Effects of awe on consumer preferences for healthy versus unhealthy food products

This research investigates how a discrete positive emotion (awe) impacts consumers' decisions on food choices. We probe and demonstrate that the experience of awe enhances consumer preferences for healthy versus unhealthy products. In a series of three studies, we find that awe, compared with a neutral emotion, increases consumers' likelihood to choose healthy products over unhealthy products (Study 1). Consumers' processing styles drive the observed awe effect (Study 2), whereby awe increases reliance on analytic processing, which leads to preferences for healthy products. Moreover, the experience of awe exerts a stronger influence on product choices among consumers with a chronic intuitive rather than analytic processing style (Study 3). Theoretical contributions to the research on awe, information processing, and healthy food preference, as well as practical implications for consumers and marketers, are discussed.     

Not worth the extra cost? Diluting the differentiation ability of highly rated products by altering the meaning of rating scale levels

Over the last decade, the use of rating scales has grown in popularity in various fields, including customer online reviews and energy labels. Rating scales convey important information on attributes of products or services that consumers evaluate in their purchase decisions. By applying multidimensional scaling, this paper reveals that the meaning of the levels of a rating scale can be altered by manipulating the labeling of the rating scale levels. The study reveals that consumers perceive product attributes as being more similar if the labels share similar or identical linguistic or visual characteristics. In addition, two choice‐based conjoint studies examine whether the way consumers make their choices among products can be influenced by changing the labeling of rating scale levels. The results show that a manipulation of the meaning of rating scale levels diminishes both the importance of the rating scale information and consumers' willingness to pay a premium for a rating upgrade. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The color–flavor incongruency effect in product evaluation and brand perception

Crossmodal correspondences refer to the tendency to associate a pair of features across different senses; specifically, consumers can associate the color of packaging with a certain flavor label for packaged foods after repeated exposure to the packaging of mainstream, everyday products. We conducted two studies to examine how the incongruency between packaging color and flavor labeling influences consumers' evaluations of a food product and their perceptions of a brand. The results revealed that the participants liked a food product less when its packaging color was incongruent with its flavor label, but the magnitude of this color–flavor incongruency effect decreased after participants repeatedly searched for these products on the shelves of a virtual supermarket. Participants also considered the brand of packaged foods to be more innovative when the products' packaging colors were incongruent with flavor labels, and the magnitude of this color–flavor incongruency effect on brand perception was not influenced by their experience of searching for a product in virtual reality. Together, these results suggested that crossmodal congruency is an important factor to consider in packaging design and can be used as a marketing tool to increase product likability and attract consumers' attention.     

How trust in financial supplier information impacts young adults' financial information involvement: The moderating roles of product savings risk and social norm

Although consumers' risk‐taking, supplier trust, social norms and information involvement are central to much of thought in the financial market and consumer economic literature, it is not known how the interplay between consumers' trust in supplier information, risk‐taking behaviour and social norm may influence information involvement. This research contributes to the consumer economic literature by investigating how product savings risk and social norm affect the relationship between young adults' trust in supplier information and their information involvement. On the basis of two samples with young adults who recently have purchased a low‐risk savings product (n = 641) and a high‐risk savings product (n = 219), respectively, several results are obtained. It is found that both product savings risk and social norm positively moderate the relationship between young adults' trust in supplier information and their information involvement. In addition, the results indicate that the three‐way interaction between trust in supplier information, products savings risk and social norm has a positive effect on information involvement. As direct implications, financial authorities and financial service managers should especially consider investing additional resources in developing information trust for high‐risk savings products and should also take social norms into account when considering young adults' high‐risk‐taking behaviour. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Normative Social Role Concepts in Early Childhood

The current studies (N = 255, children ages 4–5 and adults) explore patterns of age‐related continuity and change in conceptual representations of social role categories (e.g., “scientist”). In Study 1, young children's judgments of category membership were shaped by both category labels and category‐normative traits, and the two were dissociable, indicating that even young children's conceptual representations for some social categories have a “dual character.” In Study 2, when labels and traits were contrasted, adults and children based their category‐based induction decisions on category‐normative traits rather than labels. Study 3 confirmed that children reason based on category‐normative traits because they view them as an obligatory part of category membership. In contrast, adults in this study viewed the category‐normative traits as informative on their own (not only as a cue to obligations). Implications for continuity and change in representations of social role categories will be discussed.     

Perceived brand authenticity: Examining the effects of inferred dedication and anticipated quality on consumers' purchase intentions and actual choices

This research investigates both the downstream effect of perceived brand authenticity on consumers' actual, consequential choice and the important role of inferred brand dedication in the relationship between perceived brand authenticity, anticipated quality, and purchase intentions. We also investigate the interactive effect of two source-related factors—intrinsic motivation and congruity—on consumers' brand authenticity perceptions. We present findings from three studies using different product categories (utilitarian/consumable: hand sanitizer; hedonic/consumable: chocolate; hedonic/non-consumable: sunglasses). Study 1 shows that consumers use information regarding the intrinsic motivation of those behind the brand and congruity between the brand's actions and what it represents to consumers when forming brand authenticity perceptions and that intrinsic motivation and congruity interact to increase authenticity perceptions. We anticipate that consumers' positivity toward brands perceived as authentic will extend to actual choice through anticipated quality. Study 2 demonstrates that consumers choose authentic brands over inauthentic brands above what chance would dictate and anticipated quality can forecast this choice. Next, we extend our collective process knowledge by exploring an underlying reason why consumers anticipate that brands presented through marketing communications as authentic will have higher quality. We suggest that when managers present brands as authentic, consumers infer greater dedication of those behind the brand and inferred dedication influences anticipated product quality. Study 3 provides support and uncovers a serial mediation process, highlighting the importance of inferred dedication. Specifically, perceived brand authenticity increases consumers' brand dedication inferences, which in turn increases anticipated product quality, and ultimately purchase intentions.     

U.K. consumers' perceived risk of buying products from emerging economies: A moderated mediation model

Although considerable research has been conducted on consumer attitude towards foreign products, most of these studies focus on the attitude of products from Western developed countries. Our study intends to investigate the effects of consumers' national identification and culture sensitivity on their perceived risk of buying products from Eastern developing countries. Especially, this study advances the literature by identifying the mediation effect of consumer ethnocentrism and the moderating effect of consumer value consciousness. Taking China and India as focal emerging economies, the consumer survey (n = 308) in the United Kingdom produced the following results. First, U.K. consumers' national identification is positively related to their perceived risk of buying Eastern products through consumer ethnocentrism, whereas their cultural sensitivity has a negative relationship. Second, the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on the perceived risk of buying Eastern products is moderated by consumer value consciousness. Third, value consciousness also attenuates the indirect relationships between national identification or cultural sensitivity and perceived risk via consumer ethnocentrism.     

Making judgments in a two‐sequence cue environment: The effects of differential cue strengths,order sequence,and distraction

Consumers frequently evaluate multiple sequential cues of varying strengths in order to draw inferences about a product's quality. The results of three experiments show that when consumers are not distracted, they judge a product's quality more favorably following a strong–weak cue sequence relative to a weak–strong sequence (a primacy effect). However once consumers are distracted from the evaluation task, the primacy effect reverses to a recency effect, whereby consumers judge a product's quality more favorably following a weak–strong cue sequence. Process tests suggest that distraction crowds consumers' short-term working memory and inhibits the spontaneous rehearsal and the subsequent recall of the cue presented first in the information sequence.     

From Functional Efficiency to Temporal Efficiency: Multifunctional Products Increase Consumer Impatience

Multifunctional products are ubiquitous in consumers' daily lives. However, scant research has examined whether and how the presence of multifunctional products systematically alters consumer behavior beyond product evaluations and adoption. Across four experiments and three supplementary studies, the authors identify a multifunction-impatience effect. They show that after exposure to multifunctional (vs. single-function) products, consumers are more likely to choose a smaller but sooner (vs. a larger but later) reward (Study 1), report more impatience when waiting for the web search results to load and perceive the loading time as longer (Study 2), and are willing to pay more for expedited shipping (Study 3). The authors further show that the effects occur because multifunctional products activate an efficiency goal among consumers, which renders them less patient (studies 2 and 3). In addition to the regular, “sequential” multifunctional products for which each of the functions has a specific usage situation, the proposed effect also applies to “simultaneous” multifunctional products whose functions operate simultaneously during consumption (Study 4). Taken together, this research broadens the scholarly understanding of the effects of multifunctional products from consumers' responses to these products to the unintended impact of such products on consumer impatience.     

Religiosity and consumer belonging: Influences on product evaluations

Consumers have a fundamental need to belong. Prior research has examined the compensatory mechanisms that consumers use to restore belongingness when they have a low sense of belonging. However, research has yet to adequately understand the influence that having a high sense of belonging has on consumption behavior. Thus, three studies are conducted to address this gap in the literature, specifically examining religiosity as a source of consumers' high sense of belonging. Study 1A identifies that religiosity positively influences consumers' sense of belonging and corresponding product evaluations because belongingness creates a positive affect state. This affect then incidentally transfers a positive halo effect to product evaluations. Study 1B replicates the sequential mediation from Study 1A but only for those products that are value expressive. Studies 2 and 3 then better isolate these effects by priming religion (Study 2) as well as general social acceptance and rejection (Study 3). Findings reveal that only religion and acceptance primes influence consumers' sense of belonging and product evaluations. Discussion builds on need‐to‐belong theory and implications for marketing practice are discussed.     

How consumers “see” a visually warm store: Differences between affective and cognitive processors

Store atmosphere can influence shoppers' perceptions and behaviors. This research contributes to the literature by showing that a visually warm store atmosphere can induce psychological warmth perception among in‐store consumers. An empirical study was conducted to investigate the effect of warmth through a visually warm or cold store atmosphere on consumers' perceptions/behaviors and the moderating role of consumers' processing styles. Results (N = 181) showed that a visually warm (vs. cold) atmosphere induces the perception of intimacy toward the store among affective processors and the perception of assortment similarity among cognitive processors. Such perceptions were found to mediate the effect of the visually warm atmosphere on consumers' approach behaviors toward the store. Based on the grounded cognition theory, this study extends the current knowledge of the warmth experience on psychological perceptions to a retail context. Findings not only contribute to the extant literature of store atmospherics and retailing but they also offer practical guidelines for retailers and designers of store environments.     

Schematic influences of rape myth acceptance on visual information processing: An eye-tracking approach

Schematic influences of rape myth acceptance (RMA) on visual information processing were studied. After reading a short text on a rape case, students viewed a “police photograph” of the plaintiff's living room, where the rape allegedly happened, while their eye-movements were recorded. The photograph contained two myth-consistent cues, one being expected in the situation (wine bottle and glasses), the other unexpected (poster of a nude male). Results of Study 1 (N = 60) showed that participants higher in RMA fixated the expected cue both earlier and less long, which may indicate hypervigilance and greater ease of processing, respectively. Higher RMA also predicted longer initial fixation of the unexpected cue. These processing differences mediated participants' verdicts and blame judgments. In Study 2 (N = 30), participants' level of RMA was manipulated experimentally via social norm feedback. This manipulation significantly affected eye-movement patterns for the expected myth-consistent cue. Results support the notion that RMA actively guides visual information processing of relevant stimuli.     

The Dynamic Interaction of Personal Norms and Environment‐Friendly Buying Behavior: A Panel Study1

A deeper understanding of the attitude–norm–behavior relationship in the environmental field can be obtained by analyzing the dynamic interaction over time between relevant attitudinal variables and specific behaviors of interest. This article is based on a panel survey with a random sample of about 1,500 Danes interviewed up to 3 times in 1998 to 2000, regarding their purchase of organic food products. The panel analysis reveals that the stronger are consumers' personal norms about buying organic food products and the less they perceive organic products as expensive, the greater the likelihood that they change their purchase patterns in favor of organic products. Furthermore, one can observe significant cross‐lagged paths from past behavior to belief and norm variables.     

Affective and cognitive religiosity: Influences on consumer reactance and self‐control

Self‐control is regularly studied in the marketing literature in relation to spending and food consumption; however, little research has assessed trait characteristics that influence consumers' self‐control. Although prior research in other fields has shown a generally positive relationship between religiosity and self‐control, such research has often used poor measures of religiosity and has inadequately examined marketplace outcomes or factors underlying consumers' self‐controlled responses. Thus, the studies herein build on self‐regulation theory to address and extend from these limitations by examining the influence of religiosity, as a multidimensional construct (particularly affective and cognitive religiosity), on self‐control and resulting influences on marketplace behaviors. Findings reveal that priming affectively (cognitively) religious consumers leads to greater (lower) consumer self‐control with a religious message prime (Study 1) and religious writing task (Study 2). Additionally, findings show that psychological reactance is at the root of these responses (Study 3). Implications build on self‐regulation theory and the strength model of self‐control to show the importance of religiosity (particularly affective and cognitive religiosity), interactions with religious primes, and psychological reactance in understanding consumers' self‐control.     

Understanding consumer purchase of free‐of cosmetics: A value‐driven TRA approach

This study concerns the free‐of trend on the cosmetics market as expressed by a tendency among consumers to prefer cosmetics that are free of certain ingredients. Combining the Theory of Reasoned Action with a value‐driven approach, this study empirically investigates the association between consumers' personal values and their attitude and behaviour associated with purchasing free‐of cosmetics. A quantitative online survey of 250 Danish female consumers was conducted using self‐administering questionnaires. The findings indicate that consumers' willingness to purchase free‐of cosmetics (R² = .48) is both influenced by attitude (β = .65) and perceived subjective norm (β = .21) with attitude having the largest predictive power. Moreover, consumers' attitude towards willingness to purchase free‐of cosmetics seems to be value driven. Our results indicate that two values, self‐transcendence (β = .28) and self‐enhancement (β = ?.21), significantly influence attitude towards free‐of cosmetics purchase (R² = .10). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘If it makes you feel good it must be right’: Embodiment strategies for healthy eating and risk management

The following arguments are constructed around the encounter of embodied experiences and societal discourses. On the basis of an ethnographic study of 34 Danish consumers, we present different consumers' strategies in relation to their perception of healthy food and management of food‐related health risk. Drawing on a subsample representing particular subject positions in relation to healthy eating, we argue for an increased role of embodiment in consumers' risk handling. The study shows that because of the overload of information, consumers increasingly turn to personal experiences and bodily feelings as the instrument and strategy for evaluating possible health risk and benefit. Furthermore, the study shows how these evaluations are related to broader political and socio‐economic issues as well as closely intertwined with notion of trust and mistrust. Through embodied feelings, consumers navigate and negotiate their position in relation to social discourses of health and risk. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.