Showing papers in "Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science in 2015"

A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling

Abstract: Discriminant validity assessment has become a generally accepted prerequisite for analyzing relationships between latent variables. For variance-based structural equation modeling, such as partial least squares, the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the examination of cross-loadings are the dominant approaches for evaluating discriminant validity. By means of a simulation study, we show that these approaches do not reliably detect the lack of discriminant validity in common research situations. We therefore propose an alternative approach, based on the multitrait-multimethod matrix, to assess discriminant validity: the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations. We demonstrate its superior performance by means of a Monte Carlo simulation study, in which we compare the new approach to the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the assessment of (partial) cross-loadings. Finally, we provide guidelines on how to handle discriminant validity issues in variance-based structural equation modeling.

The impact of dynamic capabilities on operational marketing and technological capabilities: investigating the role of environmental turbulence

Abstract: Marketing and technological capabilities are primary drivers of a firm’s performance and thus of central interest to managers. Yet the way in which these two capabilities align with changing environments to secure superior performance remains unclear. Drawing on the dynamic capability view and data from a survey of 228 firms, this study proposes a model of how frequent dynamic capability utilization, assessed through its underlying processes of sensing and reconfiguring, relates to marketing and technological capabilities, as well as how market, technological, and competitor turbulence might affect these relationships. The results show that frequent sensing and reconfiguring have stronger positive effects in environments characterized by high competitor turbulence; however, frequent sensing can have negative relationships with marketing and technological capabilities in stable environments. Furthermore, marketing capabilities are positively associated with firm performance in highly competitive environments, whereas technological capabilities enhance performance in stable competitive environments.

Exploring value propositions and service innovation: a service-dominant logic study

Abstract: This paper presents an eight-firm study, conducted from the service-dominant logic perspective, which makes a contribution regarding knowledge of the anatomy of value propositions and service innovation. The paper suggests that value propositions are configurations of several different practices and resources. The paper finds that ten common practices, organized in three main aggregates, constitute and fulfill value propositions: i.e. provision practices, representational practices, and management and organizational practices. Moreover, the paper suggests that service innovation can be equated with the creation of new value propositions by means of developing existing or creating new practices and/or resources, or by means of integrating practices and resources in new ways. It identifies four types of service innovation (adaptation, resource-based innovation, practice-based innovation, and combinative innovation) and three types of service innovation processes (practice-based, resource-based, and combinative). The key managerial insight provided by the paper is that service innovation must be conducted and value propositions must be evaluated from the perspective of the customers’ value creation, the service that the customer experiences. Successful service innovation is not only contingent on having the right resources, established methods and practices for integrating these resources into attractive value propositions are also needed.

Consumer resistance to innovation—a behavioral reasoning perspective

Abstract: Behavioral research shows that reasons for and reasons against adopting innovations differ qualitatively, and they influence consumers’ decisions in dissimilar ways. This has important implications for theorists and managers, as overcoming barriers that cause resistance to innovation calls for marketing approaches other than promoting reasons for adoption of new products and services. Consumer behavior frameworks in diffusion of innovation (DOI) studies have largely failed to distinctly account for reasons against adoption. Indeed, no study to date has tested the relative influence of adoption and resistance factors in a single framework. This research aims to address this shortcoming by applying a novel consumer behavior model (i.e., behavioral reasoning theory) to test the relative influence of both reasons for and, importantly, reasons against adoption in consumers’ innovation adoption decisions. Based on two empirical studies, one with a product and a second with a service innovation, findings demonstrate that behavioral reasoning theory provides a suitable framework to model the mental processing of innovation adoption. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.

Does Twitter matter? The impact of microblogging word of mouth on consumers’ adoption of new movies

Abstract: This research provides an empirical test of the “Twitter effect,” which postulates that microblogging word of mouth (MWOM) shared through Twitter and similar services affects early product adoption behaviors by immediately disseminating consumers’ post-purchase quality evaluations. This is a potentially crucial factor for the success of experiential media products and other products whose distribution strategy relies on a hyped release. Studying the four million MWOM messages sent via Twitter concerning 105 movies on their respective opening weekends, the authors find support for the Twitter effect and report evidence of a negativity bias. In a follow-up incident study of 600 Twitter users who decided not to see a movie based on negative MWOM, the authors shed additional light on the Twitter effect by investigating how consumers use MWOM information in their decision-making processes and describing MWOM’s defining characteristics. They use these insights to position MWOM in the word-of-mouth landscape, to identify future word-of-mouth research opportunities based on this conceptual positioning, and to develop managerial implications.

The dark side of customer co-creation: exploring the consequences of failed co-created services

Abstract: Whereas current literature emphasizes the positive consequences of co-creation, this article sheds light on potential risks of co-created services. Specifically, we examine the implications of customer co-creation in service failure episodes. The results of four experimental studies show that in a failure case, services high on co-creation generate a greater negative disconfirmation with the expected service outcome than services low on co-creation. Moreover, we examine the effectiveness of different service recovery strategies to restore customer satisfaction after failed co-created services. According to our results, companies should follow a matching strategy by mirroring the level of customer participation in service recovery based on the level of co-creation during service delivery. In particular, flawed co-creation promotes internal failure attribution which in turn enhances perceived guilt. Our results suggest that in such case customer satisfaction is best restored by offering co-created service recovery.

Building, measuring, and profiting from customer loyalty

Abstract: Achieving customer loyalty is a primary marketing goal, but building loyalty and reaping its rewards remain ongoing challenges. Theory suggests that loyalty comprises attitudes and purchase behaviors that benefit one seller over competitors. Yet researchers examining loyalty adopt widely varying conceptual and operational approaches. The present investigation examines the consequences of this heterogeneity by empirically mapping current conceptual approaches using an item-level coding of extant loyalty research, then testing how operational and study-specific characteristics moderate the strategy → loyalty → performance process through meta-analytic techniques. The results clarify dissimilarities in loyalty building strategies, how loyalty differentially affects performance and word of mouth, and the consequences of study-specific characteristics. Prescriptive advice based on 163 studies of customer loyalty addresses three seemingly simple but very critical questions: What is customer loyalty? How is it measured? and What actually matters when it comes to customer loyalty?

The role of moral emotions and individual differences in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions

Abstract: We investigate the mediating role of moral emotions and their contingency on individual characteristics in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions. Two between subjects experiments were conducted to test our hypotheses on samples of adult consumers. The results show that, for corporate non-green actions, various individual difference characteristics (social justice values, empathy, moral identity, self-concept) moderate the elicitation of negative moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust), which, in turn, lead to consumer negative responses (negative word of mouth, complaint behaviors, boycotting). Moreover, for corporate green actions, empathy moderates elicitation of positive emotions on gratitude, which, in turn, influences consumer positive responses (positive word of mouth, resistance to negative information, identification with the company, investment). This study adds to extant research by examining understudied “hot” moral emotional processes underlying consumer reactions toward corporate environmental responsibility and irresponsibility. Implications for marketing communication and segmentation decisions are considered.

The loss of the marketing department’s influence: is it really happening? And why worry?

Abstract: Although research and managerial practice have demonstrated great interest in the role of marketing departments within firms and have raised repeated concerns that their influence is in sharp decline, prior research has not analyzed whether marketing departments are truly losing ground. To do so, we build on the work of Homburg et al. (1999), which assessed the influence of the marketing department two decades ago. Drawing on structurally equivalent data, the results demonstrate that the marketing department has indeed lost significant influence. Additionally, we analyze which department has benefited from this loss of influence. Interestingly, it is the sales department that has gained influence, rather than the finance department, as one might assume. We also study the performance consequences of the intraorganizational distribution of influence among the marketing, sales, R&D, operations, and finance departments. Our results are alarming because an influential marketing department makes the greatest contribution to company performance.

Stakeholder marketing: theoretical foundations and required capabilities

Abstract: This conceptual paper argues that the marketing discipline should move away from its rather restrictive focus on customers toward a view of marketing that acknowledges the interrelatedness of stakeholders. Building on multiplicity theory, this paper presents stakeholder marketing as a revised perspective on marketing that views stakeholder networks as continuous instead of discrete multiplicities. This revised perspective offers a better understanding of stakeholder networks where (1) value exchange has become complex rather than dyadic, (2) tension between stakeholder interests has become explicit rather than implicit, and (3) control over marketing activities has become dispersed rather than centralized. The paper conceptualizes capabilities required by firms for dealing with each of these three transitions: systems thinking, paradoxical thinking, and democratic thinking. The paper discusses implications for firm performance, marketing theory, empirical research, and marketing practice and argues that embracing stakeholder marketing helps to reclaim territory for marketing in academia and business.

The role of the market sub-system and the socio-technical sub-system in innovation and firm performance: a dynamic capabilities approach

Abstract: Organizational learning has been studied as a key factor in firm performance and internationalization. Moving beyond the past emphasis on market learning, we develop a more complete explanation of learning, its relationship to innovation, and their joint effect on early internationalization. We theorize that, driven by the founders’ international vision, early internationalizing firms employ a dual subsystem of dynamic capabilities: a market subsystem consisting of market-focused learning capability and marketing capability, and a socio-technical subsystem comprised of network learning capability and internally focused learning capability. We argue that innovation mediates the proposed relationship between the dynamic capability structure and early internationalization. We conduct case studies to develop the conceptual framework and test it in a field survey of early internationalizing firms from Australia and the United States. Our findings indicate a complex interplay of capabilities driving innovation and early internationalization. We provide theoretical and practical implications and offer insights for future research.

Reconciling the tension between consistency and relevance: design thinking as a mechanism for brand ambidexterity

Abstract: In order to sustain and grow brand equity, brand managers are faced with balancing the preservation of existing brand identity through consistency with the need to maintain relevance, which requires change and innovation. In this paper we build upon the concept of organizational ambidexterity (March 1991), arguing that design thinking—the logics and practices associated with designers—can serve as a mechanism which promotes and enables the integration of brand consistency and relevance. Drawing on cases of innovation at firms across a range of industries, we show how design thinking can trigger brand ambidexterity across a three-stage process. We identify eight practices and examine how designers enable brand managers to address enduring consistency-relevance tensions in ways that ensure innovations renew or revitalize the brand without undermining its essence.

Understanding the interplay between brand and innovation management: findings and future research directions

Abstract: Brand and innovation management have become increasingly important priorities for firms over the last few decades. Firms rely on strong brands and product innovations to gain competitive advantage and fuel growth. Although academic research has addressed a number of different areas and topics that have collectively advanced our understanding, the interrelationship between branding and innovations is still relatively under-researched. Brand and innovation management need and benefit from each other, suggesting a need for a deeper integration between the two. Towards that goal, this article presents a conceptual framework to help structure the interrelationship and suggests a number of future research directions.

Is corporate social responsibility a motivator or hygiene factor? Insights into its bivalent nature

Abstract: This study fills extant gaps in the marketing literature by further probing the multi-faceted impact of a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on customer relationships, and it marks the first systematic marketing study devoted to investigating CSR as a bivalent mechanism that encompasses both motivation and hygiene properties. Via a field study utilizing three separate samples of customer survey data (combined n = 2,408) collected over three seasons from a professional basketball team, results support a moderated mediation model wherein CSR is shown to be a necessary and sufficient mechanism for stronger customer relationships. While business leaders typically support the notion of CSR for largely altruistic reasons, our research brings new understanding as to how CSR operates in customers’ minds and suggests that CSR is not only something that a company should engage in based on principled grounds but also something that a company must practice for strategic reasons as their customers demand it and place relational value on it.

Creating consumer attachment to retail service firms through sense of place

Abstract: Fostering attachment between consumers and organizations is developing into a cornerstone of relationship marketing strategy. However, little is known about how an organization can develop strong emotional ties with consumers. Our research addresses one aspect of this gap by showing that in atmosphere dominant service firms, sense of place leads to place attachment, which in turn plays a critical role in driving desirable customer behaviors. In Study 1 we demonstrate that sense of place influences the strength of consumers’ attachment to a service location, which ultimately has positive effects on consumers’ behaviors. In Study 2, we identify characteristics that influence the sense of place dimensions and extend the model to better account for the dynamics of social relationships that develop within a service firm. This research provides an initial investigation into how organizations can better manage the service place and provides a rich framework for future research on managing attachment with service consumers.

A holistic market conceptualization

Abstract: Mainstream marketing’s view on markets builds on neoclassical economics. By integrating mainstream marketing thinking with the emergent marketing literature that acknowledges a set of shortcomings related to the neoclassical-based market conceptualization, this paper aims to provide a market conceptualization that captures complexity. Grounded on the etymology of the word market, we review literature and identify two market dimensions: market-as-noun and market-as-verb; and four distinct themes: market entities (referring to which actors are involved), market representation (regarding how markets are signified), market performing (referring to what actions are carried out), and market sense-making (concerning how markets emerge and evolve). Each theme has several elements. The proposed market conceptualization allows market complexity to be addressed by integrating conventional and new market forms. It also offers new avenues for research and invites managers to emancipate themselves from product-based market thinking, to create subjective market definitions and to think in terms of non-predictive strategies.

Dependence and interdependence in marketing relationships: meta-analytic insights

Abstract: The authors conduct a meta-analysis to examine dependence and interdependence in marketing relationships. Analyses reveal that dependence affects performance primarily through relationship quality and cooperation, while interdependence has substantial direct effects as well as effects mediated through relationship-specific investments and cooperation. Regarding relationship context, effects of dependence are stronger in channel relationships than end-user relationships and for services than goods; interdependence does not display the same pattern. Regarding methodological context, dependence measures that emphasize relationship value versus switching costs have different moderating effects; greater general dependence content is associated with weaker effect sizes for dependence but conversely greater effect sizes for interdependence. These results suggest that new insights can be gained by distinguishing relationship value and switching cost components of dependence and by investigating the possibility that the conceptual domain of interdependence differs from that of dependence. Future research that strives for greater precision in the measurement of dependence and interdependence constructs and that simultaneously examines dependence and interdependence is recommended.

Structural marketing: using organizational structure to achieve marketing objectives

Abstract: Academics and business practitioners increasingly recognize the importance of organizational structure in marketing. Yet research examining the effects of different organizational structure design elements on marketing outcomes remains fragmented and scarce. Accordingly, this article seeks to synthesize and extend understanding of how firms use their organizational structural elements to achieve marketing objectives, and to offer a new perspective of structural marketing. In support of this research goal, a cross-disciplinary review of organizational structure, its types, and its characteristics, in combination with theories relevant to the field of marketing, informs an assessment of empirical findings from marketing literature. This synthesis introduces the concept of structural marketing; the article offers both theoretical tenets and testable propositions in support of an initial framework for using organizational structure design elements as strategic marketing variables. Illustrative business cases reinforce these tenets, conceptual arguments, and managerial insights.

Competitive intelligence collection and use by sales and service representatives: how managers’ recognition and autonomy moderate individual performance

Abstract: The importance of knowledge to the organization cannot be denied. However, to date little research has investigated the critical role individuals in sales and service representative positions play in the gathering and use of information in the organization and how this information can help them enhance their performance. Using social identity theory as a conceptual background, this paper reports two studies which investigate how organizational identification and role conflict impact the collection and use of individual competitive intelligence (ICI) and how this impacts individual performance. In addition, we look at the impact of managerial recognition and autonomy on these relationships. Tests across two firms using hierarchical linear modeling provide support for the hypothesized relationships. We conclude that firms can create an environment which facilitates the collection and use of ICI and that this, in turn, positively impacts individual performance.

Dispersion of marketing capabilities: Impact on marketing’s influence and business unit outcomes

Abstract: The marketing function of firms continues to evolve into many configurations, including the dispersion of marketing capabilities. This study evaluates the effects on the marketing function’s influence when marketing capabilities are dispersed across multiple boundaries. Using a sample of marketing executives, we study the effects of two forms of marketing capabilities dispersion: intra-organizational dispersion and inter-organizational dispersion. We examine the impact of these forms on marketing’s perceived influence within the firm. We also investigate marketing’s influence on customer responsiveness, along with three distal outcomes: marketing strategy implementation success, relationship portfolio effectiveness, and business unit performance. Our findings reveal that marketing’s influence may actually heighten or diminish, depending on the form of marketing capability dispersion. Further, we contribute to findings regarding marketing’s influence on business unit performance. The results provide a new lens for scholars to view and measure marketing dispersion and offer guidance to practitioners.

Broken halos and shattered horns: overcoming the biasing effects of prior expectations through objective information disclosure

Abstract: In three studies the authors seek to extend prior research by examining the simultaneous effects of positive (halos) and negative (horns) health-related inferences. How the provision of objective point-of-purchase nutrition information moderates the effects of these pre-existing health halo and health horn effects on food evaluations and choices is considered. In Study 1 predictions addressing the interaction between a recently mandated objective nutrition disclosure and initial product category healthfulness perceptions are proposed and supported. Study 2 extends findings from this initial online experiment to a more realistic retail environment, and Study 3 addresses how different presentation exposure contexts (on a package compared to a nutrition poster) affects evaluations and how evaluations related to the information disclosure are linked. Since the USDA recently required retailers to provide nutrition information at the point-of-purchase for beef and poultry products, these results have important implications for consumers, producers, retailers, and policy makers.

A meta-analytic review of the effects of organizational control in marketing exchange relationships

Abstract: A growing body of empirical research has investigated various aspects of control in exchange relationships; however, understanding of this phenomenon is still in its infancy. The objective of our research is to review this literature quantitatively with meta-analysis to derive some empirical generalizations and reconcile the contradictory results about the effects of organizational control in marketing exchange relationships. This study finds that process and output control generally produce positive outcomes, especially when used jointly. It also finds that, because control encompasses more than monitoring alone, the former is generally more effective in producing positive outcomes. Our research also finds that organizational control can have either positive or negative consequences depending on the organizational setting (i.e., interorganizational vs. intraorganizational context)

Consumer stakeholder responses to reshoring strategies

Abstract: Our research provides insights into the nature of consumer reactions to corporate reshoring. We test the impact of reshoring decisions on consumer willingness to buy and willingness to pay for the products of companies implementing reshoring decisions. We conduct three experimental studies: Study 1 analyzes the processes underlying consumer reactions to reshoring from a moral psychology perspective. Results show the mediating role of positive and negative moral emotions (i.e., gratitude and righteous anger) felt by consumers. Study 2 shows the important role of consumer attribution inferences of company motives for reshoring, and ethnocentrism dispositions of consumers, highlighting boundary conditions of proposed moderating mechanisms. Study 3 tests the proposed model in the context of an actual reshoring case, extending its range of application and addressing external validity. The results improve our understanding and handling of consumer reactions to corporate reshoring.

The role of organizational learning in stakeholder marketing

Abstract: As the roles of customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, regulators, and communities become more significant in today’s business environment, a precise understanding of the organization’s internal drivers in delivering value to its stakeholders is critical. To this end, this study integrates stakeholder theory and the organizational learning literature to propose that stakeholder-focused organizational learning drives organizations to respond to their stakeholders. Using a sample of 349 organizations, we introduce three stakeholder-focused knowledge acquisition mechanisms (experiential, vicarious, and contact) and, along with the other organizational learning processes (information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory), examine their influence on the behavioral actions of stakeholder-focused responsiveness, innovation, and imitation. Subsequently, we assess the impact of these behavioral actions on organizational performance. Overall, the results show that stakeholder-focused organizational learning is positively associated with responsiveness. More uniquely, the propensity to employ innovative or imitative stakeholder practices is found to be influenced by the way the organization acquires information about stakeholders. Lastly, the findings suggest that simply responding to stakeholders does not guarantee superior performance, but the manner in which the organization responds matters just as much.

Reaching the breaking point: a dynamic process theory of business-to-business customer defection

Abstract: Qualitative field research based on long depth interviews with business-to-business customers who defected from a supplier relationship is used to develop an integrated theoretical framework explaining how the defection decision process unfolds over time in business-to-business relationships. The authors develop a taxonomy of events, both internal and external to the relationship, that are proposed to create “defection energy,” or the motivation to move a customer from relationship status quo toward a defection decision. The framework illustrates how these internal and external events interact with the organization’s and the individual decision maker’s goals, practices, and values to engage a dynamic anchoring and updating mechanism based on accumulated defection energy that drives the process toward a decision threshold. The research offers marketers insights to improve defection management, including an understanding of how organizational and individual customer needs shape relationships; that defection decisions build as a result of multiple events over time, requiring a longer-term perspective on defection; and that defection decisions can be influenced by events outside the core product or service delivery process, suggesting that these decisions need to be understood within the broader context of the overall relationship.

Branding access offers: the importance of product brands, ownership status, and spillover effects to parent brands

Abstract: Introducing access as an alternative consumption mode next to ownership constitutes a major business model innovation. Managers need to better understand how to brand these new access offers and how this innovation affects current customers of the parent brand. In a series of experiments, we show that the product brand affects consumers’ access attitude less strongly than the offer’s service convenience in the carsharing context. However, in the fashion context, we find that brand prestige becomes essential for consumers’ access attitude. Regardless of the context, we repeatedly find that owners of a prestige brand evaluate new access offers more favorably than non-owners. In the carsharing context, this effect reverses for value brand owners. Furthermore, we do not find evidence that the access offer affects the parent brand negatively. Instead, we find that the parent brand is considered more innovative when a new access offer is introduced.

All the same to me: outcomes of aesthetic labor performed by frontline service providers

Abstract: Aesthetic labor practices involve strategically controlling human aesthetics in an effort create a predefined physical appearance profile that becomes part of the value proposition. Retail and service management often implements aesthetic labor by trying to create a matching look among all visible service providers. Social comparison theory provides a general theory that helps explain the way consumers may react to more or less similarity in appearance among service providers. Three studies examine aesthetic labor in service settings. Study 1 tests a theoretical structure suggesting a process by which aesthetic labor in the form of a similar appearance among service providers affects outcomes including self-congruence, affect, hedonic value and future patronage intention. Study 2 adds explanatory power to Study 1 by demonstrating the important role played by authentic fit among service providers. Study 3 explores the impact of uniforms as an aesthetic labor tool and suggests that uniforms may not always enhance perceptions that employees belong together. The research overall demonstrates some counter-intuitive findings including the fact that looking alike is only an effective aesthetic labor strategy to the extent that it drives perceptions of genuine belonging.

One firm's loss is another's gain: capitalizing on other firms' service failures

Abstract: Whereas past research has focused on negative outcomes that can transfer from one firm to another, this paper examines conditions under which a service failure by one firm creates an opportunity to enhance customer evaluations of a different firm in a contiguous service experience. Thus, a new external service recovery phenomenon is demonstrated in which consumers have more favorable perceptions of a firm when there was a previous failure with a different firm compared with no previous service failure. Study 1 tests hypotheses related to consumers’ perceptions of a hotel’s external service recovery after an airline’s service failure. Study 2 examines an external recovery effort in the hotel industry that follows a service failure from an unrelated hotel, an affiliated hotel, and the same hotel. Study 3 utilizes a laboratory experiment to assess the effects of external recovery in a restaurant setting. Results from all three studies suggest external recovery leads to appreciable gains for the recovering firm but only when it is not affiliated with the failing firm. Implications for service managers suggest several simple and relatively low cost tactics can be implemented to capitalize on other firms’ failures. In particular, this research highlights strategies that encourage frontline employees to listen to customers and, if a prior failure is detected, make simple gestures of goodwill.

Walking a tightrope: the joint impact of customer and within-firm boundary spanning activities on perceived customer satisfaction and team performance

Abstract: To successfully satisfy large customers and meet financial objectives, dedicated sales teams need to manage two boundaries: a boundary within the selling firm and one with the customer organization. However, little is known about the process of managing these multiple boundaries. This study integrates job demands-resource theory with research on key account management and sales teams to examine (1) the main effect of customer boundary spanning on perceived customer satisfaction and team performance and (2) the moderating role of within-firm coordination activities at three levels: top management, cross-functional, and within-team. An empirical test of the model with data from 167 sales teams finds that the interaction between customer boundary spanning and within-firm coordination activities has opposite effects on perceived customer satisfaction and team performance outcomes. The results are robust to endogeneity and heteroskedasticity concerns.

Cross-national differences in price–role orientation and their impact on retail markets

Abstract: This paper analyzes differences in price–role orientations between economically developed and emerging markets and how these differences influence store brand and store format preferences. It extends cross-national research on price–role orientations by (1) focusing on culturally similar but economically different countries, (2) relating differences to preferences for store brands and low-price store formats, and (3) analyzing these effects for functional versus hedonic and low- versus high-price product groups. Based on theories explaining the effects of income on individual price perception and behavior, we hypothesize cross-national differences in price and value consciousness, the price–quality schema, and prestige sensitivity. Furthermore, we present a theoretical link between these price–role orientations and store format preferences based on the ability of store formats to address different price roles. A survey conducted in Germany and Poland reveals several cross-national differences in price–role orientations and resulting preferences, which, however, depend on product group characteristics.