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This paper aims to examine the effect of targeted promotions on perceptions of fairness from the perspective of consumers who are not targeted.

A scenario-based approach is used. Three studies manipulating promotion selectivity and various bases for promotion selection were conducted. A total of 403 people participated in the studies.

Results showed that these consumers consider targeted promotions unfair, and the primary reason is centered more on damage to relational identity than the economics of reduced perceived value. The effect is moderated by how the targeted promotion is delivered (buyer-discovered vs seller-delivered) and different basis for selection.

As companies adopting the practice of dynamic pricing such as targeted promotion, it is important to manage relationship with their consumers. Framing targeted promotions that reduce the salience of seller’s role and provide explanations that not attributed to buyer-seller relationship are important in reducing the potential damage of targeted promotion on relational identity.

Existing research on perceptions of price fairness has focused on the role of perceived value. This research tested the relative effect of perceived value, relational identity and personal identity in the context of targeted promotion and identified relational identity as the major mechanism.

Pets reflect the identity and moral values of their owners. The purpose of this study is to examine how pet owners’ political identity (liberal–conservative) influences the relationship they forge with their pets as well as their purchase behaviors of pet-related products and services.

This study conducted two surveys of pet owners with different political identities and measured both their relationship with their pets and their purchase intentions of medical-related products and services as well as luxury accessories. Two secondary data sources were used to provide additional support.

This study shows that, on one hand, pet owners anthropomorphize their pets as if they were human equals. On the other hand, they consider themselves masters and emphasize control. The former aligns with the individualizing values endorsed by liberals, while the latter aligns with conservatives’ binding values. Reflecting their different values and owner-pet relationship characteristics, liberals and conservatives exhibit different purchase patterns. Liberals are more likely to buy medical-related products and services, while conservatives are more likely to buy branded luxury accessories for their pets.

Both primary studies are survey-based and data are correlational in nature. In addition, the samples are limited to the USA. While research suggests that the liberal-conservative continuum is universal, additional research is needed to generalize the findings to other countries.

Understanding the owner-dog relationship in the context of political identity and the effect of these relationships on dog owners' purchases offer interesting managerial implications in terms of product offerings, retail assortment decisions of related products and pet product branding.

While dog ownership and related purchases are on the rise, research on owner-pet relationships is scant. This study provides theoretical contributions and implications by going beyond general relationship closeness and bringing in the role of owners’ (political) identity.

This paper aims to present a model linking price promotions to checkout donations. It is argued that price promotions evoke two perceptions/emotions, namely, feelings of gratitude and perceived sacrifice of purchase, which consequently, influence the likelihood to donate. Feelings of gratitude dominate when the discount is high, while feelings of sacrifice dominate when the discount is low. Compared to no-discount situations, high discounts enhance consumers’ intention to donate while low discounts reduce this intention.

A total of four studies using shopping scenarios are conducted. Study 1 examines the main effect and the mediating factors. Study 2 replicates the findings in different product categories and at different unit-price levels. Studies 3 and 4 test the moderating effects of customer effort and discount framing.

Findings of the four studies provide support for the proposed model. Compared to no-discount situations, high discounts enhance consumers’ intention to donate, while low discounts reduce this intention. The effects are mediated by feelings of gratitude and sacrifice and moderated by effort obtaining the discount and format of the discount.

Theoretically, this research advances the understanding of consumers’ interpretations of price promotions. All studies are conducted in an online context.

This research informs retailers and charity institutions on the best timing for soliciting checkout donations and indicates specific tactics to enhance consumers’ donations.

This is the first study linking price discounts to the growing phenomenon of checkout donations. The research is different from cause marketing where the donation is included in the price of a specific product. The work also differs from studies examining the spillover effect where additional purchases benefit the consumers instead of a cause.

The effect of different formats of message delivery has received little theoretical and empirical examination. This research focuses on the effect of written relational communication formats used by service providers. This study aims to answer three questions: Do different formats of written communications (i.e. handwriting and print) influence customer perceptions (i.e. feelings of warmth) of service firms? What are the mediators of these influences (i.e. perceived effort and psychological closeness)? And under what conditions do they occur (i.e. what is the contextual factor)?

One field study and three laboratory studies were conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of format in written communication.

Handwritten messages are more effective than print messages in building relationships in a service context because they elicit stronger feelings of warmth because of both the perception of greater effort and feelings of greater psychological closeness to the service provider. However, the presence of handwriting fails to deliver feelings of warmth when the quality of core services is low.

Service providers can effectively use handwritten communication to signal effort and create psychological closeness for relationship building with their key customers only when the quality of core services meets customer expectations.

First, the research differentiates the formats of written relational communication (handwritten vs print), and links communication formats with feelings of warmth, which is an important factor for impression and relationship formation in the practice of services marketing. Second, based on cognitive-experiential self-theory, this research demonstrates the dual mediators underlying the effect of handwriting (vs print) on warmth: perceived effort and psychological closeness. Third, it identifies the quality of core service as a boundary condition for the effect of handwritten communication.

This paper aims to explore the distinctions and similarities about Eudaimonia (a deeper pleasure beyond the hedonic enjoyment) and hedonic enjoyment, especially the influencing factors of Eudaimonia.

Survey and experiment are conducted to obtain the data. Structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis and analysis of variance are used to analyze the data.

Three empirical studies support the idea that Eudaimonia, as a deeper-level pleasure, is a distinct construct from hedonic enjoyment. Like hedonic enjoyment, Eudaimonia can lead to satisfaction. Unlike hedonic enjoyment, Eudaimonia is driven by effort. Moreover, the effort impact on Eudaimonia is enhanced by the uniqueness of the craft task.

This paper shifts hedonic consumption studies from a product-based paradigm (e.g. utilitarian vs hedonic) to an experience-based paradigm (hedonic enjoyment vs Eudaimonia). The extension of pleasure to Eudaimonia domain successfully explains why prior hedonic consumption studies find that pleasure is more than the absence of effort and can be more inspiring than purely sensory.

This paper aims to link conceptually the concepts of price fairness and customer satisfaction and empirically demonstrate the influence of perceived price fairness on satisfaction judgments. Further, it seeks to examine specific factors that influence fairness perceptions including price perception and consumer vulnerability.

The study is conducted in the context of automobile purchases in major German car dealerships. Based on a theoretical conceptualization of the constructs and an empirical pretest, 246 car buyers were surveyed and their fairness perceptions and satisfaction judgments with the car buying process measured.

The research shows that price perceptions directly influence satisfaction judgments as well as indirectly through perceptions of price fairness. Results also indicated that consumers' vulnerability, which is induced by a perceived demand‐supply relationship and the urgency of need from the consumers' side, had a negative effect on perceived price offer fairness.

The research demonstrated the influence of perceived price fairness on satisfaction judgments empirically. The study was conducted in the context of car purchases and the generalizability of the model should be further tested.

The effect of consumer vulnerability implies that sellers should not only avoid exploiting their customers but should also anticipate consumers' potential feelings of being exploited. Being sensitive to the buyers’ psychological state and assuring buyers of fair treatment will enhance perceptions of price fairness without changing the price offer.

Both the direct and indirect effects of price perception on satisfaction judgment were examined in the paper. Specifically, the influences of consumer vulnerability and price procedure fairness on satisfaction judgments are new and contribute to the dual‐entitlement principle and our existing knowledge in price fairness.

Usually price information is presented as arabic numerals and consumers’ brand selections often involve comparative judgments of product prices. One important issue concerns whether consumers process price information in a similar way to that found in numerical cognition research. Since numerical processing is a learned, primarily automatic process, whether such processing interferes with or facilitates the processing of price information is an important question. It is important because a better understanding of how people process price information has implications for how managers should establish and communicate prices. This paper reports two studies that compare the processing of price with other numerical information.

Previous research indicates that the goals consumers have when shopping influence their attention to and processing of information they encounter. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of consumers' pre‐purchase goals on their responses to price promotions.

In three experiments, the existence of consumer goals (i.e. with or without a pre‐purchase goal) were manipulated and promotion characteristics including message framing, promotion format, and promotion depth were systematically varied to examine how consumers respond to these price promotions.

Consumers with a pre‐purchase goal were found to be more attracted to the promotion than those without a goal. More importantly, pre‐purchase goals interact with promotion characteristics and produce differential effects on willingness to buy. Consumers with a pre‐purchase goal are more attracted to promotions emphasizing reduced losses while those without a goal responded more favorably toward promotions emphasizing gains. Moreover, consumers with and without a pre‐purchase goal respond differently to various discount levels.

Existing research on price promotions has not examined the influence of consumers' pre‐purchase goals. This paper brings a new dimension to price promotion research. Understanding these variations in pre‐purchase goals across consumers will help sellers design more effective promotion programs

Although past research has looked into myriad consequences of workplace incivility, little attention has been paid to the effects of supervisor incivility (SI) on employees’ sense of vitality and their discretionary work effort (DWE). Moreover, the mechanisms that drive the harmful effects of SI remain largely unknown. The current study seeks to address these gaps in the literature. In particular, this study aims to examine how SI culminates in decreased DWE.

Adopting a cross-sectional survey design, data for this study were gathered from 151 employees of two large companies in the financial services sector of Pakistan. A number of analysis techniques (e.g. confirmatory factor analysis and bootstrapping) were used to analyze the data.

As predicted, SI was found to be negatively associated both with subordinates’ sense of vitality and DWE while vitality was found to be positively associated with DWE. Findings also indicated that one way in which SI negatively affects subordinates’ DWE is by decreasing their sense of vitality.

This study offers several useful implications for management practice in relation to preventing SI and mitigating its effects and bolstering employees’ sense of vitality.

To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first to unpack the relationship dynamics of SI, vitality and DWE, and to introduce a mechanism by which SI translates into reduced DWE.