Showing papers in "Journal of Marketing in 2021"
TL;DR: The authors build on and integrate sociological and psychological scholarship to examine some of the costs consumers experience in their interactions with AI and identify four types of consumer experiences with AI.
Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) helps companies offer important benefits to consumers, such as health monitoring with wearable devices, advice with recommender systems, peace of mind with smart househ...
208 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the use of chatbots in digital customer service contexts across many industries and discuss the humanization of customer service chatbots and their role in this context.
Abstract: Chatbots have become common in digital customer service contexts across many industries. While many companies choose to humanize their customer service chatbots (e.g., giving them names and avatars...
114 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the social customer journey, which extends prior perspectives on the path to purchase decision, and extend prior perspectives to the social aspect of the customer journey from a need to a purchase decision.
Abstract: When customers journey from a need to a purchase decision and beyond, they rarely do so alone. This article introduces the social customer journey, which extends prior perspectives on the path to p...
90 citations
TL;DR: An emerging theory of avatar marketing is developed by triangulating insights from fundamental elements of avatars, a synthesis of extant research, and business practices, which integrates key theoretical insights, research propositions, and important managerial implications for this expanding area of marketing strategy.
Abstract: Avatars are becoming increasingly popular in contemporary marketing strategies, but their effectiveness for achieving performance outcomes (eg, purchase likelihood) varies widely in practice Rel
88 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe changes in the way customers shop, accompanied by an explosion of customer touchpoints and fast-changing competitive and technological dynamics, have led to an increased emphasis on agile marketing.
Abstract: Changes in the way customers shop, accompanied by an explosion of customer touchpoints and fast-changing competitive and technological dynamics, have led to an increased emphasis on agile marketing...
88 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how technological innovations are creating new products, services, and markets that satisfy enduring consumer needs, and how these technological innovations create value for consumers and firms in many ways.
Abstract: Technological innovations are creating new products, services, and markets that satisfy enduring consumer needs. These technological innovations create value for consumers and firms in many ways, b...
87 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate three challenges in realizing the full potential of one-to-one marketing, and propose a solution to solve the obstacles in achieving the full pote...
Abstract: Omnichannel marketing is often viewed as the panacea for one-to-one marketing, but this strategic path is mired with obstacles. This article investigates three challenges in realizing the full pote...
77 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore four market inefficiencies that remain poorly understood: ad effect measurement, frictions between a advertiser and a buyer, and the ad effect discrepancy.
Abstract: Digital advertising markets are growing and attracting increased scrutiny. This article explores four market inefficiencies that remain poorly understood: ad effect measurement, frictions between a...
73 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate that consumers can be encouraged to take better care of public goods by being encouraged to care for public goods and taking care of the public goods themselves, across four studies including two experiments in the field and three documenting actual behaviors.
Abstract: How can consumers be encouraged to take better care of public goods? Across four studies, including two experiments in the field and three documenting actual behaviors, the authors demonstrate that...
72 citations
70 citations
TL;DR: Given that pretty food styling can harm consumers by misleading healthiness judgments for unhealthy foods, managers and policy makers should consider modification disclaimers as a tool to mitigate the “pretty = healthy” bias.
Abstract: Marketers frequently style food to look pretty (e.g., in advertising). This article investigates how pretty aesthetics (defined by classical aesthetic principles, such as order, symmetry, and balan...
TL;DR: The literature is filled with numerous idiosyncratic definitions of what it means for consumption to be authentic as mentioned in this paper, and the authors address the resulting conceptual ambiguity by reconceptualizing authen...
Abstract: The literature is filled with numerous idiosyncratic definitions of what it means for consumption to be authentic. The authors address the resulting conceptual ambiguity by reconceptualizing authen...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that purchasing luxury can be a unique means to engage in sustainable consumption because high-end products are particularly durable, and six studies examine the sustainability of h...
Abstract: The authors propose that purchasing luxury can be a unique means to engage in sustainable consumption because high-end products are particularly durable. Six studies examine the sustainability of h...
TL;DR: The rise of augmented reality (AR) technology presents marketers with promising opportunities to engage customers and transform their brand experience as mentioned in this paper, however, although firms are keen to invest in AR, rese
Abstract: The rise of augmented reality (AR) technology presents marketers with promising opportunities to engage customers and transform their brand experience Although firms are keen to invest in AR, rese
TL;DR: In the age of digital marketing and big data, marketers are inundated with increasingly rich data fr... as mentioned in this paper, the functional area primarily responsible for driving the organic growth of a firm.
Abstract: Marketing is the functional area primarily responsible for driving the organic growth of a firm. In the age of digital marketing and big data, marketers are inundated with increasingly rich data fr...
TL;DR: In this article, consumer resistance to sustainability interventions emerges not primarily because consumers are unwilling to change their individual behavior, as commonly assumed by existing literature, but instead, consumer resistance emerges because the individual behaviors being targeted are embedded in dynamic social practices.
Abstract: Given the increasingly grave environmental crisis, governments and organizations frequently initiate sustainability interventions to encourage sustainable behavior in individual consumers. However, prevalent behavioral approaches to sustainability interventions often have the unintended consequence of generating consumer resistance and undermining their effectiveness. With a practice-theoretical perspective, the authors investigate what generates consumer resistance and how it can be reduced, using consumer responses to a nationwide ban on plastic bags in Chile in 2019. The findings show that consumer resistance to sustainability interventions emerges not primarily because consumers are unwilling to change their individual behavior, as commonly assumed by existing literature. Instead, consumer resistance emerges because the individual behaviors being targeted are embedded in dynamic social practices. When sustainability interventions aim to change individual behaviors, rather than social practices, they place excessive responsibility on consumers, unsettle their practice-related emotionality, and destabilize the multiple practices that interconnect to shape consumers’ lives, ultimately leading to resistance. The authors propose a theory of consumer resistance in social practice change that explains why consumer resistance to sustainability interventions emerges, including how it distracts, discourages, and delays the required social practice change. They also offer recommendations for policymakers and social marketers in designing and managing sustainability initiatives that trigger less consumer resistance and therefore foster sustainable consumer behavior.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the role of online social media tools in alleviating the impact of cyberbullying on business performance and contribute to creating a better world by using low-cost marketing tools that are used to enhance business performance.
Abstract: Can low-cost marketing tools that are used to enhance business performance also contribute to creating a better world? The authors investigate the role of online social media tools in alleviating c...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a method to know what stakeholders think and feel about brands in real-time and over time, by measuring brand reputation at the aggregate level (e.g., the Interbrand “Best Global Brands” list).
Abstract: How can we know what stakeholders think and feel about brands in real time and over time? Most brand reputation measures are at the aggregate level (e.g., the Interbrand “Best Global Brands” list) ...
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that if nudge effects are moderated by socio-economic factors, the impact of nudge can be mitigated by socioecyclic factors.
Abstract: Choice architecture tools, commonly known as nudges, powerfully impact decisions and can improve welfare. Yet it is unclear who is most impacted by nudges. If nudge effects are moderated by socioec...
TL;DR: In this paper, food producers and retailers throw away large amounts of perfectly edible produce that fails to meet appearance standards, contributing to the environmental issue of food waste, and the authors examine...
Abstract: Food producers and retailers throw away large amounts of perfectly edible produce that fails to meet appearance standards, contributing to the environmental issue of food waste. The authors examine...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reveal how atmospheric stimuli, service performances, and ritual performances reveal how consumers' behaviors and emotions are transformed in the presence of atmospheric stimuli and service performances.
Abstract: Atmospheres are experiences of place involving transformations of consumers’ behaviors and emotions. Existing marketing research reveals how atmospheric stimuli, service performances, and ritual pl...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the question of whether social norms shape consumer behavior and under what circumstances social norms are more versus less effective in doing so, through an interdisciplinary approach.
Abstract: Social norms shape consumer behavior. However, it is not clear under what circumstances social norms are more versus less effective in doing so. This gap is addressed through an interdisciplinary m...
TL;DR: This paper developed a framework to unobtrusively detect salesperson faces and simultaneously extract six emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, happiness, surprise and sadness from salesperson's faces.
Abstract: At the intersection of technology and marketing, this study develops a framework to unobtrusively detect salespeople’s faces and simultaneously extract six emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, a...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take a novel look at the influence of incentives on salesperson's health and motivation, and find that positive effects of incentives have been well-established in literature.
Abstract: Positive effects of incentives on salespeople’s motivation, effort, and performance are well-established in literature. This article takes a novel look at their influence on salespeople’s health. T...
TL;DR: Algorithms increasingly used by brands sometimes fail to perform as expected or even worse, cause harm, causing brand harm crises.
Abstract: Algorithms, increasingly used by brands, sometimes fail to perform as expected or, even worse, cause harm, leading to brand harm crises. Algorithm failures are unfortunately increasing in frequency...
TL;DR: This paper examined whether and how platform-level buyer protection insurance (PPI) affects buyers and sellers in the sharing economy and found that PPI is beneficial for both consumers and sellers.
Abstract: The sharing economy has radically reshaped marketing thought and practice, and research has yet to examine whether and how platform-level buyer protection insurance (PPI) affects buyers and sellers...
TL;DR: While prevailing marketing practice is to encourage ever-stronger relationships between consumers and brands, such relationships are rare, and many consumers are relationship-averse or content with....
Abstract: While prevailing marketing practice is to encourage ever-stronger relationships between consumers and brands, such relationships are rare, and many consumers are relationship-averse or content with...
TL;DR: The authors demonstrate the following applications for brand management: obtaining prototypical brand visuals, relating associations to brand personality and equity, identifying favorable associations per category, exploring brand uniqueness through differentiating associations, and identifying commonalities between brands across categories for potential collaborations.
Abstract: Understanding consumers’ associations with brands is at the core of brand management. However, measuring associations is challenging because consumers can associate a brand with many objects, emoti...
TL;DR: Puntoni et al. as discussed by the authors have written a useful, interesting, and comprehensive summation of many of the promises and potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence (AI) for consumers.
Abstract: Puntoni et al. (2021; hereinafter Puntoni et al.) have written a useful, interesting, and comprehensive summation of many of the promises and potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence (AI) for consumers. In this short commentary, we extend their contributions by focusing on the hidden challenges, and thus the dilemma, that marketers face when they utilize AI. It seemed to us that Puntoni et al. suggest in several places that companies and organizations have a degree of control over AI or its algorithms which might be unrealistic. For example, the authors write that companies could “strive to develop AI that is less, rather than more, humanlike” (p. 175) and that managers should “design both debiased and antibias AI experiences” (p. 170). We found a similar perspective in De Bruyn et al. (2020). For example, their idea that “marketing managers” need to “specify valid objective functions” (pp. 91–92) may overstate the amount of control that most marketers have over AI. It is fair to say that a firm can customize an AI offering or its outputs without altering its core algorithms, in the same way that the passenger on an Uber ride can adjust their seat, listen to their own music, and open the window. However, most marketers in the world today are consumers, not creators, of AI technology. Creating and maintaining algorithms and AI is a complicated, expensive process that requires skilled personnel and continual monitoring and adjustment. Although AI is extremely useful to marketers, most do not produce or control it. Although it offers a sense of the degrees of freedom marketers may have to address consumer-facing challenges, Puntoni et al.’s experience design conception and advice may unhelpfully blur the line between what most marketers are and are not able to control about AI. Their article also obscures the power shifts and practical alterations accompanying the implementation of AI in organizations today. In the larger trend, which we might term “the technologizing of marketing,” marketers have largely become the users of technology rather than its masters, increasingly dependent on technology and its keepers—both those inside and outside their organizations—to do their job. This status is not new. Since computerized sales reports, customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce, and web pages became important parts of the marketer’s toolkit, influence over the implementation of marketing has been shifting to organizational information technology departments and the types who populate them. Platforms and AI further accelerate this technologizing shift of influence and power over the customer interface. Just as with prior changes, marketers may set the goals, but they are increasingly subordinate to technologists for development, implementation, and interpretation. Even the goals of marketing may ultimately be informed by AI. We build on Puntoni et al. by describing three important challenges that marketers face when they apply AI. After naming and explaining each of these challenges, we offer some recommendations on how marketers can face the important dilemma these challenges present.