Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2014), "Editorial", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-03-2014-0885

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 31, Issue 3

Marketers are faced with a most perplexing problem: exactly what affects our consumer’s behavior in terms of purchasing (and using) a particular product? Furthermore, we know that in a global marketplace, both culture and society affect this process, but to what extent? In recent times, more companies are making the effort to seek answers to this given situation, but we might say that we have only scratched the surface to coming up with the necessary strategies and actions to yield both a successful and profitable solution. Constant attention is a necessity to achieve a competitive advantage.

Ng and Chan investigated how Chinese adolescent girls and boys construct their own ideal female images in response to gendered advertisements. Female interviewees aspired to be like the elegant woman, identified with the sophisticate female and rejected the strong woman in the advertisements. Male interviewees appreciated the urban sophisticated female but rejected the strong woman. The authors relate that this study affirm that female central characters in advertisements should be pilot-tested among the target audience to maximize levels of aspiration and identification.

Booth and Freeman illustrate the mapping of a consumer’s mental process in a market-relevant context. The authors show how such maps deliver operational insights that cannot be gained by physical methods such as brain imaging. Panel mapping of multiple discriminations from a personal norm fills three major gaps in consumer marketing research. First, preference scores are related to major influences on choices and their cognitive interactions in the mind. Second, the calculations are completed on the individual’s data and the cognitive parameters of each consumer’s behavior are aggregated-never the raw scores. Third, discrimination scaling puts marketed symbolic attributes and sensed material characteristics on the same footing, hence measuring their causal interactions for the first time. Neuromarketing is an unworkable proposition because brain imaging does not distinguish qualitative differences in behavior. Preference tests are operationally effective when designed and analyzed to relate to behavioral scores to major influences from market concepts and sensory qualities in interaction. The particular interactions measured in the reported study relate to the major market for healthy eating.

Kulviwat, Bruner and Neelankavil examine whether self-efficacy plays an important role in shaping the effect of cognition and affect in high technology adoption. It also examines whether cognition and affect mediate the effect of self-efficacy on attitude toward adoption. The study confirms that a belief about something besides the product also plays a key role; it is the confidence consumers have in their own abilities to understand and effectively use a new piece of technology.

Prendergast, Li and Li examine the concept that both homophily and Darwinian theories affect the way that sales are made to consumers by both male and female salespeople. To encourage a consumer’s positive response, retailers need to consider salesperson gender and training. In some specific contexts (such as the selling of products designed to enhance female attractiveness), male salespeople ought to be used ahead of female salespeople and those male salespeople need to have high credibility to be effective. However, such salesmen may not be seen as more expert than saleswomen, as expertise needs to be an area of focus in terms of salesperson training.

Schultz and Block investigate whether an ongoing sales promotion contributed to declines in “no brand preference” (NPB) for frequently purchased consumer product brands. The authors study whether ongoing sales promotions contributed to declines in NPB. Schultz and Block focused on determining reasons for NPB increase in sales. The results of this longitudinal study identified four leading consumer sales promotional tools (based on consumer influence): coupons, home samples, in-store samples and retailer shopper cards.

Yavas, Babakus, Deitz and Jha investigate the relative efficacies of intrinsic and extrinsic cues as drivers of customer loyalty to financial institutions between male and female bank customers. Results suggest that, although transmitting a favorable image through extrinsic cues is critical, intrinsic cues (interactions among customers and bank personnel) should not be ignored. To accomplish this, one strategy is to focus on image executions that are hard for consumers to refute.

In this issue, you will also find our Book Review section.

Richard C. Leventhal