Journal of Consumer Research
May 8, 2012

   



Journal of Consumer Research
Highlights from Two Years Ago

Consumer Identity Work as Moral Protagonism: How Myth and Ideology Animate a Brand-Mediated Moral Conflict

Marius K. Luedicke
Craig J. Thompson
Markus Giesler

Consumer researchers have tended to equate consumer moralism with normative condemnations of mainstream consumer culture. Consequently, little research has investigated the multifaceted forms of identity work that consumers can undertake through more diverse ideological forms of consumer moralism. To redress this theoretical gap, the authors analyze the adversarial consumer narratives through which a brand-mediated moral conflict is enacted. The authors show that consumers' moralistic identity work is culturally framed by the myth of the moral protagonist and further illuminate how consumers use this mythic structure to transform their ideological beliefs into dramatic narratives of identity. The resulting theoretical framework explicates identity-value-enhancing relationships among mythic structure, ideological meanings, and marketplace resources that have not been recognized by prior studies of consumer identity work.

 

Volume 36, Number 6, April 2010
DOI: 10.1086/644761


Believe Me, I Have No Idea What I'm Talking About: The Effects of Source Certainty on Consumer Involvement and Persuasion

Uma R. Karmarkar
Zakary L. Tormala

This research explores the effect of source certainty-that is, the level of certainty expressed by a message source-on persuasion. The authors propose an incongruity hypothesis, suggesting that source certainty effects depend on perceived source expertise. In three experiments, consumers receive persuasive messages from sources of varying expertise and certainty. Across studies, low expertise sources violate expectancies, stimulate involvement, and promote persuasion when they express certainty, whereas high expertise sources violate expectancies, stimulate involvement, and promote persuasion when they express uncertainty. Thus, nonexpert (expert) sources can gain interest and influence by expressing certainty (uncertainty).

Volume 36, Number 6, April 2010
DOI: 10.1086/648381


Pragmatic Learning Theory: An Inquiry-Action Framework for Distributed Consumer Learning in Online Communities

Rama K. Jayanti
Jagdip Singh

The authors examine consumer social learning from distributed inquiry capabilities in online communities. Using an inquiry-action framework rooted in pragmatic learning theory, the authors longitudinally trace community inquiry processes and their link to individual action in six health-related online communities. The interpretive analyses reveal leaps and lapses in social learning. Generative learning is evident when collective productive inquiry is linked to expanding individual action repertoires. Individual disengagement diverts inquiry and disrupts inquiry-action linkages, creating lapses that degenerate learning. Within these extremes, instances of individual faltering are evident when inquiry is productive but individuals fail to leverage inquiry for empowered action.

 

Volume 36, Number 6, April 2010
DOI: 10.1086/648689


Revisiting Individual Choices in Group Settings: The Long and Winding (Less Traveled) Road?

Pascale Quester
Alexandre Steyer

This study revisits consumers' need for variety when ordering (food or beverages) in a group setting. The authors examine how group opinion and unanimity can explain consumers' individual choice in a group setting. The relationship between individual choice and group opinion is nonmonotonic as it is moderated by the degree of unanimity around an alternative. This effect is demonstrated in two empirical studies. Choice patterns are curvilinear, with previous findings accurately reflecting only specific sections of the overall pattern of individual choices in a group setting.

 

Volume 36, Number 6, April 2010
DOI: 10.1086/644750

  


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