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Examines the effects of four factors (the bundle: pure or mixed, the price discount, the functional complementarity of bundle components, and the number of bundle components) on consumers’ intentions to purchase product and service bundles. The findings were relatively consistent across product (automobile) and service (automotive service) contexts, and illustrate that pure bundles are preferred to mixed bundles, and a greater price discount is preferred to a lesser one. The results also indicate that five component bundles generate greater purchase intention than either three or seven component bundles, and that “very related” bundle components result in greater purchase intention than either moderately or not related components. Additionally, several interactions are present.

Research conducted in the early 1990s in Hungary indicated a lack of knowledgeable and influential personal sources in the cosmetics product category. The purpose of this article is to examine women cosmetics opinion leaders in Hungary approximately ten years into the country’s transition to a market economy. Because of the evolution of the cosmetics market over the past decade and Hungarian women’s increased involvement with cosmetics, we expected to see the emergence of opinion leadership in the product category. Survey data from 340 Hungarian women indicate that the incidence of cosmetics opinion leadership and self‐reported product knowledge is lower than what we might expect in more established market economies. Nonetheless, we found the relationships between cosmetics opinion leadership in Hungary and antecedent and consequent variables are similar to what we would expect in more established market economies. We discuss the implications of these results for marketing managers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the links between individual investors' subjective evaluations of certain companies' products and brands, on one hand, and their willingness and decisions to invest in those companies' stocks, on the other. The authors aim to challenge the traditional assumption that individuals would make stock investment decisions purely on the basis of expected financial returns and risks.

Survey data were collected from 293 individuals who invest in the stock market of a European country and analyzed with PLS path modeling.

In the clear majority of the consumers' stock investment decisions that were analyzed, the consumers exhibited some willingness to invest in a chosen stock beyond its expected financial returns/risk. Two variables are found to elicit willingness to invest in a company's stock beyond its financial returns: the personal relevance that the individual attaches to domains (activities or areas of interest; ideas or ideals) supported or represented by the company's products; and the individual's affective evaluation of the company's product brand.

Replicating the study with different companies from different industries and with consumers from different countries will be important. Overcoming a potential retrospection bias in the reported study is also a task for further research.

The findings provide insights that can serve segmentation, targeting, and positioning when it comes to marketing a company in the stock market so as to attract investors.

The paper provides new evidence on the influence of product and brand evaluations in consumers' stock investment decisions – suggesting that positive product evaluations elicit extra willingness to invest in a company's stock, over and beyond its financial returns.