Sanjeev Agarwal’s research while affiliated with Iowa State University and other places

The purpose of this research is to examine the issue of measurement context effects in survey-based tests of attitudinal and related models. The specific issue examined concerns the degree to which the measurement process affects the objects of measurement (i.e., various attitudinal and related concepts). Based upon the memory accessibility-diagnosticity theory specified by Feldman and Lynch (1988) and the concept of spreading activation (Tourangeau and Rasinski 1988; Anderson 1978, 1983; Collins and Loftus 1975), the effects of context questionnaire items on answers to, and estimated relationships among, target questionnaire items in a study involving measures of antecedents and consequences of attitudes are examined. The findings indicate some measurement context effects in an equation predicting blood donation intentions. First, the findings suggest that measuring expectations prior to measuring intentions, when compared to measuring expectations after measuring intentions, caused the intentions scores to be higher. Since the respondents had generally favorable attitudes toward blood donation, this supports the Feldman and Lynch (1988) argument that context survey questions can result in activated beliefs that are diagnostic for answers to subsequent questions. Second, the findings suggest that measuring expectations prior to (after) measuring intentions resulted in a statistically significant increase (decrease) in the association between expectations and intentions. Third, the findings produced evidence that buffer questions that separate expectations (i.e., context) measures from other target measures reduced the context effects associated with the expectations measurement. An implication of this finding is that the use of intervening questionnaire items to separate questions that are likely to be influenced by measurement context effects may reduce context effects.

A major theme for studies in international marketing is whether marketing programs and processes can be generalized across countries. This study tests the generalizability of a model that predicts consumers' perception of value based upon extrinsic cues – such as brand name, price, retailer reputation, and country of origin – and their perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and risk. The study extends the perceived value model specified by Agarwal and Teas and tested in the USA. The results of this study, based on an experiment conducted in Sweden, suggest that while the overall structure of the model is supported across countries, the relative importance of the extrinsic cues may vary across countries.

Marketing scholars have long debated whether marketing programs and processes can be standardized across countries. However, empirical examination of cross-national applicability of marketing models, which are originally generated for a single market – usually the USA – are rare. This study tests the standardizability of the Dodds, Monroe, and Grewal model that explains consumers’ willingness to buy based on extrinsic cues – such as brand name, price, and retailer reputation – and on their perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value. The study examines the model via experiments conducted in the USA, Belgium, and Sweden. The results suggest that while the model is supported across countries, the relative importance of the extrinsic cues may vary across countries.

The study reports the results of two experiments designed to test the role of perceived quality, perceived sacrifice, and perceived risks on consumers’ perceptions of product value. The results of the experiments involving 530 undergraduate students support the hypothesized model that suggests that perceived quality and perceived sacrifice mediate the relationships between extrinsic cues-such as price, brand, store name, and country-of-origin-and perceived performance risk and financial risk. In addition, the results indicate that perceived performance risk and financial risk mediate the relationships that perceived quality and perceived sacrifice have with perceived value. Since the findings of this research suggest both performance risk and financial risk can be reduced (thus increasing perceived value) if perceived quality is high, firms have an incentive to increase consumers’ quality perceptions by means of brand name, store, country-of-origin and price.

The authors report the results of two experiments designed to test the effects of extrinsic cues—price, brand name, store name, and country of origin—on consumers’ perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value. The results of the experiments support hypothesized linkages between (a) each of the four experimentally manipulated extrinsic cues and perceived quality, (b) price and perceived sacrifice, (c) perceived quality and perceived value, and (d) perceived sacrifice and perceived value. The results also indicate that the linkages between the extrinsic cues and perceived value are mediated by perceived quality and sacrifice.

Multiattribute ratings of country-image are commonly obtained to study the influence of country-of-origin on product preference and purchase decisions. Usually, such ratings are obtained for products made in different countries in order to make comparisons across countries. However, recent research evidence indicates that, when individual respondents rate multiple entities (e.g., multiple countries), the ratings of a particular country can be affected by the other “contextual” countries included in the questionnaire. The purpose of this study is to examine, via a controlled experiment, the issue of measurement context effects in the measurement of country images. The hypotheses tested concern the stability of attribute-based and entity-based country image scaling and potential methods of reducing the vulnerability of multi-entity scaling to entity context -- the use of an anchor entity and an insulator question set to increase country image measurement stability.