Search results

This study aims to extend the previous research on contagion and proposes an integrative paradigm in which consumer goals and contagion recipient factors are identified as the key variables leading to the emergence of the contagion phenomenon. When a consumer has an active goal, a product touched by goal-congruent sources leads to positive product evaluation and enhances consumer performance when the product is used.

This research conducted five experimental studies in online and offline retail settings to examine the effect of contagion on evaluations of contagion objects and performance in goal-related tasks.

Across five studies, the authors demonstrated that the activation of a goal leads to contagion-based product evaluation and performance enhancement effects. The authors theorized and showed that the contagion-based process triggered during goal pursuit led to a more favorable evaluation of contagion products (Studies 1, 2 and 3). The authors also showed that enhanced consumers’ commitment toward a goal, which in turn led to enhanced performance in a real task that contributed to achieving one’s goal (Study 4). These effects emerged only when the object was physically touched by a goal-congruent contagion source and were more pronounced for the consumers who experience a high (vs low) degree of goal discrepancy (Study 5).

The current research examined the contagion phenomenon in a few predetermined goal domains (e.g. health improvement goals, career success goals, marriage success goals). Although the authors found consistent effects across different types of goals, future research can examine a more comprehensive set of consumer goals and improve the limitation of the current research to generalize the goal-based contagion phenomenon to various consumer goals.

This study suggests that it is important for retailers, in particular sellers and buyers in the secondhand markets, to understand consumer goals and prepare an appropriate contagion environment for favorable evaluation of their offerings. One possible implication is that sellers may be best served as priming certain goals. The findings also indicate that secondhand sellers may be well served to emphasize seller characteristics in certain instances and de-emphasize them in others to maximize sales.

This research proposes a new variable, namely, goal activation, and presents an integrative contagion paradigm that not only helps explain previous research findings but also offers a new perspective on the contagion phenomenon.

Comfort foods consumption and linkages to stress coping strategies have received little attention in the business research on food products and services. This paper aims to explore comfort foods consumption among older Americans and how stress-coping strategies are related to their consumption frequency and variety of comfort foods.

Older Americans aged 50–99 years (N = 1,428) in the Health and Retirement Study were surveyed on their frequency and variety of comfort foods consumption and their consumption coping strategies. Data were analyzed and regression models were estimated.

Demographically, baby boomer, male, and non-Hispanic whites reported higher frequency and variety of comfort foods consumption. Comfort foods consumption in frequency and variety was significantly higher (lower) when “eat more” (“use alcohol”) was the endorsed coping strategy.

Research findings furthered research on the consumption of comfort foods among older American adults and added new insights into their coping behavior, both of which may help businesses be more targeted in serving comfort foods to the mature market and the public sector to tailor their services to older adults.

Unlike prior consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) research that examines well-known brands in different product categories, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the within-product category differences in terms of the sources of CBBE.

To facilitate the comparison, the paper proposes a hybrid measurement model of CBBE that systematically integrates various existing CBBE dimensions and examines the substantive difference among master brands and their sub-brands within a product category. The model distinguishes the latent CBBE construct from its dimensions, and separates its formative (causes of CBBE) from its reflective (effects of CBBE) dimensions, based on their causal relationship with the construct.

The paper collects CBBE data for multiple soft drink master brands and sub-brands. The paper finds significant differences among them and provides a detailed view that has not been revealed to the marketers before.

The paper not only examines a more realistic context for consumers’ marketplace choice but also is more relevant to brand managers who closely monitor their direct competitors’ performance.

Intelligent customer service has started replacing human employees in providing services to customers in numerous industries. Based on the expectancy disconfirmation theory, this study explores how different types of anthropomorphic avatar images of the intelligent customer service would affect consumer responses such as the willingness to interact, in the context of a service failure. The underlying mechanism and boundary conditions are also examined.

Two experimental studies were conducted to investigate the effect of the anthropomorphic image of intelligent customer service on consumers' willingness to interact and the potential role of consumer expectation and disappointment, following a service failure (Study 1). The moderating effect of anthropomorphic type was also explored (Study 2).

In the context of a customer service failure, an anthropomorphized intelligent customer service avatar that appeared competent (vs. warm) induced higher customer disappointment. However, if the anthropomorphic avatar had a cartoon-like appearance, the effect of avatar image perception (competent vs. warm) on consumers' willingness to interact diminishes.

This research enriches and expands the literature on interactive marketing and artificial intelligence and provides practical guidance for companies to design or choose avatar images for intelligent customer service.

The marketing literature uses five different experience terms that are supposed to represent different streams of research. Many papers do not provide a definition, most of the used definitions are unclear, the different experience terms have similar dimensionality and are regularly used interchangeably or have the same meaning. In addition, the existing definitions are not adequately informed from other disciplines that have engaged with experience. This paper aims to build a comprehensive conceptual framework of experience in marketing informed by related disciplines aiming to provide a more holistic definition of the term.

This research follows previously established procedures by conducting a systematic literature review of experience. From the approximately 5,000 sources identified in three disciplines, 267 sources were selected, marketing (148), philosophy (90) and psychology (29). To address definitional issues the analysis focused on enlightening four premises.

This paper posits that the term brand experience can be used in all marketing-related experiences and proposes four premises that may resolve the vagaries associated with the term’s conceptualization. The four premises address the what, who, how and when of brand experience and aim to rectify conceptual issues. Brand experience is introduced as a multi-level phenomenon.

The suggested singular term, brand experience, captures all experiences in marketing. The identified additional elements of brand experience, such as the levels of experience and the revision of emotions within brand experience as a continuum, tempered by repetition, should be considered in future research.

The multi-level conceptualization may provide a greater scope for dynamic approaches to brand experience design thus providing greater opportunities for managers to create sustainable competitive advantages and differentiation from competitors.

This paper completes a systematic literature review of brand experience across marketing, philosophy and psychology which delineates and enlightens the conceptualization of brand experience and presents brand experience in a multi-level conceptualization, opening the possibility for further theoretical, methodological and interdisciplinary promise.

This paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of active escapism – a unique form of experiential consumption that engages fantasy and role-play as a means of coping. In contrast with passive forms of escapism, whereby consumers act as observers (e.g. watching a movie), active escapism provides consumers with the opportunity to directly interact with mediated realities, whether constructed in a virtual space (e.g. a video game) or the real world.

Within the context of video game consumption, a conceptual framework for active escapism comprised antecedents, processes and consequences is established through literature review, depth interviews and naturalistic inquiry.

The findings suggest that active escapism functions as a coping mechanism when consumers are confronted with external stressors that threaten either their sense of identity or control. While other forms of emotion-focused coping relieve stress through psychological avoidance (i.e. refocusing of attention away from stressors), active escapism provides the benefits of affirmation and empowerment through projective fantasy (i.e. role-play) and presence (i.e. immersion into a mediated reality).

The conceptual framework established by this analysis gives insight into the structure of active escapism as a theoretical construct, providing a foundation for future research. Managerial implications for consumer escapism (e.g. branded in-game content) are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to study consumers' perception regarding Calabrian local products and the role of Magna Græcia culture in their buying behaviour, in order to identify a new model which can deliver concrete results for the area as regards marketing strategies and territorial communication, thereby influencing in a positive way the regional development. In fact, many products and artefacts reflect the finds in the region from the ancient Greek era which ran from the eighth century BC to the first century AD (called “Magna Græcia”). Despite this considerable patrimony, Calabria has still not fully exploited its potential.

The research conducted has been developed by using two different approaches: the first qualitative, the second quantitative. In particular, the qualitative method (in depth interviews with marketing experts) has been used initially to find important considerations which constituted the base for the subsequent quantitative research (focused on the questionnaires with consumers) can then build upon.

This research carried out a new consumers' perception model of local products coming from Magna Græcia. In particular, the model shows the most important factors influencing the perception, which are related to cultural value of the products.

Calabrian marketers could improve their strategies by focusing on the cultural value of their products, as well as on the link products/territory and on the role of Magna Græcia culture on the creation of the products.

An important aspect which has emerged is the key role of culture‐related factors (regional image and authenticity) on consumers' perception, which affect consumers' buying behaviour and the total expenditure on local products. Furthermore, the research undertaken is of an inter‐disciplinary nature being comprised of elements linked to both marketing and psychology, which combine to produce revealing insights.

The paper aims to propose a new conceptualisation of consumer anger directed against a company.

In this paper, an integrative review of the literature on anger in marketing has been conducted.

Anger at the firm is experienced in two forms: vengeful anger or problem-focused anger. The motivational goals associated with each differentiate between the two types and lead to different relational consequences: vengeful anger implies a desire to hurt the culprit, whereas problem-focused anger solely requires the attainment of a thwarted goal. The two types are associated with different patterns of appraisals, levels of intensity and emotion expression. These differences, documented in the literature, are not universal but shaped by contextual and personal variables. Although marketers conflate these two types of anger under the same label, only vengeful anger represents a threat to marketing relationships, whereas problem-focused anger has positive consequences if managed appropriately.

Studies that examine anger will benefit from a more nuanced understanding of this concept. This paper raises important implications for the measurement of this emotion, as existing scales are not able to measure the goals associated with the two types of anger.

The insights presented help managers form strategies to address consumer anger in contexts such as service failures and/or crisis communications.

The paper extends scholars’ understanding of consumer anger. It offers an improved conceptualisation of this emotion, opening new avenues for future research.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of consumers’ perception of usability of product packaging on impulse buying in terms of its shape, color, material, label and size.

A structural equation model was used for testing the conceptual model. The present research is an applied research and a descriptive survey. By using non-probability sampling, 388 customers of different malls in Shiraz City (Iran) were selected and surveyed by using questionnaires.

Results showed that appropriate material, shape and labeling of packaging have a significant positive influence on consumers’ perception of usability of product packaging, while color and size of packaging do not have an impact on consumers’ perception of a product usability. Moreover, results showed that consumers’ perception of the usability of packaging has a significant positive influence on impulse buying. Consumers’ mood and time pressure had also positive influence on impulse buying, but their moderating role in their influence of consumers’ perception on impulse buying decision was not supported.

Although this research contributes to the product management literature, it has some limitations. For instance, the research model was tested in only one city in Iran (Shiraz). Besides, it is specific to only two product categories and concentrates mainly on consumers’ mood and time pressure as moderating factors.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first research which examines the structural relationship of packaging elements on consumers’ perception of reusability of packaging and impulse buying while considering consumers’ moods and time pressure as moderator variables.

Extant research mainly focused on potentially negative customer responses to service robots. In contrast, this study is one of the first to explore a service context where service robots are likely to be the preferred service delivery mechanism over human frontline employees. Specifically, the authors examine how customers respond to service robots in the context of embarrassing service encounters.

This study employs a mixed-method approach, whereby an in-depth qualitative study (study 1) is followed by two lab experiments (studies 2 and 3).

Results show that interactions with service robots attenuated customers' anticipated embarrassment. Study 1 identifies a number of factors that can reduce embarrassment. These include the perception that service robots have reduced agency (e.g. are not able to make moral or social judgements) and emotions (e.g. are not able to have feelings). Study 2 tests the base model and shows that people feel less embarrassed during a potentially embarrassing encounter when interacting with service robots compared to frontline employees. Finally, Study 3 confirms that perceived agency, but not emotion, fully mediates frontline counterparty (employee vs robot) effects on anticipated embarrassment.

Service robots can add value by reducing potential customer embarrassment because they are perceived to have less agency than service employees. This makes service robots the preferred service delivery mechanism for at least some customers in potentially embarrassing service encounters (e.g. in certain medical contexts).

This study is one of the first to examine a context where service robots are the preferred service delivery mechanism over human employees.