Journal of Consumer Research
January 19, 2010

















































































































































































































































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Journal of Consumer Research
Current Issue Highlights

The Denomination Effect
Priya Raghubir
Joydeep Srivastava


Study 1 shows in three field studies that the likelihood of spending is lower when an equivalent sum of money is represented by a single large denomination (such as one $20 bill) relative to many smaller denominations (such as 20 $1 bills). This is labeled the "denomination effect." In two of the three field studies, individuals spent more once the decision to spend had been made. Study 2 then shows that consumers deliberately choose to receive money in a large denomination relative to small denominations when there is a need to exert self-control in spending. Study 3 further shows that the denomination effect is contingent on individual differences in consumer desire to reduce the pain of paying associated with spending. The results suggest that the denomination effect occurs because large denominations are psychologically less fungible than smaller ones, allowing them to be used as a strategic device to control and regulate spending.

Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599222


Selected Media Mentions

NPR
Researchers: To Save Money, Carry Big Bills

TIME Magazine
Want to Save Money? Carry Around $100 Bills

The Wall Street Journal
Carrying Bigger Bills? You're Less Likely to Spend Them, Research Finds

The New York Times
A Reluctance to Break the Large Bills

The New York Times
Saving, Spending and Stealing

Washington Business Journal
Study: Big bills stop spending

FOX News
Spend Less: Carry Big Bills

PR Newswire
New Research Finds Carrying Big Bills Curbs Spending




Escaping the Gift Economy
Jean-S�bastien Marcoux

Researchers have analyzed the dark side of the gift, but they have remained blind to what it implies about the market. Drawing on the experiences of a group of informants who participated in an ethnographical study of house moving in Montreal, Canada, this article provides significant evidence that the unattractiveness of the gift economy can incite people to turn to the market as an escape. It examines how people use the market to free themselves from the straitjacket of social expectations-from the sense of indebtedness and emotional oppression-which constrains them in their reciprocity relations inside the gift economy. The standard views of CCT researchers concerning the valorization of the gift economy are challenged, as well as the axiology that implicitly informs their research. As a result, it is necessary to discuss the inversion of this axiology.

Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/600485


Selected Media Mentions

The Wall Street Journal
When Times Are Tough, Why Do We Avoid Asking For Help?

Medical News Today
The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace

EurekAlert!
The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace

Science Daily
The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace

PhysOrg.com
The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace


Promotional Bundles and Consumers' Price Judgments: When the Best Things in Life Are Not Free
Michael A. Kamins
Valerie S. Folkes
Alexander Fedorikhin


A series of experiments examined the amount that consumers were willing to pay for products bundled together in a promotion. Describing one of the disparate products in the bundle as "free" decreased the price consumers were willing to pay for each product when sold individually. However, a "freebie" offer did not influence the overall price for the bundle of disparate products, a finding robust across two different settings and populations. The differential effect of freebies is explained by varying judgment difficulty, with the price being easier to arrive at for just a single product than for the combination. Consistent with this explanation, factors that influence judgment difficulty (the salience of the company's motive for offering the freebie and time pressure to make a judgment) moderated the effects of a free offer on the amount consumers were willing to pay.

Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599806


Selected Media Mentions

Fox Business
Are Promotional Bundles a Good Idea?

United Press International
People skeptical about 'free' products

Medical News Today
The Freebie Dilemma: Consumers Are Skeptical About 'Free' Products

Innovations Report
The freebie dilemma: Consumers are skeptical about 'free' products

PR Newswire
Are Promotional Bundles a Good Idea?

PR-Canada.net
Are Promotional Bundles a Good Idea?

EurekAlert!
The freebie dilemma: Consumers are skeptical about 'free' products

Science Daily
The Freebie Dilemma: Consumers Are Skeptical About 'Free' Products

PhysOrg.com
The Freebie Dilemma: Consumers Are Skeptical About 'Free' Products


Distinctive Roles of Lead Users and Opinion Leaders in the Social Networks of Schoolchildren
Jan Kratzer
Christopher Lettl


Prior research has shown that both lead users and opinion leaders may propel the diffusion of innovation. This raises the question of whether lead users and opinion leaders are positioned similarly in social networks, which we address using a sample of 23 school classes consisting of 537 children. Research among children is very scarce in this particular domain. The statistical analyses based on hierarchical linear modeling reveal two general results: first, lead users among children appear to possess a variety of links between clusters; second, opinion leaders are locally positioned within clusters of children and have many direct links.

Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599324


Selected Media Mentions

United Press International
'Lead users' use new products first

CBC News
Pay attention to social networks when identifying cool kids: study

EurekAlert!
Following the leader: Social networks of schoolchildren

Science Daily
Following the leader: Social networks of schoolchildren

PhysOrg.com
Following The Leader: Social Networks Of Schoolchildren

RedOrbit
Social Networks Of Schoolchildren


Nationalism and Ideology in an Anticonsumption Movement
Rohit Varman
Russell W. Belk


In this research the authors examine the role of the nationalist ideology of swadeshi in a contemporary anticonsumption movement and show that its deployment is linked to the experiences of colonialism, modernity, and globalization in India. Specifically, they offer a postcolonial understanding of reflexivity and nationalism in an anticonsumption movement opposing Coca-Cola in India. The authors offer an interpretation of this consumer movement involving spatial politics, temporal heterogeneity, appropriation of existing ideology, the use of consumption in ideology, and attempts to bring together a disparate set of actors in the movement.

Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/600486


Selected Media Mentions

United Press International
Why some rebel against global brands

EurekAlert!
The anti-consumption movement: Researchers examine resistance to global brands

Science Daily
The Anti-Consumption Movement: Researchers Examine Resistance To Global Brands

PhysOrg.com
The Anti-Consumption Movement: Researchers Examine Resistance To Global Brands


Effects of Temporal Distance and Memory on Consumer Judgments
Yeung-Jo Kim
Jongwon Park
Robert S. Wyer Jr.


Once a product has been evaluated for use, the circumstances can change and it must be reevaluated for use at a different time. Four experiments investigated processes underlying these reevaluations. Participants received information about a product that had implications for both desirability and the feasibility of using it, while anticipating either its immediate or future use. They were later asked to reevaluate the product for use at either the same or a different point in time. Participants who reevaluated the product for future use based their judgments on desirability considerations regardless of when they had considered using it initially. However, participants who reevaluated the product for immediate use also based their judgments on desirability considerations unless they had initially considered immediate use as well. These results were consistent with a conceptualization of consumer judgment processes that incorporated implications of research on construal level theory and on person memory and judgments.

Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599765


Selected Media Mentions

EurekAlert!
Now or later? Consumer product evaluation depends on purchase timing

PhysOrg.com
Now or later? Consumer product evaluation depends on purchase timing