Ahead of Print Highlights
October 28, 2014
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Fangyuan Chen
Jaideep Sengupta
This research examines the vitality produced by vices -- products that offer immediate gratification at the cost of long-term adversity. While vices are intrinsically enjoyable, they also induce guilt. The conceptualization incorporates these opposing forces to argue that vice consumption is unique in that lowering the consumer sense of autonomy actually results in higher vitality -- in contrast to the positive relationship between autonomy and vitality that has been robustly documented in the literature. An examination of the vitality construct further suggests that low-autonomy vice consumption should consequently result in improved creativity as well as self-regulation. Four studies provide support for these and related implications. The obtained findings advance knowledge regarding vitality and its consequences, while they also provide insights into when and why vice consumption might actually be beneficial. DOI: 10.1086/678321
Published Online September 9, 2014
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The Effects of Country-Related
Affect on Product Evaluations
Cathy Yi Chen
Pragya Mathur
Durairaj Maheswaran
Affect toward countries can be generated by personal experiences with the country or by targeted advertising campaigns designed to create positive affect toward the country. This research examines the effect of country-related affect (CRA) on the evaluations of products originating from the country. Country-related affect (CRA) systematically influences product evaluations depending on the valence as well as the warmth or competence associations of CRA. Positive CRA enhances evaluations of products with favorable country-related product (CRP) associations, but it boomerangs and decreases evaluations of products with unfavorable CRP associations. Positive CRA engenders high (vs. low) construal processing that directs consumer attention to CRP associations under low (vs. high) arousal conditions. CRA is a unique type of incidental affect that influences product evaluations based on its warmth or competence associations. The implications for country of origin research are discussed.
DOI: 10.1086/678194 Published Online September 5, 2014
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The Presenter's Paradox Revisited:
An Evaluation Mode Account
Tobias Krüger
André Mata
Max Ihmels
Evaluation mode influences the assessment of product bundles. Consumer preferences for product bundles are more pronounced in a joint evaluation mode, where the bundle is directly contrasted to its single counterpart (the bundle without its add-on), than in a separate evaluation mode, where the bundle is evaluated in isolation. An attentional explanation is suggested: consumers pay more attention to the unique features of a product bundle (the add-on) and, therefore, prefer the bundle more strongly in joint rather than in separate evaluation. This account bears relevance for Weaver, Garcia, and Schwarz's presenter's paradox, according to which presenters (people deciding what to offer to others) prefer bundle options, whereas evaluators (people deciding what to get for themselves) prefer single options. In the original research, presenters and evaluators provided judgments in joint and separate evaluation, respectively. Disentangling role (presenter vs. evaluator) and evaluation mode, the results show that, independent of role, consumers prefer bundle over single options in joint evaluations and are largely indifferent in separate evaluations. Thus, a substantial part of the original findings is attributable to evaluation mode. The presenter's paradox is revised in light of the current account.
DOI: 10.1086/678393
Published Online October 1, 2014
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Monochrome Forests and Colorful
Trees: The Effect of Black-and-White
versus Color Imagery on Construal Level
Hyojin Lee
Xiaoyan Deng
H. Rao Unnava
Kentaro Fujita
Marketing communications (advertising, packaging) can be either colorful or black and white. This research investigates how presence or absence of color affects consumer information processing. Drawing from construal-level and visual perception theory, the authors test the hypothesis that black-and-white (BW) versus color imagery is cognitively associated with high-level versus low-level construal, respectively and establish this association via an Implicit Association Test. On the basis of this association, BW (vs. color) imagery promotes high-level (vs. low-level) construal, leading to sorting objects on the basis of high-level (vs. low-level) features, segmenting behaviors into broader (vs. narrower) units, and interpreting actions as ends (vs. means). Extending this effect into consumer decision making, the authors further show that consumers presented with BW (vs. color) product pictures weight primary and essential (vs. secondary and superficial) product features more and prefer an option that excels on those features.
DOI: 10.1086/678392 Published Online October 8, 2014
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Min Zhao
Darren W. Dahl
Steve Hoeffler
Conventional wisdom suggests that more concrete and detailed information is helpful in evaluating new products. The current research, however, demonstrates that when consumers use visualization to evaluate new products, the value of concrete versus abstract visualization is dependent on the temporal perspective taken by the consumer. Specifically, concrete information is beneficial when product visualization is retrospective in nature (focused on the past), whereas abstract information is found to be more helpful when product visualization is anticipatory in nature (geared toward the future). This occurs because the match between visualization aids and consumer temporal construal facilitates the extent of imagery processing realized, which, in turn, enhances new product evaluation. When the new product is very difficult to visualize, this pattern of effects is attenuated. Further, the effect is reversed when the product is highly familiar (not a new product), as preexisting memories are shown to hinder imagery processing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
DOI: 10.1086/678485
Published Online October 21, 2014
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Mauricio Mittelman
Eduardo B. Andrade
Amitava Chattopadhyay
C. Miguel Brendl
Choices of multiple items can be framed as a selection of single offerings (a choice of two individual candy bars) or of bundled offerings (a choice of a bundle of two candy bars). Consumers seek more variety when choosing from single than from bundled offerings. The offer framing effect shows that the mechanics of choosing -- the ways consumers go about making choices of multiple items -- affect variety seeking in a systematic manner. The data also suggest that the effect is largely due to the single offering frame. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. DOI: 10.1086/678193
Published Online September 8, 2014
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The Economist
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