Crowdsourcing services, such as MTurk, have opened a large pool of participants to researchers. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to confidently acquire a sample that matches a given demographic, ...psychographic, or behavioral dimension. This problem exists because little information is known about individual participants and because some participants are motivated to misrepresent their identity with the goal of financial reward. Despite the fact that online workers do not typically display a greater than average level of dishonesty, when researchers overtly request that only a certain population take part in an online study, a nontrivial portion misrepresent their identity. In this study, a proposed system is tested that researchers can use to quickly, fairly, and easily screen participants on any dimension. In contrast to an overt request, the reported system results in significantly fewer (near zero) instances of participant misrepresentation. Tests for misrepresentations were conducted by using a large database of past participant records (~45,000 unique workers). This research presents and tests an important tool for the increasingly prevalent practice of online data collection.
Abstract
Recent research has highlighted a difference in the way consumers approach choice sets. Some consumers focus on products’ quality benefits (vertical differentiation): their selections are ...driven by the level of quality obtained relative to the price paid. Other consumers focus on products’ taste benefits (horizontal differentiation): their selections are driven by acquiring personal tastes at favorable prices. This article aims to investigate how consumers’ benefit focus, a continuum anchored by quality and taste, drives their preferences between retailers differing in pricing strategies. All else equal, consumers who focus on taste benefits will prefer EDLP stores (infrequent discounters), while consumers who focus on quality benefits will prefer Hi-Lo stores (frequent discounters). Findings from our experiments and an analysis of consumer panel data corroborate this relationship. This work also shows the mediating role of perceived value and the effect of several moderators: the strength of the price–quality relationship, the pattern of discounts, and cherry-picking costs.
Consumers increasingly expect brands to "pick a side" on divisive sociopolitical issues, but managers are reluctant to risk alienating customers who oppose their position. Moreover, research on ...identity-based consumption and negativity bias suggests that corporate political advocacy (CPA) is more likely to repel existing customers who oppose the CPA than to attract new customers who support it, implying that the net effect will be negative even if consumers overall are evenly divided in their support/opposition. In this research, the authors posit that despite this negativity bias in individual-level choice, the net effect of CPA at the market level is determined by a sorting process that benefits small-share brands and hurts large-share brands. This is because having few customers to lose and many to gain can offset the risk of the negativity bias in consumers' identity-driven responses to CPA, potentially leading to a net influx of customers for small-share brands. Five experiments provide support for this theorizing and identify authenticity as a necessary condition for small share brands to benefit.
For brands to thrive, they must understand consumer sentiment; if consumers’ likelihood of sharing their opinion is a function of their attitude toward a brand, then brands’ perception of consumer ...sentiment may be systematically biased. While research in consumer-to-consumer sharing (i.e., word of mouth) suggests that those with extreme attitude are more likely to share than those with neutral attitude (a U-shaped relationship), the relationship between consumers’ attitude toward a brand and their propensity to share with a brand is unknown. In contrast to the U-shaped pattern observed in word of mouth, the authors find a hockey stick–shaped relationship between attitude and sharing with brands (“__/”). Those with positive attitude (vs. neutral attitude) are more likely to share their opinion, but those with negative attitude do not show a similar increase in sharing. The authors show that this pattern emerges because, among consumers with positive (vs. neutral) attitude toward a brand, reciprocity norms drive increased sharing, but among consumers with negative (vs. neutral) attitude, competing mechanisms drive behavior: the desire to vent increases sharing, but at the same time an aversion to criticize others directly deters sharing. The authors test these ideas using a series of studies, including a field study.
Purpose
In recent years, brands have increasingly engaged in corporate political advocacy (CPA; also termed brand activism or corporate sociopolitical activity) by taking positions on polarizing ...sociopolitical issues. Recent experimental research suggests that consumers respond to CPA based on its alignment with their own values, and that it typically induces an overall negative response. This study aims to provide additional insights by exploring consumer brand perceptions following CPA.
Design/methodology/approach
An event study of 106 CPA events and weekly consumer brand perception data was conducted. A regression model was used to investigate the moderating effects of CPA effort, concurrence and the strength of the online protests evoked by the CPA.
Findings
The results show that CPA had a negative effect on consumers’ brand perceptions and that the effect was stronger for customers relative to non-customers. The negative effect was attenuated by CPA concurrence and amplified by effort. Additionally, online protests were driven by the CPA effort and had a strong negative effect on brand perception. Online protests were stronger in the past, and, in turn, the negative effects of CPA on brand perceptions have slightly weakened in recent years.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the role of online protests following CPA and distinguishing consumer and customer responses. This study also provides converging evidence of the moderating effects of effort and concurrence identified in previous studies.
This paper investigates the relationship between waiting time and subsequent purchase decisions. The prior literature assumes that purchase decisions are independent from the waiting time. By ...contrast, we find that when people spend a longer time waiting in a line, they tend to consume more. We identify mental accounting for sunk costs as the underlying mechanism that drives this behavior; a larger purchase allows customers to offset the long wait suffered. Finally, we explore the effect of managerial practices commonly employed by firms to improve customers’ waiting experience. We find that although these practices indeed result in improved customer experience, they can actually result in lower consumption at the individual level.
This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.
The traditional queueing literature assumes that service time is largely independent of social influences. However, queues are social systems; and social considerations are therefore likely to impact ...customers’ service time decision to the extent they have control. Through a series of experiments, we show that when others are waiting in line, customers tend to accelerate their own service time, and in doing so, sacrifice their own consumption utility. This behavior is driven by concern for others. Notably, the effect is diminished when they themselves have waited, as it is perceived as fair to let others wait if one also had to wait. We further show that obscuring the visibility between customers in service and those waiting in line diminishes the negative effect of others queueing on one’s own service time.
This paper was accepted by Jay Swaminathan, operations management.
Supplemental Material:
Data and the online appendix are available at
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4282
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The US Food and Drug Administration recently revealed that it is considering modifying the Nutrition Facts Panels required on packaged foods. One proposed change is increasing serving sizes included ...on labels, which has two potential implications. Larger serving sizes could increase consumption if consumers use the serving sizes displayed as a reference point for their own consumption (McFerran et al., 2010). Alternatively, larger serving sizes that depict increased values of negative nutrients (e.g. calories) could lead consumers to perceive foods as less healthy, thereby reducing consumption (Russo et al., 1986). In study 1 (Online sample, N = 208, Mage = 32, SDage = 12), participants saw pictures of packaged food items and nutrition labels. The labels, depicted either the existing or larger serving size. Across all foods, larger serving sizes led to lower health perceptions. Labels with larger serving sizes were rated as more representative of typical consumption. Study 2 (Online sample, N = 347, Mage = 31, SDage = 10) used the same design as study 1, but required participants to virtually portion foods. While serving sizes did not impact the amount of food consumers portioned, those who saw labels with larger serving sizes estimated that they portioned out more calories. In study 3 (Student sample, N = 198, Mage = 20, SDage = 1), participants were given M&Ms to eat, paired with a nutritional label depicting either the current or a larger serving size, while participating in unrelated surveys. Participants presented with the larger serving size label consumed less than those presented with the current serving size label. Together, the results suggest that the proposed increase in serving sizes on Nutrition Facts Panels could lower consumption of high-calorie foods.
Detailed insights from our experiments x * Consumers act in line with their beliefs, but immediate reactions are stronger in cases of misalignment x Our results confirmed that consumers of a brand ...that engaged in CPA were more (less) likely to choose it when the brand's stance was aligned (misaligned) with their own. ...we also observed a negativity bias in consumers' individual responses: Existing misaligned customers were approximately two times more likely to defect than new aligned customers were to adopt. * Small brands can benefits from CPA, even if the major e x When a brand's initial market share is sufficiently small, engaging in CPA can result in a net increase in customers even if the brand takes a stance that consumers overwhelmingly oppose. The experiments demonstrated that taking the same political stance as a competitor can lead to reduced perceptions of authenticity. ...brands must be cautious when jumping on the CPA bandwagon to avoid potentially being seen as an inauthentic copycat.
This abstract provides an overview of four papers presented in the symposium "Consumer Agency in an Era of Buycotting and Boycotting." The first paper discusses the topics of immigration, abortion, ...and gay marriage and their impact on consumer behavior. The second paper explores the unintended consequences that corporate lobbying can have on customers. The third paper examines the relationship between market structure and firm engagement in divisive political issues. The fourth paper focuses on consumer agency in ethical production. Overall, these papers highlight the importance of consumer agency and the various factors that influence consumer behavior in today's society. The symposium aims to contribute to the field of consumer research and provide insights into the complex dynamics between consumers, corporations, and political issues.
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