Journal of Consumer Marketing

Zhang, Dan

doi: 10.1108/JCM-06-2016-1852pmid: N/A

PurposeThis research aims to investigate whether and how differences may exist in children’s preferences of package design across cultures, with a focus on three aspects of package design: curvilinearity, figurativeness and complexity.Design/methodology/approachA large-scale questionnaire survey has been conducted in a face-to-face setting in the USA and China, generating valid responses from 763 American children and 837 Chinese children of age 3-12 years.FindingsUnlike previous findings among adults, children from both cultures were found to unanimously prefer curved package design. Nevertheless, Chinese children showed greater preferences for figurative and complex package design than American children; these tendencies increased with age, suggesting significant age–culture interactions.Research limitations/implicationsThe surprising finding of the lack of cultural difference in children’s preferences of curved package design suggests that such cultural preferences established in studies of adults may not emerge through time via cultural/social learning until after age 12. The limited cultures, stimuli and factors included in the study call for replications of the study in more realistic and broader settings.Practical implicationsThe findings provide package design guidelines for consumer product marketers and designers/innovators targeting the Chinese and American children’s markets. Curved package designs are preferred by children from both cultures. Nevertheless, marketers should choose figurative and complex package design in accordance with the target children’s age and cultural background.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the limited empirical consumer behavior research on package design, especially that of children’s products. It also extends the literature on cultural psychology, experimental aesthetics and developmental psychology.

Lopez, Alberto; Rodriguez, Rachel

doi: 10.1108/JCM-06-2016-1842pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand and explain the process by which child consumers form relationships with brands. Specifically, the authors attempt to understand how child consumers conceptualize brands, why and how they decide to engage in relationships with brands and why they decide to breakup with brands though sometimes reconcile with them.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methodology was followed in this research. On the basis of an ethnographic approach, ten in-depth interviews were conducted among 8-12-year-old girls. Subsequently, a survey was completed by 122 children (boys and girls) to quantitatively examine the hypotheses formulated after the qualitative phase.FindingsFindings from both the qualitative and quantitative studies highlight and confirm that children conceptualize brands according to visual branding components, signs and promotional activities. Furthermore, children make moral evaluations of brand behaviors and judge them as “good” or “bad”. More importantly, the authors propose two typologies: one for the reasons children decide to engage in a positive relationship and another for why children engage in a negative relationship with a brand. Additionally, the authors found that children report having an active or passive relationship role according to the characteristics of the brand relationship. Moreover, despite their young age, children report having broken up relationships with several brands; the reasons are categorized into positive and negative breakups. Finally, the authors found that positive breakups lead to more probable brand relationship reconciliation than negative breakups.Originality/valueDespite a vast body of literature in the child consumer behavior field, there is scarce research regarding brand relationship phenomena. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical research conducted with child consumers, addressing brand relationship formation, dissolution and reconciliation.

Tripathi, Avinash; Pandey, Neeraj

doi: 10.1108/JCM-06-2016-1838pmid: N/A

PurposeThe discount image associated with odd-ending prices has led to its extensive use by retailers. The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts and applications of nine-ending vs round-ending prices on the purchase of green and non-green products at different price levels and under different purchase motivations.Design/methodology/approachThree experiments are conducted. The first experiment is a 2 (price ending: nine-ending vs round-ending) × 2 (product appeal: green vs non-green) between-subjects study; the second experiment is a 2 (price ending: nine-ending vs round-ending) × 2 (price level: low price vs high price) × 2 (product appeal: green vs non-green) between-subjects study; and the third experiment examined buyers’ preferences of price endings regarding the purchase of green products having either utility (utilitarian) or pleasure (hedonic) motivation.FindingsThis research highlights that consumers prefer zero-ending prices for green products and pleasure motivation products, but they prefer odd endings for low-priced and utilitarian products. These results support the increased reception of round-ending prices. Accordingly, this study contributes to the literature by providing a boundary condition for odd-ending prices. Specifically, the study finds that the effect of nine-ending prices becomes weaker as the price of the product increases.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study have practical implications for managers, as the results indicate that pricing green products and high-quality perception products using round digits and pricing low-priced and utility perception products using odd digits will increase consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, pricing the products using round-ending prices will reduce the perception of low quality and deter brand loyalty emanating from a low-priced/discount image of a product.Originality/valueThis research contributes to theoretical and practical aspects of behavioural pricing literature. This research uncovers the buyers’ distinct preferences for zero-ending prices and odd-ending prices when purchasing different products based on different motivations and varied price levels. This is the first research of its kind to explore and compare the impact of psychological pricing on green products. The study also resolves a contradiction in past literature regarding the use of nine-ending prices by providing boundary conditions.

Park, Kendall Cox

doi: 10.1108/JCM-02-2017-2103pmid: N/A

PurposeMoral issues such as environmental degradation and workers’ rights are no longer relegated to the political realm; today, they permeate the marketing of consumer products. Some consumer studies focus on organics, others on green goods and still others on fair trade products, but none include the full range of ethical consumption. This study, aims to investigate consumer willingness to pay for five distinct ethical narratives.Design/methodology/approachUsing original data from a national sample, this paper parses out five types of ethical narratives: fair trade, sustainable/green, American-made and two types of charitable partnerships. Using random assignment and an experimental design allows in isolating the effects of gender, age, education, income, political orientation and political involvement on how much consumers are willing to pay for each type of ethical product.FindingsThis survey experiment demonstrates that the fair trade narrative is the most valuable to consumers, followed by the charitable narratives. The two charitable narratives are universally appealing, whereas fair trade, green and American-made products appeal to three distinct groups of consumers. This paper demonstrates that there is not one sort of ethical shopper, but many.Practical/implicationsThis study examines what sorts of stories appeal to particular demographics. It will help socially and environmentally responsible companies better understand their target demographic and how to motivate their target audience.Originality/valuePrevious research yields conflicting findings about who values ethical products because each study focuses on a different form of ethical consumption. This study uses original data to investigate consumers’ valuations of five different types of ethical narratives. The results help in making sense of divergent findings in the literature and expand understanding of socially conscious shoppers.

Sukhu, Anupama; Scharff, Robert

doi: 10.1108/JCM-04-2016-1778pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this research was to identify the drivers of customer loyalty in the context of green marketing. In particular, the extended theory of reasoned action model specified here added crucial constructs in consumer behavior, namely, consumers’ trust and beliefs about corporate social responsibility, to increase the predictability of the model. Additionally, the moderating role of level of education in predicting customer loyalty to hotels was also examined.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methodology was used for the study. A structural mixed methodology was used for the study. A structural model was developed to understand the theoretical relationships between identified constructs. Additionally, multiple regression analyses were used to identify the moderating role of level of education in predicting consumer loyalty. Data collected through an online survey from 446 hotel guests were used for the analyses.FindingsThe results indicated that in addition to attitude and subjective norms, consumers’ trust in hotels’ intentions to be green influence their loyalty to green hotel enterprises. Further investigation also showed significant moderating influence of levels of education in their choice to be loyal to green hotels.Research limitations/implicationsEven though the majority of the study’s sample has extensive travel experience, the data were collected from university employees, which might have limited the findings of this study.Practical implicationsConsumers need to trust ethical claims in adopting green practices to become loyal customers. Hence, it is imperative for marketers to convey that their business believe in proenvironmental activities. Additionally, marketers should not neglect their level of education because it influences their loyalty to green hotels. Green marketing should target not only an individual customer but also his/her ties to significant others, because subjective norms influence customer loyalty to green hotels.Originality/valueThis research developed a comprehensive model to understand customer loyalty to green hotels, thus providing insights to marketers and academics about a timely subject, namely, green behavior. In doing so, this research added crucial constructs to extend the traditional model of theory of reasoned action as well as examined the moderating role of level of education in the identified model.

Addis, Michela; Miniero, Giulia; Soscia, Isabella

doi: 10.1108/JCM-06-2016-1862pmid: N/A

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the role of surprise in reducing the negative impact of an undesired emotion, such as embarrassment, on the attitudes and behavioral intentions of consumers taking part in an event.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 220 consumers took part in a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental within-subject design. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsFindings show that an in-store social event designed to elicit young customers’ surprise and feelings of romantic love might also give rise to a relevant negative emotion such as embarrassment, and that surprise can act as a powerful managerial tool in limiting the negative effects of this negative emotion. Moreover, brand attitude and purchase intention are outcomes of positive emotions elicited by the event.Practical implicationsThe study shows that event marketing is an appealing but risky strategy. Evoking surprise is an effective way to manage negative emotions such as embarrassment that can arise unintentionally during an event.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the understanding of the role of contradictory emotions in a specific social experience, namely, the event, and focuses on unplanned and undesired the affective contributions of customers.

Bae, Mikyeung

doi: 10.1108/JCM-06-2016-1827pmid: N/A

PurposeThis paper aims to clarify a situational factor that might interfere with the intended outcome of a cause-related marketing (CRM) ad on social network sites (SNSs): statements about the motivation of the sponsoring company for supporting a social cause. This study also aims to explore how highly skeptical consumers and consumers with lower levels of skepticism differ in their responses to CRM ads.Design/methodology/approachIn Study 1, a total of 409 college students took part in an online experiment through Qualtrics. The online experiment followed a 2 (statement of motivations: both of firm and public benefits vs public benefit only) × 2 (skepticism: high vs low) between-subjects design. Skepticism was determined post hoc as a two-category variable to analyze its effect on the relationship between the statement of motivations and attribution. In Study 2, a total of 533 adults took part in an online experiment. Multigroup analysis was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThis study found that firm’s acknowledgments of firm-serving motivation, as well as of public-serving motivation, could be an effective marketing strategy to reduce consumer skepticism about the firm’s motives. The procedure by which a consumer perceived and evaluated the motives of a company determined the effectiveness of the company’s CRM ads. Temporary state of skepticism induced by an attributional thinking process is found to play a significant role in diminishing perceived corporate credibility. Finally, a consumer’s perception of a company’s credibility has a great impact on their intention to join that company’s brand page.Research limitations/implicationsThis study advances theories about consumers’ defensive mechanisms that can help predict their favorable responses to the brand pages featuring CRM on SNSs.Originality/valueThis study extends previous literature by directing academic attention to consumers’ perceived attribution as a theoretical mechanism that can help predict consumers’ favorable responses to brand pages featuring CRM on SNSs. This study also extends previous research on skepticism by showing that consumer skepticism can be either an enduring trait or a temporary state. The findings suggest that marketers may be able to inhibit the development of consumer skepticism by publicly stating the potential firm-serving benefits of its actions.

Kaptein, Maurits

doi: 10.1108/JCM-11-2016-1996pmid: N/A

PurposeThis paper aims to examine whether estimates of psychological traits obtained using meta-judgmental measures (as commonly present in customer relationship management database systems) or operative measures are most useful in predicting customer behavior.Design/methodology/approachUsing an online experiment (N = 283), the study collects meta-judgmental and operative measures of customers. Subsequently, it compares the out-of-sample prediction error of responses to persuasive messages.FindingsThe study shows that operative measures – derived directly from measures of customer behavior – are more informative than meta-judgmental measures.Practical implicationsUsing interactive media, it is possible to actively elicit operative measures. This study shows that practitioners seeking to customize their marketing communication should focus on obtaining such psychographic observations.Originality/valueWhile currently both meta-judgmental measures and operative measures are used for customization in interactive marketing, this study directly compares their utility for the prediction of future responses to persuasive messages.

Vergura, Donata Tania; Luceri, Beatrice

doi: 10.1108/JCM-12-2016-2021pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of different spatial representations (foreground and background) of a product image on the package on the consumer emotional state and intention to buy the product, drawing upon the construal level theory (CLT).Design/methodology/approachTwo between-subjects experimental designs were conducted. A face-reading software was used to measure the emotional reactions of participants while watching the stimuli.FindingsEmpirical results showed that the foreground representation of the product, triggered by a lower perceived psychological distance between the subject and the product, generates more positive emotional responses compared to the background representation. However, the purchase intention did not significantly differ between the foreground condition and the background condition.Research limitations/implicationsThe study enriches the literature on CLT and provides some guidance to manufacturers and product managers for the understanding of the role of packaging in influencing consumer behaviour.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the research on the presence of the product imagery on the package. The focus is shifted from the presence/absence of the picture to its position (proximal or distal). This aspect has been neglected in previous studies. Moreover, it is the first application of face reading to support CLT basic assumption and enrich extant marketing research on packaging.

Homer, Pamela Miles; Mukherjee, Sayantani

doi: 10.1108/JCM-02-2017-2108pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of supplement form and dosage level on consumers’ perceptions of dietary supplement efficacy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw upon literature on dietary supplements and accessibility–diagnosticity theory to derive their hypotheses. Hypotheses are tested through two experiments that use a 2 (supplement form: single-ingredient [SI] vs multi-ingredient [MI]) × 2 (dosage level: low vs high) factorial design.FindingsThe findings show that consumers perceive that lower dose MI supplements are more effective than lower dose SI supplements, consistent with a “more is better” heuristic. In contrast, under high doses, the supplement form effect is insignificant; that is, MI and SI supplements are perceived to be comparable in terms of efficacy.Practical implicationsDietary supplements are not regulated the same way as prescription drugs. Consumers often draw inferences about supplement efficacy based on their perceptions rather than objective evidence. This may leave consumers vulnerable to potentially harmful consequences. This research has implications for designing supplement marketing efforts and public policy, which could help consumers to make informed choices when purchasing dietary supplements.Originality/valueA growing awareness of the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle has motivated consumers of all ages to consider alternative remedies, most notably using dietary supplements. Past research offers little insight into understanding consumer reactions to dietary supplement form such as SI and MI supplements and their dosage levels. The studies reported here address this gap in research. Public policy and marketing implications are also discussed.