Vanessa Patrick

University of Houston | U of H, UH · Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship

This article aims to provide educators with a RECIPE to pivot from traditional market orientation to inclusive marketing orientation. Inclusive Marketing Orientation (IMO) is an evolved marketing strategy that embraces the needs and desires of underrepresented consumers. The impact of increasing students’ awareness of inclusivity not only benefits...

In both personal and professional spheres, consumers decide when to initiate action on important tasks. Often, for important yet seemingly less-pressing tasks (e.g., saving for retirement), action initiation begins too late. This research is based on the novel insight that for purportedly non-pressing tasks, increasing perceived task complexity act...

Consumers often observe how other consumers interact with brands to inform their own brand judgments. This research demonstrates that brand relationship quality-indicating cues, such as brand nicknames (e.g., Mickey D’s for McDonald’s and Wally World for Walmart), enhance perceived information authenticity in online communication. An analysis of hi...

Inclusive design considers the needs and capabilities of the whole population to decrease the actual or perceived mismatch between the user and the design object. We review the inclusive design literature across multiple disciplines to conceptualize inclusive design, identify who should be included in the inclusive design process, present an overvi...

A model’s eyes are a powerful and ubiquitous visual feature in virtually any advertisement depicting a person. But does where the ad model’s eyes look matter? Integrating insights from social psychology and performance and visual art theory, we demonstrate that when the ad model’s gaze is averted (looking away from the viewer), the viewer is more r...

This research highlights the importance of retailer-consumer identity congruence – the match between the retail brand identity and the consumers’ identity. Retailers can leverage identity congruence to forge meaningful consumer-brand relationships which will result in enhanced engagement, brand loyalty, and willingness to pay. The paper discusses h...

Consumers are increasingly bombarded with merchandise and offers, making clear the need for visually distinctive and sensorially engaging product packaging design. The current research demonstrates that the use of handwritten fonts on product packaging elicits an approach tendency and enhances haptic engagement, which influences product evaluation...

Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species’ biological and cultural heri...

This chapter comprehensively examines research-based brand strategies that can help luxury brands successfully extend and expand. A key take-away is that successful luxury brand growth strategy entails walking the fine line between managing brand coherence and managing brand innovation and growth. The chapter identifies what a luxury brand is from...

Retail spaces contain copious sensory information that can affect consumers’ shopping behavior. This research investigates a novel, yet ubiquitous, retail atmospheric variable: airflow direction. We examine how the sensory experience of frontal (vs. dorsal) airflow energizes consumers in retail spaces and influences creative engagement. Five studie...

Ten studies examine package shape as a cue for brand status categorization. The authors show that products in a tall, slender package are more likely to be categorized as high-end products (high brand status) than those in a short, wide package (low brand status; studies 1a&b). This effect is driven by a “Shape-SES” lay theory (a person's body shap...

Worldwide food waste amounts to approximately 1.3 billion tons every year. The desire for perfection (fresh and unblemished) in produce has been identified as one of the key reasons underlying this immense waste. This article identifies the need to shape consumer’s aesthetic preference for perfect produce to increase the acceptance of old and imper...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

The Legends in Consumer Behavior series captures the essence of the most important contributions made in the field of consumer behavior in the past several decades. It reproduces the seminal works of the legends in the field, which are supplemented by interviews of these legends as well as by the opinions of other scholars about their work. The se...

This research investigates the effect of individuals’ subjective perceptions of the overlap among different identities on their feelings of authenticity and the likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior. Across four studies we found that low (vs. high) identity integration led to greater feelings of inauthenticity and a higher likelihood of enga...

Top managers tend to focus on strategy formulation and planning but fail to embrace the problem-solving complexity of strategy implementation. This can lead to implementation failures that are reflected in misaligned organizations that seem to know where they want to go but cannot seem to get there. We posit that one reason for the ineffective tran...

Brand nicknames (e.g., Big Blue for IBM, Chevy for Chevrolet, Rollie for Rolex) are a common marketplace phenomenon. Marketers, however, hold polarized views about whether a brand should adopt or restrict the use of brand nicknames, yet little academic research has shed light on this debate. With three studies, the current research investigates the...

Advertising is a distinct form of communication, designed to be persuasive. This article discusses the importance of visuals in advertising, the manner in which such visuals exert their influence on viewers, and some individual differences in the response to visual images. Visual art is subsequently discussed as a special type of images used in adv...

This book is a fascinating blend of papers from industry practitioners and academia. Research, advertising and marketing practitioners have attempted to distil their learning over the years into succinct chapters. Eminent faculty from academia have brought together theoretical frameworks, research and case studies to show how these could inform bra...

Everyday consumer aesthetics is defined as "non-art, non-nature aesthetic experiences that are diverse and dynamic and result in specific consumer actions (e.g. purchasing) and consumption behaviors" (Patrick 2016). The roundtable will discuss the current state of the literature, related research areas, and, future directions for this sub-field of...

Purpose - The health industry is rapidly adopting digital services and face-to-face offerings are being replaced by e-services. One example is peer-to-peer survivor networks for cancer patients. This study investigates the virtual exchanges in survivor networks and whether these exchanges are valued for economic, symbolic, or expressive worth. The...

Policy makers and social agencies need novel insights to manage the major global challenge of encouraging prosocial and sustainable behaviors. This research identifies a positive aesthetic cue, "Kindchenschema cuteness," that can reliably induce some people-specifically, those who exhibit high approach motivational orientation (per the behavioral a...

Different package designs call for different ways of revealing the product. In this research, we demonstrate that packaging that calls for unveiling—the removal of the cover of a concealed, stationary object—enhances the perceived value of the product compared to other forms of product revelation. Drawing on theories of grounded associations, share...

Despite the explosion of research on goal pursuit, relatively little is known about the shaping of goal progress by the simple experiences that characterize everyday life. Two literatures furnish competing predictions about the relationship between pleasant daily experiences (simple pleasures), unpleasant daily experiences (small annoyances), and d...

This review introduces the notion of everyday consumer aesthetics. Everyday consumer aesthetics entails non-art, non-nature aesthetic experiences that are diverse and dynamic and result in specific consumer actions (e.g. purchasing) and consumption behaviors (e.g. recycling). Two broad trends observed in the recent literature are highlighted: a foc...

The present investigation began with the conjecture that people may do better by saying "some other time" instead of "no, not ever" in response to temptations. Drawing from learning theories, we hypothesized that people interpret unspecific postponement ("I can have it some other time") as a signal that they do not strongly value the postponed temp...

If luxury retail strategy aims to generate awe rather than community, while charities convey community rather than awe, should luxury and charity partner at the point of sale? This research suggests that an association with charity at the point of sale can increase choice of (Study 1) and purchase intent toward (Study 2) a luxury brand and can faci...

This study investigates the identity transformation from mere survivor to heroic survivor of cancer. Utilizing a multi-method approach, interviews with seventeen female cancer survivors and five blog analyses, this research sheds light on the processes involved in the transformation from mere survivor to heroic survivor and the integral role of bra...

Aesthetic design, or styling, is an important product attribute in today's retail environment, especially when functional demands have been met (Chitturi, Raghunathan, & Mahajan, ; Hoegg, Alba, & Dahl, ). This research note, however, focuses on consumer responses to products when perceived functionality is low. Ideally, high styling is combined wit...

Human beings are attracted to glossy objects. However, the investigation of whether this preference for glossy is a systematic bias, and the rationale for why, has received little or no attention. Drawing on an evolutionary psychology framework, we propose and test the hypothesis that the preference for glossy stems from an innate preference for wa...

This research investigates the influence of refusal frames on persuasiveness in an interpersonal context. Specifically, the refusal frame “I don’t” is more persuasive than the refusal frame “I can’t” because the former connotes conviction to a higher degree. This perceived conviction is tied to the identity-signaling function of the refusal frame....

This research is based on the insight that the language we use to describe our choices serves as a feedback mechanism that either enhances or impedes our goal-directed behavior. Specifically, we investigate the influence of a linguistic element of self-talk, in which a refusal may be framed as “I don’t” (vs. “I can’t”), on resisting temptation and...

We demonstrate that a difficult (versus easy) investment process increases retirement savings (a "no pain, no gain" effect) for individuals who have limited information about retirement.

The current research suggests that what determines whether a luxury brand is diluted by a successful brand extension is the extent to which the lower-end extension is able to satiate the consumer’s desire for the luxury brand experience. We thus propose a theory of dream substitution to explain when and why a successful luxury brand extension can r...

Scholars long have examined self-control strategies through the lens of resistance, emphasizing that willpower is the primary psychological resource that humans use to suppress hardwired visceral responses. However, resistance is often fallible because it draws from limited resources while simultaneously increasing desire for the forbidden good. Th...

Subtle differences in language can influence consumer perception. We examine the difference between using the conjunctions “and” versus “with” in communicating value in product combinations. We theorize that individuals engage in a lexical inferencing process when encoding the semantic meaning of words used in natural language. Drawing on this theo...

Luxury brands often partner with charities. Prior research suggests that these partnerships can be successful because altruism feels good. We propose an alternative explanation: that the association with charity allows consumers to experience the pleasure of luxury with less guilt than they might otherwise feel. In three experiments we demonstrate...

Some products have a transformative impact on our consumption behaviors, occur relatively rarely, and, are recognized only in hindsight. In this research we aim to investigate the characteristics of these products and the acquisition motivations they evoke. Depth interviews are utilized to uncover the nature of acquisition motivations that transfor...

Previous research shows that mental budgets are effective self-regulatory tools because they are set around a self-control goal and allow consumers to monitor their choices against this goal. Our research bridges the domains of mental budgeting and construal level theory to show that (1) mental budgets are more effective self-control devices when c...

Image modification is a frequently used technique in advertising, but there exists little theory or empirical research to assess whether, when, and how image modification influences consumer response. Further, apparent contradictions arise when extrapolating perspectives from the extant literature, with one stream of literature suggesting that fami...

Despite the accessibility of social media and networking sites, consumers still feel lonely.The current research investigates a particular form of loneliness experienced by cancer survivors – survivor loneliness – and seeks to understand the role of technology as a coping mechanism. Prior research shows that loneliness can be reduced by increasing...

Across five studies, the authors demonstrate that warm (versus cool) temperatures deplete resources, increase System 1 processing, and influence performance on complex choice tasks. Real-world lottery data (Pilot Study) and a lab experiment (Study 1) demonstrate the effect of temperature on complex choice: individuals are less likely to make diffic...

Advertising is a distinct form of communication, designed to be persuasive. This article discusses the importance of visuals in advertising, the manner in which such visuals exert their influence on viewers, and some individual differences in the response to visual images. Visual art is subsequently discussed as a special type of images used in adv...

The three-volume Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture covers consuming societies around the world, from the Age of Enlightenment to the present, and shows how consumption has become intrinsic to the world's social, economic, political, and cultural landscapes. Offering an invaluable interdisciplinary approach, this reference work is a useful resource f...

Broadly speaking, artworks are accorded a special significance and are recognized as powerful communication tools. In the current research, the authors posit that the "specialness" of artworks may be diminished simply by emphasizing that which is depicted in them. This emphasis results in the artwork being viewed as a mere illustration rather than...

The first edition of the successful Encyclopedia of Creativity served to establish the study of creativity is a field in itself. Now completely updated and revised in its second edition, coverage encompasses the definition of creativity, the development and expression of creativity across the lifespan, the environmental conditions that encourage or...

The critical incident study looks at the phenomenon of aesthetic incongruity resolution from the behavioral outcome perspective and investigates the product characteristics associated with the buy more versus return option. The data were coded by two independent coders, blind to the hypotheses, to shed additional light on the phenomenon of aestheti...

A recent study showed that people evaluate products more positively when they are physically associated with art images than similar non-art images. Neuroimaging studies of visual art have investigated artistic style and esthetic preference but not brain responses attributable specifically to the artistic status of images. Here we tested the hypoth...

We investigate the interfering influence of elevated arousal on the impact of positive mood on resistance to temptation. Three studies demonstrate that when a temptation activates long-term health goals, baseline positive mood facilitates resistance to temptation in (1) the choice between two snack items, one of which is more unhealthy, sinful, and...

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This research proposes a feelings-based account of brand extension evaluation and demonstrates that the promise of pleasure (hedonic potential) associated with luxury brands is a key driver of brand extendibility. In four studies, we contrast a luxury brand with a value brand. Both brand concepts lead to equally favorable brand evaluations, but the...

We demonstrate that anticipating pride from resisting temptation facilitates self-control due to an enhanced focus on the self while anticipating shame from giving in to temptation results in self-control failure due to a focus on the tempting stimulus. In two studies we demonstrate the effects of anticipating pride (vs. shame) on self-control thou...

Unique and timely, this Research Handbook on Luxury Branding explores and takes stock of the current body of knowledge on luxury branding, as well as offering direction for future research and management in the field. Featuring contributions from an international team of top-level researchers, this Handbook offers analysis and discussion of the pro...

This research presents a framework based on coping theory to explain the different ways of managing the stress of regret for inaction. We theorize that primary appraisals of goal-relevance and secondary appraisals of reversibility affect how consumers cope with the stress of inaction regret resulting in different behavioral outcomes. Prior research...

Prior research has demonstrated that consumers who take an opportunity and are satisfied (satisfied takers) are likely to avail of a future opportunity when it is presented again but those who forsake an opportunity and experience regret (regretful forsakers) are less likely to do so, exhibiting inaction inertia. In this research we demonstrate whe...

We propose that a positive mood, by signaling that a situation is benign, might allow people to step back and take in the big picture. As a consequence, a positive mood might increase abstract construal and the adoption of abstract, future goals. In contrast, a negative mood, by signaling not only danger but also its imminence, might focus attentio...

Three studies demonstrate that the framing of redemption windows as expansive or restrictive, while keeping the actual length of the window constant, influences consumers' evaluations of sales promotions. When feasibility concerns are highlighted (e.g., in an implemental mindset), consumers prefer the expansive "anytime" (vs. the restrictive "only"...

Visual art is a complex stimulus. Drawing on extant theory that the interplay of affect and cognition evoked by a stimulus drives evaluations, we develop a generalizable model for the perception and evaluation of visual art. In three stages, we develop scaled measurements for the affective and cognitive components involved in the perception of visu...

We investigate a tool, namely visual art, which enables firms to increase the extendibility of their brands. Extant research proposes that successful brand extensions depend on favorable brand image and high perceived fit between the brand and the extension category. We propose that the presence of art has a positive influence on brand image (via a...

In this research, the authors investigate the phenomenon of “art infusion,” in which the presence of visual art has a favorable influence on the evaluation of consumer products through a content-independent spillover of luxury perceptions. In three studies, the authors demonstrate the art infusion phenomenon in both real-world and controlled enviro...

We introduce the concept of affective misforecasting (AMF) and study its impact on product evaluations. Study 1 examines whether and when AMF affects evaluations, finding that AMF has an impact on evaluations when the affective experience is worse (but not when better) than forecasted. Study 2 tests a process model designed to understand how and wh...

We examine the differential effects of anticipating shame vs. guilt on choice likelihood of a hedonic product. The results demonstrate that when offered a hedonic snack (chocolate cake) consumers who anticipate shame are significantly less likely to choose to consume it compared to those who anticipate guilt. Anticipating guilt also has a more circ...

Prior research on consumers’ preference for timing of payment suggests that consumers prefer to prepay for certain kinds of purchases (e.g., vacations) and postpay for others (e.g., washer dryers). This research extends this finding by first comparing preference for timing of payment for products that vary by type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and dura...

The authors propose an alternative conceptualization to the Strack, Werth and Deutsch (2006) model. Their conceptualization considers how the forecasting of emotional outcomes linked to controlling or failing to control impulses impacts self-regulatory behavior. A set of future research questions is identified based on this conceptualization. The p...

Affective misforecasting (AMF) is defined as the gap between predicted and experienced affect. Based on prior research that examines AMF, the current study uses qualitative and quantitative data to examine the sources of AMF (ie, why it occurs) in the consumption domain. The authors find evidence supporting some sources of AMF identified in the psy...

This paper examines the concept of consumer hopefulness as an important driver of consumption. Hopefulness is defined as a positive feeling evoked in response to an outcome appraised as goal congruent and possible. This positively valenced emotion arises in everyday consumption as consumers evaluate their current state and try to determine ways in...

A series of studies show converging evidence of a positivity effect in consumers' inferences about service providers. When the consumer has little experience with a service, positive information about a single employee leads to inferences that the firm's other service providers are similarly positive to a greater extent than negative information le...

This paper examines the differences between regret for purchases and regret for non-purchases, through the use of both narratives and quantitative analysis. It was found that, although the regret experienced for purchases is greater than that felt for nonpurchases, the latter is also significantly intense. The results also suggest that the reasons...

This paper explores the domains in which consumers possess hoped-for and feared selves and the role of products and services in approaching hoped-for and avoiding feared selves. The results from an exploratory study indicate that consumers are able to identify products, services and activities relevant to the approach or avoid- ance of these possib...

A survey using a convenience sample examined the relationships among blame placed on Firestone, Ford and the drivers in accidents involving Firestone tires. The amount of blame placed on one entity was unrelated to perceptions of others’ blameworthiness. Blaming Ford for the accidents predicted consumers’ desire to fine Ford, but not for more indus...

Two experiments were conducted to examine consumers' perceptions of blame in the Firestone Tire recall. The extent to which knowledge about Ford or Firestone's role in the recall was accessible to consumers was manipulated. The results suggest that subtle cues can influence perceptions of blame of a company indirectly involved in a recall but only...

Affective misforecasting (AMF) is defined as the gap between predicted and experienced affect. Based on prior research that examines AMF, the current study uses qualitative and quantitative data to examine the sources of AMF (i.e., why it occurs) in the consumption domain. The authors find evidence supporting some sources of AMF identified in the p...