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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online social network.

Hypotheses were addressed using two online surveys. The first of these examined persuasive WOM communications on Facebook, the second investigated WOM communication on Twitter.

It was found that closeness to the source of a persuasive communication may have less of an impact on message acceptance in online social networks compared to traditional WOM. The number of persons in a product network, as well as whether those members of a product network are also members of one's friend network, are important factors that determine message acceptance.

The paper demonstrates differences between online versus traditional WOM, and has important implications for marketing practitioners.

Trust is a key factor in the establishment of long‐term relationships between service representatives and their customers. Prior research has documented that both “person‐related” (e.g. empathy, politeness and customer/service representative similarity) and “offer‐related” (customization, competence, reliability and promptness) service representative characteristics have an impact on trust. However, the relative importance of these characteristics, and in some cases the direction of their relationships with trust, has varied across studies. In this paper, we posit a contingency model of trust, suggesting that the effects of the above variables on trust are moderated by length of the customer/service provider relationship. Our model is tested in a business‐to‐business context by means of a mail survey involving 677 small business owners. The small business owners provided data about their relationships with their insurance industry service providers. Our results demonstrate how service representatives and firms can work toward the establishment of trust with their clients under varying market conditions.

This paper aims to suggest that individuals are either consciously or non‐consciously aware of the left‐right (forward/backward) orientation of numeric digits. The purpose of the studies is to demonstrate that the “directionality” (left‐ or right‐facing nature) of numerals, and the resultant eye movement bias that this directionality creates may affect the degree to which consumers attend to, or focus upon, the various digits in a price. The degree of attention paid to these digits will, in turn, impact consumers' price‐encoding strategies. It is argued that the use of left (right)‐facing digits may increase (decrease) the likelihood that consumers will employ a truncation (i.e. rounding down) price‐encoding strategy.

The paper contains two experiments. In Experiment 1, subjects were exposed to one of four ads containing regular and sale prices. The prices were placed at opposite ends of the Mueller‐Lyer illusion, with the prices substituting for the “extraneous stimuli” (i.e. inward‐ or outward‐facing wings) in the illusion. In Experiment 2, subjects were exposed to one of six ads containing a sale price only.

In Experiment 1, digit “directionality” was found to cause eye movement bias, which resulted in distorted physical distance perceptions. In Experiment 2, digit directionality was found to impact price‐rounding behavior.

It is suggested that perceived digit‐directionality creates eye movement bias, and that eye movement bias may impact the manner in which price digits are recalled and encoded. Eye movement bias can be inferred from the results of Experiment 1, but it is not directly measured. It is suggested that future research efforts might employ eye‐tracking measures to more directly confirm that this perceptual bias does indeed occur.

The findings have important implications for the marketing practitioner, because they demonstrate that the use of particular digit combinations can result in a price being perceived as greater or less than its actual value.

In presenting the concept of “digit‐directionality”, the paper offers an entirely new rubric in which to examine matters pertaining to numerical cognition.

Most airlines utilize a revenue maximizing technique called yield management, which allows the airlines to allocate their fixed capacity of “perishable” seat inventory to various fare categories in the most profitable manner possible. Demand for these fare categories is usually defined in terms of the “business” vs “leisure” customer segments, while capacity is apportioned between discounted vs non‐discounted seats. The discriminatory pricing goal is to sell only non‐discounted seats to the business travel segment. Suggests that yield management techniques may also be appropriate in certain retail settings involving physical products. In the case of physical products, capacity (i.e. product inventory) is not necessarily “perishable” in the same sense as unsold seats on an airline flight; however, its value may decline with the culmination of a well‐defined shopping period or with a particular special event. Examines how the appropriate use of early discount pricing in markets defined by decreasing customer price sensitivity can maximize the revenue gained from sales of a “seasonal” product.

Research evidence has demonstrated that consumers often may rely on non‐conscious, automatic processing of price information when choosing among brands. One way in which numerical stimuli (and hence prices) may be non‐consciously and automatically represented in memory is in terms of magnitude representations. If prices are automatically mapped on to the same underlying magnitude code that sustains the processing of physical stimuli, then interference may ensue if the magnitude representation associated with a price differs from the magnitude representation associated with some other aspect of the brand. This study examines the effects of congruent/incongruent magnitude representation on how a price is perceived, and on the likelihood of purchase. Results indicate that a “congruent” magnitude representation may result in more favorable implicit price perceptions and increase the likelihood of choice.

Although findings have been inconsistent, there is some evidence from both experimental studies and field research that prices set just below the nearest round figure produce higher than expected demand at that level. Other research has demonstrated that the organization of verbal and/or pictorial elements of a print advertisement can influence the persuasive impact of that ad. The author combines these two streams of research in examining preference for brands associated with 0‐ versus 9‐ending prices that are displayed in different advertising layouts. Results indicate that the higher than expected demand associated with 9‐ending prices is more likely when prices are placed to the left of attended verbal information contained in an ad, due to the more positive evaluations of price that occur with more efficient subconscious processing.

Although findings have been somewhat inconsistent, there is evidence from both experimental studies and field research that prices set just below the nearest round figure produce higher than expected demand at that level. Among the different explanations that have been proposed for these effects are that consumers round prices down, encode prices from left to right, remember only the “most important” digits of a price, and/or attach certain “images” to nine‐ending prices. Utilizing a unique experimental setting, the author examines dollar vs cents digit recall as well as the choice frequencies associated with zero‐ vs nine‐ending prices to determine the efficacy of the proposed explanations. Within this setting, the author concludes that left‐to‐right digit encoding may be a necessary condition for higher than expected demand.

Information typically posted on group buying websites includes number of previous buyers, whether a limit has been placed on purchase number, and the time remaining until the deal expires. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that these factors may interact such that, under certain circumstances, purchase likelihood is reduced.

The paper first examines actual online data; the authors then follow this with a 2×2×2 experiment in which they demonstrate psychological process.

Providing previous‐buyer‐number information can have a positive effect on a consumer's decision to purchase at an online group buying website (e.g. Groupon). Imposing a purchase limit can increase these positive effects, but providing information on time‐to‐expiration (if it is relatively long) can negate the effects. Both perceived value and anticipated regret are found to be mediating factors.

It is possible that effects may be attenuated as a result of product familiarity.

Retailers should pay particular attention to the timing or pattern of purchases on group buying websites, and provide information accordingly.

This paper is the first to show how the three factors noted previously may interact to reduce purchase intentions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the legal concepts and theories that are useful in protecting a brand from harmful and unauthorized social media use by third parties.

Qualitative research of articles, news stories, court decisions and statutes was conducted. Various legal concerns and theories were developed from this information.

The various legal theories were organized into a three‐category framework: Monitoring; 'Mposters; and Message.

This framework should be useful to brand managers to protect their brand against unauthorized use, imitation or unfavourable affiliations in social media.

This work is the first to develop a managerial framework of legal issues to address unauthorized and unfavourable use of a brand identity in social media.