•Increasing perceived humanness for chat agents led to more effective conversations.•Present (future) oriented subjects preferred warm (competent) vs. competent (warm) chatbot conversations.•Matching ...time orientation with conversation type led to favourable attitudes and purchase intentions.•Brand perceptions further mediated the above effects.
Chatbots are increasingly engaged in retail settings, although research shows that consumers typically prefer engaging with humans over chatbots. Past literature has argued that anthropomorphising chatbots can lead to more effective consumer interactions. The current work further enhances this literature by showing that chatbots can be given human qualities like warmth and competence to enhance positive consumer experiences. However, we find that these exchanges are contingent on consumers’ time orientation. We conduct one pre-test (N = 103), two laboratory experiments (N = 213 and 233) and a third study engaging live chatbot conversations (N = 77) to test the premises of our study. The findings show that present-oriented subjects prefer a warm versus competent chatbot conversation, leading to favourable product decisions. Their counterparts, future-oriented subjects, prefer a competent vs. warm conversation. Brand perceptions further mediate these effects. The findings contribute to the literature on chatbot anthropomorphism and inform managerial decisions.
•Incremental theorists prefer experience over credence attributes.•Entity theorists prefer credence over experience attributes.•This preference is mediated by attribute importance.•Incrementalists ...maintain this preference under present and future time orientation.•Entity theorists demonstrate a preference reversal under future time orientation.
The current research extends the application of implicit theories to consumer behavior.
We engage the search, experience, credence (SEC) framework to study the impact of consumer lay belief on attribute types and time orientation on the choice of a product/service. We conduct one pre-test, and three experiments to explore the key hypotheses. Our findings show that incremental (vs. entity) theorists prefer a product/service when it is positioned in terms of experience (vs. credence) over credence (vs. experience) attributes. This effect is mediated by attribute importance. The preference of entity and incremental theorists is maintained under present-time orientation. Under future-time orientation, incremental theorists still maintain their preference, but entity theorists demonstrate a preference reversal and favour the experience over credence attributes. The findings contribute to theoretical and managerial extensions of the existing literature on consumer behaviour.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the direct and interactive effects of regulatory focus (promotion versus prevention), attribute type (search versus experience) and word of mouth valence ...(positive versus negative) on consumption decision for a service and a product.
Design/methodology/approach
Three empirical studies (two laboratories and a field experiment) using “university” and “mobile phone” as the research setting were used to test the key hypotheses.
Findings
Promotion (prevention)-focused subjects preferred experience (search) attributes over their counterparts while making consumption decision. This preference was further reinforced for both promotion and prevention-focused people under positive word of mouth. Under negative word of mouth, in comparison to their counterparts, promotion-focused people still retained their preference for experience attributes, whereas prevention-focused subjects reversed their preference and maintained status quo.
Research limitations/implications
Future research may validate and extend authors’ findings by looking into the underlying process or studying additional word of mouth variables that may moderate the current findings.
Practical implications
The findings will help managers devise a range of marketing strategies in the areas of advertising and product positioning, especially for products/services that are showcased in terms of experience and search attributes.
Originality/value
The current research is novel as no prior research has proposed and tested the two-way interaction between regulatory focus and search/experience attributes, or its further moderation by word of mouth valence.
Transnational Higher Education Naidoo, Vik
Journal of studies in international education,
09/2009, Volume:
13, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Transnational higher education (TNHE) development is not an entirely new international activity in the education services sector. The nature and scale of the global expansion of contemporary TNHE ...developments are, however, changing substantially. An understanding of this growth is currently largely lacking because of a dearth of comprehensive statistics. The scale of the latter TNHE developments has been particularly hard to identify and has until now been largely based on guesstimates. This article is an attempt at filling this gap. Through a triangulation methodology of available secondary data, this article is a very first attempt at providing a stock take of the current level of activity in TNHE worldwide.
•Haptic weight and price-framing can influence consumers’ purchase decisions.•Heaviness was either semantically manipulated or physically experienced.•Under heaviness, combined pricing positively ...influenced purchase decisions.•This effect was reversed when consumers experienced lightness.•The above effect was mediated through ease of processing.
This research makes a novel proposition that the haptic sensation of weight can moderate the effect of price framing on consumer decisions. Participants who experienced heaviness (lightness) preferred a target product presented in terms of combined (partitioned) versus partitioned (combined) pricing frames. This effect was further mediated by ease of processing. Four studies (three laboratory and one field experiment) were conducted to test the key hypotheses and provide evidence for causality and external validity. Across the four studies, the haptic sensation of weight was manipulated through semantics (Studies 1, 3), embodied experience (Study 2), and part of the product experience (Study 4). In studies 1, 2 and 3, the haptic experience of weight was independent of the target product evaluation, whereas in the fourth study, the weight experience was part of the target product evaluation itself. The findings across the studies are consistent, robust, and have theoretical and managerial implications.
Through three laboratory experiments and a study conducted in a natural setting, this research investigates the unexplored area of the role of mood (positive versus negative), pricing frame ...(partitioned versus combined), and pricing tactic persuasion knowledge (PTPK = low versus high) on product attractiveness and purchase intention. Study 1 explores a mood × frame interaction, with results showing that subjects in the positive mood report higher attractiveness and purchase intention for a product framed in partitioned (versus combined) pricing. Studies 2A and 2B find a pricing frame × PTPK interaction, and the results reveal that low PTPK subjects prefer the partitioned (versus combined) pricing offer. This effect is found to be mediated by ease-of-processing. Finally, a study conducted in a natural setting enhances the external validity of the mood based findings. The observed results advance pricing theory and provide much-needed insights for managers.
Extant research lacks insight into the nature, dynamics, and outcomes characterizing brand alliances in higher education. This research aims to bridge this gap by examining prospective students' ...purchase intention for dual degrees – a particular brand alliance type deployed in higher education. Findings indicate that prospective students' attitude toward the alliance (H1), their level of familiarity with the individual constituent brands (H2), brand trust (H3a), the interaction between brand familiarity and trust (H3b), as well as perceived fit between the constituent brands (H4) positively and significantly influence consumer purchase intention for particular dual-degree offerings. Overall, these findings extend scholarly insights in brand alliancing research, with a particular focus on higher education dual-degree offerings.
Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to examine the innovations in the international activities of not-for-profit (NFP) universities. While the entry mode literature is well addressed, particularly ...by international marketing and business scholars, an academically interesting and managerially relevant question relates to the applicability of extant research to the emerging phenomenon of internationalization in the NFP sector.
Design/methodology/approach
– Using an inductive constructivist qualitative methodology grounded in 12 case studies of internationalization in the NFP education sector, this study applies Dunning’s eclectic framework as its theoretical anchor.
Findings
– This study identified that entry mode choice in the NFP context may not always be reconciled with extant literature derived mostly from a for-profit context. In particular, the broader definition of offshore equity investment is in sharp contrast to previous entry mode research which is largely, if not exclusively, grounded in a for-profit context.
Originality/value
– Extant frameworks developed to explain the entry mode phenomena tend to assume a profit maximization philosophy. The propositions advocated in this study are a step further to develop our understanding of internationalization of NFP universities.
The main hypothesis examined in this study is that the success of export recruitment strategies of universities is partly determined by their export readiness, defined as a function of market ...orientation. This article seeks to fulfil both a research and a practitioner gap in the export of education field. There currently exists a lack of research and discussion concerning the business aspects of export education. Suspicion of the commercial aspects of what is essentially a public good is suggested as a possible reason for this absence of research. With the commercialisation of education growing at the phenomenal rate that it currently is, it is largely time that this research gap be addressed. This study provides an important contribution by examining the export readiness of universities, in particular pre-export market orientation, and its impact on subsequent export recruitment performance.
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