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This experiment investigates the effect of cultural adaptation by American business people on their trustworthiness as perceived by Chinese Indonesians. The sample consists of 140 Indonesian professionals born and raised in Indonesia, who read one of the four stories that differ in degrees of Americans’ cultural adaptation: none, moderate, high using English, and high using the native (i.e., Indonesian) language. The results show that there is no difference among the four adaptation levels on disconfirmation of the adaptor’s stereo types. The high adaptation using English condition is perceived to be more situationally caused than is the high adaptation using the native language condition, which in turn is perceived to be more situationally caused than is the moderate adaptation condition, and the high adaptation using English condition is perceived to be more situationally caused than is the no adaptation condition. The high adaptation using the native language and the high adaptation using English conditions are perceived to be trustworthier than is the moderate adaptation condition, which in turn is perceived to be trustworthier than is the no adaptation condition; these results contradict the findings of some earlier studies but are consistent with those in the cases of Americans adapting to Thais and Japanese in Pornpitakpan (1998), to People’s Republic of China Chinese in Pornpitakpan (2002b), and to Malaysians in Pornpitakpan (2004). Marketing implications are discussed.

Investigates the effect of adaptors’ race and cultural adaptation on attraction when American salespersons adapt to Thai buyers. Suggests that the results support the hypohtesis that the race of foreigners, despite the fact that they were born and raised in the same country moderates the effect of adaptation on attraction. Highlights that when Americans do adapt their behaviour, adaptation by those who are more racially different from the Thai perceivers is more effective than those who are less racially different. Provides some managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to extend a 2007 study by investigating which types of message appeals are more effective in reducing unrealistic optimism (a tendency for people to believe that they are less prone than are others to encounter negative outcomes) and inducing purchase intentions of a life‐threatening hazard prevention product in collectivist and individualist cultures.

An experiment was conducted with 133 American, 145 Singaporean, and 200 Thai undergraduates, totaling 478 participants.

The findings confirm the existence of unrealistic optimism in the marketing setting and show that first, lower levels of optimism are associated with higher purchase intentions for the product; second, hazard‐related behavior priming advertisement appeals lead to lower purchase intentions than do advertisements without priming, contradicting some earlier findings; and third, participants from collectivist cultures (Singaporeans and Thais) show higher purchase intentions than do those from individualist cultures (Americans) for both the risk‐priming and the expert advertisement appeals.

The samples, while well matched, consist of undergraduate students who are not necessarily representative of the populations as a whole. The samples also come from only three countries. In addition, the study uses a single message.

The study suggests that: external‐control/collectivist cultures may be more influenced by advertising, regardless of the appeal employed; different types of cultures may require different amounts of advertising to achieve equal levels of effectiveness; unrealistic optimism needs to be addressed by marketers of preemptive products; and for products that are health‐related and difficult to evaluate, advertisements using expert appeals may be more effective than those attempting to counter unrealistic optimism by priming the risk‐related behaviors.

The paper has re‐affirmed the existence of unrealistic optimism, and that this phenomenon exists internationally with respect to a high‐involvement risk product category. It has unveiled relationships between optimism and purchase intentions. Finally, the paper has identified both similarities and differences in terms of the existence of unrealistic optimism and the relative effectiveness of different message types across cultures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the cross‐cultural generalization of the effect of option choice framing on product option choices and other managerial and psychological variables.

The experiment employs 124 Singaporean and 96 Thai working adults, who add options to a base model or delete options from a full model in a condominium purchase scenario. Hypotheses are derived from the different weights for monetary losses and utility gains from adding options vs utility losses and monetary gains from deleting options.

For both Singaporeans and Thais, compared to additive framing, subtractive framing results in a higher number of options chosen, higher total option prices, higher expected product prices and higher perceived product prestige. For Thais, compared to additive framing, subtractive framing also results in lower perceived decision difficulty and shorter decision time. For Singaporeans, compared to additive framing, subtractive framing results in shorter decision time and higher perceived value.

The option choice task is a scenario, not a real‐life choice task in which participants have to spend real money.

Subtractive option choice framing should be used rather than additive option choice framing. However, in recession time, the use of subtractive framing may backfire because consumers perceive the product as more expensive than its counterpart presented under additive framing, thus lowering their purchase intention of the product. In addition, whenever marketers want consumers to perceive the starting price as low, the price of a base model should be emphasized as opposed to the price of a full model.

This study examines an important issue – whether the superiority of subtractive framing over additive framing reported in past research is valid in other cultures that are very different from American and whether it is valid in another product category. The results qualify past findings that people give more weight to utility losses than monetary losses.

This study seeks to examine which types of message appeals are more effective in reducing unrealistic optimism (a tendency for people to believe that they are less susceptible than others to encounter negative outcomes) and inducing purchase intentions of preemptive products in collectivist and individualist cultures.

An experiment is conducted with 131 US, 111 Singaporean, and 127 Thai undergraduates.

The findings confirm the existence of unrealistic optimism in the marketing setting and show that: lower levels of optimism are associated with higher purchase intentions for the product; hazard‐related behavior‐priming ad appeals lead to higher purchase intentions than ads without priming; Singaporeans show higher purchase intentions than Americans for both the risk‐priming and the expert ad appeals, and they also show higher purchase intentions than Thais for expert ad appeals.

The samples, while well matched, consist of undergraduate students who are not necessarily representative of the populations as a whole. The samples also come from only three countries. Finally, only one product is employed.

The study suggests that: external‐control/collectivist cultures may be more influenced by advertising, regardless of the appeal employed; different types of cultures may require different amounts of advertising to achieve equal levels of effectiveness; unrealistic optimism needs to be addressed by marketers of preemptive products; marketers should use ads that prime risky behaviors when promoting products for reducing/preventing undesirable outcomes/hazards.

The study has re‐affirmed that unrealistic optimism exists, and that this phenomenon exists internationally with respect to a relatively lower‐involvement risk product category than had previously been studied. It has unveiled relationships between optimism and purchase intentions. Finally, the study has identified both similarities and differences in terms of the existence of unrealistic optimism and the relative effectiveness of different message types across cultures.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of perceived product similarity and comparative ad claims on brand responses.

This study uses a two (similarity between the target product and the comparison product: relatively similar vs dissimilar) by three (product attributes of the target product: common to the comparison product, distinct from the comparison product, and a combination of common and distinct attributes) between-subjects factorial design with 300 Thai undergraduate students.

It finds that when perceived similarity between the products is high, a combination of superiority (distinct) and parity (common) ad claims lead to the best brand responses. When perceived similarity is low, superiority claims bring about the best brand responses.

It extends comparative advertising and category-substitution research by addressing the research gaps in perceived similarity and claim type.

Companies should emphasize a product’s superior attributes in general but a combination of common and superior attributes when the product is relatively similar to other products in comparative advertising.

This study provides new evidence that perceived product similarity moderates the effect of comparative ad claims on brand responses.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of option choice reversibility on the number of options chosen, total spending, and upset/regret from actions/inaction, using 124 Singaporean adults.

The experiment employs two levels of option choice reversibility: fully reversible without a penalty vs strictly irreversible. Participants add options to a base model or delete options from a full model and are either allowed or not allowed to change options in a condominium purchase scenario.

Compared to participants in the irreversible choice condition, those in the reversible choice select more options and end up with higher total spending. In the irreversible option choice condition, participants anticipate more upset (one aspect of regret) when they take actions than inaction, but in the reversible option choice condition, the reverse is true.

The study uses only one decision stimulus, which is a condominium purchase, and the purchase scenario might not be as realistic as an actual purchase decision.

Refunds and option change permission policies make consumers feel they can reverse their buying decisions, making them feel the decisions are less risky and thus inducing them to buy more than when no refunds or option change is allowed after purchase. To drive consumers to take actions, marketers should allow consumers to change their mind after making decisions and assure them of such policy.

The paper shows the effect of decision reversibility on the total spending (i.e. the total costs of choices made) and extends the theory about omission biases by demonstrating that regrets from actions/inaction depend on decision reversibility.

The purpose of this paper is to provide managerial insights into how consumer goods companies adopt the traditional mini‐sized retail modalities and adjust their strategies to market sachets successfully in the Philippines.

The study uses case studies through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with marketing managers from major multinational and regional companies that have used sachets as part of their marketing strategy.

The findings suggest that companies use sachet marketing to facilitate trials of new products and to deliver value across the market by making products more affordable and accessible. The extensive network of corner stores provides the distribution system needed to reach the farthest and remotest markets. To be successful, the brands must be popular and priced in a manner compatible with the coinage system in a market.

There has been little analysis of consumer goods companies' strategies that cause quick acceptance of sachets. This study fills this gap in research and shows how companies have adopted the piecemeal retailing and adapted their strategies to create a burgeoning sachet market.

Respondents from five Asian countries were surveyed in terms of their consumer ethnocentrism, animosity, and attribution towards the USA and Japan in the context of the Asian economic crisis. The results indicated that the more severely hit a country was, the more ethnocentric respondents were. In general, animosity towards the USA was higher than towards Japan with regard to the Asian crisis. Koreans held the greatest stable animosity towards the Japanese because of the atrocities experienced during the Second World War. Respondents attributed the blame of the Asian crisis more to themselves. They also felt that they and the Japanese could have controlled the turn of events during the crisis. Implications arising from the findings are discussed.

This study provides a retrospect of Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics (APJML) for the 27-year period between 1993 and 2019.

This study uses the Scopus database to identify the most-cited APJML articles and most prolific authors, institutions and countries in APJML between 1993 and 2019. The study uses bibliometric indicators as well as tools such as bibliographic coupling and science mapping, to analyze the publication and citation structure of APJML. The study provides a temporal analysis of APJML publishing across different periods.

APJML's publication has grown at an average rate of 17% per year, while its citations have grown at an impressive rate of 60%. The contributors to the journal come mainly from the Asia Pacific region, which is not surprising given the journal's scope of publication. Bibliographic coupling of articles reveals that the journal has focused mostly on issues related to market orientation, advertising, marketing research, consumer behavior, customer service, marketing in the digital environment and consumer ethnocentrism. Quantitative research in marketing and consumer ethnocentrism is among the emerging themes in the journal and would benefit from more exploration from scholars.

This study uses data from the Scopus database, whose limitations have implications for the findings. For example, data for the journal's first five issues are not available on Scopus and therefore are not included in the analysis.

This study provides the first overview of APJML's publication and citation trends as well as its thematic structure.