Bernadette Kamleitner

• Full Professor and Head of Institute at Vienna University of Economics and Business

Placements in movies increase brand awareness. Whether they are effective beyond memory, (e.g. in terms of brand attitudes) is a contested issue. This paper argues and shows that a specific type of placement, character–product interaction (CPI), is able to achieve effectiveness across measures of placement success. A comparison of three experimenta...

How consumers pay influences how they feel about a transaction. In particular, paying by card has been argued to have an effect on the perception of cost, making it less salient and painful. We propose and show that payment method also influences how consumers feel about the acquired good. Specifically, we focus on effects of the payment method on...

Risky discounts differ from other discount formats in that the actual discount level is determined by chance (e.g., “scratch & save” cards). Four studies investigated whether consumers prefer to receive risky discounts on a per-purchase or per-item basis. Although these options do not differ with regard to expected value, they entail multiple diffe...

Financial behavior involves costs and benefits. How strongly costs and benefits are perceived as being related to each other is hypothesised to influence affect, cognition, and behavior. Thus, the subject of cost–benefit associations is relevant in several domains of applied psychology. Illustrated by examples from applied areas like consumption, w...

Financial transactions involve costs and benefits. This also holds for loan transactions where the loan itself constitutes the main cost and the loan-financed possession constitutes the main benefit. This paper aims to investigate how the way consumers mentally associate costs and benefits influences their evaluation of these costs and benefits. In...

Many apps request access to users’ contacts or photos and many consumers agree to these requests. However, agreeing is ethically questionable as it also gives apps access to others’ data. People thus regularly infringe each other’s information privacy. This behavior is at odds with offline practices and still poorly understood. Introducing a novel...

The digital manifestation of viral propagation—the repeated peer-to-peer communication of a message and its attendant idea—represents a fundamental shift in the way ideas, meanings, and information flow. While digital channels help to multiply the impact of viral propagation, they also accentuate the fallout from poorly executed viral campaigns or...

Many brands distribute promotional merchandise like branded pens, flash drives or mugs in the hopes that it will improve consumers’ reactions to the brand. Yet, consumers often use them purely incidentally, i.e. they casually use them and pay no attention to the brand, such as when borrowing a pen from a colleague. We query whether even such incide...

Digital surveillance methods, such as location tracking apps on smartphones, have been implemented in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not much is known about predictors of their acceptance. Could it be that prosocial responsibility, to which authorities appealed in order to enhance compliance with quarantine measures, also increase...

The new information and communication technology providers collect increasing amounts of personal data, a lot of which is user generated. Unless use policies are privacy-friendly, this leaves users vulnerable to privacy risks such as exposure through public data visibility or intrusive commercialisation of their data through secondary data use. Due...

The new information and communication technology providers collect increasing amounts of personal data, a lot of which is user generated. Unless use policies are privacy-friendly, this leaves users vulnerable to privacy risks such as exposure through public data visibility or intrusive commercialisation of their data through secondary data use. Due...

Sharing does not need to involve corporate providers but can also happen on a peer‐to‐peer (P2P) basis. P2P sharing platforms who match private providers and users are thus dealing with two different customer segments. An example of this is carpooling, the sharing of a car journey. Recent years have seen considerable research on why people use shar...

Prior research on the use of scent in advertising has shown that scent can enhance the memorability of and engagement with an ad. However, can scenting an ad also change the way consumers perceive and react to the advertised product? This research provides new insights for this question and demonstrates an additional facet of scent: its ability to...

This paper investigates how positive affect experienced during consumption can increase consumers’ psychological ownership for consumed brands. Across five studies, the authors show that consumers who experience positive affect while they consume a brand develop stronger feelings of ownership for this brand. The effect holds for both actual and ima...

The present proliferation of portable smart devices and stationary home assistant systems changes the ways in which people share information with each other. Such devices regularly have permission to switch on at any time and can collect a wide range of data in their environment. In consequence, the social challenge of personal data protection is g...

Users disclose ever-increasing amounts of personal data on Social Network Service platforms (SNS). Unless SNSs' policies are privacy friendly, this leaves them vulnerable to privacy risks because they ignore the privacy policies. Designers and regulators have pushed for shorter, simpler and more prominent privacy policies, however the evidence that...

Conventional wisdom as well as marketing practice suggest that companies benefit from helping customers find them. Yet, sometimes customers find service venues on their own. We suggest that a sense of own discovery can benefit businesses because customers tend to bond more with what they have discovered for themselves. Situated in the hospitality i...

Like Cinderella, many repurposed products involve a biographical transformation, from a tattered past identity (e.g., an old airbag) to a product with a valuable but different new identity (e.g., a backpack made from an airbag). In this article, the authors argue that marketers should help customers infer such product stories by highlighting the pr...

We all hold personal information about others. Each person's privacy thus critically depends on the interplay of multiple actors. In an age of technology integration, this interdependence of data protection is becoming a major threat to privacy. Yet, current regulation focuses on the sharing of information between two parties rather than multi-acto...

Matte surfaces, that is, those that are dull or lusterless not glossy and shiny, are a current trend in packaging. But does packaging surface affect what consumers think about the product inside it? We focus on consumers’ perception of packaged food products at the point of sale. Using three experiments, we show that food in matte packaging can be...

Experiencing ownership is central to what it means to be human and it is central to the functioning of societies. One notion that is inherently tied to ownership is the notion of boundaries around the owned target and between owners and non-owners. These boundaries enable humans to claim, to exert control over and to take responsibility for that wh...

Customers may be a significant weak link in companies’ efforts to properly protect customer data and respect individuals’ privacy rights. The research conducted for this paper shows between 93 per cent and 99 per cent fail to realise, recognise and respect peer-dependent privacy. This paper discusses how companies can manage regulatory requirements...

Your customers may be a significant weak link in your efforts to properly protect customer data and respect individuals' privacy rights. Our research shows between 93% and 99% fail to realize, recognize and respect peer-dependent privacy. However, you can manage regulatory requirements and reputation or even leverage future liabilities by knowing h...

Sunk costs refer to investments that have been made that are irrecoverable and lost to the investor. The influence of sunk costs on economic decision making is pervasive and can be witnessed in a variety of domains including financial investments and consumption choices. Sunk costs compel consumers to “throw good money after bad money” even though...

Die psychologische Erfahrung von Besitz ist für Menschen und deren Gesellschaften zentral. Grundthemen, die mit Besitz verbunden sind, sind die Erfahrung und das Ausüben von Kontrolle und das Übernehmen von Verantwortung. Basis für die Entwicklung von psychologischem Besitz ist die Erarbeitung und das Begreifbarmachen von Objekten. In diesem Beitra...

Unter dem Titel „Was steht im Fokus der Verbraucherforschung angesichts der Entgrenzungen des Konsums?“ diskutierten die Vortragenden Frau Prof. Dr. Birgit Blättel-Mink, Herr Prof. Dr. Dr. Walter Blocher, Frau Prof. Dr. Ellen Enkel sowie Frau Prof. DDr. Bernadette Kamleitner über die Bedeutung und Entwicklungstendenzen von Entgrenzungsphänomenen. U...

Private households dispose of a major part of a nation's financial resources. Consequently, financial decisions taken by households affect a nation's overall welfare. Regulators, marketers, consumer protectionists, businesses and economists are in need of knowledge about how households operate if they are to understand and shape household decisions...

Experiencing ownership is central to what it means to be human and it is central to the functioning of societies. One notion that is inherently tied to ownership is the notion of boundaries around the owned target and between owners and non-owners. These boundaries enable humans to claim, to exert control over and to take responsibility for that wh...

Every economic transaction also involves a transfer of ownership. Ownership is a concept that is thus fundamentally linked to almost all transactions in our society. In this "Perspektiven"-section, we place a special focus on the subject of ownership. We do so by drawing on a large body of insights that have accumulated over decades and across disc...

What type of reward attracts customers to loyalty programs? Given the increasing importance of loyalty programs, this question matters. Six sequential studies investigated whether monetary rewards universally attract people more than nonmonetary rewards. Results suggest that monetary rewards elicit a very robust attractiveness premium both on the l...

Literature suggests that using olfactory cues in marketing communication activities could have potentially powerful effects (Morrin et al. 2011; Krishna et al. 2014). In this paper, we argue that scented advertising influences product-related judgements, especially when it comes to advertising products that hold expectations for scent (e.g. soap)....

In the age of information everything becomes mined for the nuggets giving rise to it: data. Yet, who these new treasures do and should belong to is still being hotly debated. With individuals often acting as the source of the ore and businesses acting as the miners, both appear to hold a claim. This chapter contributes to this debate by analyzing w...

Continued use and enjoyment of any good or system requires sustainable usage. This holds in particular in the context of the environment. We currently use more resources than the environment is able to reproduce. Ways to induce and foster pro-environmental behaviors are needed. In this chapter we suggest that instigating psychological ownership may...

In crowdfunding, rewards can make or break success. Yet reward design, choice, and planning still occur based on availability rather than strategy. To address this challenge, this article provides an empirically derived crowdfunding reward toolbox offering guidance in strategically selecting rewards. Based on a large-scale analysis of successful an...

We explore how project initiators in crowdfunding may use empowerment messages to turn consumers into investors. A 2x5 mixed factorial experiment reveals that empowerment increases psychological ownership, which in turn positively impacts consumers’ willingness to fund. Our findings are equally important for theory and practice and may inspire furt...

We investigate the psychological effects of recognition in crowdfunding. Across three studies we show that in particular public recognition increases psychological ownership, which subsequently elicits approach behavior. Moreover, we uncover conditions under which recognition is most effective as a strategy in crowdfunding.

Get free access to this article (limited): http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/qcbHV6nmfuMZcWFD7TUj/full Imagery appeals are a powerful instrument in a communicator’s toolbox. Imagery allows evaluating an object prior to actual experience and simulating object ownership. This article investigates whether imagery and psychological ownership are syst...

The rise in the number of smart devices has created a large ecosystem centred on users? personal information and online activities. Numerous smartphone applications and social networking sites harvest and catalogue users' personal information, enabling brokers such as Google and Facebook to provide a platform for advertisers to use this information...

The article is a rejoinder to Andrew J. Seltzer's article, published in Business History in August 2010, which critiqued an article published in May 2008 on the topic of clerical salaries in London, 1870–1914. It examines trends in salaries and promotions of branch clerks at the London, County and Westminster Bank and at the National Provincial Ban...

Use this link to get free access to the preprint version of this article: https://wu.ac.at/mcore/research/publications/

Financial transactions involve costs and benefits. This also holds for loan transactions where the loan itself constitutes the main cost and the loan-financed possession constitutes the main benefit. This paper aims to investigate how the way consumers mentally associate costs and benefits influences their evaluation of these costs and benefits. In...

Financial transactions involve costs and benefits. This also holds for loan transactions where the loan itself constitutes the main cost and the loan-financed possession constitutes the main benefit. This paper aims to investigate how the way consumers mentally associate costs and benefits influences their evaluation of these costs and benefits. In...

Purpose Small business owners play an important role in the tax system. This paper seeks to establish a framework to highlight the particular tax situation of small business owners and the resulting implications, from a psychological perspective. Design/methodology/approach A framework identifying the key characteristics of small business owners'...

Consumer borrowing is a highly topical and multifaceted phenomenon as well as a popular subject for study. We focus on consumer credit use and review the existing literature. To categorize what is known we identify four main psychological perspectives on the phenomenon: credit use as (1) a reflection of the situation, (2) a reflection of the person...

Loan repayment can be viewed as a sequence of instalments. Instalments can either fall over time (i.e., repaying more in the beginning and less in the end), rise or stay constant. Three studies investigated whether the well-established preference for improvement (i.e., falling profiles) can also be observed in a loan context. Results show that cons...

Previous research has shown that money management contributes to over-indebtedness. This article sheds new light on this relation by looking at factual money management and its mental underpinnings, mental accounting. In a conceptual model we propose that fuzzy factual and mental money management practices aggravated by lack of congruency between f...

Consumers who think about spending money on a product may do so by engaging in different processing modes. Previous research has shown that imagery processing is particularly likely to lead to persuasion. This paper sheds further light on why this may happen. It argues that imagery spontaneously leads to the simulation of ownership and that the res...

Loan use is a process over time, and the subjective loan burden may differ over stages. In this paper, experience of loan burden over time is contrasted with forecasts and recollections. Furthermore, it is suggested that loan burden relates to the mental association between the loan and the loan-financed goods. A survey of 117 homeowners at differe...

This chapter reviews literature related to the emerging concept of cost-benefitassociations. Cost-benefit-associations are the degree to which thoughts of costs evoke thoughts of benefits and vice versa. Strong reciprocal associations between costs and benefits have been implicitly assumed by various theories such as rational choice accounts. Despi...

Risky discounts where a consumer’s specific discount is determined by chance (e.g., “scratch & save” cards) have hardly been addressed in the promotion literature. In three studies, we explored whether consumers prefer to receive such discounts per purchase or per item. These options differ in several respects even though they do not differ with re...

We assessed whether the degree to which consumers mentally associate costs and benefits of a loan transaction has an impact on consumer experiences. Three studies show that differences in strength and direction (from costs to benefits or vice versa) of associations are related to the perceived aversiveness of payments. Payments are the more painful...

Economic decisions in private households involve two aspects: what to buy and how to finance it. Models of spending and financing are presented, and determinants of credit decisions in the private household are discussed. It is proposed that both situational characteristics (e.g., gender roles, children, and relationship quality) and process charac...

This paper provides explicit characteristics of those two-part tariffs which maximize profit and consumers' plus producer's surplus. The effect of consumption externalities (as in telecommunications systems) is then explored. The characterizations are in terms of elasticities of demand with respect to price, income, and the number of other customer...

By taking on a consumer viewpoint, we apply a process framework to our review of varied literature on consumer credit use, and introduce a process model. This conceptual model relates credit use to other consumer decisions, and is comprised of three main parts: (a) processes before credit take up, (b) processes at credit take up, and (c) processes...

On 1st January 2002, in 12 countries of the European Union, euro notes and coins replaced existing national currencies. The currency changeover required citizens to adapt in various ways. They had to learn to handle new coins and notes, evaluate prices in the new currency, and adapt their spending behaviour accordingly. Data on how these tasks were...

Ein wichtiger Teilbereich der Angewandten Psychologie beschäftigt sich mit dem Erleben und Verhalten von Menschen in verschiedenen wirtschaftlichen Kontexten. An der Fakultät für Psychologie Universität Wien, wird vor allem zu den speziellen Themenschwerpunkten Arbeit und Alter, Unternehmensgründung und Selbstständigkeit, Geldmanagement im privaten...

A new way of sequential coding is presented using the example of an investigation of personal loan users loan-related mental structures. This way of coding is based on deliberately solving inconsistencies within one person’s statements. The aim is to become able to make conclusions at the level of one person without loss of meaning. At the same tim...

Buying a good on a loan entails numerous consumption and payment episodes. Loan users can either mentally integrate or separate these episodes. In order to identify the actual mental structures, we conducted 29 semi-structured interviews with current and prospective loan users. A content analysis revealed that a majority of loan users established a...

Use this link to get free access to the preprint version of this article: https://wu.ac.at/mcore/research/publications/

Use this link to get free access to the preprint version of this article: https://wu.ac.at/mcore/research/publications/

Private Haushalte verfügen über den größten Anteil des Geldes im Staat. Die Partner im Haushalt treffen Entscheidungen darüber, wie ihr Einkommen ausgegeben werden soll, um möglichst viele Bedürfnisse befriedigen zu können, welcher Anteil vernünftiger Weise gespart werden soll, wann und wofür Kredite aufgenommen werden sollen, und sie wägen ab, wie...

Die Einführung des Euro in zwölf Staaten hat zur Ausprägung sozialer Vorstellungen über den Euro und die möglichen Konsequenzen der Währungsumstellung geführt. Der Euro wurde zum "Teuro", zum Verursacher von spürbaren Teuerungen und Einbußen im Lebensstandard. Auch objektive Wirtschaftsdaten (z.B. die Inflationsrate) konnten an der Vorstellung, die...