International Journal of Research in Marketing最新文献

Extant research shows that people become more generous after learning about the charitable giving of in-group members (e.g., family or friends). The present research demonstrates an exception: While a friend’s donation increases both the interdependents’ and the independents’ charitable giving, a family member’s donation decreases the interdependents’ but increases the independents’ charitable giving. Six studies, including a field experiment and an online survey that captures historical behavior, provide converging evidence in support of an interaction effect of consumers’ self-construal and their relationship type with previous donors on their generosity, showing that the interdependents become less generous after a family member (vs friend) donates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the interaction effect is driven by the perception of shared responsibility and that this interaction effect is weakened when consumers’ personal responsibility is enhanced or when the donation currency is time rather than money. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the work are discussed.

The majority of donations are dedicated to helping human recipients. Building on prior literature that demonstrates the role of downward social comparisons between donors and donation recipients in elevating willingness to help those in need, we propose that a maximizing mindset increases such downward social comparisons, which in turn promote donations to human recipients. A set of seven studies, including online and field experiments and a secondary dataset, provides convergent support for the effect of the maximizing mindset (whether measured as an inherent individual difference or activated as a temporary mindset) on donations and the mediating role of downward social comparisons. This research enriches the understanding of donations to human recipients by showing that donations can be enhanced by a maximizing mindset. Our findings offer important insights to donation-raising agencies. Specifically, activating the maximizing mindset among prospective donors—by embedding certain words in donation appeals or encouraging donors to think about their best choices in everyday life—could benefit charities and social-cause platforms in their efforts to raise donations to support the needy.

Financial decisions often entail choices between multiple options, and the presence of multiple options can increase decision difficulty. The present work introduces an intervention to visually represent the dynamic relation between a financial goal and its associated options with either a converging diagram (in which multiple subordinate options visually flow inward and converge into a superordinate goal) or a diverging diagram (in which a superordinate goal visually flows outward and diverges into multiple subordinate options). Drawing on the visual-congruence literature, we propose that each diagram can increase processing fluency and facilitate goal intention when it enables a match with the monetary flow embedded in the financial goal. Specifically, for financial goals involving an inward monetary flow (e.g., saving or earning), a converging diagram provides a match and increases goal intention. In contrast, for goals involving an outward monetary flow (e.g., spending or donating), a diverging diagram provides a match, leading to greater goal intention. Implications for financial decisions are discussed.

Despite retailers’ intense use of both price cuts and store flyer advertising, it is still unclear whether and when it is beneficial for retailers to combine the two promotion tools at the same time as opposed to using them separately. We systematically investigate synergies between price cuts and store flyers for a broad set of 488 brands from 44 consumer packaged goods categories across six leading German retailers. We find that a clear majority of the brands benefit from positive synergies and hence, combining price cuts and store flyer advertising is recommended, especially at supermarkets. This synergy can be strong. For instance, a 15 % price cut without store flyer support at a supermarket, on average, increases sales by 11 %, and medium spending on store flyers for the brand at its regular (non-promoted) price results in a sales lift of 8 %. The combined use of both tools, however, increases sales by 52 %, much more than the sum of their separate effects (11 % + 8 % = 19 %). Yet, there is also substantial variance in the synergy, which we explain with retailer format (supermarkets versus discounters) as well as various brand and category characteristics. Our findings have important implications for the coordination of promotion activities by retailers.

Customer–company identification (CCI) has been highlighted as an important mechanism that explains the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer outcomes such as customer loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM). However, findings on when and how this mechanism works are mixed. To uncover the viability and strength of CSR’s indirect effect on customer outcomes through CCI, we conduct a meta-analysis testing a moderated mediated framework. This analysis incorporates 237 independent effect sizes from 58,766 individuals and 86 papers to examine the indirect effect of CSR on customer loyalty and WOM through CCI, while simultaneously testing a range of substantive and control moderators. The results reveal that 1) CSR has a main effect on CCI, 2) CCI mediates the effect of CSR on customer loyalty and WOM, and 3) there are significant theoretical moderators that amplify and reduce CSR’s relationship with CCI. The paper’s year of publication and industry controversy (versus non-controversy) mitigate the relationship between CSR and CCI, while collectivism and a holistic focus augment it.

Advertising has the power to influence how consumers experience, think, and feel about brands, but the sequence of these mindset effects may differ by brand and category. This paper analyzes how the mindset factors of cognition, affect, and experience mediate advertising effects on sales, using data from 178 fast-moving consumer good brands in 18 categories over seven years. The authors compare the models proposed in the literature and conclude that the concept of sequentiality in advertising effects holds up well. Importantly, the sequence varies across brands, with the affect → cognition → experience (ACE) sequence being the most common. Brand differentiation and the hedonic versus utilitarian nature of the product category moderate the incidence of the ACE sequence: this sequence is even more likely for utilitarian products and less differentiated brands. For managers, the results show that the last mindset factor in the sequence is the most important in driving sales, with cognition being most responsive to advertising among the mindset factors. Moreover, in utilitarian categories, highly differentiated brands can expect about seven times higher advertising responsiveness of affect than less differentiated brands.

How does ChatGPT, and other forms of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) affect the way we have been conducting—and evaluating—academic research, teaching, and business practice? What are the implications for the theory and practice of marketing? What are the opportunities and threats, and what are some interesting avenues for future research? This editorial aims to kick off an initial discussion and stimulate research that will help us better understand how the marketing field can fully exploit the potential of GenAI and effectively cope with its challenges.

Service shutdowns—extended disruptions of operations—caused by exogenous events are on the rise. Such shutdowns pose major challenges for service providers, customers, and regulators. Providers prefer vouchers as a means of service recovery to limit bankruptcy risk, whereas customers demand cash refunds or vouchers that include a generous bonus. Regulators, on the other hand, insist that customers must be granted the right to be reimbursed in cash. This paper shows that a zero bonus is optimal under the voucher-only strategy, whereas the provider should always include a positive bonus with the voucher under the hybrid strategy that allows customers to choose between the cash refund and voucher options. Surprisingly, despite its higher flexibility in service recovery design, the hybrid strategy can be dominated by the voucher-only strategy in terms of profit and welfare. Moreover, we show that the ranking of strategies differs across the two important dimensions of expected profit and survival under shutdown. Finally, we study competition among providers and show that a high-quality provider is more likely to use cash-back as the service recovery strategy than its low-quality competitor.