This article is the second of two parts intended to serve as a primer for structural equations models for the behavioral researcher. The first article introduced the basics: the measurement model, ...the structural model, and the combined, full structural equations model. In this second article, advanced issues are addressed, including fit indices and sample size, moderators, longitudinal data, mediation, and so forth.
Review of Marketing Research is a publication covering the important areas of marketing research with a more comprehensive state-of-the-art orientation. The chapters in this publication review the ...literature, offer a critical commentary, develop an innovative framework and discuss future developments, as well as present specific empirical studies.
This research investigates how movie ratings from professional critics, amateur communities, and viewers themselves influence key movie performance measures (i.e., movie revenues and new movie ...ratings). Using movie-level data, the authors find that high early movie revenues enhance subsequent movie ratings. They also find that high advertising spending on movies supported by high ratings maximizes the movie's revenues. Furthermore, they empirically show that sequel movies tend to reap more revenues but receive lower ratings than originals. Using individual viewer—level data, this research highlights how viewers' own viewing and rating histories and movie communities' collective opinions explain viewer satisfaction. The authors find that various aspects of these ratings explain viewers' new movie ratings as a measure of viewer satisfaction, after controlling for movie characteristics. Furthermore, they find that viewers' movie experiences can cause them to become more critical in ratings over time. Finally, they find a U-shaped relationship between viewers' genre preferences and genre-specific movie ratings for heavy viewers.
Research has not verified the theoretical or practical value of the brand attachment construct in relation to alternative constructs, particularly brand attitude strength. The authors make ...conceptual, measurement, and managerial contributions to this research issue. Conceptually, they define brand attachment, articulate its defining properties, and differentiate it from brand attitude strength. From a measurement perspective, they develop and validate a parsimonious measure of brand attachment, test the assumptions that underlie it, and demonstrate that it indicates the concept of attachment. They also demonstrate the convergent and discriminant validity of this measure in relation to brand attitude strength. Managerially, they demonstrate that brand attachment offers value over brand attitude strength in predicting (1) consumers' intentions to perform difficult behaviors (those they regard as using consumer resources), (2) actual purchase behaviors, (3) brand purchase share (the share of a brand among directly competing brands), and (4) need share (the extent to which consumers rely on a brand to address relevant needs, including those brands in substitutable product categories).
Many scholars are interested in understanding the process by which an independent variable affects a dependent variable, perhaps in part directly and perhaps in part indirectly, occurring through the ...activation of a mediator. Researchers are facile at testing for mediation when all the variables are continuous, but a definitive answer had been lacking heretofore as to how to analyze the data when the mediator or dependent variable is categorical. This paper describes the problems that arise as well as the potential solutions. In the end, a solution is recommended that is both optimal in its statistical qualities as well as practical and easily implemented: compute zMediation.
This research, investigating retailer-consumer relationships, has three distinct intended contributions: (1) It shows that different relationship marketing tactics have a differential impact on ...consumer perceptions of a retailer's relationship investment; (2) it demonstrates that perceived relationship investment affects relationship quality, ultimately leading to behavioral loyalty; and (3) it reveals that the effect of perceived relationship investment on relationship quality is contingent on a consumer's product category involvement and proneness to engage in retail relationships. The authors empirically cross-validate the underlying conceptual model by studying six consumer samples in a three-country, transatlantic, comparative survey that investigates two industries.
This article is intended to serve as a primer for structural equations models for the behavioral researcher. The technique is not mysterious—it is a natural extension of factor analysis and ...regression. The measurement part of a structural equations model is essentially a confirmatory factor analysis, and the structural part of the model is like a regression but vastly more flexible in the types of theoretical models that may be tested. The models and notation are introduced and the syntax is provided to replicate the analyses in the paper. Part II of this article will appear in the next issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and it covers advanced issues, including fit indices, sample size, moderators, longitudinal data, mediation, and so forth.
Using a two-phase research methodology, this study investigates the relationship between salespeople's intraorganizational network embeddedness and their sales effectiveness. Following the findings ...of the exploratory research, we first distinguish salespeople's intraorganizational networks on the basis of their content-work versus social networks-and their tie activation frequency. Next, we focus on three main sales tasks, opportunity-identification, solution-creation, and closing the deal, and uncover that overcoming the challenges of each sales task requires mobilizing particular intraorganizational resources. We show that work and social networks give access to different sets of resources, and we develop a contingency model that explains which networks and network ties are likely to be more instrumental for salespeople's effectiveness at each sales task. In the second phase of the research, we test the contingency model using a sociometric method. The results indicate that for effectiveness in opportunity-identification, social as opposed to work networks are most instrumental. For effectiveness in solution-creation, work rather than social networks are more critical. And for closing the deal, both work networks and social networks are important. Furthermore, salespeople who have frequently activated network ties are consistently more effective than salespeople who may have many ties but who activate them less frequently.
This research tests the effectiveness of a social marketing field study on sustainable consumption conducted by energy companies on real customers. The study uses a gamified app to encourage ...sustainable household energy usage. We analyze app usage, survey, and energy bills data to demonstrate the impact of specific game design elements on customers' perceived enjoyment and knowledge, and their behavioral intentions regarding sustainable consumption. We show the gamified app influences energy saving behaviors and word-of-mouth, and results in significant monetary savings compared to a control group. These are exciting results that provide novel insights and help support the potential of gamified apps for businesses and consumers.
•A gamified app is shown to encourage sustainable consumption of household energy.•Gamified apps can change behavioral intentions and habits.•Game design elements (points, challenge) benefit enjoyment and knowledge creation.•Challenge (character, feedback) is important for longer-term (shorter-term) users.•Gamified apps can also affect financial well-being through energy bill savings.
This essay reflects on the burgeoning literature by marketing scholars in addressing various aspects of global disasters, from both natural and man-made causes. Marketing scholarship into elements of ...disaster management may be an example of a phenomenon in the “macro cross” posited by Peterson (2016). Disaster events are numerous and striking, with most comprising some element of consumption, hence, marketers might be well-poised to contribute to preparedness and recovery.
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