In response to the global trend of making sustainable development an urgent task, luxury fashion brands actively embrace it in their corporate philosophies and management policies. However, despite the widespread consensus in the related industry and the strong will of companies for the sustainable development of luxury brands, there are still few cases of luxury fashion brands successfully implementing sustainable development. This study examined the impact of the types of message framing on the sustainability marketing of luxury fashion brands, focusing on their effects on perceived message effectiveness, sustainable brand image, and brand attitudes. An online survey was administered to 464 Korean consumers in their 20s to 40s to test the hypotheses. The results showed that perceived effectiveness was higher for negatively framed messages (loss) than for their positive counterparts (gain). The types of message framing did not significantly affect sustainable brand messages, and no significant difference in perceived brand image was found, regardless of message type. Perceived message effectiveness exerted a significant positive effect on sustainable brand image, and such an image had a significant positive effect on brand attitudes. The results provide implications for related research and practical implications for the development of competitive sustainability marketing strategies for luxury fashion—an industry still in its infancy.
본 연구의 목적은 드라마 “이상한 변호사 우영우”의 프레이밍 방식과 의미를 살 펴보는 데 있다. 이를 위해 사회학과 인지언어학의 프레임 개념으로 드라마의 이슈 프레이밍 양상을 분석해내는 연구 방법을 사용하였다. 2022년 방송된 드라마 “이 상한 변호사 우영우”는 자폐 스펙트럼 장애를 지닌 젊은 변호사의 사회 적응 과정 을 성공적으로 담아내 장애인에 대한 사회적 인식을 향상시켰을 뿐 아니라, 실제 사건과 판례를 기반으로 한 에피소드들을 통해 우리사회의 다양한 문제를 이슈화 하였다. 따라서 본고에서는 이 드라마가 어떤 문제들을 어떻게 이슈화하여 우리 사 회에 영향을 주었는지 살펴봄으로써 드라마의 사회적 기능을 밝혀보고자 했다. 분 석 결과 이 드라마는 장애인과 성소수자, 노인, 여성, 아동 등 사회적 약자와 소수 자에 대한 편견과 인식의 개선, 개인의 권리 존중, 평등과 정의 구현의 프레임을 구축하고 있었다. 또한 자폐 장애를 지니고 있는 주인공이 자신과 같은 약자의 입 장을 변호하며 재판에 임하는 과정을 보여줌으로써 이슈의 사회화를 강화하고 있 었다. 이 드라마의 방송 기간 중 사회적 약자와 소수자의 문제에 주목하는 다양한 이슈들이 부상했고, 시청자는 드라마가 제공한 공감과 공정, 상생의 프레임으로 그 이슈들을 바라보고 있었다. “이상한 변호사 우영우”가 수행한 이슈 프레이밍은 드 라마가 단순한 대중 오락물만이 아님을 보여준다. 드라마 콘텐츠의 경우 주로 산업 적 측면에서의 투자가 이루어져 왔으나, 드라마의 사회적 영향력을 고려한 보다 발 전적인 지원과 정책 수립이 이루어지길 기대한다.
In the past decade the level of prosocial behavior has raised some concerns, whereas an empathic concern, one of the main predictors of prosocial behavior, is decreasing. Lack of empathy and less forgiving attitudes are one of the main characteristics of entitlement Entitlement, or feeling of deserving more than others, is negatively related to pro-social behavior (Campbell et al., 2004). In H1, we suggest that entitled individuals engage in prosocial behavior more when there is an opportunity to self-enhance vs. when there is no opportunity to self-enhance.
This paper aims to examine the effect of AI framing (i.e., Scientific AI vs Magic AI) on consumers' product evaluation. This study shows that magically framed AI technology may be more beneficial to appeal to product innovativeness when subjective product properties (e.g., personal taste) becomes important. On the contrary, when objective product properties (e.g., functionality) becomes important, scientifically framed AI technology is more likely to generate higher perceived product attractiveness and purchase intention.
Some digital platforms introduced a novel positive-framing design in the multi-dimensional rating system, which framed the attribute with positive words for consumers to rate. The results from a cross-platform quasi-natural experiment show that the positive-framing design can increase the rating scores compared with the traditional non-positive framing design.
Introduction
Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in sharing service businesses. In B2C sharing-service businesses such as Zipcar, customers share goods and services provided by a service firm with other customers and perform the roles played by service employees in traditional service businesses. Consequently, how well one customer carries out expected tasks influences the quality of service provided to other customers. Extant studies have emphasized the importance of a governance system to prevent such a social dilemma as the personal interest of an individual being pursued at the sacrifice of the interest of the community. However, few studies have empirically examined the effect of different design of a governance system. To fill this gap in the research, this study examines the framing effect of customer messages on customer intention to cooperate by complying with the request by the firm.
Theoretical development
For customers to be willing to cooperate with a firm, they have to be first motivated to do so. The framing effect of on customer motivation has been well demonstrated (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995) in diverse service contexts such as healthcare (Christensen, Heckerling, Mackesy, Bernstein, & Elstein, 1991), education (Fryer Jr, Levitt, List, & Sadoff, 2012), and consumer behaviors (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995; White, MacDonnell, & Dahl, 2011) In the context of service consumption, motivation is defined as the inner driver that triggers an individual to cooperate with the service providers (Tsai, Wu, & Huang, 2017). Whether messages were framed as a gain versus a loss exerted a significant impact on consumer motivation. In the consumer behavior contexts, consumer reactions to frames were mixed (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995). In this study, we will examine the framing effect in the context of sharing service consumption. H1: In the B2C sharing service context, the framing of customer message (gain vs. loss) will affect customer motivation to comply with the request of the service firm. Customers tend to behave different depending on the value they pursue through consumption (Hwang & Griffiths, 2017). Even in the same consumption context, values of customer pursuit can vary widely. Hence, we intend to examine the moderating effect of customer value perception of sharing service on the effect of message framing on motivation. Studies showed that customers pursuing utilitarian values consider monetary savings and convenience as important, while customers pursuing symbolic value consider status and self-esteem as important and those pursing hedonic values consider entertainment and exploration as important (Rintamäki, Kanto, Kuusela, & Spence, 2006). The framing effect was shown to differ by the emphasized value of the product in the context of advertisement. A gain frame was more effective than a loss frame when the ad highlighting the hedonic attributes of a product while a loss frame was more effective when the ad stressing the utilitarian attributes of the product (Lin, 2007). Taken together, we conjecture that customers pursing different values will react differently to the same frame of messages and the level of motivation triggered by the same message frame will also differ.
H2: Customer value perception of sharing service will moderate the framing effect of customer messages (gain vs. loss) on motivation. Specifically, customers pursuing utilitarian values will react more strongly to the messages framed as a loss (H2a), while customers pursuing hedonic or symbolic values will react more strongly to messages framed as a gain (H2b).
The effect of motivation on customer behaviors and behavioral intentions have been well demonstrated (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995). In the service context, customer cooperation behaviors induced by motivation significantly influence the efficiency of service operations (Mills & Morris, 1986). We propose that the motivation enhanced by customer messaged influence customer willingness to cooperate.
H3: In the B2C sharing service context, motivation affects customer willingness to cooperate.
Methodology
Data will be collected from American consumers who have used a car sharing service at least once in the past one year through an online scenario-based survey using a 2 (message frames: gain vs. loss) x 3 (values of sharing service: utilitarian vs. hedonic vs. symbolic) between-subject experimental design. Hypotheses will be tested by an analysis of variance and a regression analysis.
Implication
The findings of this study will help P2P service firms better design customer messages in inducing customer cooperation and how to customize the design by customers’ value perceptions of sharing service.
This research aims to examine the interplay of fluency and framing in consumers’ perception of online review helpfulness. We propose to conduct three experiments to study how consumers evaluate a product review as presented in easy- vs. hard-to-read font and promotion vs. prevention frame.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays consumers are often exposed to and influenced by online product reviews. These reviews are generated and posted by consumers on online shopping websites, such as Amazon.com. Obviously, the content of an online product review, either appraisal or criticism, would offer valuable information for consumers to make purchase decisions. The almost immediate and strong impact of product reviews on a prospective consumer’s decision would not be easily achieved by other marketing attempts (Daugherty, Eastin, & Bright, 2013; Ghose & Ipeirotis, 2006; Mahajan, Muller, & Kerin, 1984). In particular, past research has proposed that, if a review is believed to be more helpful it is more likely to add value for a future customer (Mudambi & Schuff, 2010; Yin, Bond, & Zhang, 2014). In this research, we would like to research what makes a review helpful. According to consumer psychology literature, metacognitive cues, such as fluency, would play an important role in consumer judgments (Lee, 2004; Schwarz, 2004). So, we first propose that fluency, the ease of information processing, could influence perceived review helpfulness. Moreover, a growing body of research has suggested some factors that could interact with fluency when influencing consumer decisions and judgments (Shah, Alter, & Oppenheimer, 2010; Tsai & McGill, 2010). For example, framing effect has been extensively studied in consumer decision making literature (Block & Keller, 1995; Rothman, Salovey, Antone, Keough, & Martin, 1993). Accordingly, we would like to study the effect of framing, emphasizing on gain vs. loss, on perceived review helpfulness. Specifically, we research whether framing a review as promotion- vs. prevention-focused would moderate fluency effect on consumers’ perception of online product reviews. To sum up, in this research we investigate how consumers’ evaluation on online product reviews is influenced by manipulating the review to be promotion- vs. preventionoriented and easy- vs. hard-to-read. To our best understanding, little of past research has directly examined the interplay of fluency and framing in consumer judgments, especially in social media contexts. We wish to collect further evidence regarding the underlying rationale involving fluency and framing effects on consumers’ perception of review helpfulness.
THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT AND HYPOTHESES
Researchers have defined online reviews as peer-generated product evaluations posted on a company or third party website (Mudambi & Schuff, 2010). To better understand how consumers evaluate online reviews, we propose to examine the effects of fluency and framing on perceived review helpfulness. First, fluency, defined as the ease of information processing, could make a strong impact on various judgments, including perceived risk, liking, and confidence (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2009; Novemsky, Dhar, & Schwarz, 2007; Reber, Winkielman, & Schwarz, 1998). We notice that limited empirical work has yet addressed the relationship between fluency and perceived review helpfulness, although fluency is easy to manipulate and could have overwhelming effect on judgments. Rather, marketing and social media researchers have long been focused on content- and emotion-based features of online reviews in relation to review helpfulness (Moore, 2015; Mudambi & Schuff, 2010). Therefore, this research aims to address this limitation by exploring fluency effect on review helpfulness. Second, we suggest that framing, by focusing on promotion vs. prevention, could influence consumers’ perception of online product reviews. In particular, regulatory focus literature has revealed that, message framing would influence the effectiveness of persuasion (Higgins, 1998; Meyerowitz & Chaiken, 1987; Tykocinski, Higgins, & Chaiken, 1994). To emphasize, past research has gained mixed results about promotionvs. prevention-focused messages in persuasion (Block & Keller, 1995; Rothman et al., 1993). In this research we will have a close look at framing and explore its effect on online review helpfulness. Third, we would like to test whether a gain (vs. loss) frame is more effective when disfluency (vs. fluency) is experienced. In a past study, Shah, Alter, and Oppenheimer (2010) argue that fluency (vs. disfluency) makes people feel they are close to (vs. distant from) a stimulus, and then become more likely to be engaged in low (vs. high) level thinking. According to construal level theory, when people think concretely they are more likely to focus on concrete, specific details; by contrast, when they think abstractly they are more likely to focus on abstract, global properties (Trope & Liberman, 2003). In addition, past research has found that mind-set, or thinking concretely vs. abstractly, could interact with framing in consumer judgments (White, MacDonnell, & Dhal, 2011). Regarding the interaction between fluency and framing, mixed results are found in literature. On the one hand, Shah and colleagues (2010) have suggested that, disfluency is related to high-level thinking, and thus would make a promotion frame more effective. On the other hand, researchers have proposed that, disfluency induces negative feelings, and thus would make a prevention frame more effective (White, MacDonnell, & Dhal, 2011). Given the disagreement in past findings, we would like to further examine the underlying mechanisms for consumers to perceive online product reviews presented in easy vs. hard font and promotion vs. prevention frame. Following these studies, we will conduct three experiments to test fluency and framing effects on perceived review helpfulness. Our hypotheses are listed below:
H1: Consumers perceive an online product review in easy-to-read font (vs. hard-to-read) as more helpful.
H2-a: Consumers perceive an online product review in easy-to-read font and a promotion (vs. prevention) frame as more helpful.
H2-b: Consumers perceive an online product review in easy-to-read font and a prevention (vs. promotion) frame as more helpful.
H3-a: Consumers perceive an online product review in hard-to-read font and a prevention (vs. promotion) frame as more helpful.
H3-b: Consumers perceive an online product review in hard-to-read font and a promotion (vs. prevention) frame as more helpful.
RESEARCH METHOD
We propose three experiments to examine fluency and framing effects on perceived review helpfulness, by using an actual product review collected from Amazon.com. Two hundred undergraduate students from a public university in mainland China will participate in our experiments. In Experiment 1, we will investigate the main effect of fluency on review helpfulness. It is expected that, fluency would have significant effect on perceived review helpfulness. A review on a home speaker – Amazon Echo Dot is selected, and then rated by three individual researchers as relatively neutral and objective. We manipulate fluency by displaying the review in an easy- vs. hard-to-read font, respectively. After reading the review, using 7-point scales participants rate fluency (1 = very difficult, 7 = very easy) and review helpfulness (1 = not helpful at all, 7 = very helpful). To test fluency effect as predicted in H1, we will conduct a t-test. Also, using t-test we will check if the manipulation is successful. In Experiments 2 and 3, we will examine the main effect of framing on review helpfulness, as well as the interaction between fluency and framing. As discussed earlier, past research suggests two opposing expectations. As stated in H2-a and H3-a, promotion (vs. prevention) frame is more effective when a review is shown in easy (vs. hard) font. However, H2-b and H3-b are holding the contradictory predictions. Here, the review is modified to be more focused on promotion vs. prevention respectively, shown in either easy- or hard-to-read font. In each experiment, half of the participants read the Amazon Echo Dot’s review in a promotion frame and the other half will process the review in a prevention frame. In both promotion and prevention conditions, participants are randomly assigned to read the review in an easy- or hard-to-read font. To test our hypotheses, we will employ a 2 (easy vs. hard) x 2 (promotion vs. prevention) ANOVA. In addition, to understand the rationale of consumers’ making evaluation on reviews, we ask participants to use information contained in the review to write a short description of the product. So that, we will be able to capture participants’ thinking mode. Also, we ask participants to rate review valence (1 = very negative, 7 = very positive) and describe their feelings after reading the review, in order to examine if framing would result in different feelings. Then, we analyze these self-reported responses, in attempts to determine either participants’ mind-set (concrete vs. abstract) or their feelings (positive vs. negative) would be more prevalent when they process and evaluate the review. A mediational analysis will be conducted to explore the mechanisms underlying consumers’ perception of review helpfulness.
DISCUSSION
The aim of this research is to test whether fluency and framing would influence perceived online review helpfulness. Also, our research is designed to explore the interplay of fluency and framing in review perception. The completed work will present empirical results to demonstrate the roles of fluency and framing in consumers’ review evaluations, through the three experiments as proposed. Theoretically, our research will contribute to existing literature by addressing the effects of fluency and framing on consumer decision making, in the context of online marketing communications. Practically, our research will provide insights for marketers and consumers to engage in communications via online review systems. Given that fluency and framing are considered as salient cues to influence consumer decisions, marketers should learn how to leverage these factors while shaping the framework in which online product information is created and shared by consumers.
In the context of Sunday brunch evaluation, this research found that US participants perceived a menu price with 15% customary tipping as less expensive than the same price with a 15% mandatory service gratuity. In addition, they expressed greater intent to patronize a restaurant when it is under voluntary tipping than when it is under a corresponding mandatory service gratuity. More importantly, the results showed that participants’ use of surcharge information and perceived surcharge fairness acted in parallel and with similar strengths as mediators of the relationship between surcharge policy and menu price perception. However, the relationship between surcharge policy and patronage intent was fully mediated by participants’ perceived surcharge fairness. The findings of the present research have important implications for the US food service industry as a growing number of restaurants have adopted mandatory service gratuity in place of voluntary tipping in recent years. Although the decision to switch to mandatory service gratuity is mostly driven by concerns about internal customers such as employee compensation, this research suggests that it may have a negative impact on external customers in terms of menu price perception and patronage intent. Consequently, restaurants, especially those targeting price-sensitive clientele, should think twice before jumping on the mandatory gratuity bandwagon.
This research addresses an important, yet under-researched, issue concerning the management of loyalty programs (LPs) in the era of globalization: how to effectively motivate LP members from different cultures to continue the reward pursuit process. Drawing on cross-cultural research and regulatory fit theory, we identify feedback framing as a low-cost, easy-to-implement strategy for building program loyalty across cultures. Two cross-cultural studies confirm all the hypotheses about the effects of feedback framing. Overall, this research advances theoretical understanding of reward pursuit behavior across cultures and offers practical advice for managing LPs in different cultural contexts.
Large retailers use strategic alliances with suppliers in order to obtain customized distribution services from the suppliers. Forming strategic alliances with large retailers requires suppliers to make relationship-specific investments in the retailers. Transaction cost analysis suggests that the investments create a potential of hold up and discourage suppliers from forming the alliance. This study considers that regulatory focus of suppliers is a determinant of forming strategic alliance. It hypothesizes that promotion-focused suppliers are likely to accept an uncertain alliance with larger retailers even if it requires them to make relationship-specific investments. On the other hand, it is suggested that prevention-focused suppliers are unlikely to accept the same offer under the same conditions.
Large companies like Nike, Walmart or the German media company Hubert Burda have recently started to use weather data to predict sales and to advertise certain products and services. Technical innovations in particular geo-targeting via GPS and mobile display advertising enable and boost this emerging trend.
However, weather not only influences what services and products consumers buy, but also their motivation, mood and risk-taking behavior. Until now there is limited knowledge about the causal effect of weather and so to answer the question: How should advertisers frame their messages depending on the weather condition to increase advertising effectiveness?
This study is the first one which addresses this question by conducting a laboratory experiment with 200 participants. The results unravel the underlying mechanism of weather suggesting that good (bad) weather positively (negatively) influences mood, lowers (rises) risk perception and changes motivation/aspiration (i.e., regulatory focus). Most important for advertiser, we found that gain-framed messages were more effective in good weather situation, whereas loss-framed messages were more effective in bad weather.
This research aims to look at the contradictory effects of corporate social responsibility as conducted by luxury brands. On the one hand, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is known to product positive effects on brands such as the transfer of goodwill and image but on the other hand because of the purported impact of disfluency, previous research has argued that the emphasis on self enhancement runs counter to the more social agenda of CSR. In this study we examine of power and how that can mediate when positive and negative impact of CSR when such campaigns are implemented by luxury brands.
This study examines consumer reaction to different luxury advertising information (promotion-focus vs. prevention-focus). Studies examine the relationship between consumers’ face concern and individual regulatory focus, and explore the relationship between face concern and luxury advertising type with a 2 (face concerns) × 2 (advertising information) experiment design.
Although vast research has been done to better understand brand knowledge, few studies explore the conscious and the unconscious mental processes that increase brand equity when a brand is linked with value adding entities like persons, events or symbols. In our paper we introduce an integrated approach that includes both the explicit and implicit facets of customers’ brand knowledge and the leveraging effects when a brand is framed by another entity. In order to analyze brand knowledge enhancement effects in sufficient detail, we fall back on the multifaceted model of brand leverage by combining a brand with an external label. Our study results show that the combination of measuring implicit and explicit facets of brand knowledge is a better indicator to predict brand knowledge enhancement, and also that the analysis of subconscious processes help to better position the linked object in customers’ perception in order to foster the brand leveraging success.Although vast research has been done to better understand brand knowledge, few studies explore the conscious and the unconscious mental processes that increase brand equity when a brand is linked with value adding entities like persons, events or symbols. In our paper we introduce an integrated approach that includes both the explicit and implicit facets of customers’ brand knowledge and the leveraging effects when a brand is framed by another entity. In order to analyze brand knowledge enhancement effects in sufficient detail, we fall back on the multifaceted model of brand leverage by combining a brand with an external label. Our study results show that the combination of measuring implicit and explicit facets of brand knowledge is a better indicator to predict brand knowledge enhancement, and also that the analysis of subconscious processes help to better position the linked object in customers’ perception in order to foster the brand leveraging success.
Intrigued by the recent emergence and success of low-cost airlines, which use the additive option price framing (as opposed to the subtractive option price framing used by the traditional full-service airlines), we attempted to develop and empirically test a theoretical model that can help better understand the success of this innovative pricing practice for optional services. Drawing on the prospect theory and the loss aversion and endowment effect theory, we argue that option price framing affect customer responses such as perceived risk, perceived price fairness and affect. Further, we propose interaction effects between option framing and product type (utilitarian vs. hedonic) on perceived risk. Using a quasi-experimental design, we constructed four scenarios (2 option price framings x 2 product types). We administered the scenario-based survey among part-time MBA students (full-time managers). Analysis results of 132 responses demonstrated that customer responses in perceived risk, perceived fairness and affect were more favorable in the additive option framing, which in turn led to higher purchase intention. Further, these effects were stronger for utilitarian products. For hedonic products, no difference in perceived risk was observed between the two option price framings. Consequently, our study offered an explanation for when and why the additive option price framing might work better.