Business Commons^™

More Voices Persuade: The Attentional Benefits Of Voice Numerosity, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban Mukherjee, Amitava Chattopadhyay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The authors posit that in an initial exposure to a broadcast video, hearing different voices narrate (in succession) a persuasive message encourages consumers’ attention and processing of the message, thereby facilitating persuasion; this is referred to as “the voice numerosity effect.” Across four studies (plus validation and replication studies)—including two large-scale, real-world datasets (with more than 11,000 crowdfunding videos and over 3.6 million customer transactions, and more than 1,600 video ads) and two controlled experiments (with over 1,800 participants)—the results provide support for the hypothesized effect. The effect (1) has consequential, economic implications in a real-world marketplace, (2) is more …

The Persuasive Design Of Ai-Synthesized Voices, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban. Mukherjee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We investigate the impact of AI-based, machine-synthesized narrating voices on consumer cognitions and behavior in media-rich environment. Across four studies (plus pretests), we show that the design of AI voices systematically and predictably affects consumer cognition and behavior. Specifically, the designs of AI voices have differential effects in early versus later stages of consumer purchase journey. In situations where the consumers’ attention is already directed to the message, we find that marcomm with more AI voices generates a smaller proportion of favorable thoughts, which leads to a lower purchase likelihood. These results support our conceptualization that hearing more AI voices …

Two Essays On Using Data Manipulation To Justify Biased Reports, Cody Lu

Doctoral Dissertations

An important aspect of data-generated metrics is the degree to which they can be manipulated by users. Agents providing reports often (a) have incentive conflicts with principals and (b) have access to and an ability to manipulate data used in those reports. This study investigates how data manipulation affects advisors’ tendency to provide biased recommendations when incentives between advisors and advisees are misaligned and aligned. Drawing on theories in deception and persuasion, I posit that, when incentives are misaligned, advisors will provide a more biased recommendation when the evidence used to support their recommendation is more manipulable. I also predict …

Engaging Gen Z Through Humor, Wendy Gillis, Fred Pozin

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2023

ABSTRACT

The current generation of undergraduate students in the classroom (Gen Z) is the loneliest generation in the U.S. (Twenge, 2017), and they know it. What are they spending time on? Their phones. What are they not spending time on? Time with friends (Twenge, 2017). Gen Z has more of a life online versus offline, yet Gen Z yearns for in-person interaction, and the pandemic has only made it worse. The authors’ advice? Tell a joke. By combining theories from psychology, management, and marketing, this conceptual paper explores the relationship between humor, trust, and persuasion.

Boosting Persuasion: The Attention Benefits Of Multiple Narrating Voices, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban Mukherjee, Amitava Chattopadhyay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The "Voice Numerosity Effect”: When hearing different voices narrating a marketing video facilitates persuasion. In a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Marketing Research, we investigate the role of voice (narrator) numerosity in marketing videos (Chang, Mukherjee, and Chattopadhyay 2022). For example, consider the following two real-life examples: a product video introducing Apple’s AirPods Max had two narrating voices while a product video introducing Apple’s new Macbook Pro had a single narrating voice. Does the difference in the number of narrating voices influence consumers’ attention and subsequent behaviour?

The Psychology Behind The Marketing Of Alcohol And Tobacco: How We Convince People To Do Things That Are Bad For Them, Sophie Dvorkin

CMC Senior Theses

The marketing tactics of the alcohol and tobacco industry are inextricably linked through the psychological basis upon which these companies target their customers. Through the principles of reciprocity, social proof, scarcity, commitment and consistency, unity, and authority featured in Robert Cialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (2021). The principle of reciprocity explains how companies get customers to buy in, social proof explains our dependence on our peers’ validation, and scarcity explains why we want what we can’t have. The principles of commitment and consistency explain how companies garner long-term customers that see themselves as an extension of a brand, …