Branding Experience
What Do You Do Outside of Work? When and Why Disclosing Eudaimonic Leisure Activities Increases Competence Perceptions and Consumer Choice
Michelle Daniels, Adriana Samper & Andrea Morales
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Consumers have increasing access to more holistic information about the providers they consider working with and hiring (e.g., realtors, designers), including how they spend their free time. This research examines how a professional’s disclosure of their leisure activities impacts consumer choice. While the way people spend their leisure time should be unrelated to their professional aptitude, across an online field study and four lab studies, the authors demonstrate that disclosing leisure activities associated with eudaimonic well-being (ie, meaning, fulfillment), such as hiking or cooking, can positively impact consumer choice. Such disclosures, relative to either not disclosing leisure or disclosing less eudaimonic activities such as relaxing or watching television, increase perceptions of competence, and in turn, interest in choosing, hiring, and supporting these individuals. Notably, the effects of eudaimonic leisure on competence and hiring intentions are attenuated if other diagnostic competence cues are present, such as a job- related award, and among those who value productivity less (ie, have a low productivity orientation). Thus, the authors show how seemingly irrelevant personal information about professionals can inform consumer choice. Moreover, by manipulating eudaimonic well-being via leisure disclosures, they demonstrate how such cues impact person perception, integrating research on well-being, self-disclosure, and social perceptions.
When Diversity Backfires: The Asymmetric Role of Multicultural Diversity on Brand Perception
Esther Uduehi et al.
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Brands are expanding their market to new consumers by displaying cultural diversity in marketing campaigns -- but the risks are unclear. This article explores the role of the brand’s characteristics in multicultural diversity. Our findings suggest that when brands launch a new multicultural diversity campaign, it may be well-received if the brand’s original focus was on the needs of nonmarginalized consumers. However, for brands with a focus on the needs of marginalized consumers (i.e., marginalized-focused brands), such a campaign may be perceived as selling out, thereby negatively impacting consumers’ reactions. Six studies with Black and White U.S. consumers explore this novel “sellout effect” across various product categories and for consequential behaviors. Inclusion is identified as a key mechanism, mitigation strategies are explored, and implications for theory and practice are discussed. Findings highlight the importance of diversity marketing, understanding marginalization for consumers and brands, and the need for research that considers race and ethnicity.
When and Why Consumers (Erroneously) Believe Income Impacts the Enjoyment of Consumption Experiences
Jenny Olson et al.
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examine how people (as observers) anticipate levels of happiness from psychological consumption experiences (e.g., learning a new language or visiting a park). All else being equal, we propose and demonstrate that people expect differences in happiness based on income. Specifically, we show that relative to observers themselves, individuals simultaneously expect low-income consumers to enjoy psychological consumption experiences less and high-income consumers to enjoy them more. This is because consumers hold a lay theory that human needs must be fulfilled in a sequential, linear manner, which leads to income-based inferences of need prioritization. Thus, observers simultaneously believe that low-income consumers do (and should) prioritize their low-level physical needs first, but high-income consumers (who have presumably already fulfilled their physical needs) can prioritize their high-level psychological needs. Critically, we demonstrate that these lay theory-driven inferences are faulty, showing that the priority level assigned to these needs and the actual happiness resulting from psychological consumption experiences do not follow the predicted pattern. Namely, income either has no relationship with actual happiness (visitors to theme parks, sporting events, and concerts), or the reverse relationship, such that lower-income consumers report greater happiness than higher-income consumers (secondary data from a major league professional sports team).
Generous Returners, Vanishing Refunds: How Consumers Spend Monetary Refunds of Returns
Ata Jami
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, January 2025
Abstract:
For every $100 spent on retail industry, consumers on average return $14.50 value of products to retailers, and they receive the amount they originally paid as a refund. The refund money is fungible, and it can be freely spent on other items or be saved. This research examines consumers' propensity to spend return refunds and the types of products they purchase with return refunds. Across 10 studies (N = 2710), I show that people are more likely to make a purchase and to purchase hedonic products when they are spending return refunds versus money typically used for purchases. Examining the psychological mechanism underlying this effect, I show that consumers are more likely to spend return refunds because they perceive a lower psychological loss and experience less pain of paying when spending refund money than when spending other regularly available monetary sources. Hence, receiving return refunds has a stronger effect on the spending behavior of people who chronically experience an intense pain of paying (i.e., “tightwads”) than those who experience less pain (i.e., “spendthrifts”). Moreover, this research shows that neither payment depreciation nor the perception of a return refund as a windfall fully explain how people choose to spend it. In sum, individuals have a different psychological experience when they spend return refunds versus other conventional monetary sources.
Opposing Influences of YouTube Influencers: Purchase and Usage Effects in the Video Game Industry
Nan Li, Avery Haviv & Mitchell Lovett
Marketing Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Influencers promote firms’ products by posting content such as videos on social media platforms. For entertainment products, these posts could substitute or complement demand for the original entertainment product. We study video games, the largest entertainment product category comprising one third of YouTube traffic, using a large daily panel data set on thousands of video games. Leveraging a supply shock on YouTube called the “Adpocalypse,” we measure the impact of influencer videos on purchase and usage of games. We provide plausibly causal evidence that, on average, influencer video posts substitute to video games for purchases but complement for usage. We also find that influencer effects differ across firms. Managers can use these results to align the influencer effects they face with their revenue models, such as using in-game purchases or a subscription model when facing complements on usage.