Search results

Management response to consumer comments has become a widely adopted marketing strategy to address the undesirable effects caused by negative remarks. Yet, when and what management response is more effective and under what circumstances remains under-researched. This study aims to fill this gap.

In three experiments using five different products, the authors manipulate psychological construal level (psychological distance: distant vs proximal) and management response (response of primary vs secondary features) and thereafter assess their bearings on consumer psychological and behavioral reaction toward products of two distinctive natures (hedonic vs utilitarian).

At a psychological distance, consumers show a preferable reaction to management response of primary over secondary features. In contrast, when the psychological distance is proximal, consumers react more positively to management response of secondary than primary features. In addition, these effects vary as a function of product nature, hedonic vs utilitarian.

The findings of this research bring a significant contribution to marketing communication literature and extend the construal level theory.

A better understanding of the relative effectiveness of distinct types of management response to negative consumer comments is essential for more targeted and effective marketing strategies.

Little research has documented the effects of distinct types of management response. How psychological distance might underpin these effects has not been explored. In addition, whether the interaction effect of management response and psychological distance varies with differences in product nature, namely, hedonic and utilitarian, remains unanswered until this research.

Purpose – Counterfeiting has become a significant economic phenomenon. Increased demand for counterfeit branded products (CBPs) makes the study of determinants of consumers CBPs purchase behaviour more worthwhile than ever before. Existing studies have largely neglected brand influence on consumer purchase behaviour of CBPs. This research seeks to examine the impact of perceived brand image, direct and indirect effects (mediator and moderator effects) of product involvement and product knowledge on consumer purchase intention of counterfeits in the context of non‐deceptive counterfeiting. Design/methodology/approach – The current study tests the conceptual model and hypotheses developed based on the existing literature. Four focus groups (ranging from six to eight participants in each group) are used to construct the research instrument. The conceptual model and hypothesis are tested using hierarchical regression analyses with survey data from 321 consumers in the UK. Findings – This research is the first in the literature on counterfeits to establish that perceived brand personality plays a more dominant role in explaining consumers' purchase intention of CBP than other influential factors (e.g. benefit and product attribute). Involvement/knowledge has no significant influence on counterfeit purchase intention. Evidence of involvement as a moderator does not exist. Brand image is not a mediator of the effects of involvement/knowledge on purchase intention. Research limitations/implications – This research only investigates one brand of one product category (watches) in the context of non‐deceptive counterfeiting, although this has not prevented the emergence of significant results. Practical implications – The results of this study hold important implications for both practitioners and academics. They help to alert practitioners to the factors that truly affect consumer proneness of CBPs, for example, brand personality. For academics, they demonstrate that brand influence should not be further ignored in the study of consumer behaviour in relation to CBPs. Originality/value – This research is one of the few which investigate CBP not only as a product but, more importantly, also as a brand – a counterfeit brand.

The purpose of this study is to investigate impacts of counterfeit branded products (CBP) ownership on branded products (BP) and to explore determinants of CBP purchase intention of both CBP owners and CBP non‐owners.

Following four focus group discussions, a quantitative survey of 430 adults in Glasgow, UK was conducted measuring consumers' brand perceptions of CBP and BP, CBP non‐deceptive ownership, and CBP purchase intention.

Consumers were found to have more favourable perceptions of BP than CBP, with exceptions of financial risk and security concerns. Significant perception differences concerning CBP were identified between CBP owners and non‐owners. In contrast, CBP ownership had no significant effect on consumers' evaluations of BP. Several perception dimensions appeared to be significantly influential on CBP behavioural intention, with brand personality playing the dominant role. Evidence of an interaction effect of CBP ownership with consumers' perceptions of CBP on CBP purchase intention did not exist.

This study is one of the few which have examined the impact of CBP on its counterpart BP from both brand and product perspectives. Insights into how CBP as a brand and also a product are perceived differently to BP, and how CBP ownership alter consumers' perceptions of CBP/BP and thereafter CBP purchase intention, contribute to the literature in counterfeiting study and provide a platform for more conceptual and theoretical research on the effects of symbolic and expressive value on cognitive behaviour in counterfeits related research settings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if brand might affect consumers’ response to replacing size-zero models (SM) with average-sized models (AM) in advertising and how individuals’ psychological states might underlie consumers’ reactions.

Three studies manipulating brand and model body size were conducted and advertising images to female individuals differing in self-esteem were exposed.

This research finds that brand moderates consumers’ model evaluation. Participants evaluated AM as being more attractive than SM for new brands, whereas for well-established brands associated with SM, participants rated both AM and SM as being equally attractive. Self-esteem shapes participants’ evaluation of AM and SM. For new brands, low self-esteem individuals evaluated AM as being more attractive than SM, whereas high self-esteem individuals evaluate AM and SM as being equally attractive. The results are consistent, regardless of whether it is a luxury and a generic brand. These results emerged for both model attractiveness rating and product evaluations.

A better understanding of the relative consequences of the use of AM versus SM is essential for more effective policy initiatives and better targeted marketing campaigns.

Limited research has documented the possible effects of brand on individuals’ responses to AM as opposed to SM. How individuals of different psychological characteristics may react distinctively to advertisements containing AM versus stereotype SM has not yet been explored until this study. This research takes the first step to bridge these knowledge gaps by looking into how brand and perceiver psychological characteristics jointly work with model features to determine how consumers perceive the AM as opposed to SM. This study provides empirical and comparative evidence of the advantages of using AM and SM in print media.

Despite the call from the public domain to use normal‐sized models (NM) in advertising and the fact of the recent movement in the practitioner's domain concerning the use of NM, knowledge of the advantages/disadvantages concerning the use of NM in comparison to small‐sized models (SM) is lacking. Prior research indicates that framing changes attitudes by altering the underlying considerations used in one's evaluation, but there are few studies that test framing effects on consumers' judgments of commercial persuasion. Moreover, an actionable understanding of the brand effects on consumers' model evaluation remains unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to address these unresolved issues.

In two studies, the paper examines the effects of different instructional frames on consumers' evaluation of NM as opposed to SM for new brands. The paper also examines how and to what extent brand effects of established brands might alter the effects of instructional frame on NM and SM evaluations. Furthermore, the paper investigates the direct and indirect impact of consumers' health‐consciousness concerning SM on the results. Research findings are discussed.

The present research shows that considering instructional frame and brand effect offers insights into consumers' model evaluations.

This research contributes to literature by bridging four knowledge gaps. First, this research is one of the few which investigated consequences resulting from using NM. Second, knowledge of comparative advantages/disadvantages in the relationship to the use of unconventional models versus SM was lacking until the present research. Third, this research is one of the few which provides empirical evidence of framing effects on consumers' judgment of commercial persuasion. Fourth, brand effects on consumers' model evaluations were unknown until the current research.