No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Personal Communication in Marketing: An Examination of Self-Interest Contingency Relationships
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of self-interest in a personal communication situation. Self-interest was investigated as a moderator of the effects of argument strength and expertise on personal communication effectiveness. The results suggest that self-interest is an important contingency variable that can alter significantly the effectiveness of personal communication variables.
... 44 Communication as a whole and not only the ability to persuade contributes to the value of the interaction, to the point that there has been a marketing model based on communication with three levels: corporate, marketing, and marketing communication. 45 Personal marketing has a moderating effect on the strength of arguments and the effectiveness of personal communication, 46 reinforcing its importance. ...
Objective
To evaluate the validity of the Self-assessment of Communication Competence – SACCom by analyzing the communication competency of adult individuals using the item response theory (IRT).
Methods
Overall, 778 individuals who responded to SACCom participated in this study. The initial version consisted of 20 polytomous items regarding communication skills. Polytomous answer keys to each item were ordered as follows: 1 - no, 2 - more or less, and 3 - yes. The IRT and the gradual response model, a 2-parameter logistic model for polytomous items, were used for validation.
Results
Due to problems in the preliminary analysis using the item characteristic curve (ICC), answer keys to SACCom items were reorganized in an ordinal dichotomous way. Response 1 was coded as 0 - no, while responses 2 and 3 were coded as 1 - yes. Item 9 of the ICC was problematic and did not add information to the instrument; hence, this item was excluded. SACCom, in its dichotomous format with 19 items, was unidimensional according to the eigenvalues graph and tetrachoric correlation analysis. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient showed an internal consistency value of 0.711. All item-total correlations were greater than 0.284. Item discrimination parameters ranged from a = 0.563 to a = 1.505, and the difficulty of the items ranged between b = –2.725 and b = 0.612. The likelihood ratio test showed that the model without restrictions best fit the data. ICC gleaned more information for individuals with lower communication skills.
Conclusion
The 19-item, dichotomous SACCom is valid for the analysis of communication skills according to the IRT.
... Stakeholders will probably perceive the company as more selfinterested than other non-corporate sources in CSR communication. Since individuals are often more critical of messages from sources they perceive to be biased or self-interested (Wiener et al. 1990), CSR communication via corporate sources will trigger more skepticism and have less credibility than noncorporate sources. For example, Szykman et al. (2004) found that consumers who viewed an antidrinking and driving message sponsored by a beer company (as opposed to a non-profit organization) inferred more self-serving motives of the sponsor. ...
... Studies have also shown that the level of consistency between the persuasive message and the source influences consumer responses (Artz and Tybout, 1999). When the source has an apparent self-interest in the advocacy, message-source incongruence signals manipulative intent and therefore evokes a negative response (Artz and Tybout, 1999;Wiener et al., 1990). Artz and Tybout (1999) argue that consumers have expectations about the type of messages different sources will deliver. ...
Previous studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication suggest that firms’ social initiatives should be communicated through third-party, non-corporate sources because they are perceived as unbiased and therefore reduce consumer skepticism. In this article, we extend existing research by showing that source effects in the communication of social sponsorships are contingent on the brand’s pre-existing reputation. We argue that the congruence between the credibility and trustworthiness of the message source and the brand helps predict consumer responses to a social sponsorship. The results show that a non-corporate source (publicity) generates more positive brand evaluations than a corporate source (advertising) when the sponsor has a positive reputation. However, the converse effect occurs when brand reputation is low: when the sponsor has a poor reputation, a corporate source generates more positive brand evaluations than a non-corporate source. Mediation analyses show that the interaction effect between CSR information source and brand reputation can be explained by sponsorship attitude, persuasion knowledge, and perceived fit between the brand and the cause.
... There are several supporting arguments, the arguments are supported quantitatively, and/or that the arguments appear in larger or emphasized text or are supported by graphics (Artz and Tybout 1999;Wiener LaForge, and Goolsby 1990). Items were coded as moderate (2, 3, or 4) if they fell between absent (1) and strong arguments (5) (for a description of each item, see the Appendix). ...
Countries compete intensely for foreign direct investment (FDI) and perform a wide range of activities to attract it. Research on FDI promotion often overlooks the effects of advertising. To fill this gap in the literature, this study analyzes the content of FDI advertising to explain its structure. To guide the analysis, the authors use Dunning's FDI location advantages framework. This framework represents an effective prism through which to view FDI advertising, and Dunning's location advantages are reflected in advertising content. In an effort to shed more light on FDI advertising, the authors first provide an assessment of how advertising content varies by country income classification. Next, using exploratory factor analysis, they identify the five factors represented in FDI advertising: knowledge resources, market attractiveness, economic governance, infrastructure, and natural resources. The findings suggest that high-income countries tend to focus on knowledge resources, while lower-middle-income countries focus on economic governance. Upper-middle-income countries tap into both knowledge resources and economic governance while also promoting the attractiveness of their market.
... However, cognitions related to the marketer tactics may not be readily accessible and may not impact judgments about the marketer unless consumers consciously elaborate on the marketing tactic (e.g., Campbell & Kirmani, 2000; Shiv, Edell, & Payne, 1997). For example, consumers are more likely to construct beliefs about a persuasion agent's action when the context is surprising or unexpected (Goodstein, 1993; Hastie, 1984; Malle & Knobe, 1997) or when a familiar brand uses a noticeably different persuasion strategy (Friestad & Wright, 1994; Wiener, LaForge, & Goolsby, 1990). To the degree that consumers think about a brand's persuasion tactic, it is less likely to result in favorable evaluations about the brand. ...
We examined the benefits to a corporate sponsor of two types of philanthropic activities— cause promotions and advocacy advertising. Results from 4 laboratory studies indicate that perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are affected by consumers' elaboration levels. Consumer perceptions of CSR are more favorable for cause promotions, which do not receive much elaboration, than they are for advocacy advertising, which prompts more elaboration. In addition, perceived congruence between the sponsor and the social issue is shown to moderate these effects: Higher congruence between the sponsor and social issue increases favorable ratings of CSR for cause promotions but only if elaboration on the sponsorship activity is facilitated. On the other hand, lower congruence increases favorable ratings of CSR for advocacy advertising as long as elaboration on the sponsorship is not constrained. We also found that higher congruence enhances CSR ratings if participants are primed to focus their attention on the sponsor brand, whereas lower congruence enhances CSR if participants are primed to focus their attention on the social issue.
... hours. Subsequently, we asked respondents to read (fictitious) consumer responses to these press releases. Self-interest was manipulated in these responses. In a final step, all respondents completed the questionnaire. Consumer self-interest was manipulated by varying fictitious consumer responses to the online press release described earlier (cf. Wiener, LaForge, & Goolsby, 1990 for self-interest manipulation). In the high self-interest condition we primed that consumers benefited from the partnership indirectly due to improved customer service quality. Fictitious consumers shared their experiences they had with employees during the past two years. They concluded that employees were much more motivated, open mi ...
While most research on business–nonprofit partnerships has focused on macro and meso perspectives, this article pays attention to the micro level. Drawing on various theoretical perspectives from both marketing and management, this study conceptually relates the outcomes of active employee participation in such partnerships to consumer self-interest. This article also explores empirically whether and when self-interest affects consumers’ responses toward firms in relation to business–nonprofit partnerships. The study reveals that self-interest can directly influence consumers’ behavioral responses toward firms (i.e., switching and buying intentions, and word of mouth), whereas the impact on evaluative responses in terms of attitude and trust is only weak. The fit between the firm and the nonprofit partner (company–cause fit) turns out to moderate this effect, with consumer self-interest only playing a role if fit is high. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
... A broader interpretation, however, would entail the message recipient attempting to understand " why " the speaker used such a deviation in the message. In other words, this alternative calls for an interpretation of the deviation in the light of the motives of the persuasion agent (Friestad and Wright 1994; Wiener, LaForge, and Goolsby 1990). The important issue, however, is what will determine whether respondents engage in the simpler versus broader interpretation of the deviation. ...
Past research is not clear on the process by which rhetorical questions influence persuasion (i.e., increased focus on message arguments vs. on the persuasion agent). Based on recent theories of persuasion knowledge and rhetorical figures in advertising, our model delineates conditions under which rhetoricals are likely to enhance argument elaboration (low salience of the rhetorical) and those under which they are likely to direct attention on the message source (high salience of the rhetorical format). Two experiments support the model and suggest that salience of rhetorical figures has the potential to influence not only the direction of message processing but also the effectiveness of various ad executions.
... Stakeholders will probably perceive the company as more selfinterested than other non-corporate sources in CSR communication. Since individuals are often more critical of messages from sources they perceive to be biased or self-interested (Wiener et al. 1990), CSR communication via corporate sources will trigger more skepticism and have less credibility than noncorporate sources. For example, Szykman et al. (2004) found that consumers who viewed an antidrinking and driving message sponsored by a beer company (as opposed to a non-profit organization) inferred more self-serving motives of the sponsor. ...
By engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, companies can not only generate favorable stakeholder attitudes and better support behaviors (e.g. purchase, seeking employment, investing in the company), but also, over the long run, build corporate image, strengthen stakeholder–company relationships, and enhance stakeholders' advocacy behaviors. However, stakeholders' low awareness of and unfavorable attributions towards companies' CSR activities remain critical impediments in companies' attempts to maximize business benefits from their CSR activities, highlighting a need for companies to communicate CSR more effectively to stakeholders. In light of these challenges, a conceptual framework of CSR communication is presented and its different aspects are analyzed, from message content and communication channels to company- and stakeholder-specific factors that influence the effectiveness of CSR communication.
... umes that a certain behavior is performed to achieve a desirable outcome , and then assumes there are underlying motivations driving the behavior (Jones and Davis, 1965). For example, a consumer may believe a message released directly from the firm to be self-serving because the Public Relations (PR) department has the ability to shape the content. Weiner et al. (1990) tested this idea finding that consumers perceived messages directly from the company as being selfinterested . Because of this perceived self-interest, consumers often question the credibility and of messages emanating from the company (Grewal et al., 1994; Yoon et al., 2006 ). In terms of persuasion knowledge (see Friestad and Wright, ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as an effective way for firms to create favorable attitudes among consumers.
Although prior research has addressed the direct influence of proactive and reactive CSR on consumer responses, this research
hypothesized that consumers’ perceived organizational motives (i.e., attributions) will mediate this relationship. It was
also hypothesized that the source of information and location of CSR initiative will affect the motives consumers assign to
a firms’ engagement in the initiative. Two experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. The results of Study 1 indicate
that the nature of a CSR initiative influences consumer attribution effects and that these attributions act as mediators in
helping to explain consumers’ responses to CSR. Study 2 suggests that the source of the CSR message moderates the effect of
CSR on consumer attributions. The mediating influence of the attributions as well as the importance of information source
suggests that proper communication of CSR can be a viable way to inculcate positive corporate associations and purchase intentions.
Keywordscorporate social responsibility–consumer attributions–corporate communications–CSR strategy–information source
... The streaming video was made available in the three most common formats, Real Player, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player, and in both high and low resolution. Several studies point to the potentially conflicting relationship between source credibility and message credibility (Yalch & Elmore-Yalch, 1984; Wiener, LaForge, and Goolsby, 1990). This relationship is referred to as sourcemessage incongruity and describes situations in which an individual's attitudes about a message influence his/her perceptions of the message source. ...
Through persuasive communications, information technology IT executives hope to align the actions of end users with the expectations of senior management and of the firm regarding technology usage. One highly influential factor of persuasive effectiveness is the source of the persuasive message. This study presents a conceptual model for explaining the influence of source credibility on end user attitudes and behavioral intentions to comply with organizationally motivated, recommended IT actions within a decentralized, autonomous environment. The results of this study suggest that the elements of source competency, trustworthiness, and dynamism are significant determinants of attitudes and behavioral intentions to engage in recommended IT actions. These findings reveal the importance of these elements of effective communication in persuading end users to follow recommended IT activities and advance IT acceptance and adoption research through the application of persuasive communication theory to the domain.
Brands regularly express gratitude to groups such as first responders, medical personnel, and teachers (i.e., third-party others). However, research investigating the effectiveness of these acknowledgments is lacking. Drawing from the gratitude, branding, and persuasion knowledge literature, we theorize that consumer reactions to advertised gratitude expressions to third-party others depend upon brand positioning, operationalized through brand personality. We empirically demonstrate that when exciting brands express gratitude to third-party others, such expressions reduce purchase intentions relative to advertisements not conveying gratitude or conveying gratitude to customers. As sincere brands are aligned with gratitude, gratitude expressions do not negatively affect purchase intentions. Consumer inferences of manipulative intent explain why gratitude expressions to third-party others lead to adverse effects for exciting but not sincere brands. Our findings signify that advertised gratitude expressions to third-party others need to be managed carefully, as brand personality plays a significant role in consumers’ interpretations of such acknowledgments.
Through persuasive communications, information technology (IT) executives hope to align the actions of end users with the expectations of senior management and of the firm regarding technology usage. One highly influential factor of persuasive effectiveness is the source of the persuasive message. This study presents a conceptual model for explaining the influence of source credibility on end user attitudes and behavioral intentions to comply with organizationally motivated, recommended IT actions within a decentralized, autonomous environment. The results of this study suggest that the elements of source competency, trustworthiness, and dynamism are significant determinants of attitudes and behavioral intentions to engage in recommended IT actions. These findings reveal the importance of these elements of effective communication in persuading end users to follow recommended IT activities and advance IT acceptance and adoption research through the application of persuasive communication theory to the domain.
Purpose
As the focal point of both academic studies and business practices, the theme strategy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) arouses wide attention. However, extant studies concentrate more on the selection of the theme of CSR activities, such as the fitness between CSR activities and the core business, thus largely neglecting the consistency of the theme. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the enterprise should adopt a consistent theme strategy or should participate in different social programs, and how do customers response to the lack of studies in different theme-consistent strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, two progressive experiments are performed. The purpose of study 1 is to examine the influence of theme consistency on consumers’ CSR association and how consumers’ attribution to corporation motivation mediates such impacts. The purpose for study 2 is to examine whether information dissemination channels and cooperation with public organization could affect the influence of theme consistency strategy.
Findings
The significant influences of theme consistency on consumer CSR association was demonstrated, and consumer’s perceived motivation of CSR was found to play the mediation role. Moreover, the moderation effect of the communication channel of CSR information was found to be important to strengthen the influence of the theme-consistent strategy.
Originality/value
This paper not only demonstrates the influence of theme consistency, but also explains how theme consistency influences consumers’ attitude and behavior. It enriches the study on the antecedent variables of consumers’ attribution to corporate motivation.
As companies rely on social media to communicate corporate social responsibility (CSR), the need to understand the implications of using this channel grows. This study explored such implications in the context of food retailers’ CSR. Drawing on attribution theory, it adopts a mixed method approach to explain how social media communication shapes CSR attributions and influences consumers’ scepticism towards CSR. Results identify company-generated social media communication as an important antecedent of CSR attributions. It finds that attributions play a key role in determining the extent to which consumers interact with user-generated content (UGC), influencing whether it shapes their scepticism. The study offers several implications for academics and practitioners, extending current theoretical arguments related to the use of social media for CSR communication.
Collaborations between nonprofits and corporations aim to serve both social and commercial goals. This study posits that social sponsorships can increase donations to nonprofits and simultaneously benefit corporations by communicating signals of measured societal value. Studies 1 and 2 provide evidence that communication of measured societal value, endorsed by a credible source, can increase willingness to donate to nonprofits through individuals’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility. Study 3 generalizes these findings, simultaneously showing that communication of measured societal value can reduce perceptions of hypocrisy toward corporations. It also examines the underlying mechanism of these results by investigating the serial mediation effects of corporate social responsibility perception and functional fit in the causal relationships from measured societal value to both increased willingness to donate to nonprofits and reduced perceptions of corporate hypocrisy. Furthermore, the work demonstrates that these effects are due to communication of measurement, not the source of the communication.
Considerable attention is typically given to Type I and Type II errors when conducting empirical research. This article presents an error, often ignored in marketing and consumer behavior research, termed Type IV error. This error results from the improper investigation of interactions in an analysis of variance. A review of research published in Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Research found widespread occurrence of Type IV errors. Illustrative improper interpretations of interactions are discussed and approaches for properly investigating interactions are presented. Situations where interactions need to be tested and interpreted are noted. These situations are contrasted with those where it is more appropriate to examine cell mean differences. The correct use of graphs of cell means is also discussed. Guidelines are presented for avoiding Type IV errors.
This research investigates how a consumer's suspicion that an online referral may result from marketers' involvement affects referral persuasiveness. Two referral characteristics are examined in this regard: Referral congruity and message sidedness. It is demonstrated that referral congruity can motivate consumers to question the authenticity of online referrals and that message sidedness determines subsequently the type of motive attributed to observed referral behaviour. It is further shown that the perceived referral motive affects attitudes toward the recommended item as well as purchase intentions. Based on the findings implications are drawn for planning effective referral campaigns.
The move towards a more knowledge-intensive sales market has increased the complexity of the sales job. Salespeople must continuously learn and grow to meet the evolving demands of the job. A critical concern for organizational leaders becomes identifying learning strategies to encourage salespeople to apply what they learn. Researchers have advanced multiple studies on the learning needs of salespeople, yet there is not a consensus as to the most effective mechanisms to increase learning transfer in the sales environment. To determine which knowledge tools better prepare the sales force for success, this study investigates whether training, mentoring and/or coaching is more effective in increasing sales learning transfer. A framework which incorporates multiple established transfer and training evaluation models is considered. Empirical testing on a sample of frontline salespeople across varying industries was performed, with statistical analysis of the results. Decreased role ambiguity and increased organizational commitment was interpreted as evidence of transfer. The findings of the study will bolster knowledge of the factors that increase personal learning and promote learning transfer which can ultimately improve the salesperson’s performance.
The management of international business activities today necessarily includes the market communication of socio-political activity in emerging markets. Critique of market communication of socio-political activity in emerging markets varies from seeing it as something organisations say rather than do to suggesting existing market communication as embracing a simplistic view of communication and socio-political activity in emerging markets. In this chapter, communication and language as social practice is introduced as a possible way to explore market communication and socio-political activity in emerging markets as part of a more complex activity. Various perspectives from philosophical and sociological traditions are used in combination with marketing and management views on and empirical examples of communication and socio-political activity in emerging markets. This chapter illustrates how market communication may be seen as socio-political activity in emerging markets rather than the audit and report of it.
Purpose
This study aims to conceptualize and test the effect of monetary and non-monetary incentives for word-of-mouth (WOM) campaigns on the brand attitude of those receiving an incentivized brand recommendation. It also studied whether or not the type of relationship between the recommender and the person who receives the recommendation and the expertise of the recommender moderate the impact of incentivization on brand attitude. The results should enable brand management to improve the design of WOM campaigns.
Design/methodology/approach
An experiment was conducted utilizing a sample of about 645 respondents in Thailand. In a 3 × 3 experimental design, three levels of incentivization and three types of social relationships were manipulated. All other variables were measured through a respondent-administered questionnaire. For incentivization of WOM, monetary reward and non-monetary reward are compared to a non-incentivized control state. The three types of social relationships are an authority relationship, a kinship relationship and a market pricing relationship between strangers as the control state.
Findings
The results of the experiment show that the introduction of rewards for recommendations harms the attitude of the receiver of a recommendation toward the brand. The attitude of potential buyers toward the brand can be tainted by the impression that a brand has enticed friends and relatives into profiting from their relationship. The negative effects increase further with the introduction of cash rewards. Contrary to expectations, however, the social relationship between the recommender and the new customer did not moderate the effect of incentivization. Source expertise has a direct as well as moderating effect on brand attitude.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that companies should use referral rewards with caution. Brand managers need to be aware that there is a trade-off between the advantages and the disadvantages of incentivized WOM campaigns. Recommendations have been derived about how to improve the design of incentivized WOM campaigns. Whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages probably depend to some extent on brand-specific factors such as brand strength and market- or industry-specific factors, such as a credence good quality within the industry. It also emphasized that WOM campaigns need to be carefully monitored by measuring customer attitudes toward the brand.
Originality/value
Although past research provides valuable conceptual and empirical insights into consumer responses in incentivized WOM situations, most research has focused on the immediate effectiveness of WOM by measuring purchasing intentions. There is still a lack of information about how different kinds of incentivization affect customer attitudes toward a brand that incentivizes WOM, and how various relationship types moderate the effects; in particular, authority relationships have not yet been studied in this context.
The corporate social and environmental responsibility movement, known more generally as corporate responsibility (CR), shows little sign of waning. Almost all large corporations now run some form of corporate responsibility program. Despite this widespread belief that CR can simultaneously improve societal welfare and corporate performance, most companies are largely in the dark when it comes to understanding how their stakeholders think and feel about these programs. This book argues that all companies must understand how and why stakeholders react to such information about companies and their actions. It examines the two most important stakeholder groups to companies – consumers and employees – to comprehend why, when and how they react to CR. Armed with this insight, it shows how companies can maximize the value of their CR initiatives by fostering strong stakeholder relationships to develop, implement and evaluate compelling social responsibility programs that generate value for both the company and its stakeholders.
Based on the schema and attribution theories, this study examined hypotheses addressing the effects of cause-brand fit and campaign new source on consumers' attitudes toward a cause-brand alliance by modifying consumers' perceptions of the brand's motivation to engage in the alliance. An online experiment was conducted with a national sample of 742 college students using a 2 (cause vs. brand message source) x 2 (low vs. high cause-brand fit) between-subjects design based on hypothetical cause-brand alliance scenarios. Findings indicate that cause-brand fit influences cause-brand alliance attitude by increasing consumers' perceived altruistic brand motivations, whereas campaign news source did not have a significant impact on cause-brand alliance attitude. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.
This article examines the influence of experienced and similar sources on consumer attitudes and intentions for services that vary on preference heterogeneity (the extent to which consumer tastes and preferences vary across consumers). Two experiments were conducted: one with 160 subjects set in a testimonial advertising context and one with 120 subjects set in a simulated word-of-mouth context. The results from these studies provide support for the contention that source similarity to the message recipient is an important determinant of the source's ability to shape attitudes and intentions for the higher preference heterogeneity services examined, including night clubs, restaurants, interior decorators and hair salons. On the other hand, the source's experience with a service is an important determinant of the source's ability to shape attitudes and intentions for the lower preference heterogeneity services examined, including plumbers, rug cleaners, auto mechanics and accountants.
This four-part multi-method investigation into the under-researched yet increasingly prevalent phenomenon of consumer-generated advertising (CGA) confirms a performance advantage over traditional advertising and suggests a rationale for this differential. CGAs benefit from heightened consumer engagement and increased trustworthiness. CGAs also garner perceived quality advantages that are linked to consumers lowering their expectations and using different evaluation criteria to judge the ad. The ad creator - a personalized, identifiable and relatable entity in the case of CGAs - plays a central role in anchoring and shaping ad reactions. The “consumer-made” characteristic - the fact that CGAs are not made by companies but by independent people - is powerful and stands strong in the face of commercial motives, and presents paradigmatic implications for advertising practice and research.
This naturalistic inquiry probes WOM concerning online consumer-generated advertising (CGA). Through a content analysis of online conversations regarding fourteen CGAs posted to YouTube.com, we uncover that multiple engagement dimensions (i.e., ad, brand, brand community and community-at-large) direct CGA interactions and WOM conversations. We find that the introduction of an ad creator plays a key role in the interactive social processes of WOM involved in consuming CGAs online. The research accommodates the inherently socio-relational nature of marketing-relevant online WOM conversations and reframes the online CGA as a medium for interaction rather than a simple brand message in and of itself.
Interpersonal expectancy effects research focuses on how one individual's expectations influence another individual's behavior. Also known as self-fulfilling prophecies, interpersonal expectancy effects have been shown to be a significant phenomenon in human interaction. Unfortunately, interpersonal expectancy effects have been virtually neglected in the context of the marketing-exchange process. Hence, two laboratory experiments were conducted to test the effects of experimentally-induced expectations in simulated buyer–seller interactions. Study 1 was run to verify the existence of expectancy effects between buyers and sellers. In an effort to replicate and extend Study 1, Study 2 included authentic buyers, who, prior to actually interacting with a student seller, were given fictitious information regarding their partner. The information corresponded to either a positive or negative norm in exchange (role integrity and opportunism, respectively). Assessments of participants’ behavior during the interaction (e.g., time spent talking) and perceptions (e.g., self-report items reflecting participants’ liking for each other) revealed that prior expectations affected buyer–seller interactions.
This research investigates the extent to which a salesperson's presentation and consumer suspicion of ulterior motive affect salesperson evaluations and purchase intentions. Study 1 indicates that a salesperson's presentation plays an essential role in confirming or discontinuing consumer suspicion and that this process has important implications in the formation of salesperson attitudes. Evidence from Study 2 demonstrates that these interaction effects are mediated by persuasion-motive attributions. The findings also support a direct link between attitude toward the salesperson and purchase intentions. Collectively, these results extend the persuasion literature by demonstrating that suspicion of motive is a dynamic state in which consumers entertain rival hypotheses about the salesperson (e.g., is the salesperson truly motivated to help me, or motivated to make his or her commission?) and that, depending on the degree of suspicion, the same salesperson's tactics will be processed very differently by consumers.
The corporate social responsibility literature has focused on creating broad associations, such as simply being "socially responsible," and on the simple transfer of positive affect from sponsored causes to sponsoring firms. Both views fail to recognize the power of social initiatives as a means for differentiating among socially responsible firms and, in particular, for reinforcing the brand's positioning. The authors adopt a more traditional branding perspective and show that the fit between a firm's specific associations and a sponsored cause can reinforce or blur the firm's positioning, influence liking for the sponsorship, and bolster or undermine the firm's equity. They also show that communications decisions can mitigate the negative effects of low fit. Finally, they show that sponsorship effects can persist for as long as a year despite day-to-day exposure to other brand communications.
Proposes a model to explain consumers’ willingness to recommend a service provider. The model considers four predictors of this phenomenon: affect, outcome, competency and courtesy. In a laboratory setting, subjects read and responded to a scenario describing a service encounter of a fictitious individual with a dry cleaner and/or an attorney. The subjects were later asked how likely they were to recommend this service provider to a friend experiencing a similar problem. Separate path analyses were performed to analyze each type of service encounter; and in both scenarios, outcome, competency, courtesy, joy and disgust were found to influence the likelihood that the consumer would recommend a particular service provider. The proposed model accounts for more than 72 percent of the variation in the subjects’ decision to recommend.
This research conceptualizes relational exchange and its likely outcomes, and provides substantiating empirical evidence from the distributor perspective. The evidence provided by this analysis supports the operationalization of relational exchange as a second-order factor composed of perceptions of customer orientation, perceptions of supplier investment, and perceptions of supplier communication. Further, non-economic satisfaction with the relationship and trust leading to commitment are identified and substantiated as relational exchange outcomes, as previously proposed by theorists.
The benefits to a corporate sponsor of two types of philanthropic activities - cause promotions and advocacy advertising - are examined. Results from four laboratory studies indicate that perceptions of corporate sponsorship responsibility (CSR) are affected by consumers' elaboration levels. Consumer perceptions of CSR are more favorable for cause promotions, which do not receive much elaboration, than they are for advocacy advertising, which prompts more elaboration. In addition, perceived congruence between the sponsor and the social issue is shown to moderate these effects: higher congruence between the sponsor and social issue increases favorable ratings of CSR for cause promotions, but only if elaboration on the sponsorship activity is facilitated. On the other hand, lower congruence increases favorable ratings of CSR for advocacy advertising as long as elaboration on the sponsorship is not constrained. We also find that higher congruence enhances CSR ratings if participants are primed to focus their attention on the sponsor brand, while lower congruence enhances CSR if participants are primed to focus their attention on the social issue.
An experiment manipulated source expertise, source bias, and message format. The findings reveal that expert sources are expected to quantify message claims whereas non-expert sources are not. Persuasion is greater when these expectations are met versus when the source and the message format are incongruent, but only when the source also has self-interest in the advocacy. It appears that source-message incongruity and source bias focus attention on the source and, in combination, lead to negative inferences about the source''s manipulative intent. This interpretation is consistent with the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad and Wright 1994).
Considerable attention is typically given to Type I and Type II errors when conducting empirical research. This article presents
an error, often ignored in marketing and consumer behavior research, termed Type IV error. This error results from the improper
investigation of interactions in an analysis of variance. A review of research published inJournal of Marketing Research andJournal of Consumer Research found widespread occurrence of Type IV errors. Illustrative improper interpretations of interactions are discussed and approaches
for properly investigating interactions are presented. Situations where interactions need to be tested and interpreted are
noted. These situations are contrasted with those where it is more appropriate to examine cell mean differences. The correct
use of graphs of cell means is also discussed. Guidelines are presented for avoiding Type IV errors.
This study considers how relationship marketing is manifest in actual interactions between buyers and sellers involved in on-going relationships with varying degrees of relationship quality. Seven buyer–seller, interaction encounters were observed, audiotaped, and analyzed. Before observing the encounters, however, in-depth interviews were conducted with the buyers to determine their perceived quality of the relationships within which the interactions would occur. Qualitative and empirically based evidence suggest systematic, behavioral differences across the interactions. Specifically, the results suggest that relatively higher-quality relationships tend to exhibit more friendliness, less question asking, disagreement, and compliance behavior as compared with lower-quality relationships. Buyers in lower-quality relationships tend to dominate the interaction by disagreeing and talking a larger percentage of the time relative to buyers in higher-quality relationships. As the quality of the relationship increases, however, buyers disagree less and allow sellers more latitude in time spent talking.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.