Preference for Human (vs. Robotic) Labor is Stronger in Symbolic Consumption Contexts

Advances in robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence increasingly enable firms to replace human labor with technology, thereby fundamentally transforming how goods and services are produced. From both managerial and societal points of view, it is therefore important to understand demand‐side incentives for firms to employ human labor. We begin to address this question by examining for which products and services consumers are more likely to favor human (vs. robotic) labor. In six studies, we demonstrate that consumers prefer human (vs. robotic) labor more for products with higher (vs. lower) symbolic value (e.g., when expressing something about one's beliefs and personality is of greater importance). We theorize that this is because consumers have stronger uniqueness motives in more (vs. less) symbolic consumption contexts (and associate human labor more strongly with product uniqueness). In line with this account, we demonstrate that individual differences in need for uniqueness moderate the interaction between production mode and symbolic motives and that a measure of uniqueness motives mediates the effect of consumption context on preferences for human (vs. robotic) production.     

“别人家的孩子”vs.平庸的自己：社会比较对独特性寻求行为的影响

人们在自我评价中普遍存在着优于平均值效应, 而上行社会比较会打破这一自我评价偏差, 引发后续的补偿性消费行为。通过5个实验, 依次论证上行比较(vs.下行比较)会提升个体对独特产品选项的偏好(实验1); 其心理机制在于上行比较降低了而非下行比较提升了个体的自我独特性感知, 从而促使个体出于补偿的目的而寻求独特性(实验2a、2b和2c); 上述效应适用于经济状况这一特定比较维度, 并且在感知经济流动性的调节作用下得到强化或削弱(实验3)。研究结论对于推动社会比较和独特性寻求行为相关领域的理论进展, 指导长尾市场中企业的营销策略、帮助个体缓解上行比较的威胁均有着积极的启示价值。     

外观新颖性对消费者购买意愿的影响：自我建构与产品类型的调节效应

外观创新在市场竞争中的地位越来越突出,然而因此而导致的成败案例都很普遍。如何进行外观创新更受消费者欢迎,其内在机制是什么,我们却知之甚少。基于独特性需求理论、风险感知理论及自我建构理论,本文探讨了自我建构与外观新颖性对消费者购买意愿的交互作用、影响机制以及边界条件。通过3个实验,发现对于独立型自我建构的消费者而言,高外观新颖性能引发独特性需求从而提高购买意愿,而对于相依型自我建构而言,低外观新颖性则通过降低社会风险感知从而提高购买意愿;同时,本文也确定了产品类型对该机制的调节作用,具体来讲,对于实用品,所有消费者都对低外观新颖性产品具有更强的购买意愿,而对于享乐品,所有消费者都对高外观新颖性产品具有更强的购买意愿。     

Situated embodied cognition: Monitoring orientation cues affects product evaluation and choice

Consumers generally prefer products that are easy to interact with. In three studies, we show that this preference arises from the fit between product orientation and monitored situational constraints. Flexible right-handers, who monitor situational constraints, recall product orientations better and prefer products for which the handle is oriented in the direction of the hand used for grasping. When their ability to monitor situational constraints is impaired, the preference for easy-to-grasp products is attenuated. The findings highlight that motor fluency is a relevant cue for decision making when consumers assess how to interact with a product. The implications of these results for embodiment and fluency research are discussed.     

自我建构对口碑两极分化产品偏好的影响及作用机制

口碑两极分化的产品, 指那些被许多消费者评价好的同时又被其他许多消费者评价不好的产品。随着个性化消费时代的到来, 满足个性化需求的产品遭受褒贬不一的口碑越来越普遍。当面临口碑两极分化的产品, 消费者如何认知? 哪些因素会影响消费者对口碑两极分化产品的偏好? 其中间机制与边界条件是什么? 回答这些问题对企业有效开展营销具有重要意义。口碑两极分化会提高消费者的购物风险感知, 引发“冲突”联想, 同时还可能使得消费者对目标产品产生感知独特性。这些特征契合了自我建构理论中独立型自我建构与依存型自我建构个体在独特性需求、冲突解决风格与调节定向方面的行为差异, 因而自我建构是影响口碑两极分化产品偏好的重要前因变量, 且独特性需求、冲突解决风格与调节定向是三条中介路径。购物风险水平、购物任务情境、消费场合公开性以及产品类型是以上中介效应的边界条件。     

消费者自我构念、独特性需求与品牌标识形状偏好

市场上品牌标识形状各具形态,它们已成为吸引消费者眼球的重要品牌要素,如何设计出科学实效的品牌标识形状已成为营销策略中基础而又关键的内容。什么形状的品牌标识更能获得目标群体的偏爱?本文从自我构念的水平视角出发,推论认为不同自我构念的个体在"独特性需求"上具有显著差异,由此形成对多角和圆润的品牌标识形状的偏好差异,独特性需求在自我构念与品牌标识形状偏好之间起中介作用。文章通过4个实验,一致证实独立型自我构念的消费者独特性需求更高,偏爱多角的品牌标识;相依型自我构念的消费者,独特性需求更低,偏爱圆润的品牌标识。但上述效应只存在于公开产品购买情境,当消费者购买和使用私人产品时,无论个体的自我构念是独立型还是相依型,他们对品牌标识多角与圆润的偏好没有显著差异。本文推进了自我构念、独特性需求、品牌标识形状等领域的理论研究,为企业在设计、调整品牌标识形状及制定配套营销策略方面提供了丰富的战略启示。     

Social exclusion and choice: The moderating effect of power state

When encountering two product options in which one has been chosen by minority and the other by majority, what will influence consumers to make a choice? Although much research has solved this question, this research will address these issues from different perspectives by examining the interplay of power state and social exclusion on consumer choice. Drawing on power approach/inhibition and distinctive theories, we propose that the individuals in low power state prefer more distinctive products when they are in social exclusion than in social inclusion. In contrast, the individuals in high power state prefer less distinctive products when they are in social exclusion than in social inclusion. Two studies were conducted to confirm the hypotheses. Specifically, study 1 confirms our hypotheses by manipulating social exclusion and power state. And study 2 further confirms our hypotheses through using different experimental stimuli and a behavioral measure of choice. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are provided. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consumer brand choice: individual and group analyses of demand elasticity

Following the behavior-analytic tradition of analyzing individual behavior, the present research investigated demand elasticity of individual consumers purchasing supermarket products, and compared individual and group analyses of elasticity. Panel data from 80 UK consumers purchasing 9 product categories (i.e., baked beans, biscuits, breakfast cereals, butter, cheese, fruit juice, instant coffee, margarine and tea) during a 16-week period were used. Elasticity coefficients were calculated for individual consumers with data from all or only 1 product category (intra-consumer elasticities), and for each product category using all data points from all consumers (overall product elasticity) or 1 average data point per consumer (interconsumer elasticity). In addition to this, split-sample elasticity coefficients were obtained for each individual with data from all product categories purchased during weeks 1 to 8 and 9 to 16. The results suggest that: 1) demand elasticity coefficients calculated for individual consumers purchasing supermarket food products are compatible with predictions from economic theory and behavioral economics; 2) overall product elasticities, typically employed in marketing and econometric research, include effects of interconsumer and intraconsumer elasticities; 3) when comparing demand elasticities of different product categories, group and individual analyses yield similar trends; and 4) individual differences in demand elasticity are relatively consistent across time, but do not seem to be consistent across products. These results demonstrate the theoretical, methodological, and managerial relevance of investigating the behavior of individual consumers.     

Effects of product type and contextual cues on eliciting naive theories of popularity and exclusivity

This research shows in a series of studies that exposing consumers to functional products evokes the naive theory of popularity, whereas exposing them to self-expressive products induces belief in the naive theory of exclusivity. The research further demonstrates that when the naive theory elicited by product type is matched by the appropriate contextual purchasing cues regarding the interest of others, it results in greater purchase intentions than when those cues are mismatched. The research specifies that the matching effect for functional products is mediated by consumers' perceptions of product quality, whereas mediation for self-expressive products occurs through consumers' self-perceptions regarding the extent to which the product conveys uniqueness. Finally, the research illustrates that an explicit signal of product quality (e.g., a favorable rating in Consumer Reports) attenuates the effect associated with the contextual cues regarding the interest of others.     

Individual Differences in the Pursuit of Self-Uniqueness Through Consumption

In this paper, we report an original study of the relationships between self-attributed need for uniqueness and several consumer dispositions. The results indicate that the self-attributed need for uniqueness is related to consumers' desires for scarce, innovative, and customized products and to consumers' preferences for unusual shopping venues, but not to consumers' susceptibilities to normative influence. Moreover, we find that these relationships are mediated by a latent variable reflecting individual differences in the tendency to pursue uniqueness through consumption. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed along with directions for future research.     

Making Decisions in Foreign Languages: Weaker Senses of Ownership Attenuate the Endowment Effect

Although the number of bilingual consumers is expanding, research on the impact of language on consumer decision making is scarce. The current research examines the endowment effect, which is a fundamental consumer decision‐making regularity, under native versus foreign language processing. I show that the endowment effect, which refers to higher valuation of a given product by sellers than buyers, is attenuated when sellers and buyers process information in a foreign language due to a decrease in sellers’ valuation of the product. I further document empirical evidence for the underlying mechanism of this finding. Thinking in a foreign language diminishes the impact of affective reactions on sellers’ judgment, which results in lowered sense of psychological ownership. This lowered sense of psychological ownership significantly decreases sellers’ valuation to a level comparable to the valuation of buyers. The implications of these results for theory and practice, and avenues for future research are discussed.     

廉价的优越感：社会排斥如何影响新奢侈品的消费

本研究从消费者社会需求层面,探讨在中国新奢侈品会给哪些人带来优越感,什么样的产品可以带来优越感,以及为何会带来优越感等问题。本研究使用一个混合设计的实验,结果发现：（1）相比较非社会排斥状态,社会排斥状态增加了消费者的身份消费需求。（2）在产品炫耀性大时,相比较传统大众产品和奢侈品,社会排斥增加了消费者对新奢侈品的购买意愿。而在产品炫耀性小时,社会排斥的影响不显著;（3）社会排斥、产品种类和产品炫耀性三者的交互作用影响消费者购买意愿的中介变量是消费者感知的产品身份价格比。结论表明,相比较传统大众产品和奢侈品,炫耀性新奢侈品以相对低的价格满足了社会排斥消费者的身份消费需求,为他们提供了一个获得优越感的渠道。     

旅游商品多语言包装策略的作用机制和影响效果——基于选择通达模型的视角

多语言包装策略被广泛应用于促进旅游商品的销售。然而, 现有研究仅从消费者感知视角出发, 难以揭示多语言线索的复杂效应。本研究基于选择通达模型, 主要探讨(1)多语言包装策略导致消费者推断旅游商品是针对某类群体(即对比效应)还是广泛模糊的“国际市场” (即同化效应)的作用机制; (2)多语言包装策略对旅游商品购买决策的影响机制。本研究有助于扩展旅游商品和包装语言的相关研究, 为旅游商品营销提供重要参考。     

消费决策中的零：零价格效应和零比较效应

数字“0”由于自身所具有的特性(最小的自然数和不可作为被除数),当其与商品的价格维度和属性维度相结合时会对消费者的决策产生影响。已有研究表明商品的零价格和零属性会对消费决策产生影响,即零价格效应和零比较效应。情绪和社会规范是零价格效应产生的心理机制,参照依赖则是零比较效应产生的心理机制。商品价格、商品类型和消费者的心理因素是零价格效应的边界条件;而选项的数量是零比较效应的边界条件。未来的研究可以从不同商品类型、不同社会规范、“价格-损失”与“价格-质量”、注意等角度对零价格效应进行深入研究;也可以从结构匹配模型和齐当别模型的角度进一步探索零比较效应的“比较”机制;可以探讨价格是否能被视为商品的“坏属性”,进而讨论零价格效应和零比较效应二者之间的关系。     

Now or Never: Perceptions of Uniqueness Induce Acceptance of Price Increases for Experiences More Than for Objects

Seven studies test and support the prediction that consumers are more willing to accept a price increase for an experiential versus a material purchase; an effect explained by the greater uniqueness of experiences. Critically, the uniqueness model advanced here is found to be independent of the happiness consumers derive from the purchase. To gain a deeper understanding of the uniqueness mechanism, this investigation then advances and tests a four‐facet framework of uniqueness (unique opportunity, unique purchase, unique identity, and counterconformity). Together, the findings converge on the conclusion that consumers perceive the opportunity to have a particular experience (vs. object) as more unique, and this unique opportunity increases their willingness to accept a price increase. Overall, this work extends the experiential versus material purchases literature into a new domain—that of pricing; identifies the dimension—uniqueness—and its precise facet responsible for the effect—unique opportunity; and demonstrates that this model unfolds in a pattern distinct from the oft researched model centered on consumer happiness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Failing to Suspect Collusion in Price‐Matching Guarantees: Consumer Limitations in Game‐Theoretic Reasoning

Marketers often commit to matching competitors’ prices by offering price‐matching guarantees (PMGs). Theory, however, shows that PMGs can either foster price competition and lower market prices or facilitate price collusion and raise market prices. In 3 experiments, we tested if consumers suspect collusion in such tactics and if this suspicion in turn affects their preferences for PMGs. Experiment 1 showed that consumers prefer markets where sellers offer PMGs over those that do not, suggesting little or no suspicion of collusion. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and extended them by showing that although most consumers prefer PMG markets, consumers higher in need for cognition (NFC) do, consistent with the greater suspicion hypothesized, prefer PMG markets more weakly. However, this weakened preference emerged from concerns over lower product quality in PMG markets more so than expectations of unduly high prices. Experiment 3 then tested the collusive potential of PMGs by placing participants in the role of a government regulator charged with finding collusion in various markets. Regardless of explicit primes and NFC, participants perceived PMGs as competitive devices that reduce prices rather than collusive devices that raise them. In contrast to the assumptions underlying game‐theoretic models, consumers often lack the strategic sophistication necessary to detect the collusive potential of PMGs, a limitation that implicates legislation to moderate the use of such devices.     

有“新”同享：共有消费促进对不熟悉产品的选择*

共有消费是多位消费者共同参与并承担开销的一种常见的消费活动。本研究基于风险转移理论, 探究了消费情境(单独消费vs.共有消费)对不熟悉产品偏好的作用机理及边界条件。通过5个实验, 结果发现：相比于单独消费情境下的消费者, 在共有消费情境下的消费者更愿意尝试不熟悉的产品。原因在于共有消费情境会转移消费风险, 使得消费者对不熟悉产品的感知风险降低。但是该效应仅发生于产品风险较低的产品。同时, 当共有消费群体的关系较为疏远时, 该效应会消失甚至逆转。     

创造性产品评价中的从众效应

尽管对从众效应已经开展了广泛的研究, 但对于创造性产品的评价是否存在从众效应仍有待探讨。本实验以原创性程度不同的两类创造性产品——“创新产品”和“革新产品” ——为材料, 采用“初次评价-从众诱导-延时再评”的实验程序, 研究了人们在创造性产品的两个基本维度——新颖性和实用性——的感知和评价上是否存在从众效应。结果发现, 两类产品在两个维度的评价上都存在从众效应; 但“创新产品”在实用性维度的评价上比“革新产品”更容易从众。实验进一步比较了被试在做出两个维度的评价时其确定性程度有无差异, 发现被试在对“创新产品”进行实用性评价时所伴随的不确定感较之革新产品更强, 这提示可能是对“创新产品”进行实用性判断时所具有的更大的不确定感导致了从众程度的增加。     

Non-compromise extreme effect: Attribute discriminability and preference for an extreme alternative

In this research, we show that despite a choice set configuration that promotes the compromise effect, consumers do not always prefer the middle alternative but rather choose the extreme option when one of the attributes has higher discriminability than the other. We use findings from the numerical cognition literature to demonstrate why this happens and, more importantly, provide a novel theoretical framework for what we call the “non-compromise extreme effect.” The findings are unique to the compromise effect literature, which has consistently shown the effect to be robust. More importantly, the findings show that a brand can successfully compete with a well-established competitor when it performs better on the low performing attribute, which gives a leeway to managers to take share away from the competitor.     

A cross‐cultural analysis of German,Chinese and Indian consumers' perception of web site adaptation

• The aim of this study is to provide empirical evidence, using the theory of planned behavior, as to whether local consumers prefer culturally adapted web sites or standardized web sites The study contributes to the existing literature by showing that consumers from Germany, China, and India prefer web sites adapted to their local culture, and that culture influences consumer beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intention on the web.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.