Journal of Marketing Research

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Journal of Marketing Research: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): i-ii
Gender Identity Salience and Perceived Vulnerability to Breast Cancer: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 413-424 Abstract Breast cancer communications that make women's gender identity salient can trigger defense mechanisms and thereby interfere with key objectives of breast cancer campaigns. In a series of experiments, the authors demonstrate that increased gender identity salience lowered women's perceived vulnerability to breast cancer (Experiments 1a, 3a, and 3b), reduced their donations to ovarian cancer research (Experiment 1b), made breast cancer advertisements more difficult to process (Experiment 2a), and decreased ad memory (Experiment 2b). These results are contrary to the predictions of several prominent theoretical perspectives and a convenience sample of practitioners. The reduction in perceived vulnerability to breast cancer following gender identity primes can be eliminated by self-affirmation (Experiment 3a) and fear voicing (Experiment 3b), corroborating the hypothesis that these effects are driven by unconscious defense mechanisms.
Network Effects and Personal Influences: The Diffusion of an Online Social Network: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 425-443 Abstract This article discusses the diffusion process in an online social network given the individual connections between members. The authors model the adoption decision of individuals as a binary choice affected by three factors: (1) the local network structure formed by already adopted neighbors, (2) the average characteristics of adopted neighbors (influencers), and (3) the characteristics of the potential adopters. Focusing on the first factor, the authors find two marked effects. First, an individual who is connected to many adopters has a greater adoption probability (degree effect). Second, the density of connections in a group of already adopted consumers has a strong positive effect on the adoption of individuals connected to this group (clustering effect). The article also records significant effects for influencer and adopter characteristics. For adopters, specifically, the authors find that position in the entire network and some demographic variables are good predictors of adoption. Similarly, in the case of already adopted individuals, average demographics and global network position can predict their influential power on their neighbors. An interesting counterintuitive finding is that the average influential power of individuals decreases with the total number of their contacts. These results have practical implications for viral marketing, a context in which a variety of technology platforms are increasingly considering leveraging their consumers' revealed connection patterns. The model performs particularly well in predicting the next set of adopters.
The Value of Social Dynamics in Online Product Ratings Forums: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 444-456 Abstract Research has shown that consumer online product ratings reflect both the customers' experience with the product and the influence of others' ratings. In this article, the authors measure the impact of social dynamics in the ratings environment on both subsequent rating behavior and product sales. First, they model the arrival of product ratings and separate the effects of social influences from the underlying (or baseline) ratings behavior. Second, the authors model product sales as a function of posted product ratings while decomposing ratings into a baseline rating, the contribution of social influence, and idiosyncratic error. This enables them to quantify the sales impact of observed social dynamics. The authors consider both the direct effects on sales and the indirect effects that result from the influence of dynamics on future ratings (and thus future sales). The results show that although ratings behavior is significantly influenced by previously posted ratings and can directly improve sales, the effects are relatively short lived once indirect effects are considered.
How Well Does Advertising Work? Generalizations from Meta-Analysis of Brand Advertising Elasticities: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 457-471 Abstract The authors conduct a meta-analysis of 751 short-term and 402 long-term direct-to-consumer brand advertising elasticities estimated in 56 studies published between 1960 and 2008. The study finds several new empirical generalizations about advertising elasticity. The most important are as follows: The average short-term advertising elasticity is .12, which is substantially lower than the prior meta-analytic mean of .22; there has been a decline in the advertising elasticity over time; and advertising elasticity is higher (1) for durable goods than nondurable goods, (2) in the early stage than the mature stage of the life cycle, (3) for yearly data than quarterly data, and (4) when advertising is measured in gross rating points than monetary terms. The mean long-term advertising elasticity is .24, which is much lower than the implied mean in the prior meta-analysis (.41). Many of the results for short-term elasticity hold for long-term elasticity, with some notable exceptions. The authors discuss the implications of these findings.
It's the Mind-Set That Matters: The Role of Construal Level and Message Framing in Influencing Consumer Efficacy and Conservation Behaviors: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 472-485 Abstract Across three studies, this research elucidates when loss- versus gain-framed messages are most effective in influencing consumer recycling by examining the moderating role of whether a more concrete or abstract mind-set is activated. First, in a field study, the authors demonstrate that loss frames are more efficacious when paired with low-level, concrete mind-sets, whereas gain frames are more effective when paired with high-level, abstract mind-sets. This is an important, substantive finding that persisted over a significant time span. In addition, in two additional laboratory studies, they find further evidence for this matching hypothesis, in which a pairing of loss- (gain-) framed messages that activates more concrete (abstract) mind-sets leads to enhanced processing fluency, increased efficacy, and, as a result, more positive recycling intentions. The findings have implications for marketers, consumers, and society as a whole.
Effects of Social and Temporal Distance on Consumers' Responses to Peer Recommendations: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 486-496 Abstract This article examines the interplay of social and temporal distance on consumers' responses to others' recommendations. Drawing on research on psychological distance and the fit literature, the authors hypothesize that others' recommendations are more persuasive when the construal levels associated with both social distance and temporal distance are congruent. Specifically, the authors first demonstrate a time-contingent effect of recommendation: others' recommendations lead to a greater preference shift when people make decisions for distant-future consumption than for near-future consumption (Studies 1 and 2). Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, the authors find that close others do not always have a greater impact than distant others. Instead, recommendations from close others are more influential in shifting near-future preferences than those from distant others, whereas recommendations from distant others are more influential than those from close others in shifting distant-future preferences (Study 3). The authors demonstrate that others' recommendations are perceived to be more relevant as the underlying mechanism when there is a match of construal levels between the social and temporal distance. Research and managerial implications are discussed.
Securities Trading of Concepts (STOC): 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 497-517 Abstract Identifying winning new product concepts can be a challenging process that requires insight into private consumer preferences. To measure consumer preferences for new product concepts, the authors apply a securities trading of concepts, or STOC, approach, in which new product concepts are traded as financial securities. The authors apply this method because market prices are known to efficiently collect and aggregate private information regarding the economic value of goods, services, and firms, particularly when trading financial securities. This research compares the STOC approach against stated-choice, conjoint, constant-sum, and longitudinal revealed-preference data. The authors also place STOC in the context of previous research on prediction markets and experimental economics. Across multiple product categories, the authors test whether STOC (1) is more cost efficient than other methods, (2) passes validity tests, (3) measures expectations of others, and (4) reveals individual preferences, not just those of the crowd. The results show that traders exhibit a self-preference bias when trading. Ultimately, STOC offers two key advantages over traditional market research methods: cost efficiency and scalability. For new product development teams deciding how to invest resources, this scalability may be especially important in the Web 2.0 world.
Estimating the Value of Brand-Image Associations: The Role of General and Specific Brand Image: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 518-531 Abstract The authors present a Bayesian simultaneous choice factor model that measures consumers' willingness to pay for brand-image associations. Previous research has found that general brand effects influence a brand's scores on specific image dimensions. To investigate the value of general versus specific brand image, the authors specify a higher-order factor model in which a set of correlated factor scores arise from a general brand factor and a set of orthogonal residual scores that measure the specific dimensions of brand image. The general brand factor is consistent with the concept of a halo effect, which theory ascribes to either an overall evaluative effect or errors in cognition. The authors apply the model to stated preference data on branded midsized sedans accompanied by data on consumer brand-image associations. The authors find that there is substantial value for the specific dimensions of brand image, but only after controlling for the general brand effect with the higher-order factor decomposition.
Positive Affect, Intertemporal Choice, and Levels of Thinking: Increasing Consumers' Willingness to Wait: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 532-543 Abstract Six studies examine the influence of positive affect on self-control in intertemporal choice (consumers' willingness to wait for desired rewards) and the cognitive processes underlying this effect. Two studies measure participants' levels of thinking in two different ways, showing that positive affect can promote forward-looking, high-level thinking. Two studies using a delay-of-gratification paradigm demonstrate this forward-looking thinking and show it to be a mindful process. Participants in positive (vs. neutral) affect were more likely to choose a larger mail-in rebate over a smaller instant rebate when the reward differences were moderate (but not when they were small). Two studies demonstrate the impact of positive affect on intertemporal preference in another way, showing that participants in positive affect do not discount the value of delayed outcomes as much as people in neutral affect do (decreased present bias). Together, the results indicate that positive affect promotes cognitive flexibility and fosters a higher level of thinking and a more future-oriented time perspective, without obscuring practical considerations and other needed detail, including context and opportunity costs, when evaluating intertemporal options.
Choice as an End Versus a Means: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 544-554 Abstract This article investigates the consequence of the choice process for mental resources and the desire to obtain the selected products. The authors draw a distinction between instrumental choice, which serves preexisting consumption goals, and experiential choice, which serves as its own end. Across four studies, they find that instrumental choice undermines mental resources and experiential choice increases these resources. As a result, although experiential choice is made with no consumption goal in mind, compared with instrumental choice, it increases the desire to obtain the selected product. The authors demonstrate these effects on choice among a variety of consumer products (e.g., vacation packages, novels, flower bouquets).
The Social Utility of Feature Creep: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 555-565 Abstract Previous research has shown that consumers frequently choose products with too many features that they later find difficult to use. In this research, the authors show that this seemingly suboptimal behavior may actually confer benefits when factoring in the social context of consumption. The results demonstrate that choosing products with more capabilities (i.e., feature-rich products) provides social utility beyond inferences of wealth, signaling consumers' technological skills and openness to new experiences and that consumers' beliefs about the social utility of feature-rich products are predictive of their choices of such products. Furthermore, the authors examine when impression management concerns increase consumers' likelihood of choosing feature-rich products. They find that public choices in which participants display their preferences to others encourage feature-seeking behavior but that the anticipation of having to use a product in front of others provides an incentive to avoid additional features.
Price Competition and Endogenous Valuation in Search Advertising: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 566-586 Abstract This article studies how to endogenously assess the value of a superior advertising position in the price competition and examines the resulting location competition outcomes and price dispersion patterns. The authors consider a game-theoretic model in which firms compete for advertising positions and then compete in price for customers in a product market. Firms differ in their competence, and positions are differentiated in their prominence, which reflects consumers' online search behavior. They find that when endogenously evaluated within the product market competition, a prominent advertising position might not always be desirable for a firm with competitive advantage, even if it is cost-free. The profitability of a prominent advertising position depends on the trade-off between the extra demand from winning the position and the higher equilibrium prices when the weaker competitor wins it. Furthermore, the authors show that the bidding outcome might not align with the relative competitive strength, and an advantaged firm might not be able to win the prominent position even when it values that position. They derive two-dimensional equilibrium price dispersion with the realized prices at the same position varying and the expected prices differing across different positions. They find that the expected price in the prominent position might not always be higher, implying that an expensive location does not necessarily lead to expensive products.
Effects of Customer and Innovation Asset Configuration Strategies on Firm Performance: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 587-602 Abstract Both customer and innovation assets are important to firm performance. Prior research has mostly examined these assets at the firm level and has not distinguished between the effects of asset depth relative to competitors and asset breadth across different segments. Using configuration theory and the resource-based view of the firm, the authors propose that how these assets interact to influence performance depends on both depth and breadth because these features reflect whether the assets are likely to create and/or appropriate value when deployed. Empirical results from two studies--one using secondary data and another using primary data from a survey of senior managers-- indicate that performance is highest when firms employ configurations using deep customer and broad innovation assets or deep innovation and broad customer assets. In contrast, firm performance variability decreases in the presence of deep-deep and broad-broad asset configurations. The effect of configuration strategies on firm performance also is typically greater in dynamic than in stable environments.
Understanding Governance Decisions in a Partially Integrated Channel: A Contingent Alignment Framework: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 603-616 Abstract This article examines governance decisions within an emerging and increasingly common form of channel: the partially integrated channel (PIC). The PIC is defined as a single vertical channel in which both market governance and hierarchical governance exist (i.e., the employees of one channel member work on a full-time basis at an exchange partner's facilities, performing functions that the exchange partner traditionally performs). Building on the transaction cost analysis and governance value analysis literature streams, the authors examine ongoing governance decisions within the PIC. Data were collected in the fashion apparel market of South Korea using multisource, reciprocally matched data in which a manufacturer's directly employed sales force is deployed at department store retailers as the sole frontline employees for their brand. The authors find that brand reputation, downstream market uncertainty, and sales force performance ambiguity influence manufacturer control over sales operations and manufacturer flexibility with retailers in unique ways. The authors discuss implications of this work for theory and practice.
Seeing Ourselves in Others: Reviewer Ambiguity, Egocentric Anchoring, and Persuasion: 2011-05-12 - Journal of Marketing Research 48(3): 617-631 Abstract Consumers increasingly inform one another about marketplace offerings in online review forums. The authors demonstrate that when given no information about a reviewer (i.e., when the reviewer's identity is ambiguous), consumers use an accessibility-based egocentric anchor to infer that ambiguous reviewers have similar tastes to their own, leading consumers to be (1) similarly persuaded by reviews written by ambiguous and similar reviewers and (2) more persuaded by reviews written by ambiguous reviewers than by reviews written by dissimilar reviewers. The authors demonstrate that this effect holds in a single-offering, single-reviewer context. The authors also show that when consumers are exposed to multiple offerings with multiple reviewers, there may be a slight cost to ambiguity as opposed to similarity but that ambiguity remains much more persuasive than dissimilarity. Finally, the authors demonstrate that the effects of egocentric anchoring on persuasion can be moderated, first, by making other-related thoughts accessible and, second, by providing external cues about potential reviewer heterogeneity. These findings have important implications for both the management and monitoring of consumer-to-consumer online communication.

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