Business Commons^™

The Power Of Brand Love, Marc Fetscherin, Ryan Barker, Jeffery Peacock

Faculty Publications

In this article we would like to respond to Romaniuk’s (2013) Viewpoint article "What’s (brand) love got to do with it?" and provide our point of view regarding brand love. While we agree with some of the limitations she points out in Batra et al.’s (2012) article, and acknowledge them, we disagree with her statement that there is ‘no evidence that building brand love leads to higher market share, sales or profitability’ (Romaniuk 2013, p. 185). It is conceivable that there was no evidence when she wrote the article in 2013. However, as this article illustrates, we have since 2013 …

Consumer Brand Relationships Landscape, Marc Fetscherin, Daniel Heinrich

Faculty Publications

This article sheds light on the current state of research on consumer brand relationships (CBR) and presents two distinct taxonomies, respectively, theoretical frameworks that help to classify CBR research. First, the 'brand connection matrix' that classifies brand relationships into functional-based (low versus high) and emotional-based (low versus high) connections to brands. This framework leads us with a 2 × 2 matrix consisting of four quadrants, each of which are discussed. Second, the 'brand feeling matrix' classifies consumer's relationships with brands by grouping them into the strengths of relationships (weak versus strong) and the consumers' feeling toward the brand (positive versus …

The Effect Of Product Category On Consumer Brand Relationships, Marc Fetscherin, Michèle Boulanger, Gustavo Q. Souki, Cid Goncalves Filho

Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the effect of product category on consumer brand relationships. Design/methodology/approach - Based on a total of 800 consumers, respondents evaluated their relationship with their favorite brand in one of the four product categories studied (soft drink, mobile phone, shoes, cars). EFA, subsequent CFA, SEM and ANOVA were used to assess these relationships and the product category effect. Findings - The authors find that brand love positively influences brand loyalty and both, influence positively WOM and purchase intention. Looking at the directionality of these relationships, the results show no product category differences. However, the …

A Study Of Visual Puffery In Fragrance Advertising: Is The Message Sent Stronger Than The Actual Scent?, Mark Toncar, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper investigates visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects’ expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations. It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations.

Design/methodology/approach - By means of a semiotic analysis we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare …

Paradox And The Consumption Of Authenticity Through Reality Television, Randall L. Rose, Stacy L. Wood

Faculty Publications

We position reality television within the broader category of consumer practices of authenticity seeking in a postmodern cultural context. The study draws on relevant perspectives from consumer research, literary criticism, sociology, and anthropology to argue that viewers of reality television encounter three elements of paradox in the process of constructing authenticity. The negotiation of each paradox exceeds the process of coping with or resolving their inherent contradictions to encompass the creation of new values. We argue that consumers blend fantastic elements of programming with indexical elements connected to their lived experiences to create a form of self-referential hyperauthenticity.

Credit Cards As Lifestyle Facilitators, Matthew J. Bernthal, David Crockett, Randall L. Rose

Faculty Publications

Credit cards are an increasingly essential technology, but they carry with them the paradoxical capacity to propel consumers along lifestyle trajectories of marketplace freedom or constraint. We analyze accounts provided by consumers, credit counselors, and participants in a credit counseling seminar in order to develop a differentiated theory of lifestyle facilitation through credit card practice. The skills and tastes expressed by credit card practice help distinguish between the lifestyles of those with higher cultural capital relative to those with lower cultural capital. Differences in lifestyle regulation practice are posited to originate in cultural discourses related to entitlement and frugality.

The Role Of Normative Political Ideology In Consumer Behavior, David Crockett, Melanie Wallendorf

Faculty Publications

This study of African-American consumers living in a large racially segregated midwestern city adds to extant theory on ideology in consumer behavior by considering the role of normative political ideology in provisioning. The specific roles of traditional black liberal and black nationalist political ideologies are discussed. We conclude that normative political ideology is central to understanding shopping as an expression of social and political relations between households confronting attenuated access to goods and services, ranging from housing to food, in a setting stratified by gender, race, and class. Beyond the specifics of this demographic group and setting, we suggest contemporary …

Examining The Effects Of Strategic Marketing Initiative And First-Mover Efforts On Market Share Performance, Richard A. Heiens, Larry P. Pleshko, Robert T. Leach

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Furniture Manufacturing And Marketing: Eight Strategic Issues For The 21st Century, Steven H. Bullard, C. D. West

Faculty Publications

“Take change by the hand, or it will take you by the throat.” Attributed to Winston Churchill, this brief sentence emphasizes the need to understand and embrace change in general. What important “changes” will impact furniture production and marketing in the 21st century? And what can furniture manufacturers and marketers do to “take change by the hand” today and in the future?

Consumer Self-Confidence: Refinements In Conceptualization And Measurement, William O. Bearden, David M. Hardesty, Randall L. Rose

Faculty Publications

The development and validation of measures to assess multiple dimensions of consumer self-confidence are described in this article. Scale-development procedures resulted in a six-factor correlated model made up of the following dimensions: information acquisition, consideration-set formation, personal outcomes, social outcomes, persuasion knowledge, and marketplace interfaces. A series of studies demonstrate the psychometric properties of the measures, their discriminant validity with respect to related constructs, their construct validity, and their ability to moderate relationships among other important consumer behavior variables.

An Exploration Of High-Risk Leisure Consumption Through Skydiving, Richard L. Celsi, Randall L. Rose, Thomas W. Leigh

Faculty Publications

A sociocultural approach is used to explore voluntary high-risk consumption Specifically, we examine the dynamics of individuals' motives, risk perceptions, and benefit/cost outcomes of participation in increasingly popular high-risk leisure activities such as skydiving, climbing, and BASE jumping (parachuting from fixed objects). An ethnography of a skydiving subculture provides the primary empirical data. We propose an extended dramatic model that explains both macroenvironmental and inter- and intrapersonal influences and motives for high-risk consumption. Key findings indicate (1) an evolution of motives that explains initial and continuing participation in high-risk activities and (2) a coinciding evolution of risk acculturation that leads …

An Attributional Analysis Of Resistance To Group Pressure Regarding Illicit Drug And Alcohol Consumption, Randall L. Rose, William O. Bearden, Jesse E. Teel

Faculty Publications

This article investigates the role of attributional thinking in generating resistance to pressures toward conformity in the illicit consumption of drugs and alcohol. The results of four studies regarding how conformity influences illicit drug and alcohol consumption among high school and college students are reported. In study 1 more than two-thirds of the respondents reported concern for the implications of their own dissent or compliance regarding the reactions of their peers. Study 2 demonstrated a significant relationship between high school students' attributional thinking concerning a peer group's illicit beer consumption and conformity, expressed as intentions to drink the beer. In …

Age: The Most Important Factor In Upholstered Furniture Buying Plans, Steven H. Bullard

Faculty Publications

Age is highly related to income. lifestyle and other critical factors in consumer behavior. In a recent survey of over 2.000 U.S. households. age proved to be the most important determinant of up· holstered furniture purchasing plans. Consumers less than 45 years old. for example. are more than three times more likely to plan purchases of upholstered household furniture than those 65 and older.

Is Wood Good?, Steven H. Bullard

Faculty Publications

I n U.S. households there is currently a very strong belief that "wood is good" in upholstered furniture. In a recent surve)' of the upholstered furniture buying plans of over 2.000 U.S. households:

• 88.4 percent of the respondents said the material used in frame construction was important, and ...

• 85.4 percent said they preferred wood over metals. Fiberglas or other frame materials.

Attention To Social Comparison Information: An Individual Difference Factor Affecting Consumer Conformity, William O. Bearden, Randall L. Rose

Faculty Publications

Interpersonal influence in consumer behavior is moderated by the extent of consumer sensitivity to social comparison information concerning product purchase and usage behavior (cf. Calder and Burnkrant 1977). Two survey studies indicate that Lennox and Wolfe's (1984) attention-to-social-comparison-information (AT-SCI) scale has adequate convergent and discriminant validity and moderates the relative influence of normative consequences on behavioral intentions, as predicted. A quasi-experiment and an experiment in which control subjects under no social pressure are compared with high and low ATSCI subjects under pressure reveal that high ATSCI subjects are more likely to comply with normative pressures.