Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2009), "Editorial", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2009.07726caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 26, Issue 3

If we could have the ability to unlock the mystery of why a consumer will purchase/use one product or service over another, we would literally hit the perennial jackpot and be able to succeed in the marketplace in no uncertain terms. However, the truth of the matter is that with all of our studies, research and planning, we still have to consider the consumer as an elusive target that must be pursued in a most thorough and prodigious manner. In addition, changes are rapidly taking place in terms of how we are trying to communicate, and receive the necessary feedback, as it concerns our marketing efforts. There seems to be no place in the global marketing arena that is not being challenged in terms of competition and how the consumer is quickly changing the rules of the game.

In our Misplaced Marketing section, the pitfalls and potentials of segmentation decisions based on the visible demographics variable of race is examined.

Chen examines the country-of-origin (COO) effect and consumer patriotism on young generation’s attitude toward American products with multi-attributes across different cultures and different product categories. The results of her study might indicate that the “Made In USA” slogan could be used to promote American products to people from younger generations and that the country-of-origin may have a different effect on consumer purchase intention between high-tech and non-high-tech products and between different consuming countries.

Dahlén, Grandlund and Grenros test the consumer-perceived value of non-traditional media and the moderating effects of brand reputation, appropriateness and expense. The authors show that non-traditional media enhances consumer-perceived value of marketing, suggesting that this concept is important in generating purchase and word-of-mouth intentions. The authors then make recommendations as it pertains to brand reputation, budgets (expenses) and the appropriateness of marketing.

Flavián and Gurrea provide present a study that identifies the readers’ motivations as the key determinants of the attitude towards digital newspapers and then analyzes their impact on that attitude. The authors reveal that the main motivations that influence the attitude to the new electronic dailies should be considered as a way to differentiate the digital channel. It might be possible to calm some fears as it concerns the belief that there might be some cannibalism between digital and traditional channels in the journalistic sector. The starting point for developing any marketing strategies should be understanding the readers’ needs and motivations for information.

Parker compares the brand personality and brand-user imagery constructs in congruity theory so as to examine their relationship in the image congruence model as a basis for modeling brand attitudes for both publicly and privately consumed brands. The results of the authors study indicate that for publicly consumed brands, user-imagery based congruence measures more often contributed to the explanatory power of the model. For privately consumed brands, brand personality congruity produced significant regressions but did not account for a large portion of explained variance, while user-imagery only entered one private brand model.

Hopkins and Powers examine the concept of altruism as a motivating factor as it relates to a consumer’s response to a buy-national marketing campaign. The authors study traditional measures of altruism to determine if there are differing or additional dimensions of altruism. Eight dimensions of altruism are empirically identified and are demonstrated to be different by demographic groupings and their responses to altruism-based marketing programs.

Kolyesnikova, Dodd and Wilcox present us with research as it relates to involvement, knowledge and identity as predictors of reciprocal consumer behavior. Two components of reciprocity, gratitude and obligation, are expected to mediate the relationships. The effect is expected o be different for men and women. Obligation to make a purchase had a stronger effect on purchasing behavior of women. In contrast, gratitude (feeling of appreciation and thankfulness to personnel) was a stronger reason for men to make a purchase. Thus, knowledge about different ways in which men and women reciprocate could be useful information for both marketing researchers and practitioners. Purchases are likely to be the result at least in part because of these feelings.

In this issue you will also find a most interesting case analysis, book review and our computer currency section.

Richard C. Leventhal