful foundation for research on consumer knowledge. A conceptual organization for this diverse literature is provided by two fundamental distinctions. First, consumer expertise is distinguished from product-related experience. Second, five distinct aspects, or dimensions, of expertise are identified: cognitive effort, cognitive structure, analysis, elaboration, and memory. Improvements in the first two dimensions are shown to have general beneficial effects on the latter three. Analysis, elaboration, and memory are shown to have more specific interrelationships. The empirical findings related to each dimension are reviewed and, on the basis of those findings, specific research hypotheses about the effects of expertise on consumer behavior are suggested.

Social Ties and Word-of-Mouth Referral Behavior

Abstract: This article presents a network analysis of word-of-mouth referral behavior in a natural environment. The relational properties of tie strength and homophily were employed to examine referral behavior at micro and macro levels of inquiry. The study demonstrates different roles played by weak and strong social ties. At the macro level, weak ties displayed an important bridging function, allowing information to travel from one distinct subgroup of referral actors to another subgroup in the broader social system. At the micro level, strong and homophilous ties were more likely to be activated for the flow of referral information. Strong ties were also perceived as more influential than weak ties, and they were more likely to be utilized as sources of information for related goods.

The Buying Impulse

Abstract: What is impulse buying? Despite the marketing and lifestyle factors that encourage it today, impulse buying is not yet well understood. This is due in part to the longstanding absence of a compelling conceptualization of this distinctive type of purchasing behavior. This article reviews extant research on impulsive behavior and then introduces a new interpretation of impulse buying. Following this are the results of an exploratory study that investigates the phenomenology of consumers' impulse buying episodes. The research identifies: (1) the subjective experiences that distinguish the onset of the buying impulse, (2) how consumers cope with their impulsive urges to buy, and (3) the types of negative consequences they incur as a result of their impulsive buying.

Assessing the Role of Emotions as Mediators of Consumer Responses to Advertising

Abstract: This article pursues the emerging interest in emotional aspects of consumer behavior, advocates a broadened view of consumption-related emotions, and focuses on the role of emotions in mediating the effects of advertising. Specifically, it proposes an approach that examines the manner in which intervening emotional reactions mediate the relationship between advertising content and attitudes toward the ad or brand. An illustrative application of this approach demonstrates its usefulness in assessing the role of emotions as mediators of consumer responses to advertising.

External Search Effort: An Investigation Across Several Product Categories

Abstract: Utilizing an involvement perspective and Punj and Stewart's (1983) interaction framework of decision making, the relationship between external search effort and a number of motivating antecedent variables is investigated and evaluated across five related consumer electronic products. The findings confirm four of five hypothesized relationships between total search effort and the following variables: purchase involvement (+), attitudes toward shopping (+), time availability (+), and product class knowledge (−). The relationship between ego involvement and total search effort was not significant. The influence of these variables upon a number of subindices of external search, including retailer search, media search, interpersonal search, and neutral sources search, is also investigated and reported.

The Role of Imagery in Information Processing: Review and Extensions

Abstract: Mental imagery is receiving increased attention in consumer behavior theory and research. This article describes imagery, characterizing it as a processing mode in which multisensory information is represented in a gestalt form in working memory, and discusses research on the unique effects of imagery at low levels of cognitive elaboration. It specifies researchable propositions for the relationship between high elaboration imagery processing and consumer choice and consumption behaviors. Finally, it reviews specific methods for studying imagery.

The Power of Feelings in Understanding Advertising Effects

Abstract: This research investigates the role of feelings in understanding advertising effects. We conducted two studies to examine (1) whether feelings occur as a result of viewing television commercials, (2) the relative importance of feelings and judgments of the ad's characteristics on several advertising outcomes, and (3) the variation in the importance of feelings given different ad characteristics. We found that (1) negative and positive feelings co-occur; (2) both are important predictors of the ad's effectiveness; (3) feelings contribute uniquely to attitude toward the ad, beliefs about the brand's attributes, and attitude toward the brand; and (4) the relative importance of feelings and judgments of the ad's characteristics varies based on the extent to which the ad is transformational and informational.

Effects of Quality and Quantity of Information on Decision Effectiveness

Abstract: Providing attribute information about alternatives can both help and hinder consumers evaluate products. We separate attribute information into two components: information quality and information quantity. We hypothesize, all else being equal, that the former component improves decision effectiveness while the latter component decreases decision effectiveness. The results of an experimental investigation designed to estimate the marginal effects of these factors were compatible with these premises. In addition, evaluations were also found to suffer in situations where high levels of information quality were made available. Insights into these and other observed effects are suggested after exploring the process by which subjects used the available information.

A Field Study of Causal Inferences and Consumer Reaction: The View from the Airport

Abstract: A field study was conducted at an airport to examine the relationships among attributions, affects, and behavioral responses of consumers experiencing a product failure. Ninety-seven passengers on delayed flights were interviewed about their attributions for the delay, their affective reactions, the importance of on-time arrival, their propensity to complain about the problem, and their desire to fly the same airline again. A path analysis indicates that attributions had not only direct effects on desire to complain about the problem and to fly the same airline, but also indirect effects, mediated by anger at the airline.

Effects of Framing on Evaluation of Comparable and Noncomparable Alternatives by Expert and Novice Consumers

Abstract: The study finds that framing, i.e., priming different decision criteria, influences evaluation outcomes for both expert and novice consumers when the alternatives are noncomparable and influences evaluation outcomes for novices when the alternatives are comparable. The ready availability of a decision criterion, as opposed to the lack of one, also alters consumers' cognitive responses for noncomparable sets to make these responses appear more like cognitive responses typical of comparable sets. One fundamental distinction between sets of noncomparable and comparable alternatives may be the ready availability of decision criteria versus the need to construct them, rather than any inherent differences in category types.

Happy and Sad TV Programs: How They Affect Reactions to Commercials

Abstract: Relative to a sad TV program, a happy program induced: (1) a happier mood as viewers watched both program and commercials, (2) greater perceived commercial effectiveness, (3) more affectively positive cognitive responses, and (4) to some extent, better recall. A main effect for commercial type was also noted, with emotional commercials leading to generally more positive reactions than informational commercials. A significant program-by-commercial interaction was obtained for the viewer's mood during the commercial, with the program effect greater for those viewing emotional commercials than for those viewing informational commercials.

Memory Factors in Advertising: The Effect of Advertising Retrieval Cues on Brand Evaluations

Abstract: Because consumers may not make brand decisions during ad exposure, consumer memory for advertising is important. Yet, the cues typically available for brand decisions, such as the brand name, may not effectively retrieve the information, thoughts, or feelings stored in memory from prior ad exposure. A laboratory experiment showed that advertising retrieval cues (i.e., other verbal or visual information from the ad) facilitated access of elements from the ad memory trace and affected brand evaluations. Two other factors, competitive ad interference (i.e., the number of competing brands advertising within a product category) and consumers' processing goals during ad exposure, also affected consumer ad memory and brand evaluations.

Alternative Models of Categorization: Toward a Contingent Processing Framework

Abstract: Widely varying accounts of how people categorize new instances have been advanced in recent years. It is argued that identification and evaluation of a product are fundamentally intertwined and are outcomes of a process intended both to provide meaning and to facilitate a readiness to respond. The various alternative models of the categorization process are reviewed with an emphasis on the use of concrete category exemplars as opposed to category-defining rules and prototypes (feature-based processes). A contingency-based ''mixed model'' is presented that incorporates the effects of category learning and task-related factors likely to be important in categorization occurrences similar to those faced by consumers. This contingency processing formulation stresses the flexibility of the information processing system in its response to important contextual factors. Finally, research paradigms are introduced that are designed to examine the effects of contingent processing factors on the categorization processes used by the individual.

Classical Conditioning of Consumer Attitudes: Four Experiments in an Advertising Context

Abstract: We conducted four experiments to test various properties of classical conditioning in an advertising/consumer behavior context. Experiment 1 demonstrates attitude conditioning at each of four levels of conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairing. In Experiment 2, latent inhibition due to subject preexposure to the conditioned stimulus is shown to retard conditioning for both 10-trial and 1-trial pairings of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Experiment 3 reveals that forward conditioning of attitudes is superior to backward conditioning. Experiment 4 extends the findings from the first three experiments and serves to counter some of their potential methodological problems. Collectively, these experiments provide an initial response to McSweeney and Bierley's (1984) call for more sophisticated classical conditioning research in consumer behavior.

Cognitive Processes Used by Survey Respondents to Answer Behavioral Frequency Questions

Abstract: Behavioral frequency questions are a common and important part of consumer surveys. The conventional model of how people answer such questions and how response errors occur has presumed that respondents recall and enumerate specific behavioral episodes. Recent laboratory research, however, has shown that respondents use a variety of processes in answering such questions. Results of this study confirm this finding in a field setting and show that task conditions impact response formulation processes. These results indicate that new models are needed for complete understanding of response errors in frequency data for a variety of behaviors of interest to consumer researchers.

The Framing of Buying Decisions

Abstract: Research in behavioral decision theory suggests that people use reference points as the basis for judging/comparing the value of decision alternatives, but there has been little research addressing how decision reference points are formed. This paper posits and empirically demonstrates a conceptual framework of the reference point formation process for buying decisions. The basic concepts in the framework are supported, and the resulting reference points are shown to influence choice in a manner consistent with prospect theory.

What Is Consumer Research

Abstract: T he field of consumer research in general and the Journal of Consumer Research in particular currently find themselves in a crisis of identity. Whatever the historical basis for its editorial policy, JCR has lately come to embrace a variety of topics once thought too arcane or abstruse for a scholarly publication devoted to the study of consumer behavior. Recent examples of this trend would include articles on ritual, materialism, mood, styles of research, primitive aspects of consumption, language in popular American novels, the good life in advertising, spousal conflict, play as a consumption experience, product meanings, and consumption symbolism. In short, it appears that in the last few years the perspectives of an increasingly diverse range of disciplines have stealthily crept into the field of consumer research. These realities can scarcely be denied. They just are. They exist for everyone to behold and for many, including me, to admire and applaud. However, this proliferation of disciplinary perspectives in our field raises some interesting conceptual issues. One of the most important is ontological in nature and concerns the question, "What is consumer research?" In attempting to answer this question, I shall pursue an argument influenced by various efforts to broaden our concept of consumer behavior to include not only acquisition but also usage and disposition activities (Jacoby 1978) and to extend our view of products to embrace not only traditional durable and nondurable goods but also other more intangible services, ideas, and events (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982). Specifically, I propose a definition of consumer research based on the following key points: (1) consumer research studies consumer behavior; (2) consumer behavior entails consumption; (3) consumption involves the acquisition, usage, and disposition of products; (4) products are goods, services, ideas, events, or any other entities that can be acquired, used, or disposed of in ways that potentially provide value; (5) value is a type of experience that occurs for some living organism when a goal is achieved, a need is fulfilled, or a want is satisfied; (6) such an achievement, fulfillment, or satisfaction attains consummation; conversely, a failure to achieve goals, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants thwarts consummation; (7) the process of consummation (including its possible breakdowns) is therefore the fundamental subject for consumer research. From this argument, it follows that consumer research studies consummation (in all its various facets, including its potential breakdowns). Many will agree with this conclusion. Yet most will also acknowledge that the study of consummation is not the meaning that usually leaps to mind when one hears the term "consumer research" in the common parlance. Indeed, it appears to me that, in its general usage, the term "consumer research" lacks a clear meaning. It has grown so encrusted with connotations arising from its association with other disciplines that, by now, it stands for everything, which in this case is tantamount to nothing. I therefore propose a definition intended to provide a core meaning for our field of inquiry. Specifically, I propose that we use the tierm consumer research to refer to the study of consummation in all its many aspects. Consummation thereby designates the core of the concept of consumer research. From this perspective, consumer research stands on its own as a separate discipline and borrows from other established disciplines no more or less than they in turn borrow from each other. Here, I endorse the position recently articulated by Belk (1986, p. 423):

Product Categorization and Inference Making: Some Implications for Comparative Advertising

Abstract: A categorization approach to inference making was used to determine when the effects of comparative advertising would differ from those of noncomparative advertising. Comparative advertising led to different responses for experts relative to either product class or product type level noncomparative advertising, but for novices only when the noncomparative ad referred to a broad product class. These differences were for measures of similarity, distinctiveness, and ad informativeness. Mean values on brand attitudes were not differentially influenced by comparative versus noncomparative advertising, though comparative advertising resulted in more polarized attitudes. These results were interpreted within the categorization framework and point to the general usefulness of this conceptual framework.

Models of Cooperative Group Decision-Making and Relative Influence: An Experimental Investigation of Family Purchase Decisions

Abstract: A conceptual framework is developed that provides a description of group decisionmaking processes in conflict situations. Selected implications of this framework as it applies to family purchase tasks are tested using experimental data provided by couples making sequences of product choice decisions. Models tested include power-related resources and power use-related goals as determinants of relative influence. Results indicate that relative preference intensity and the outcomes of preceding joint decisions consistently made the strongest contributions to relative influence.

Toward understanding the attraction effect: The implications of product stimulus meaningfulness and familiarity.

Abstract: The attraction effect refers to an inferior product's ability to increase the attractiveness of another alternative when the inferior product is added to a choice set. This article examines potential explanations for the attraction effect and its boundary conditions. The article reports several empirical investigations and suggests that the attraction effect may be moderated by such variables as stimulus meaningfulness and familiarity with the product category. The implications are relevant to research on context effects in consumer choice.

The Effects of Frequency Knowledge On Consumer Decision Making

Abstract: The proposition is advanced that knowledge about the mere number of positive and negative attributes possessed by a brand is an important component of a consumer's knowledge structure. A series of experiments is presented that illustrates the unique character of frequency knowledge and its potential role in decision making. In general, it is shown that frequency knowledge can influence judgment and choice, particularly when other types of information have been poorly encoded, poorly remembered, or poorly understood.

Household Decision Behavior: The Impact of Husbands' and Wives' Sex Role Orientation

Abstract: This study examines the impact of sex role orientation on the outcome of a family home purchase decision. A relatively strong relationship is found between sex role orientation (SRO) and the degree of household influence, preference agreement, mode of conflict resolution, and decision outcome. Finally, it is found that household decision behavior is better explained in the context of a theoretical network of systemic household relationships rather than through a series of bivariate family relationships.

What Consumer Research Is

Abstract: R esearchers frequently have explicitly or implicitly posed the question: What is consumer research? (Belk 1986; Jacoby 1975; Holbrook 1987). While a formal definition of consumer research may be of little value, since consumer research will ultimately be defined by what researchers achieve, there is a need for direction. We begin with the premise that consumer research, whatever form it might take, seeks to produce knowledge about consumer behavior. Although simple, this premise points up the fact that consumer research is a means to an end. Of course consumer research is about consumers and about behavior, but this is hardly limiting or even informative. After all, anything can be construed as the consumption of something and consumption must entail some kind of behavior. Emphasis should be on the knowledge produced: What possible kinds of knowledge could be created by consumer research?

The impact of cultural patterns on cognition and intention in Singapore.

Abstract: Ethnicity of models used in advertisements and the advertised product's country of origin are manipulated experimentally to study how attitudes toward advertising and products lead to behavioral intention. A sample of Singaporean students' traditional Eastern values about family and conformity are also examined. Patterns of results for three products are consistent with theoretical predictions of cognitive processes, and attitude-intention links appear stronger than do those in similar tests in the West. Culture has mixed effect.

Effect of Product-Line Pricing Characteristics on Product Evaluations

Abstract: Examining the issue of product-line pricing from a behavioral perspective, this article reports an investigation of the relationship between the price structure of a product line and consumers' evaluations of a product model within the line. A 2 × 2 × 4 factorial design utilizing multiple dependent variables was conducted and replicated to test hypotheses derived from behavioral research. Results indicate that while the price characteristics of a product line influence consumer evaluations of a product model within the line, the price characteristics do not operate independently; rather, they interact. Further, the research suggests that several dependent variables that are usually considered separately in price research are actually dimensions of similar constructs.

“May Your Life Be Marvelous:” English Language Labelling and the Semiotics of Japanese Promotion

Abstract: A recent trend in consumer research is the broadening of the notion of consumer behavior to include activities not merely epiphenomenal to marketing. Another trend with earlier historical origins is the semiotic interpretation of consumption activities. These trends are merged in the present article, which contrasts the vehemence with which Japanese cultural uniqueness is linked with the spirit of the language ( kotodama ) with the Japanese readiness to use English language loanwords in establishing an identity for indigenous product offerings. The article focuses on the investing of indigenous consumer goods with meaning through use of loanwords in a culturally conservative blocked market context. It explores the meaning of such investment from the perspective of consumer and analyst, using product labels and other promotional vehicles as a primary data base. Finally, it treats the diffusion of cultural elements such as language and lifestyle, and their subsequent adaptation to local systems of meaning, as a significant macroconsumption pattern.

Inferential Beliefs in Consumer Evaluations: An Assessment of Alternative Processing Strategies

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to investigate the processing strategies consumers use to form inferences about missing product information. We evaluate the relative effect of attribute information about a partially described brand and about other fully described brands, the effect of attribute intercorrelations, and the effect of prompting inferences. We find that attribute information about a partially described brand has a greater influence than that about fully described competitive brands, that highly correlated attributes more consistently influence inferences, and that prompting inferences produces substantially different results than less intrusive measures.

Material Values in the Comics: A Content Analysis of Comic Books Featuring Themes of Wealth

Abstract: During the past 40 years, four popular U.S. comic books have emphasized themes of extreme wealth: Archie, The Fox and the Crow, Uncle Scrooge , and Richie Rich. Collectively, these comics have provided potential models of the acquisition and use of wealth as well as models for human relationships between haves and have-nots. Whether such comic book treatments shape or merely reflect American material values during this period, they necessarily inform our understanding of the significance we attach to consuming and consuming ability in our evaluations of our own worth and that of others. These themes are analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively to determine the nature of such models and messages. Content analyses reveal primarily socially desirable but ambivalent treatments of such themes.

Preschoolers' Understanding of the Informational Function of Television Advertising

Abstract: Two studies were conducted to examine preschoolers' understanding of the relationship between television advertising and the buying process. Advertising's role in the relationship is described as serving an “informational” function for the viewer, which is distinct from the seller's “persuasive” one. Two nonverbal measures were developed to measure children's understanding of the former. Study 1 (n = 120) involved a game in which children tapped their responses on a game board. Study 2 (n = 45) required preschoolers to enact purchase behavior. A minority of older preschoolers were successful in completing the tasks. It is argued that nonverbal tasks are appropriate for use with young children who are linguistically limited and that such techniques should be used to assess children's abilities in a commercial context.

Experiments in Constrained Choice

Abstract: This article examines the relative importance of a variety of factors in influencing hierarchical choice. In our first experiment, we test some implications of Tversky and Sattath's (1979) Hierarchical Elimination Model (HEM) relating to a choice set in which an external constraint has been imposed. (An external constraint changes the decision process by partitioning the brands in a different way than the consumer naturally would.) Our experimental results and the theoretical predictions do not converge. While they agree that external partitions do affect choice probabilities, they differ on the nature of the effect. Next, we run a second experiment to test alternative explanations of our empirical results. Using these results, we propose managerial implications for positioning a #1 and #2 brand.