Five experiments document that the mere circularity and angularity of a brand logo is powerful enough to affect perceptions of the attributes of a product or company. It is theorized and shown that ...circular- versus angular-logo shapes activate softness and hardness associations, respectively, and these concepts subsequently influence product/company attribute judgments through a resource-demanding imagerygeneration process that utilizes the visuospatial sketchpad component of working memory. There are no logo shape effects on attribute judgments when the visuospatial sketchpad component of working memory is constrained by irrelevant visual imagery, when people have a lower disposition to generate imagery when processing product information, and when the headline of the ad highlights a product attribute that differs from the inference drawn from the logo shape. Further, there are shape effects even when the shape is incidentally exposed beforehand using a priming technique rather than being a part of the logo itself, demonstrating the generalizability of our findings. When taken together, the results have implications for working memory, consumer imagery, and visual marketing.
Abstract
This research investigates how secrecy (i.e., a state in which people have an active intention to conceal information from others) affects individuals’ consumption behavior. Six studies ...reveal that making consumers’ secrets salient increases their tendency to conform in their consumption and show that this effect is driven by the desire to avoid social attention. This effect is moderated by consumers’ perceived self-control capacity. This research uncovers a novel downstream consequence of secrecy on consumer behavior and provides insight into when conforming consumption can serve as a strategy to help consumers avoid unwanted social attention. This research has important practical implications concerning using notions of secrecy in marketing strategies and promoting conforming products.
In an effort to improve creativity in the new product development process, many firms offer incentive programs, creativity training programs, or both. However, creativity continues to be a construct ...that is not well understood in marketing, and little research has examined the joint influence of such initiatives on creative outcomes. As a result, there is considerable variance in the way firms approach these issues. A qualitative study of 20 firms indicates that 15 offered some type of incentive program, whereas only 7 engaged in creativity training (a subset of the firms used both). Given that previous research has consistently found that extrinsic rewards offered in isolation actually undermine the creative process (by reducing intrinsic motivation), it seems that many firms may be unwittingly hampering their own creative efforts. However, two experiments demonstrate that the effect of rewards can be made positive if offered in conjunction with appropriate training. Specifically, product creativity was highest when the monetary reward was paired with a dedicated creative training technique. The training alters the influence of the reward such that it reinforces, rather than undermines, intrinsic motivation. Managers can improve the effectiveness of their creative efforts by leveraging the use of incentives and training in combination.
We investigate the effects of babyfaceness on the trustworthiness and judgments of a company's chief executive officer in a public relations crisis. Experiment 1 demonstrates boundary conditions for ...the babyfaceness‐honesty trait inference and its influence on company evaluations. Experiment 2 shows that trait inferences of honesty are drawn spontaneously but are corrected in the presence of situational evidence (a severe crisis) if cognitive resources are available. We demonstrate that these babyface‐trait associations underlie evaluations by reversing the babyface effect on judgments in (a) experiment 3, where a priming task creates associations counter to the typical babyface–unintentional harm stereotype, and (b) experiment 4, which creates a situation where innocence is a liability.
The authors investigate the link between the color of a Web page's background screen while the page is downloading and the perceived quickness of the download. They draw on research that supports ...links between color and feelings of relaxation and between feelings of relaxation and time perception. The authors predict that the background screen color influences how quickly a page is perceived to download and that feelings of relaxation mediate this influence. In a series of experiments, they manipulate the hue, value, and chroma dimensions of the color to induce more or less relaxed feeling states. The findings suggest that for each dimension, colors that induce more relaxed feeling states lead to greater perceived quickness. The authors provide triangulating evidence with an alternative manipulation: the number of times subjects wait for a download. As does color, this also leads to variation in levels of relaxation and perceived quickness. A final experiment reveals that color not only affects perceived download quickness but also has consequences for users' evaluations of the Web site and their likelihood of recommending it to others.
The Sleepy Consumer and Variety Seeking Huang, Zhongqiang (Tak); Liang, Yitian (Sky); Weinberg, Charles B. ...
Journal of marketing research,
04/2019, Letnik:
56, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Sleepiness, the subjective feeling of the propensity to fall asleep, is a common, everyday experience that can be induced by various factors, such as sleep quality, sleep deprivation, ingestion of ...certain substances, or belief about how much sleep a person needs. Despite its prevalence, sleepiness and its influence on consumption behavior have rarely been linked in the research to date. The present research helps fill this void by uncovering the novel impact of sleepiness on consumer variety-seeking behavior. The studies, using various methods and all involving consequential choices, revealed that sleepier consumers tended to seek more variety. The driver of this effect was found to be a need for arousal to maintain wakefulness. The authors also show that variety-seeking behavior is effective in partially reducing sleepiness. The effect of sleepiness on variety seeking uncovered in this research is somewhat nonintuitive, in the sense that, a priori, one might expect sleepiness to be more likely to decrease rather than increase exploratory behavior. The authors discuss implications of the findings for different research areas and for marketing practice.
Male circumcision (MC) significantly reduces HIV acquisition among men, leading WHO/UNAIDS to recommend high HIV and low MC prevalence countries circumcise 80% of adolescents and men age 15–49. ...Despite significant investment to increase MC capacity only 27% of the goal has been achieved in Zimbabwe. To increase adoption, research to create evidence-based messages is greatly needed. The Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) was used to investigate factors affecting MC motivation among adolescents. Based on qualitative elicitation study results a survey was designed and administered to a representative sample of 802 adolescent boys aged 13–17 in two urban and two rural areas in Zimbabwe. Multiple regression analysis found all six IBM constructs (2 attitude, 2 social influence, 2 personal agency) significantly explained MC intention (R
2
= 0.55). Stepwise regression analysis of beliefs underlying each IBM belief-based construct found 9 behavioral, 6 injunctive norm, 2 descriptive norm, 5 efficacy, and 8 control beliefs significantly explained MC intention. A final stepwise regression of all the significant IBM construct beliefs identified 12 key beliefs best explaining intention. Similar analyses were carried out with subgroups of adolescents by urban–rural and age. Different sets of behavioral, normative, efficacy, and control beliefs were significant for each sub-group. This study demonstrates the application of theory-driven research to identify evidence-based targets for the design of effective MC messages for interventions to increase adolescents’ motivation. Incorporating these findings into communication campaigns is likely to improve demand for MC.
Relaxation Increases Monetary Valuations PHAM, MICHEL TUAN; HUNG, IRIS W.; GORN, GERALD J. ...
Journal of marketing research,
10/2011, Letnik:
48, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This research documents an intriguing empirical phenomenon whereby states of relaxation increase the monetary valuation of products. The authors demonstrate this phenomenon in six experiments ...involving two methods of inducing relaxation, a large number of products of different types, and various methods of assessing monetary valuation. In all six experiments, participants who were put into a relaxed affective state reported higher monetary valuations than participants who were put into an equally pleasant but less relaxed state. This effect seems to be caused by differences in relaxed and nonrelaxed people's mental construals of the value of the products. Specifically, compared with less relaxed people, relaxed people seem to represent the value of products at a higher level of abstraction, which increases their perceptions of these products' value. The phenomenon appears to reflect an inflation of value by relaxed people rather than a deflation of value by less relaxed people.
In designing print ads, one of the decisions the advertiser must make is which color(s) to use as executional cues in the ad. Typically, color decisions are based on intuition and anecdotal evidence. ...To provide guidelines for these decisions, this research proposes and tests a conceptual framework linking the hue, chroma, and value of the color(s) in an ad to consumers' feelings and attitudes. In an experimental study, the three dimensions of color used in an ad are manipulated using a between-subjects design. The results support the hypotheses that ads containing colors with a higher level of value lead to greater liking for the ad, and this effect is mediated by the greater feelings of relaxation elicited by the higher value color. Feelings play an equally important role in the effect of chroma. Consistent with the hypotheses, higher levels of chroma elicit greater feelings of excitement, which in turn increase ad likeability. A follow-up study found that although managers often select higher value and higher chroma colors, in a large number of cases they do not. The findings of both studies are integrated in our discussion of the importance of value and chroma in increasing the range of options available to a manager faced with the selection of colors in an ad.
This paper identifies factors that facilitate narrative transportation, where people become immersed in the storyline of an advertisement. Specifically, using a lottery context, this research shows ...that consumers who feel lucky or believe in personal good luck are motivated to engage in transportation, a process that is intensified as the attractiveness of the outcome increases. Further, this research shows that highly transported consumers (a) become more focused on ad outcomes and less on the low personal probability of winning, and that (b) attempts to attenuate consumers’ transportation are most efficacious if undertaken before the ad (and transportation) begins.
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