Showing papers in "Journal of Consumer Research in 1989"
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative meaning transfer model is proposed, which shows how meanings pass from celebrity to product and from product to consumer, and the implications of this model for our understanding of the consumer society are considered.
Abstract: This article offers a new approach to celebrity endorsement. Previous explanations, especially the source credibility and source attractiveness models are criticized, and an alternative meaning transfer model is proposed. According to this model, celebrities' effectiveness as endorsers stems from the cultural meanings with which they are endowed. The model shows how meanings pass from celebrity to product and from product to consumer. The implications of this model for our understanding of the consumer society are considered. Research avenues suggested by the model are also discussed.
2,637 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the development of a scale for measuring consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence is described, which is defined as the need to identify with or enhance one's image in the opinion of significant others through the acquisition and use of products and brands.
Abstract: The development of a scale for measuring consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence is described. Consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence is hypothesized as a general trait that varies across individuals and is related to other individual traits and characteristics (McGuire 1968). The construct is defined as the need to identify with or enhance one's image in the opinion of significant others through the acquisition and use of products and brands, the willingness to conform to the expectations of others regarding purchase decisions, and/or the tendency to learn about products and services by observing others or seeking information from others. A series of studies provides evidence to support the convergent and discriminant validity of a two-dimensional scale.
2,039 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed that consumers select the alternative supported by the best reasons and provided an explanation for the so-called attraction effect and led to the prediction of a compromise effect.
Abstract: Building on previous research, this article proposes that choice behavior under preference uncertainty may be easier to explain by assuming that consumers select the alternative supported by the best reasons. This approach provides an explanation for the so-called attraction effect and leads to the prediction of a compromise effect. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results indicate that (1) brands tend to gain share when they become compromise alternatives in a choice set; (2) attraction and compromise effects tend to be stronger among subjects who expect to justify their decisions to others; and (3) selections of dominating and compromise brands are associated with more elaborate and difficult decisions.
1,735 citations
TL;DR: Existential-phenomenology is presented as an alternative paradigm for conceptualizing and studying consumer experience as mentioned in this paper, which can provide an empirically based and methodologically rigorous understanding of consumer phenomena.
Abstract: Existential-phenomenology is presented as an alternative paradigm for conceptualizing and studying consumer experience. Basic theoretical tenets of existential-phenomenology are contrasted with more traditional assumptions and methods used in consumer research. The metaphors used by each paradigm to describe its world view are provided and their respective implications for consumer research discussed. One phenomenological research method is detailed, and examples of how the method is applied and the type of data it produces are provided. An epistemological analysis reveals that existential-phenomenology can provide an empirically based and methodologically rigorous understanding of consumer phenomena.
1,628 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the ritual substratum of consumption and describe properties and manifestations of the sacred inherent in consumer behavior, and the processes by which consumers sacralize and desacralize dimensions of their experience.
Abstract: Two processes at work in contemporary society are the secularization of religion and the sacralization of the secular. Consumer behavior shapes and reflects these processes. For many, consumption has become a vehicle for experiencing the sacred. This article explores the ritual substratum of consumption and describes properties and manifestations of the sacred inherent in consumer behavior. Similarly, the processes by which consumers sacralize and desacralize dimensions of their experience are described. The naturalistic inquiry approach driving the insights in this article is advanced as a corrective to a premature narrowing of focus in consumer research.
1,510 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that people who buy compulsively are more likely to demonstrate compulsivity as a personality trait, have lower self-esteem, and are more prone to fantasy than more normal consumers.
Abstract: Compulsive buying is framed within the larger category of compulsive consumption, and both quantitative and qualitative data are used to provide a phenomenological description. Results indicate people who buy compulsively are more likely to demonstrate compulsivity as a personality trait, have lower self-esteem, and are more prone to fantasy than more normal consumers. Their primary motivation appears to be the psychological benefits derived from the buying process itself rather than from the possession of purchased objects. Consequences of compulsive buying include extreme levels of debt, anxiety and frustration, the subjective sense of loss of control, and domestic dissension.
1,281 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that products that are moderately incongruent with their associated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a more favorable evaluation relative to products that were either congruent or extremely inconguent.
Abstract: Mandler theorized that the level of congruity between a product and a more general product category schema may influence the nature of information processing and thus product evaluations. Products that are moderately incongruent with their associated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a more favorable evaluation relative to products that are either congruent or extremely incongruent. Data from three experiments conducted in new product contexts are consistent with Mandler's hypothesis and serve as a basis for theorizing about the process.
1,261 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two subtractive versions of the equity formula (absolute equity difference and equity advantage) were tested with fairness and preference as mediating variables, and disconfirmation and fairness were shown to be distinct components of post-transaction dispositions.
Abstract: Prior work on the equity and disconfirmation determinants of transaction satisfaction was extended to product satisfaction. Based on perceptions of inputs and outcomes of buyer, dealer, and salesperson, two subtractive versions of the equity formula—absolute equity difference and equity advantage—were tested with fairness and preference as mediating variables. Both variables were related only to the equity advantage formula, and disconfirmation and fairness were shown to be distinct components of post-transaction dispositions. Moreover, product satisfaction was shown to be a function of product disconfirmation, complaining, and satisfaction with the dealer. The latter apparently mediates both fairness and salesperson satisfaction.
933 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that the country of origin not only had a direct influence on product evaluations, but also appeared to stimulate subjects to think more extensively about other product attribute information, augmenting the latter's effect.
Abstract: Four hypotheses were raised concerning the cognitive processes underlying the effects of country-of-origin and specific attribute information on product evaluation. The country of origin not only had a direct influence on product evaluations, but also appeared to stimulate subjects to think more extensively about other product attribute information, augmenting the latter's effect. Hypotheses concerning the influence of country of origin on the interpretation of other product information, the use of country of origin as a heuristic basis for judgments, and the influence of information presentation order were less able to account for the phenomena observed.
731 citations
TL;DR: This article found that participants with highly accessible attitudes toward a given product displayed greater attitude-behavior correspondence than did those with relatively less accessible attitudes. But they also found that subjects with less accessible attitude displayed more sensitivity to the salience afforded a product by its position in the front row, as opposed to the back row, than did subjects with more accessible attitudes, and the implications of these data for a model of the process by which attitudes guide behavior are discussed.
Abstract: Attitudes toward a number of products and the accessibility of those attitudes as indicated by the latency of response to an attitudinal inquiry were assessed. Subjects with highly accessible attitudes toward a given product displayed greater attitude-behavior correspondence than did those with relatively less accessible attitudes. Furthermore, subjects with less accessible attitudes displayed more sensitivity to the salience afforded a product by its position in the front row, as opposed to the back row, than did subjects with more accessible attitudes. The implications of these data for a model of the process by which attitudes guide behavior are discussed.
626 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the effects of store knowledge and time available for shopping on consumers' grocery shopping behavior and found that these two factors have an impact on such shopping behaviors as failure to make the intended purchases, unplanned buying, brand and product class switching, and purchase volume deliberation.
Abstract: We conducted a field experiment to explore the effects of two situational factors, store knowledge and time available for shopping, on consumers' grocery shopping behavior. The results indicate that these two factors have an impact on such shopping behaviors as failure to make the intended purchases, unplanned buying, brand and product class switching, and purchase volume deliberation. The findings also suggest that the information processing activities that mediate these relationships differ across shopping conditions. Implications for managing the grocery store environment that may advance current practice are offered.
TL;DR: This article conducted a longitudinal study of ads from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Taiwan and found that Hong Kong ads stress hedonistic values, promise easier and American lifestyles, and focus on doing.
Abstract: Results of a longitudinal study of ads from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Taiwan depict distinctive consumer cultures. PRC ads emphasize utilitarian appeals, promise a better life, and focus on states of being as a consumption theme. Hong Kong ads stress hedonistic values, promise easier and American lifestyles, and focus on doing. Taiwan ads fall between these two extremes, but are converging toward Hong Kong ads in consumption appeals over time. PRC ads, presumably anchored by remnants of an anti-materialistic political ideology, seem to chart a different trend.
TL;DR: In this article, preliminary measures of pre-purchase uncertainty were developed through focus group interviews and were administered to a nationwide sample of recent appliance purchasers, who indicated the presence of two general types of uncertainty: knowledge uncertainty and choice uncertainty.
Abstract: Preliminary measures of pre-purchase uncertainty were developed through focus group interviews and were administered to a nationwide sample of recent appliance purchasers. Responses indicated the presence of two general types of uncertainty: knowledge uncertainty (uncertainty regarding information about alternatives) and choice uncertainty (uncertainty about which alternative to choose). In exploring how each of these uncertainty dimensions was related to search behavior, we found that choice uncertainty appeared to increase search, but knowledge uncertainty had a weaker, negative effect on search. Implications of the findings for previous research on the relationship between uncertainty and search are discussed, along with research directions.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conceptualized the process by which perceived advertising expense acts as a cue to quality and found that knowledge of cost-related campaign elements can evoke advertising expense inferences that influence quality predictions, and these inferences may be spontaneous.
Abstract: Does the perceived expense of a new product's advertising campaign influence expectations about the product's quality? This article conceptualizes the process by which perceived advertising expense acts as a cue to quality. Results from six experiments indicate that under some conditions, knowledge of cost-related campaign elements can evoke advertising expense inferences that influence quality predictions, and these inferences may be spontaneous.
TL;DR: The authors found that the development of tastes for popular music follows an inverted U-shaped pattern that reaches a peak in about the 24th year of a person's life, and suggested that intrinsic components (e.g., a developmental period of maximum sensitivity analogous to the critical periods documented in ethological studies of imprinting) and extrinsic components such as social pressures from one's peer group that reach peak intensity during a particular phase in one's life cycle were possible explanations.
Abstract: Preferences toward popular music appear to reflect tastes acquired during late adolescence or early adulthood. In an empirical investigation of this parsimonious inductive proposition, both the aggregate results ( R = 0.84) and the disaggregated findings ( R = 0.46) suggest that the development of tastes for popular music follows an inverted U-shaped pattern that reaches a peak in about the 24th year. Possible explanations include intrinsic components (e.g., a developmental period of maximum sensitivity analogous to the critical periods documented in ethological studies of imprinting) and extrinsic components (e.g., social pressures from one's peer group that reach peak intensity during a particular phase in one's life cycle).
TL;DR: The authors found that form dimension influences how ads are processed, and argued that form influences processing of arguments and dramas in TV commercials. But they did not consider the effect of form dimension on emotion.
Abstract: Television ads can be classified as either arguments or dramas or hybrids of these forms. We claim that form dimension influences how ads are processed. An argument backs its claims with appeals to objectivity and is processed evaluatively. A drama appeals more to subjective criteria and is processed empathically. A study is reported in which 40 television commercials were classified on a dramatization scale. They were shown to 1,215 people, and measures of evaluative and empathic processing were taken. The measures were found to be weighted differently for arguments and dramas, supporting the contention that form influences processing.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of situational ethnicity in consumption behavior is examined, and the relationship between ethnicity and consumption is argued to be affected by the situational contexts in which choices are made.
Abstract: The role of situational ethnicity in consumption behavior is examined, and the relationship between ethnicity and consumption is argued to be affected by the situational contexts in which choices are made. Situational effects are proposed to operate through changes in the level of felt ethnicity and in the relationship between felt ethnicity and behavior. An empirical study demonstrates these effects by showing the impact of two situational dimensions—social surroundings and antecedent conditions—on ethnic food choices.
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of advertising repetition on several non-evaluative dimensions of attitudes and the strength of the relationship between attitudes and behavior was examined, and the results indicated that attitudes formed on the basis of repeated ad exposure are similar to those formed on direct experience in that they are more accessible from memory, held with more confidence, and are more predictive of subsequent behavior than are attitudes based on a single ad exposure.
Abstract: The influence of advertising repetition on several non-evaluative dimensions of attitudes and the strength of the relationship between attitudes and behavior are examined. The results indicate that attitudes formed on the basis of repeated ad exposure are similar to those formed on the basis of direct experience in that they are more accessible from memory, held with more confidence, and are more predictive of subsequent behavior than are attitudes based on a single ad exposure. The results are consistent with the proposition that attitude accessibility and attitude confidence moderate the attitude-behavior relationship.
TL;DR: In this article, two contextual variables that have theoretical roots in information processing, attribution, and social judgment theories were manipulated along with three levels of merchant-supplied reference price in a 2 × 2 × 3 analysis of variance design.
Abstract: Two contextual variables that have theoretical roots in information processing, attribution, and social judgment theories were manipulated along with three levels of merchant-supplied reference price in a 2 × 2 × 3 analysis of variance design. Results support the hypothesized effects of consistency and distinctiveness as contextual variables that influence internal price standards and purchase evaluations. The three price levels resulted in a curvilinear pattern of results for the purchase evaluation and source credibility dependent variables, as hypothesized. However, contrary to assimilation-contrast theory, the impact of the merchant-supplied reference price on estimates of normal and fair prices was monotonic.
TL;DR: In this paper, conditions under which cognitive categories of price may be primed and the resulting effects on product judgment are examined and the results also suggest that these effects are influenced by individual differences in consumer knowledge.
Abstract: Category priming has recently stirred the interest of judgment researchers. By unobtrusively presenting exemplars of a category, that category becomes temporarily more accessible from memory and more likely to be used subsequently in processing new information. This research extends work in cognitive and social psychology to consumer judgments. The two studies presented here examine conditions under which cognitive categories of price may be primed and the resulting effects on product judgment. The results also suggest that these effects are influenced by individual differences in consumer knowledge.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the influence perceptions of mothers, fathers, and one adolescent child to document structural relationships between parents and children in family decision-making, and found that the triads agreed or disagreed in their perceptions of adolescent influence on both a broad selection of specific products and general influence in families decision processes.
Abstract: Influence perceptions of mothers, fathers, and one adolescent child are compared to document structural relationships between parents and children in family decision making. Family triads are found to disagree in their perceptions of adolescent influence on both a broad selection of specific products and general influence in family decision processes. Mothers, fathers, and children, however, all rate children as having some influence in purchase decisions for a variety of products. A “household” measure of perceptions of general adolescent influence in purchase decisions is constructed and the antecedents of agreement or disagreement among family members are explored, yielding propositions for future research.
TL;DR: In this paper, a field experiment compared the effects of daily electronic feedback with monthly external feedback and with self-monitoring of energy use with a 123 percent reduction in natural gas use, more than in other conditions and more than the stated 10 percent conservation goal.
Abstract: Goal-setting in conjunction with feedback on the degree of goal attainment can assist consumers in monitoring and, thus, reducing or stabilizing their in-home energy use A field experiment compared the effects of daily electronic feedback with monthly external feedback and with self-monitoring of energy use With daily feedback, a 123 percent reduction in natural gas use was achieved, more than in the other conditions and more than the stated 10 percent conservation goal One year after the experiment, energy use remained reduced relative to the baseline in all groups; however, differences between the experimental conditions were no longer significant
TL;DR: Heritage Village, home of the PTL ministry, is the focus for a study of consumer behavior involving an explicit synthesis of worship and shopping as discussed by the authors, which seeks to better understand the way these pursuits, seemingly philosophically opposed, are brought together for joint consumption.
Abstract: Heritage Village, home of the PTL ministry, is the focus for a study of consumer behavior involving an explicit synthesis of worship and shopping. The present investigation seeks to better understand the way these pursuits, seemingly philosophically opposed, are brought together for joint consumption. Notions of pilgrimage and sacralization of the secular are useful constructs in examining this merger of religion and consumption, but a priori formulations must be modified to more fully explain the behavior of consumers at Heritage Village.
TL;DR: In this paper, a broad overview of literary criticism is presented, along with a specific illustrative analysis, and suggestions for further research in consumer behavior analysis using advertising text, including content analysis, image analysis and history of consumption.
Abstract: This article proposes literary criticism as a source of insight into consumer behavior, presents a broad overview of literary criticism, provides a specific illustrative analysis, and offers suggestions for further research Literary analysis of advertising text reveals elements that provide additional information to consumer researchers, and contributions of literary criticism to consumer research are discussed Major postwar critical schools are reviewed, and relevant theoretical concepts summarized An ad for Ivory Flakes is analyzed using a variety of concepts drawn from literary schools, primarily sociocultural and reader-response ones Suggestions for additional research on content analysis, image analysis, and the history of consumption are made
TL;DR: In this paper, a synthetic, culturally relative model composed of elements drawn from the standard diffusion paradigm, from world-systems theory, and from economic and symbolic anthropology provides a more satisfactory account of these processes.
Abstract: The standard model for the diffusion of innovations in consumer behavior does not adequately account for the incorporation of novel items of non-local origin into the material culture inventory of Hausa-speaking peasants in Niger. A synthetic, culturally relative model composed of elements drawn from the standard diffusion paradigm, from world-systems theory, and from economic and symbolic anthropology provides a more satisfactory account of these processes. Analysis shows that novel goods provide a medium through which alternative paradigms of consumer behavior and reality contend. Among the Hausa, a premarket model, a Western market-mediated model, and an Islamic ethnonationalist model compete for consumer affiliation.
TL;DR: In this article, subjects evaluated alternatives described in terms of vivid and non-vivid attributes and elaborated on the material in high and low elaboration conditions, respectively, and found that vivid information has certain properties that exert greater influence on attitudinal judgments than does nonvivid information.
Abstract: The differential attention model and the cognitive elaboration model suggest vivid information has certain properties that exert greater influence on attitudinal judgments than does nonvivid information. To test these models, subjects evaluated alternatives described in terms of vivid and nonvivid attributes and elaborated on the material in high and low elaboration conditions. Our results demonstrate disproportionate influence for vivid versus nonvivid attributes included in the same description only in the high elaboration condition. Findings suggest that cognitive elaboration may be a necessary condition to produce an effect for vividness on attitudes.
TL;DR: This paper found that brand names composed of words encountered frequently in the language elicit nondistinctive processing, and memory for brand information is inversely related to the number of related associations.
Abstract: Theory that memory for brand information is enhanced by associations related to the brand name (because each association represents a possible retrieval cue) is countered by other theory that associations may cue competing concepts and so produce interference. The current research examines this issue in terms of the distinctiveness hypothesis. Results of two studies suggest that brand names composed of words encountered frequently in the language elicit nondistinctive processing, and memory for brand information is inversely related to the number of related associations. However, brand names composed of low frequency words stimulate distinctive encoding, which may eliminate or reverse the former pattern of effects.
TL;DR: Gorn's (1982) pioneering article on the effects of background music in advertising has spurred a significant controversy and inspired vigorous interest in the topic as mentioned in this paper, but there was no evidence that product preferences can be conditioned through a single exposure to appealing or unappealing music.
Abstract: Gorn's (1982) pioneering article on the effects of background music in advertising has spurred a significant controversy and inspired vigorous interest in the topic. Following the recommendation of Allen and Madden (1985), we conducted three experiments that attempted to replicate Gorn's results. Contrary to Gorn's findings, there was no evidence that product preferences can be conditioned through a single exposure to appealing or unappealing music.
TL;DR: The authors investigate how advertising influences the interpretation of objective product evidence and provide a theoretical account of ambiguity, identifying structural characteristics that render evidence about product quality open to either one or multiple interpretations.
Abstract: Although advertising persuades through overt appeals to reason or emotion, we focus on the indirect process by which advertising influences the interpretation of objective product evidence. We investigate how two factors moderate advertising-evidence interactions: the ambiguity of the evidence and consumer information processing strategies. We provide a theoretical account of ambiguity, identifying structural characteristics that render evidence about product quality open to either one or multiple interpretations. In our first experiment, the ambiguity of a decision environment played a key role in determining the effect of advertising on product quality perception. In our second experiment, different information processing strategies influenced advertising's effects on interpretation of the evidence.