Consumer perception of salesperson influence strategies: an examination of the influence of consumer goals

• Consumers regularly interact with retail salespeople in order to make purchases across a wide range of products and services. Retail sales encounters occur on a daily basis yet we know little about these complex interactions, especially from the consumer's perspective in terms of his or her perceptions with regard to these types of persuasive attempts. Understanding consumer perceptions is an important precursor to understanding consumer behavior during retail sales encounters. In three experiments subjects' perceptions of specific influence strategies were measured with regard to the degree of sales‐orientation of each strategy. Support was found for hypotheses that proposed that certain influence strategies would be perceived as significantly more sales‐oriented than others and that the interaction of consumer goals with salesperson influence would affect how influence strategies are perceived. Willingness to interact with and purchase from a salesperson using specific influence strategies was also examined in order to shed light on how the use of specific influence strategies is likely to affect consumers' intentions.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Better to Decide Together: Shared Consumer Decision Making,Perceived Power,and Relationship Satisfaction

Shared consumer decisions, particularly those made with a relationship partner, can be very different from decisions that are made alone. Across multiple studies, we investigate how shared consumer decision making affects perceptions of power and relationship satisfaction. We integrate two streams of research to create a novel theory about consumer decision making and perceived power. Specifically, we suggest that shared consumer decision making combines two necessary components of power—an individual's influence over and a partner's engagement in the decision—and that these combined components drive power perceptions. In other words, individuals who relinquish some control and make a decision with their partner, ironically, perceive having greater power than if they had made the decision alone. We further find that shared decision making and greater perceived power lead to greater satisfaction with the relationship in which the decisions are made. By focusing on consumer decision making within relationships, the current research contributes to the literatures on decision making, social influences in consumer behavior, close relationships, consumer well-being, and power.     

Religion and Decisions About Marriage,Residence, Occupation,and Children

Using data from the first wave of the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), we consider the extent to which people report that religious factors influence their decisions about career choice, marriage, residency, and number of children. We find significant positive relationships between the importance of religion or religious faith and the perceived influence of religious factors on one's choice of occupation, decision about whether or whom to marry, decision about where to live, and decision about how many children to have. We also observe significant interactions between the importance of religion or religious faith and religious tradition, but we find no consistent patterns across our decision‐making outcomes. Our preliminary conclusions raise significant questions about the broader relationship between religion, perception, and decision making.     

Self‐Interests and Beliefs: Predictors of Mothers’ Views of Child Care1

Mothers (N= 270) completed questions related to child care for their children who were between 2 and 6 years of age. They completed a 9‐page questionnaire that included scales used to assess their attachment to their careers, financial need to work, and gender‐role beliefs as predictors of their ratings of the effects of child care on 4 criterion measures. Findings supported the hypothesized model that a mother's needs and her self‐interests and beliefs would influence her ratings of the benefits and costs of child care, her anxiety in leaving her child in child care, and her views of the effects of child care on her child. It is suggested that future research should avoid biases that might arise from participant or observer self‐interest and seek more objective approaches to the examination of the impact of child care on children.     

Parent–Child Roles in Decision Making About Medical Research

Our objective is to understand how parents and children perceive their roles in decision making about research participation. Forty-five children (ages 4–15 years) with or without a chronic condition and 21 parents were the participants. A semistructured interview assessed perceptions of up to 4 hypothetical research scenarios with varying levels of risk, benefit, and complexity. Children were also administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition, to assess verbal ability, as a proxy for the child's cognitive development. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes related to parent and child decision-making roles. Both parents and children varied in their perceptions of decision-making roles. Child perceptions of parental influence on decision making as knowledge-based increased with cognitive development, whereas perceptions of parental influence as power-based decreased. Both children and parents commented that they would collaborate with each other when making decisions. Collaborative decision making appeared to increase with cognitive development. These findings suggest that approaches to child assent and parent permission should consider the parent–child relationship and how children and families typically make decisions. Future research is necessary to explain variation in the process of research decision making across children and families, explore the role of collaboration on children's decision-making skills, and understand developmental trajectories and mechanisms related to research decision making.     

Effects of product portfolios and recommendation timing in the efficiency of personalized recommendation

Personalized recommendation has important implications in raising online shopping efficiency and increasing product sales. There has been wide interest in finding ways to provide more efficient personalized recommendations. Most existing studies focus on how to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the recommendation algorithms or are more concerned on ways to reduce perceived risks and thus increase consumer satisfaction. Unlike these studies, our study begins from the decision‐making process of consumers, using consumers' two‐stage decision‐making system and preference inconsistency theory as a basis, to reveal the mechanisms involved in consumers' acceptance of recommendations. This paper analyzes the effect of personalized recommendations from two angles, recommendation timing and product portfolio, tries to point out differences in consumer preferences between similar products and related products, and verifies that consumers demand diversity in the recommended content. The study analyzes differences in the acceptance of personalized recommendations between practical products and hedonic products and discovers that recommendations of hedonic products are more effective than that of practical products. Based on the research earlier, the study provides suggestions on how to better plan and operate a personalized recommendation system. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What goes around comes around: The integrated role of emotions on consumer ethical decision‐making

The current study aims to further our understanding of the integrated role of emotions on consumer decision‐making involving ethical issues, by considering the influence of both positive and negative emotions on ethical decision‐making process. It considers not only the emotions experienced prior to ethical decision‐making (pre‐decision emotions) but also those resulting from the course of action chosen (post‐decision emotions). Scenarios are used, and the results of the structural modelling analyses support the proposed relationships between current emotions, consumers' ethical decision‐making, post‐decision emotions and future ethical behavioural intentions. The data suggest the possible existence of a “virtuous ethical cycle”, whereby positive emotions lead to more ethical consumer decisions and behaviours; and these in turn lead to more positive (post‐decision) emotions, which have a positive and significant effect on future ethical behavioural intentions. In addition, happiness emerges as exerting a pivotal role in predicting consumer ethical decisions.     

Observing Purchase‐Related Parent–Child Communication in Retail Environments: A Developmental and Socialization Perspective

In a quantitative observation study, we unobtrusively examined purchase‐related communication between 0‐ to 12‐year‐old children and their parents (N= 269 dyads) during supermarket and toy store visits. The aims of the study were to determine (a) the development of purchase‐related parent–child communication (i.e., children’s purchase influence attempts, their coercive behavior, parent‐initiated communication) and (b) the relative influence of different socialization variables (e.g., television viewing, family communication patterns) on these communication variables. Our inverted‐U hypothesis for the effect of developmental level on purchase influence attempts received support: Children’s purchase influence attempts increased until early elementary school and started to decline in late elementary school. Our inverted‐U hypothesis for the effect of developmental level on coercive behavior was also supported: Children’s coercive behavior was highest among preschoolers. With increasing age, children were more likely to be involved in the purchase decision‐making process, and parent–child communication more often resulted in a product purchase. Finally, children’s television viewing was the most important (positive) predictor of their purchase influence attempts.     

Attitude Change Toward Animal Experimentation in an Academic Setting

Social values theory was used to examine how parents make decisions for their adolescent children. Social values theory states that decision making for others is based on the social value of an action, leading to a norm for how to decide for others, whereas self decisions are influenced by a number of additional factors. Consistent with a risk-aversion norm, in hypothetical health and safety scenarios parents made more risk-averse decisions for their adolescent children than for themselves. Further, the level of risk and inconvenience affected self decisions more than decisions for one's child. A second study showed that the norm was stronger for decisions for one's child than for oneself and more related to parents’ decisions for their child than for themselves. In sum, parents’ decisions for their children seem to be largely determined by a norm stating how they are supposed to decide, at least in the domain of health and safety. Implications for both the judgment and decision making and parenting literatures are discussed.     

Children learn words easier when they are interested in the category to which the word belongs

The overall pattern of vocabulary development is relatively similar across children learning different languages. However, there are considerable differences in the words known to individual children. Historically, this variability has been explained in terms of differences in the input. Here, we examine the alternate possibility that children's individual interest in specific natural categories shapes the words they are likely to learn – a child who is more interested in animals will learn a new animal name easier relative to a new vehicle name. Two‐year‐old German‐learning children (N = 39) were exposed to four novel word–object associations for objects from four different categories. Prior to the word learning task, we measured their interest in the categories that the objects belonged to. Our measure was pupillary change following exposure to familiar objects from these four categories, with increased pupillary change interpreted as increased interest in that category. Children showed more robust learning of word–object associations from categories they were more interested in relative to categories they were less interested in. We further found that interest in the novel objects themselves influenced learning, with distinct influences of both category interest and object interest on learning. These results suggest that children's interest in different natural categories shapes their word learning. This provides evidence for the strikingly intuitive possibility that a child who is more interested in animals will learn novel animal names easier than a child who is more interested in vehicles.     

Environmentalism at home: The process of ecological resocialization by teenagers

Both family decision making and consumer socialization studies have been focused largely on the influence of parents on children. However, because family communication is not unidirectional, studying teenagers' influence on their parents can provide a fuller understanding of consumers' resocialization processes. This study reports on 26 depth interviews conducted with teenagers and their mothers, designed to investigate how parental styles and frequency of communication between a teenager and parent affect parental ecological resocialization. Parental styles and the frequency of communication both have notable impacts on teenagers' influence on their mothers' pro‐environmental behaviors. Moreover, whereas bilateral strategies (bargaining and reasoning) are the most effective strategies used with warmer mothers, unilateral strategies (persuasion and nagging) are the least effective strategies used with cooler mothers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shared minds: Effects of a mother's imitation of her child on the mother–child interaction

Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have impaired social interaction right from early development. Previous studies (Dawson & Adams, 1984; Tiegerman & Primavera, 1981, 1984) have suggested that imitating children with ASD is effective in facilitating their social behaviors. The present case report, through a 6‐month intervention, investigated how a home‐based intervention of helping a mother imitate her 21‐month‐old child with ASD impacted the child's development of social communication outside the experimental settings. Our results show that the mother's imitation of her child might be associated with the development of nonverbal joint attention skills. Positive changes in the mother's emotion towards her child and the mother–child interaction also were noted and represent other important effects of parental involvement in therapeutic interventions for children with ASD.     

Effects of parent and child characteristics on participation and outcome of an individualized booster parent intervention for children with externalizing behaviour

In this study, we examined whether a booster parent training, offered after a cognitive behavioural child intervention, is effective in reduction of aggressive behaviour and changes in parenting. A second aim was to identify parent and child characteristics that influence parental participation. Children (73% boys, 40% immigrants, mean age = 10.1 (.53)) were randomly assigned to the child (n = 97 children) or child and parent intervention (n = 94 children) condition. Results of both intention-to-treat and completers only analyses indicated no extra effects of the parent intervention for the total group. Parents who participated (47%) did not differ from non-participants in demographic characteristics. However, mother's perceived level of child's aggression at the end of the child intervention was of significant meaning for the decision to participate in the parent intervention. Participation seemed to interrupt the development of more aggressive behaviour and less appropriate parenting skills for those children in highest need and resulted in increased maternal involvement.     

In‐court versus out‐of‐court testimonies: Children's experiences and adults' assessments

The study examined the effects of different presentation modes on child witnesses' experiences and adults' perception and assessments of the same witnesses. Child witnesses (N = 108) were interviewed about an event that they had either experienced or imagined. Adult mock jurors (N = 240) watched the children's testimonies live, via two‐way closed‐circuit television (CCTV), or via a pre‐recorded video. The results showed that the live observers perceived the children in more positive terms than did the two‐way CCTV observers, who in turn perceived the children in more positive terms than did the video observers. Briefly, it seems as the more proximal the presentation mode, the more positive the observers' perception. Somewhat in contrast to these results, a significantly smaller proportion of the children who testified on video stated that they were nervous, compared to the children who testified live or via two‐way CCTV. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parental rearing behavior prospectively predicts adolescents’ risky decision‐making and feedback‐related electrical brain activity

The present study examined the role of parental rearing behavior in adolescents’ risky decision‐making and the brain's feedback processing mechanisms. Healthy adolescent participants (n = 110) completed the EMBU‐C, a self‐report questionnaire on perceived parental rearing behaviors between 2006 and 2008 (T1). Subsequently, after an average of 3.5 years, we assessed (a) risky decision‐making during performance of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART); (b) event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by positive (gain) and negative feedback (loss) during the BART; and (c) self‐reported substance use behavior (T2). Age‐corrected regression analyses showed that parental rejection at T1 accounted for a unique and significant proportion of the variance in risk‐taking during the BART; the more adolescents perceived their parents as rejecting, the more risky decisions were made. Higher levels of perceived emotional warmth predicted increased P300 amplitudes in response to positive feedback at T2. Moreover, these larger P300 amplitudes (gain) significantly predicted risky decision‐making during the BART. Parental rearing behaviors during childhood thus seem to be significant predictors of both behavioral and electrophysiological indices of risky decision‐making in adolescence several years later. This is in keeping with the notion that environmental factors such as parental rearing are important in explaining adolescents’ risk‐taking propensities.     

The quality of caregiving in child care: relations to teacher complexity of thinking and perceived supportiveness of the work environment

This study examined the relationship between the complexity of thinking about children by child care teachers and observed teachers' caregiving for infants and toddlers. It was hypothesized that the perceived supportiveness of the work environment would affect this relationship. Fifty‐six child care teachers completed a survey assessing complexity of thinking about children's behaviour as well as a measure of the perceived opportunities for professional development. Teachers' quality of caregiving was assessed using the Caregiver Interaction Scale. Planned contrasts revealed that when professional development opportunities were perceived unfavourably, teachers who were complex in thinking about children's behaviour provided significantly more sensitive care than did teachers who were less complex in their thinking. Findings indicate that the complexity of teachers' thinking about children may be very important in understanding teacher's sensitivity when the quality of the work environment is poor. High‐quality work environments may buffer teachers with less complexity of thinking from being less sensitive with children. Efforts to improve quality of care could focus on individual teachers to improve their complexity of thinking as well as on the work environment to make it more supportive of teachers' professional development. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Social Learning Perspective on Sales Technology Usage: Preliminary Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Drawing on social learning theory, we examine how the perceived technological savvy of a salesperson’s manager, coworkers, and competitors affects sales technology usage behavior. Data were drawn from a major retail bank in Nigeria, Africa. Analyses of data from relationship managers confirm predictions that while perceived coworker savvy directly influences technology usage, the influence of managers’ and competitors’ perceived savvy is mediated. Perceived manager savvy influences usage by increasing feelings of monitoring and the level of perceived coworker savvy. Similarly, perceived competitor savvy influences usage by increasing perceived manager and coworker savvy. We also confirm that usage of sales technology has a positive influence on salesperson performance.     

Four‐year‐olds' beliefs about how others regard males and females

Children's awareness of how others evaluate their gender could influence their behaviours and well‐being, yet little is known about when this awareness develops and what influences its emergence. The current study investigated culturally diverse 4‐year‐olds' (N = 240) public regard for gender groups and whether exposure to factors that convey status and highlight gender influenced it. Children were asked whether most people thought (i) girls or boys, and (ii) women or men, were better. Overall, children thought others more positively evaluated their own gender. However more TV exposure and, among girls only, more traditional parental division of housework predicted children stating that others thought boys were better, suggesting more awareness of greater male status. Children's public regard was distinct from their personal attitudes.     

A Review of “Mind to Mind: Infant Research,Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis”

Abstract

This article examines current research pertaining to the relationship between a mother and her children, and how this relationship may affect sibling interactions. Issues such as temperament, gender, and the age gap between children are also explored to ascertain their impact on the sibling relationship.

The displacement of the first-born child and the ensuing sense of loss and anger he may experience as a result of this is explored. The mother's second pregnancy is also discussed in regard to the impact of unresolved issues relating to her own sibling relations. The mother's interactions with each child, her role as a model for identification, and marital relations are discussed in light of their impact on sibling relations.

The evolution of a positive attachment between siblings is explored. Rivalrous behavior between siblings is also discussed, particularly in association to the mother's treatment of her own children and the manner in which the mother deals with her own aggression.