A choice in temporal discounting is often made on one preferred option between a sooner but smaller reward and a later but larger reward. In temporal discounting, a consumer undergoes an evaluation process concerning the trade-offs between time delay (i.e., a choice between sooner and later receipts) and the amount of reward (i.e., a choice between smaller and larger rewards). It has been evidenced that a surprisingly large number of consumers is inclined to choose a sooner option with a lower economic value. Those consumers tend to apply an excessive temporal discounting rate to the time delay and as a result, the sooner option with lower economic value stands out to be more attractive. However, there is another group of consumers who deliberately promote the long-term perspective in the evaluation process. Those consumers show a high tendency of choosing a later option with greater economic value. A key factor affecting the evaluation process is the sensitivity to time delay a consumer entails. The sensitivity to time delay could systematically affect the representations of hedonic pleasure being projected at different time delays and is the basis of individual differences in hedonic orientation. An anhedonia, a person with the ability to control physical pleasure, is likely to be less sensitive to time delay and apply a lower discounting rate for delayed rewards because he processes the presently available pleasure less intensively than do ordinary consumers. Thus, anhedonic consumers are more likely to choose a delay reward in temporal discounting choices. In a famous fable by Aesop, “The Ant and the Grasshopper” suggest a possible linkage between hedonic orientation and temporal discounting tendency. The story goes that the Grasshopper enjoys whatever is on its hands and does not give much thought to what is going to happen in the future, while the Ant takes on the hardship denying the current pleasure as he plans for the difficult winter time. We conducted an experiment to investigate the relationships among individual differences in hedonic orientation, and the behavioral choices in temporal discounting trials by examining the EEG theta (4-8 Hz) correlates. A hedonic orientation questionnaire was developed using twenty selected items from Physical Anhedonia Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and Impulsive Buying Scale. Using the questionnaire, the hedonic orientation of fifteen participants was analyzed. Among them, five participants were classified into anhedonia (Ant-like, AN) group and ten participants were into hedonic pleasure dependent (Grasshopper-like, GH) group. Participants conducted ten temporal discounting trials and, in each trial, a choice was made between two options, either a smaller reward today (the “now” option) or a greater reward to be received after a specified time delay (the “future-oriented” option). The absolute theta activations while viewing a future-oriented option in each trial were analyzed as the neural correlates of temporal discounting. The results indicated that the hedonic orientation of participants had a high prediction power of not only behavioral choices in temporal discounting but also EEG theta activations in the frontal brain region. In analyzing temporal discounting tendencies, the discounting rate of AN group was found to be lower than that of GH group. In addition, EEG theta analysis shows two interesting activation patterns in the frontal region. First, AN group showed higher frontal theta activations than GH group indicating its deliberate engagement to future-oriented options. Second, theta activations in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC), more specifically AF3 and AFz, were negatively correlated with the discounting rate of participants. Neuroscience researches often refer that DLPFC is associated with deliberate and analytic information processing. Therefore, the high theta activations in DLPFC could be considered as a distinctive neural indicator of high anhedonia traits and low temporal impulsivity.

The ability to succeed in a competitive market means to respond flexibly to difficult market demands by setting appropriate price, quality, and not least by creating a favourable environment for cultural, but also attractive shopping at a point of sale. Thanks to the innovative interdisciplinary approach using neuromarketing, we can create effective marketing strategies and thereby stimulate human emotions through which it is possible to achieve an increase in the number of deals, multiply revenue and improve the ability to stimulate a purchase. Commercial spaces are becoming more sophisticated day by day and the results of several surveys of consumer behaviour show that more than half of decisions 50-80% related to purchases are made on the point of sale and 80% are realized on the basis of positive emotions. An emotion is a complex processing of phenomena or situations which is determined by the relationship between their objective characteristics and needs of the subject. The element of lighting in shops also influences positive emotions of consumers being able to increase or decrease the sales. Lighting is the only factor that can be accurately measured and controlled. Accent lighting of a modern shop is largely involved in the overall design and the resultant atmosphere of the shop, playing a crucial role in presenting different kinds of goods. The use of accent lighting can draw the customer's attention to a specific part of retail space and achieve the overall harmonization of the shop. For some goods (fresh unpackaged food) lighting is not only powerful, but also the only marketing tool. The main objective of this paper is to clarify the influence of various types of accent lighting (different colour temperature, intensity) on the brain activity of respondents and their resultant emotional state (arousal / valence). Cortical brain activity was recorded via a wireless 14 channel electroencephalograph. The object of investigation is the impact of accent lighting in the section of fresh food (fruit, vegetables, bread, pastry). In the end of the article we explain how neuroscience can be used for a better understanding of consumer perception of accent lighting in the food market.

This study is designed to a) confirm Lang’s theory on mediated message processing (LC4MP; Lang, 2006) and b) explore the possibility of applying this theory to business practice (advertising). Coding system Information Introduced (ii), which is based on LC4MP, is a way to index the amount of information included in any given video message (Lang, Bradley, Park, Shin, & Chung, 2006; Lang, Park, Sanders-Jackson, Wilson, & Wang, 2007). Early studies tested the validity of this measure by measuring memory test results and comparing them with secondary task response time (STRT) data. To take this line of research further, this study has collected psychophysiological responses (heart rate and skin conductance) as measures of cognitive information processing. Also collected was recognition memory data and other self-reported data, which shows too much information (indexed by ii) in television advertisement leads to cognitive overload. Relationship between advertisement’s ii and other measures (e.g., attitude toward ad) will be reviewed as well.

There is much evidence in literature supporting the advantageous benefits resulted from corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives (Luo and Bhattacharya, 2006). Among others, consumers’ favorable reactions (e.g., enhanced produce evaluation, purchase intention, brand attitude and relationship) (Brown and Dacin 1997; Klein and Dawar 2004) were widely documented. Importantly, consumers tend to use their perceptions on a company’s CSR performance to infer the characteristics of relevant persons (e.g., self and other consumers) due to the meaning-transferring mechanism (Currás-Pérez et al., 2009; Yoon et al., 2006). Although literature suggests that people do good things in order to feel themselves in a positive light, there is a lack of explicit discussion on the impact of consumers’ participation in CSR programs on their perceptions of self. This is an important issue for designing effective CSR programs which can enhance consumer feelings as well. To bridge the academic gap, this research is aimed to address this question. As brands can be viewed as extended self and brand associations can be transferred into self-definition, good associations related with CSR practices will enhance consumers’ self-perceptions and self-esteem once they engage in CSR-related consumptions. However, many company-specific factors (e.g., product quality) and individual specific factors (e.g., CSR support and beliefs) will vary consumers’ responses to CSR efforts (Sen and Bhattacharya 2001). Similarly, CSR’s impact on self-perceptions may be moderated by significant factors. One of the most important determinants underlying differential customer response to CSR is consumers’ attribution of corporate motives. Consumers may attribute a company’s motivation for engaging in CSR simply as self-serving (e.g., high profit) or other-serving (e.g., engagement in social causes) (Becker-Olsen et al. 2006; Yoon et al. 2006), or further differentiate self-serving motives into strategic and egoistic ones and other-serving motives into value-driven and stakeholders-driven ones (Ellen et al., 2006). We examine the effect of self-serving motive vs. other-serving motive on the linkage of CSR and consumers’ self-perceptions and self-esteem in this research. Further we predict that the relevance of a CSR program with an individual consumer (i.e., self-CSR relevance) interacts with specific corporate motives in enhancing the CSR’s effect on consumers’ self-perceptions and self-esteem. A pilot study was first conducted to examine how CSR performance influences consumers’ perceptions (as well as consumers’ believes on their reference group’s perceptions) on a company’s typical customers’ image and then their purchase intention. In this study, we let respondents play judgers’ role and ask them about the relation of CSR and others’ image. A paper-and-pencil survey on university students was conducted. Three hundred and twenty one copies of questionnaires are sent out and collected in total. After deleting the incomplete ones, 302 valid data points constitute the final sample. The number of female and male respondents is comparable (Male: 49%) with average age of 21.4 year-old. We tested the hypothesized relations through structure equation modeling following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach. The measurement model has good convergent and discrimiant validity. The structural model testing results indicate that CSR has significant positive impact on people’s perceptions on the image of a company’s typical customers (r=.227, P<.001) and on beliefs of reference group’s perceptions on the image of a company’s typical customers (r=.234, P<.001), which subsequently enhance purchase intention (r=.607, P<.001; r=.149, P<.01). As such, the hypothesized relations are supported. Although consumers’ perceptions on others rather than self-perceptions and self-esteem are investigated in this study, findings provide preliminary support on the notion that a company’s CSR behaviors will be used as significant information to evaluate relevant persons (here are typical customers). In the main experiment study, we ask subjects play actors’ role and further examine the connection of CSR and self-perceptions. Results indicate a significant interactive effect between corporate motive and self-relevance. High self-relevance enlarges the difference of self-evaluations after participation in self-entered CSR programs vs. participation in other-centered CSR programs. This study explicitly examines the impact of consumer participation in CSR-related program on consumer self-perceptions and self-esteem. The findings deepen our understanding on the impact of corporate CSR initiatives on consumer responses, particularly the impact on consumer self-perceptions. It provides important implications for management to provide more effective CSR programs with consumers’ welfare considered.

Recipients determine the final success, or failure, of a gift. However, despite their importance in the gift exchange, their role has been underinvestigated. Through two experimental designs, we examined relational consequences (i.e. perceived strength of the relationship, and reciprocity) of online personalized gifts, and the moderating role of closeness with the giver and relationship-specific anxiety. Findings revealed that the relationship is perceived as stronger when the personalized gift comes from a non-intimate friend and recipients reported more willingness to reciprocate to an acquaintance. Moreover, the personalized gift reinforces relationship with low anxiety, while increases embarrassment in the high anxiety relations.

According to theory of consumer contamination (Argo, Dahl & Morales, 2006), a product, after being touched by a customer, will be disgusted and devalued by the following customer. However, Argo, et al. (2006) considered only a high salience of contact product, i.e., T-shirts, and did not consider low salience of contact products. This study extended the study of Argo, et al. (2006) and examined whether perception of consumer contamination varies between products of different saliences of contact. The gender difference was also considered. The result from an experiment showed that consumers’ reactions to ‘contaminated’ products vary, depending on the salience of contact. The result also shows that female consumers tend to be more sensitive to consumer contamination.

Consumers like talking and writing about products, sharing experiences and thoughts, especially if these are negative or disappointing. Expressing their frustration help them digesting the unsatisfactory feeling. Companies, therefore, need to find ways to help consumers deal with their frustration but not impacting their overall attitude toward the product. The present study investigates the relative superiority of complaining vs. a new tool for airing frustrations with products, the expressive writing paradigm (Pennebacker 1997). Across two experimental between-subject studies, we find support that consumers who write their disappointment expressively have an higher product evaluation compared to customers that do not express their disappointment (Study 1). Moreover, as Study 2 shows, writing expressively brings consumers to have an higher product evaluation than complaint writing.

This research is intended to provide marketing practitioners with an overview of web analytics to explore the issue of how to define and measure the effectiveness of social media through analyzing the various activities of current/potential consumers as well as provide a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of digital content marketing using social media. These analytics answer broad questions about which types of social media metrics are best at referring traffic, about conversations at the organization’s website, and about comparing different social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter in this study. These analytics employ time series analysis to specifically address activities in SNSs that effectively drive traffic to a website and accomplish business goals. This study is one of the first empirical investigations in the marketing communication field related to measuring social media’s effectiveness. The major goal of this study is to demonstrate the value of businesses’ efforts and to optimize their digital/social marketing strategy using web analytics.

One of the longstanding goals of both managers and researchers has been to understand the characteristics of effective salespeople. Selling orientation (SO), one of the general approaches of salespeople, has also been referred to in several studies as selling behaviors (Saxe and Weitz 1982; Brown et al. 1992; Jaramillo et al. 2007). SO is the degree to which salespeople place their own needs and/or the needs of the firm before those of their customers by attempting to sell as much as possible to customers. This is exhibited when salespeople are primarily engaged in selling activities that emphasize “getting the sale” (Schultz and Good 2000; Boles et al. 2001). Few researchers focus their attention on SO as one of the sales approaches enhancing sales performance and previous studies generally discuss SO as a factor negatively correlated with customer orientation (CO) (Saxe and Weitz 1982; Brown et al. 1992). These studies suggest SO should be controlled to encourage CO. However, Schwepker (2003) shows in his overviews of recent research that there is not a general consensus on the relationship between SO and individual sales performance. In fact, some studies indicate that SO increases individual sales performance, while others find that it is not an influential factor (e.g. Goff et al. 1997; Boles et al. 2001; Wachnel et al. 2009). Salespeople are required to adopt long-term perspectives as well as short-term sales results simultaneously in a competitive market; thus, it is meaningful to explore whether SO, as an aggressive sales approach, improves individual sales performance and whether SO can be used as an effective organizational indicator. Some studies, on the other hand, argue that the relationship between SO and individual performance is affected by moderating factors, such as differences in performance measurement (subjective or objective) (Jaramillo et al. 2007) and the sales skill level salespeople possess (Wachner et al. 2009). For example, Wachner et al. (2009) tested the moderating impact of three selling skills: interpersonal skills, salesmanship skills, and technical skills. These studies show that various external and individual factors can affect the relationship between SO and performance. Unfortunately, the impact of internal factors, such as integration with other functional members of the organization, has largely ignored. However, integration between salespeople and a variety of functional members is crucial for exchanging information and activating organizational learning (Rouizes et al. 2005), which may affect sales strategy. Indeed, salespeople, as boundary spanners, cooperate with other functional members and provide the firm with external market information (Griffin and Hauser 1990; Singh 1998; Krohmer et al. 2002). On the other hand, salespeople also receive information and support regarding new products and product delivery from other functional members, which benefits individuals’ sales performance. Our study, therefore, aims to examine the performance impact of SO at the level of the individual salesperson. In addition, we test for the moderating effect of integration with other functional members. We use the term integration as proposed by Kahn (2001), in which levels of integration are gauged by the extent of information exchange and personal interaction, and argue that integration, as an option internally available to salespeople, will increase the effectiveness of a sales approach. The indices we use to judge individual sales performance are as follows: the sales figures achieved, the degree to which the salesperson commits to the target sales figure, the number of new customers found, and the level of task innovation displayed in comparison with other members of the same sales team. SO is usually seen as a short-term sales approach. While pure SO cannot have a positive effect on customer loyalty or satisfaction levels (Boles et al. 2001; Schwepker 2003), it is often the most effective short-term selling method. In fact, Wachner et al. (2009) report that SO directly increased individual sales performance in the B to B market settings. Moreover, Boles et al. (2001) reported that SO is not harmful to relationships with customers for in-store retail settings because customers expect salespeople to engage in selling-oriented behavior to some degree. Schwepker (2003) argues that salespeople are more likely to utilize SO in an effort to meet the demands and goals placed on them when managements use the outcome-based measurements (e.g. financial performance) to evaluate their performance. This may mean that when salespeople take a more strongly selling-oriented approach, they increase their attention on selling itself and find effective methods for increasing performance. These discussions show that SO is influential in increasing sales performance. Our first hypothesis, therefore, is: H1. SO positively affects individual sales performance. Meunier-FitzHugh and Piercy (2007) emphasize that the selling of products and services is not exclusive to marketing or sales. Integration between different functional members is vital to improved customer satisfaction and product development performance (Kahn 2001). In addition, Kahn and Mentzer (1998) show that integration between different functional members has a positive influence on performance in terms of department success, overall firm performance and new product development. The authors explain that the information exchange intrinsic to integration allows members to reduce uncertainty, thereby facilitating different types of performance. By transmitting information and interacting with members who work in complementary functions, salespeople are more likely to increase their product knowledge and control time schedules. Accordingly, we expect integration with other functional members to positively impact individual performance. According to Storbacka et al. (2009), sales can play an important role in new product development, which also increases opportunities to broaden customer relationships and modify sales strategies. We argue that when integration is coupled with SO, individual performance improves because integration modifies SO’s aggressive behaviors into an adaptive selling style. Adaptive selling is considered “the altering of sales behaviors during a customer interaction or across customer interactions based on perceived information about the nature of the selling situation” (Weitz et al. 1986, p. 175). Franke and Park (2006) argue that the benefits of adaptive selling behaviors are likely to outweigh the costs of gathering and applying information to specific situations, thereby improving overall individual sales performance. Thus, if salespeople integrate with other functional members in the process of selling products and providing customized service according to customer needs, we expect that the relationship between SO and individual performance will be stronger. On the other hand, role ambiguity of salespeople may be reduced by high SO, which stimulate salespeople to put higher priorities on selling and short-term purpose (Tubre and Collins, 2000; Wachner et al. 2009). Low role ambiguity will make functional integration efficient and effective since allocation and coordination regarding functional roles cost less compared with the situation where the roles are ambiguous. Therefore, when salespeople have higher SO, integration produces more results in shorter time. Hence, on the basis of this reasoning, we hypothesize that: H2. Integration positively affects individual sales performance. H3. The positive relationship between SO and individual sales performance is stronger when salespeople are more integrated with other functional members. 382 questionnaires were handed out to a firm and 186 salespeople including the sales managers filled in the questionnaires. This company’s services and products are related to real estate, car insurance and financial insurance. We chose this particular company because the salespeople are encouraged to use SO approaches and generally integrate with other functional members. Based on Wachner et al. (2009), SO was measured with a three-item indicator that included the following items: “high sales performance is more important than how to accomplish it,” “I try to focus attention on the degree of sales performance compared with others,” and “when a company appraises salespeople, only financial performance has to be considered.” These measures were modified from those used in Wachner et al. (2009) to reflect SO’s short-term transactional manner and emphasis on high financial performance. In addition, the integration with other functional members referred to in Kahn and Mentzer (1998) was also measured using an indicator with the following items: “I frequently exchanges information with other functional members,” “I am actively gathering information from colleagues with different functions,” “critical information is shared between colleagues with different functions,” and “the integration between sales and other functions is possible.” We assessed the validity and dimensionality of our reflective constructs by performing a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Our CFA model contains SO (three items, α= .730), integration (four items, α= .839), and performance (four items, α = .826). The model shows an acceptable fit with the data with a χ2 of 153.481 (df = 41, p< .001), a comparative fit index (CFI) of .926, AGFI of 0.846 and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of .10. We conducted a moderated hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses. Regression results have been provided in Table 1. After mean-centering the interaction variables, multicollinearity was irrelevant because the VIF of the multicollinearity statistic was low level. Model 1 includes control variables and the effects of SO and integration. Model 1 reveals a positive effect of selling orientation (β= .201, p< .01) and integration (β= .358, p< .001) on performance. In Model 2, interaction terms were added. The Model 2 results indicate that the interaction effect between SO and integration on performance is positive and significant (β= .142, p< .05) supporting H3. Post hoc analysis also confirms that integration moderates SO to increase performance. Specifically, examination of the simple regression lines show that there is only an effect of the SO on performance when the salesperson’s integration level is high (t= 3.60, p< .00), but is not significant when integration level is low (t= 1.085, ns). Overall, our results indicate that SO and integration have an important impact on individual sales performance. In addition, as shown by Fig. 1, SO affects individual performance more positively when salespeople integrate more fully with other functional members. These results highlight the tact that, when they co-exist, SO and integration between different functional members contributes to increased individual sales performance. As one of the components of market orientation, integration with other functional members prompts salespeople to consider customer satisfaction. By exchanging knowledge and contributing to internal information flow, integration allows salespeople to develop SO into an adaptive selling approach, thereby increasing sales performance. On the other hand, because high SO results in salespeople using their time and efforts more effectively for performance with integration than low SO, sales performance increases. From a theoretical perspective, the findings we report here taking into account the moderating effects of integration, present a new understanding of the relationship between SO and individual performance. Moreover, our findings have managerial implications. Although SO has a positive effect on individual performance, SO also presents considerable challenges, such as decreasing customer loyalty and endangering salespeople’s job satisfaction (Boles et al. 2001; Schwepker 2003). As a result, the relationship between SO and salespeople’s individual performance requires more discussion and should be considered carefully. Our study shows that sales management could potentially increase sales performance by using cross function teams and setting financial goals, which would simultaneously encourage integration as well as SO (Rouziès et al. 2005).

This research is aimed at finding the economic antecedents of comparatively low level of customer orientation of the firms in the BRIC countries. To generate propositions regarding antecedents, the market environment and conditions for doing business, and management practices and entrepreneurial activity in BRICs are compared based on the cross country studies by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the Global entrepreneurship monitor consortium. Also the conclusions regarding the consumer products markets and firm market strategies in emerging countries are generated on the basis of academic literature review in comparative strategic management and expert views on management in emerging countries. The outcome of the research is a group of propositions on the economic determinants of gaps in the level of customer orientation between the developed and the emerging markets. Three potential causes of the comparatively low customer orientation related to the management practices of firms can be hypothesized. First, the level of business management sophistication in the BRIC countries is assessed to be lower compared to the developed countries. Second, the state capitalism, the dominant economic paradigm of the BRIC countries is not conducive to fostering the quality of business management. Third, local entrepreneurs enter the markets being necessity-driven and have relatively low capabilities and are less skilled in the application of the modern management practices. The development of markets in the BRIC countries also could be informative for explaining the relatively low average level of customer orientation of the emerging market companies, and one can infer three potential causes. First, the consumer markets in the BRICs are growing with a fast pace, so suppliers are more powerful than consumers. Second, the intensity of competition at the BRIC markets is comparatively low. Third, the emerging markets today are represented by the less demanding consumers, and on such markets mass marketing might be a winning strategy. Further study could potentially allow us to improve and test empirically the above formulated propositions regarding the sources of gaps in the level of customer orientation between the companies of the developed and emerging markets.

This research studied the effect of underwear’s product cues (style, fabric and price) on consumer choice by using conjoint and consumer neural response (EEG). The results reveal that female prefers bikini style and silk fabrics while male likes brief and boxer. In addition, male more relies on price than female.

The explosion of new technologies is transforming the retail industry. In particular, a range of smart technologies (e.g., tablets, smartphones, WiFi, augmented reality, apps, video, virtual catalogs, smart tags) are providing fashion retailers with innovative ways to capitalize on strategic opportunities (Anderson & Exkstein, 2013). Due to the growth of smart in-store technology (SIST) applications in the retailing environment, it is critical for academic researchers to understand consumer responses to these technologies. The technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis et al., 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1992) is one framework for investigating consumer adoption of SIST. However, research has been equivocal concerning the belief-attitude-intention linkage, especially the mediating role of attitude in TAM. As an attempt to address this issue, this study examines how well TAM explains consumer adoption of SIST. Online survey data were collected from three different SIST settings (i.e., Virtual Mirror vs. Socially Interactive Dressing Room vs. RFID Music Tag). A total of 657 individuals completed the questionnaires resulting in a 27.56% response rate. Excluding participants with incomplete data, responses from 625 individuals (203 for Virtual Mirror; 209 for Socially Interactive Dressing Room; 213 for RFID Music Tag) were included for data analysis. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions was used to analyze the data. Our major findings include: (a) perceived ease of use was found to be a suppressor variable and thus dropped from the model; (b) perceived usefulness was significant in Virtual Mirror (β = .33, p < .01), Socially Interactive Dressing Room (β = .26, p < .01) and RFID Music Tag (β = .18, p < .01); (c) perceived enjoyment was found to be the best predictor of adoption intention of: Virtual Mirror (β = .46, p < .001); Socially Interactive Dressing Room (β = .61, p < .001); and RFID Music Tag (β = .67, p < .001); (d) attitude has a small effect above and beyond the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment; and (e) attitude partially mediated the belief-intention linkage in Virtual Mirror. In Socially Interactive Dressing Room and RFID Music Tag, attitude fully mediated the usefulness-intention linkage while it partially mediated the enjoyment-intention relationship. Our findings have implications for improving consumer adoption of SIST. Our data indicate that, although perceived usefulness is clearly important, perceived enjoyment is even more important and should not be overlooked in SIST execution and management. Our results imply that consumers may be willing to tolerate a SIST that does not do a useful task in order to enjoy the SIST experience itself. This finding also suggests that no amount of usefulness will be able to compensate for a SIST that does not provide enjoyment.

The amount of data in companies today in terms of volume, velocity and variety is unique in the history of business. Despite on-going calls for more accountability of the marketing function, there is a lack of studies that examine the role of metrics in order to interpret this data. This study focuses on how marketing metrics and financial metrics are used within organizations to both quantify and to explore data relevant for marketing mix decision-making. An analysis of primary data from six case studies and 29 marketing mix decisions promises to provide a rich understanding of the activities and metrics that are used to trigger and inform managerial decision-making. The aim is to contribute to the body of knowledge on metrics use with the aim of improving managerial decision-making, marketing mix performance and the standing of the marketing function in the firm.

The main aim of this study is to propose a conceptual model for marketers’ contributions to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. Thus, this study could possibly reveal synergies between Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility Programs (CSR). Customers have expectations that firms need to carry out CSR activities and hence customers have various responses towards companies’ CSR actions. This implies that marketers’ contributions seem necessary in the development and implementation of CSR programs. This research provides a conceptual model to examine possible synergies between marketing and CSR. Based on the resource based theory of firms, it can be argued that marketers need to contribute to CSR initiatives. From the perspective of return on investments on CSR activities, CSR programs can be viewed as being philanthropic or strategic in nature. Customers tend to respond to both of these CSR types. Hence we propose that contribution of marketers seems important to both kinds of CSR, which in turn would increase customer satisfaction about CSR programs. Consequently, companies’ performance can be enhanced. A mix method is proposed for this study. It is envisaged that in near future, this conceptual model would be empirically tested by collecting data from customers and marketing managers of the Sri Lankan financial institutions. This research concludes with practical implications.

Adding new attributes is the main strategy firms use to attract consumers in many industries, but the impact of new attributes may be ambiguous, as indicated by the results of several studies (Bertini, Ofek and Ariely, 2009; Griffin and Broniarczyk, 2010; Nam, Wang and Lee, 2012; Sun, Keh and Lee, 2012; Zhang and Fitzimons, 1999; Zhang, Kardes and Cronley, 2002). The demand for innovative, upgraded, and integrated products is higher than ever before, and firms’ ability to meet this demand is tenuous in many cases. Take the example of the iPhone, where the touch pad option is the new feature that overcomes the disadvantages of a regular keypad, and where other options such as SIRI and other convenient software technologies provide good reasons to purchase or upgrade a smart phone. Although the transition from keypad to touch screen is occurring rapidly in the technology market, many consumers still opt to utilize their old phones rather than upgrading. The alignability of the attributes of the smart phone may affect their decision-making. Self-regulatory factors moderate decision-making based on alignable and non-alignable attributes. Promotion and prevention self-regulation systems managed across separate mental accounts are involved consumer information flow process in the sense that alignable attributes engender risk aversion, whereas non-alignable attributes engender risk seeking (Zhou and Pham, 2004). More cognitive effort may be required to evaluate non-alignable attributes due to the absence of inferential references inherent in the newness of features (Nam et al., 2012; Sun et al., 2012). Accordingly, if there is no significant difference in alignable attributes between products, consumers will put more weight on non-alignable attributes (Brown and Carpenter, 2000). For high-technology products, if alignable attributes satisfy consumers’ perceived utility as weighed against the cost incurred, consumers may compare non-alignable attributes in order to justify their purchases. Even if non-alignable attributes are trivial, they may be important to the final decision. Based on evaluations of the latter, consumers can justify the purchase (Brown and Carpenter, 2000). Although non-alignable attributes may seem peripheral and complementary, they may contribute to the success of a product due to their novelty, uniqueness and role in simplifying the purchase choice (Carpenter, Glazer and Nakamoto, 1994). However, if consumers perceive that non-alignable attributes fundamentally affect product quality, they may infer that its alignable attributes are relatively inferior. This thinking process may result in a negative evaluation of the product (Simonson, Nowlis and Simonson, 1993). As mentioned earlier, consumers may associate non-alignable attributes with unnecessary costs (Brown and Carpenter, 2000). In the experiment of Bertini et al. (2009), consumers preferred the MP3 player with the BOSS earphone over the one with no other option, which led to a decrease in the willingness to upgrade the product. They do not evaluate non-alignable attributes in isolation, but may use those instrumentally. In the case of high technology products, when information about non-alignable attributes becomes available, ambiguity arises from the integration of distinctive features and functionalities, which are non-alignable attributes, and moreover from the integration of non-alignable attributes with alignable attributes. Consumer beliefs and attitude resulted from the mediating role of this ambiguity are formed holistically by non-selective attention for integral stimuli (alignable and non-alignable attributes) (Nosofsky, 1986, 1987). When consumers ambiguous towards a bundle of attributes, which is nothing but the product, they are inclined to interpret it positively (Bar-Hill and Budescu, 1995; Goldsmith and Amir, 2010). Consumers are hypothesized to exhibit innate optimism, being biased towards unforeseen benefits. They are even sensitive to the specific types of non-alignable attributes: central vs. peripheral attributes. Thus, in strategizing for product marketing purposes, non-alignable attributes should be positioned as peripheral factors rather than as central factors, especially in the early stages of product introduction. Hypothesis Development Consumers make judgments about the obsolescence of the products they currently use. Various factors influence the decision to upgrade. Obsolescence is a loss in value since the launch of a product, not because the product has become less useful, but because a new product with upgraded features and designs has become available to consumers (Bayus, 1991; Chung, Han and Sohn, 2012; Levinthal and Purohit, 1989). Consumers’ expectations about improvement in the new version are based upon two types of obsolescence that influence their willingness to upgrade (pay) for the new product: technological obsolescence and psychological obsolescence. Much research has been done (Bayus, 1991; Chung et al., 2012; Levinthal and Purohit, 1989); however, consumers’ strategic decision-making has not always been clearly understood. They may not know in advance what product to choose, or they may lack information to utilize during the buying process. In addition, technological progress is so rapid and uncertain that consumers may not be able to keep up with the novelty of new technologies. They may have difficulty selecting among alternatives that will be standard later in the market. Accordingly, although they may perceive the technological obsolescence of the product, they may not replace it until they feel psychologically justified in doing so. They may not intend to replace the product only for reasons of technological obsolescence due to loss of the sunk cost incurred by its replacement (Okada, 2006). While alignable attributes are more likely to be deterministic, functional and important, non-alignable attributes are more likely to be marginal, hedonic and trivial. Accordingly, consumers may form cognitive attitudes toward alignable attributes and expectations as to how these should change to become more useful. In other words, they may develop their own ideal level (point) for each alignable attribute as they become familiar with them. Thus, consumers experience uncertainty within a range unique to each individual. They judge the feasibility of a purchase insofar as it corresponds to their own ideal points. For example, when Microsoft upgraded from MS Office 2002 to MS Office 2007, the text menu-driven UI (user interface) was changed to become ribbon menu-driven (graphic). Many users of MS Office 2002 had difficulty using the upgraded functions of MS Office 2007. Frequently used features and options in the previous version, even such as cut and paste, were suddenly not easy to use, and consumers who upgraded to the next version were puzzled at the fact that they were unable to properly use the function they got used to. Complexity may be detrimental to ease-of-use judgment with inferred learning costs. Although consumers make inferences based upon their ideal points, the uncertainty involved in this process relates to cognitive referral. Since alignable attributes are representative of prevention, these engender risk aversion for consumers. Consumers who are primed with prevention-focus may prefer not to exert effort to find out how to use features which were easy to use in the previous version just for the sake of upgrading to the new product. Accordingly, uncertainty about ease of use of alignable attributes has a negative effect on consumers’ willingness to replace a product As more information on a product’s non-alignable attributes becomes available, consumers’ ambiguity about the updated product will decrease and their likelihood of replacement will decrease (Smith and Amir, 2010; Norton, Frost and Ariely, 2007: Bar-Hillel and Budescu, 1995; Krizan and Windschitl, 2007). In addition to technological obsolescence, curiosity and self-regulation in terms of the newness and novelty of a product may motivate consumers to replace a product. Existing consumers may be very curious about new information and non-alignable attributes, making every effort to process available information (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987; Maheswaran and Sternthal, 1990; Nam et al., 2012; Sujan, 1985). When non-alignable attributes become available, consumers do not look at them separately from the alignable ones with which the upgraded product is already equipped; instead, they evaluate the product holistically (Bertini et al., 2009). In an identification–classification task, subjects that were able to attend selectively to the relevant dimension and filter the irrelevant one for separable stimuli were unable to do so for integral stimuli. Non-alignable attributes directly affect consumers’ willingness (likelihood) to replace a product. Therefore, a mediating role of ambiguity is evident between non-alignable attributes and consumers’ willingness to replace the product. Thus, we present the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1-1: When information on alignable attributes becomes available, consumers will be primed with prevention-focus. Hypothesis 1-2: When information on non-alignable attributes is available, consumers will be primed with promotion-focus. Hypothesis 2-1: If consumers are uncertain about the alignable attributes of a product, they will less likely purchase the updated version of the product. Hypothesis 2-2: If consumers are uncertain (ambiguous) about the non-alignable attributes of a product, they will more likely purchase the updated version of the product. Each individual tries to minimize the distance from a current state to a desired state by means of self-regulation (Higgins, Kruglanski and Pierro, 2003). The mode of self-regulation may be either locomotive or assessable. Assessment is a self-regulatory mode in which some objects and states are critically and analytically judged relative to desired means and goals in order to select the best among many alternatives (Kluglanski et al., 2000). Assessors intend to minimize the distance from the current state to the desired state by means of comparative processes to measure, construe and evaluate among alternatives (Higgins et al., 2003). Accordingly, they make cognitive efforts to compare and analyze the alternatives prior to the choice behavior. The other self-regulatory mode, locomotion, involves judging of objects and states with reference to a particular goal in the process of selecting alternatives (Kruglanski et al., 2000; Pierro et al., 2006). Because locomotors emphasize behavior and progress, they are quick to analyze the alternatives and direct in their selection. Locomotors are different from assessors, who select the best alternative via comparative processes. Locomotors try to select the best alternative realistically and heuristically to achieve their goals. They may not commit to analytical assessment of all possible problems in the process. In the process of evaluating alternatives, assessors focus on all attributes rather than on some particular attributes. They continuously try to assess both alignable and non-alignable attributes. By contrast, locomotors want to achieve a particular goal rapidly. When they perceive technological obsolescence, they may rely on information about alignable attributes because they are eager to benefit from improved features and functions. In the same vein, when they perceive psychological obsolescence, they may rely on information about non-alignable attributes because of the differences in value of these attributes from those of the existing product. Therefore, we offer the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 3: When assessors evaluate an updated product, they will put more weight on non-alignable attributes than on alignable attributes. Hypothesis 4: When locomotors evaluate an updated product, they will depend upon attribute information corresponding to the two types of obsolescence. EXPERIMENT 1 Method Experiment 1 explores consumers’ regulatory focus which would be differently primed either with alignable attributes or with nonalignable attributes (H1 and H2). And it explores consumers’ purchase intention via the amount of information (low-information vs. high-information) and regulatory modes (locomotion vs. assessment. A pretest was conducted with a separate sample (n=64) to ensure that the product profile used in the experiment matched the situation where participants perceive alignable attributes to be deterministic, functional and salient, and where they perceive nonalignable attributes to be peripheral, hedonic and novel. We picked the external HDD that participants associated with salience and newness. In the main experiment, two hundred seventy one participants read information about the external HDD and then answers on the alignable and nonalignable attributes of this product. The between-subject experimental design consists of information type (alignable vs. nonalignable attributes) x information amount (low-information vs. high-information). Results We examined that consumers will be primed with different regulatory focus (H1 and H2) upon the type of information via a gap analysis and a mediated regression analysis. The test results were that respondents exposed to the information type of alignable attributes would be primed with prevention-focus (4.60) than with promotion-focus (4.20) (t = -3.180, p < .001), and that respondents exposed to the information type of nonalignable attributes would be primed with promotion-focus (4.44) than with prevention-focus (3.99) (t = -2.746, p < .05). Next, the type of information was treated as a dummy variable, where it takes values of “0” for nonalignable attributes and of “1” for alignable attributes. Respondents’ dominant regulatory focus was set to be the value of prevention which was subtracted from the value of promotion. The primed regulatory focus fully mediates between the type of information and purchase intention (Sobel Z-score = -3.827, p < .01). That is, if consumers are exposed to the information type of alignable attributes, they will be primed with prevention-focus, which will negatively affect consumers’ purchase intention. Accordingly, Hypothesis 1-1 and 1-2 were supported. Furthermore, we examined the differential effect on purchase intention via a 2 (type of information) × 2(amount of information) between-subjects ANOVA (H1-2 and H2-2) as in Figure 2. In the case of respondents exposed to alignable attributes, the purchase intention was higher for certain information (3.75) than for uncertain information (3.20) (t = 2.077, p < .05), whereas in the case of respondents exposed to nonalignable attributes, the purchase intention was higher for uncertain information (4.48) than for certain information (3.81) (t = 2.478, p < .05). Prior knowledge and involvement on the stimulus were controlled as covariates, and respondents were divided into groups by means of the information type and the information amount. The interaction between the variables was investigated (F(1, 271) = 13.413, p < .01). Accordingly, H2-1 and 2-2 were supported. Finally, we examined the differential effect on purchase via 2 (regulatory mode) × 2 (type of information) between-subjects ANOVA (H4 and H5) as in Figure 3. Regulatory mode was dichotomized into locomotion and assessment by the median of values of assessment subtracted from those of locomotion. In the assessors’ case, a difference between the purchase intentions by means of the type of information – alignable attributes (3.60) and nonalignable attributes (3.73), was not found (t=-.533, p > .10). Hypothesis 3 was rejected. On the other hand, in the locomotors’ case, the purchase intention of respondents exposed to the information type of nonalignable attributes (4.53) would be higher than that of those exposed to the information type of alignable attributes (3.38) (t = 3.826, p < .01). Accordingly, hypothesis 4 was supported. Prior knowledge and involvement on the stimulus were controlled as covariates, respondents were divided into groups by means of regulatory mode and the information type. The interaction among purchase intention, regulartory mode and the information type (F(1,271) = 7.647, p < 0.01).

This research extends the seminal work on the role of haptic (touch) information for consumers’ purchase decisions in both online and store shopping settings. Especially, this research focuses on which information consumers rely on as substitutes for haptic information when they cannot touch products at online shopping. A conceptual model is developed to investigate and compare the relative importance of touch, brand, virtual word-of-mouth, and product design. The proposed model is tested with the data collected from 380 consumers in an Asian country (Japan). The empirical results on two product categories (leather bags and smart phone cases) suggest that 1) consumers rely on other information than touch for online shopping, 2) the priority of substitute information differs depending on product categories, and 3) the priority also changes between online and store shopping for the same product category.

Using an experimental design and controlling for sponsor-sponsee fit perceptions, it is investigated how an individual’s cultural interest impacts on a cultural sponsor’s reputation. Results display that cultural interest exerts a negative impact on the likeability dimension of a cultural sponsor’s reputation.

The contrasting discourses in the marketing and medical literature on pharmaceutical marketing practices motivate this study. Of particular interest is detailing and related practices which involve deploying pharmaceutical sales representatives (PSRs) to interact with physicians often for providing product information and benefits (Manchanda and Chintagunta, 2004; Mizik and Jacobson, 2004). Acutely aware that a dominant effect of detailing on physician’s prescription choices is problematic, Gonul et al. (p. 90) summarize the marketing literature by noting that, “there are no reasons for public concern regarding the social implications of the reviewed personal selling practice employed by drug manufacturers because its effect is mostly informative.” By contrast, taking a combative and aversive view of PSRs, leading medical scholars and practitioners recommend strict sequestration of commercial interests of industry from the physician (Steinman, et al. 2006). Major medical centers including Yale, Harvard, Duke, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, Henry Ford Health System, and UCLA have banned physicians from receiving monetary or non-monetary gifts, and PSRs from visiting patient care areas. Prestigious medical journals such as The British Medical Journal and Journal of American Medical Association, along with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and World Association of Medical Editors, now require all authors to include an explicit disclosure of industry sponsored research and, in some cases, to conduct independent statistical analysis as a condition for publication (DeAngelis, 2006). Using public documents from a recent court case, I analyzed pharmaceutical industry’s marketing practices and their role in creating externalities that compromise trust and fiduciary responsibility governing physician-patient relationship. Results indicate that externalities are complicit in exploiting COI and undermining consumer welfare in medical markets. Our study contributes to the research into, and practice of pharmaceutical marketing practices for interacting with physicians in several ways. First, I develop a conceptual framework based on COI theory that has substantially informed the medical profession’s discourse but received minimal, if any, attention in the marketing literature (Moore, Cain, Loewenstein, & Bazerman, 2005). This framework posits an embedded view of physician exchanges that presents new insights that have heretofore remained unexplored in the marketing literature. Second, building on the COI framework, I outline an orchestration thesis that reliably represents the medical profession’s guiding approach for seeking and evaluating evidence relating to industry’s marketing practices. Unlike the marketing literature’s interest in examining the efficiency and effectiveness of different marketing instruments such as detailing and journal publishing, the orchestration thesis focuses on strategic intent that underlies all marketing instruments. As such, the orchestration thesis offers a competing perspective that challenges the evidence in the marketing literature. Third, using a novel approach based on systematic analysis of court documents, I examine the support, if any, for the orchestration thesis in a specific contextual setting. Finally, the current study builds the conceptual and empirical foundation to bridge the marketing and medical literatures. Such a bridge is critical in developing a common ground for reconciling disparate viewpoints and redirecting marketing practices.

This study examines the effect of SPA store experience on formation of customer equity. Here we distingush dimension of store experience to sensory, affective, behavioral, intellectual, and relational experience and dimension of customer equity to value, brand, relationship equity. To verify relationship between dimension of store experience and customer equity, as well as loyalty, we use structural equation modeling. As a result, relationship between variables have a significant effect on each other exclude hypotheses such as relationship between affective experience and value equity and relationship between behavioural experience and relationship equity. The result indicates that reinforcing SPA store experience likely to have positive impact on formation of customer equity and loyalty strength.

Researcher in the western world have studied corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainable development, and marketing procedures for combining CSR and sustainability, but Asian awareness has been limited on both corporate and state levels. Asian researchers need to improve sustainable marketing theory because China, especially, urgently needs to confront the problem in sustainability management. The authors argue that Confucian principles, which are built on five constant virtues that have guided family and commercial life in China for more than 2,500 years, are relevant to theory regarding CSR and sustainability. To analyze sustainability in China in relation to Confucian principles, the authors develop and refine a questionnaire to be used in China, and use SPSS to analyze reliability and EFA. They use CFA and SEM to analyze sustainable marketing performance and customer equity and derive conclusions and implications.