Bianca Grohmann’s research while affiliated with Concordia University and other places

Purpose This research examines the effects of physical proximity (close vs distant) of retailers’ private label brands (PLBs) relative to national brands (NBs) and brand display orientation (horizontal [brands occupy the same shelf] vs vertical [brands occupy different shelves]) on consumers’ PLB quality perceptions and PLB evaluations. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments involving real brands in different product categories tested the hypotheses. Findings A PLB positioned close (vs distant) to a NB is evaluated more favorably and this effect is mediated by increased PLB quality perceptions, but only in a horizontal brand display. In a vertical brand display, a PLB positioned close (vs distant) to a NB is evaluated less favorably and this effect is mediated by decreased PLB quality perceptions. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that to enhance consumers’ PLB quality perceptions and evaluations, PLBs be positioned next to (rather than on separate shelves) and close to (rather than distant from) NBs in the same product category. Originality/value Although the literature suggests that the best shelf position for PLBs is close to NBs, there is a lack of empirical research on the effects of relative shelf positioning on consumers’ quality perceptions and subsequent PLB evaluations. This research finds that both physical proximity and brand display orientation play an important role.

Situated in the context of the climate crisis this research examines the LVMH Corporation’s 2020 and 2021 Social and Environmental Responsibility Reports through the lens of the narrative structure found in fairy tales. Central characters and the trajectory of the narrative are consistent with this literary form, and counter narratives that provide context to the corporate narrative also emerge. This analysis suggests the significance of narratives to corporate communications, their application extending beyond the brand communication or user-generated content generally investigated in the marketing and consumer research literature. Moreover, the article elaborates on how luxury corporations, like LVMH, communicate their efforts to counter climate crisis in ways that meet the expectations of stakeholders, especially investors and consumers. The findings have implications for future research on how narratives impact stakeholder perceptions of luxury corporations. Available open access at: https://doi.org/10.1080/20511817.2023.2280321

In our daily lives, we frequently encounter non-linguistic visual content that we must remember in a spatial context. Individuals with dyslexia are known to experience difficulty with linguistic content and show impairments in cognitive functioning. Recently researchers have highlighted that vision and executive functioning may play a role in explaining dyslexia symptoms, but the specific role of visuo-spatial working memory skills in dyslexia is poorly understood. In the present study, we used non-linguistic everyday brand logos from consumer psychology to investigate visuo-spatial working memory performance in relation to dyslexia. We used an adapted online version of the Sternberg task, where 51 participants with dyslexia and 129 participants without a dyslexia diagnosis recalled content from the same stimulus category presented in either three (low-working memory load condition) or six (high-working memory load condition) specific locations – analogous to recalling a particular branded item on a grocery shelf. Every trial included one of three types of non-linguistic content novel to participants, such as fictious brand logos without their brand name, symbols, or numbers. Bayesian modelling provided evidence for lower and slower working memory performance across all stimulus types for the dyslexia group compared to the non-dyslexia group. However, individuals in both groups showed similar decreases in performance when the working memory load was increased. These findings speak to the role of dyslexia as a multifaceted learning disorder that stretches beyond its linguistic definition and may exert wider reaching effects that also touch upon aspects of daily living that do not involve language.

Despite corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement, firms may be implicated in CSR transgressions. Research is equivocal on whether CSR buffers negative consumer responses to subsequent firm transgressions. This research extends the observer moral licensing framework to consumer‐firm contexts and examines under what conditions consumers license transgressions following firms' CSR engagement. Study 1 demonstrates that consumer responses to firm transgressions depend on whether the transgression occurs in the same (vs. different) domain relative to CSR engagement and on transgression ambiguity. Study 2 shows that consumer responses to transgressions are less negative when a firm has (vs. has not) previously engaged in CSR. It replicates a shielding effect of CSR that is contingent on transgression domain relative to prior CSR and transgression ambiguity, and finds that blatant same domain transgressions generate hypocrisy perceptions and mitigate licensing effects. Study 3 further extends the moral licensing framework and shows that firm communication that situates CSR efforts on a continuum (continuous CSR positioning) before a transgression moderates, and insincere firm motive attributions mediate, the detrimental effect of blatant same domain transgressions.

Cognitive psychology has a long history of using physiological measures, such as pupillometry. However, their susceptibility to confounds introduced by stimulus properties, such as color and luminance, has limited their application. Pupil size measurements, in particular, require sophisticated experimental designs to dissociate relatively small changes in pupil diameter due to cognitive responses from larger ones elicited by changes in stimulus properties or the experimental environment. Here, building on previous research, we present a pupillometry paradigm that adapts the pupil to stimulus properties during the baseline period without revealing stimulus meaning or context by using a pixel-scrambled image mask around an intact image. We demonstrate its robustness in the context of pupillary responses to branded product familiarity. Results show larger average and peak pupil dilation for passively viewed familiar product images and an extended later temporal component representing differences in familiarity across participants (starting around 1400 ms post-stimulus onset). These amplitude differences are present for almost all participants at the single-participant level, and vary somewhat by product category. However, amplitude differences were absent during the baseline period. These findings demonstrate that involuntary pupil size measurements combined with the presented paradigm are successful in dissociating cognitive effects of familiarity from physical stimulus confounds.

This research examines the role of the winery tourism experience in the formation of brand image and brand loyalty. A qualitative analysis of 2540 TripAdvisor reviews—a user-generated form of electronic word of mouth—of four wineries of the Okanagan Valley posted over six years (2014-2020) reveals not only Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) four categories of consumer experiences (i.e., esthetics, education, entertainment, and escape), but also an additional factor (i.e., social interactions with employees and other visitors). The TripAdvisor reviews also show that—based on their winery tourism experiences—consumers express differentiated brand image impressions associated with wineries and brand loyalty. The contribution of this research lies in the identification of social interactions as a complementary dimension of winery tourism experiences, and in linking winery tourism experiences with brand image and brand loyalty. From a theoretical perspective, the findings encourage a greater integration of the consumer experience and the brand image and loyalty literature, as well as quantitative research examining their relation. The findings also have managerial implications for brand experience management in the wine tourism sector.