Hot Stuff
The Ripple Effect of Firm-Generated Content on New Movie Releases
Shijie Lu, Isaac Dinner & Rajdeep Grewal
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Marketers frequently create social media content, i.e., firm-generated content (FGC), to ignite interest in new movies. As such, there is a clear need to understand the magnitude and heterogeneity of the effect of FGC on movie demand and associated user-generated content (UGC). The authors empirically examine the complex interactions among FGC, UGC, and sales using social media (tweets) data that is normally available to firms. They investigate two potential mechanisms by which FGC may drive box office revenues: (1) a direct mechanism, such that users who see FGC directly drives revenue, and (2) an indirect "ripple effect," by which FGC increases movie related UGC, which then drives consumption. By analyzing 145,502 firm-generated and 5.9 million user-generated Twitter posts associated with 159 movies, the authors find a positive and significant effect of FGC on movie sales, which UGC fully mediates, which supports the indirect ripple effect reasoning. Impressions of FGC by followers, as opposed to non-followers of firm accounts, mainly drive the effect of FGC on UGC. In addition, FGC by movie accounts is more effective than that by actors and studios. Firms' regular posts with a movie-specific hashtag are more effective than a reply, a retweet, and a post without the hashtag. The finding of the ripple effect suggests that movie executives should focus on creating FGC that sparks conversations among followers during new movie releases.
Social Network Theory and Comedy: Insights from NBC's The Office
Adam Roth
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, November 2022
Abstract:
Television sitcoms frequently invoke social network concepts to highlight specific jokes or scenes. In this visualization, the author draws on data from NBC's The Office to explore how show creator Greg Daniels and his writing staff leveraged a well-known social network concept in the overall development of their show. By identifying the presence of structural holes (i.e., the absence of ties between two or more network members), The Office produced multiple novel storylines in which different sets of characters who did not routinely interact were jointly forced into comedic situations. As evidenced through a network visualization -- and interviews with the show's writers -- Greg Daniels was clearly thinking like a social network theorist in his careful development of one of the most successful sitcoms in television history.
When and How Slow Motion Makes Products More Luxurious
Sungjin Jung & David Dubois
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research examines when and how the speed of video ads influences consumers' perceptions of luxuriousness and their subsequent behaviors toward products or brands featured in the ads. Across 12 experiments (total N = 27,227, five preregistered), we demonstrate that when a video ad depicts a product in slow motion (vs. regular speed), consumers perceive the featured product or brand as more luxurious. The effect emerges across various product categories (chocolate, shampoo, mineral water, wine) and in different countries (United States, United Kingdom, France). Tests of mediation and moderation suggest that the effect occurs because viewing a slow-motion ad increases feelings of immersion, which in turn lead consumers to expect greater hedonic value from the featured product and thus view it as more luxurious. Consistent with this account, the effect weakens when video blurriness or buffering impairs the immersive viewing experience afforded by slow motion, and the effect attenuates among consumers very weakly or very strongly predisposed to experience immersion. Finally, by enhancing perceptions of luxuriousness, slow motion subsequently boosts consumers' desire for the featured product or brand (as manifested by higher willingness-to-pay, purchase intentions, and ad click rates), particularly when the goal to consume luxury is salient (vs. not).
Deal or no deal? How round vs precise percentage offers and price-ending mimicry affect impasse risk in over 25 million eBay negotiations
Hannes Petrowsky et al.
Journal of Economic Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Negotiations can end with a successful deal or with an impasse. To minimize the impasse risk, how assertive and precise should negotiators' first offers be? Recent studies diverge in their findings as to the advantages and disadvantages of making round vs precise offers. Based on over 25 million eBay negotiations, the present research establishes correlational evidence that buyer offers at round percentages of the seller's list price -- for instance, exactly 50% (75%, 90%, etc.) -- coincide with a markedly smaller impasse risk than offers just above (e.g., 50.1%) or just below (49.9%) these round percentages. We also find that buyers who mimic sellers' list price precision (e.g., offering $89.95 for a product listed at $99.99) and exact price endings ($30.13 for a list price of $40.13) incur markedly smaller impasse risks. Our findings show that the effectiveness of buyers' round vs precise offers depends on the roundness of the seller's list price, therefore extending previous research that focused on offer precision without taking the opponent's list price into account. We discuss promising avenues for future research on the interpersonal effects of offer precision and price-ending mimicry.
Relations in Aesthetic Space: How Color Enables Market Positioning
Stoyan Sgourev, Erik Aadland & Giovanni Formilan
Administrative Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Color is omnipresent, but organizational research features no systematic theory or established method for analyzing it. We develop a relational approach to color, conceptualizing it as a means of positioning relative to a reference group or style and validating it through a computational method for processing digital images. The research context is Norwegian black metal -- a genre of extreme metal music that achieved notoriety in the early 1990s through band members' criminal activity. Our analysis of 5,125 album covers between 1989 and 2019 confirms the alignment of aesthetic and music features and articulates the role of color in the construction of a relational identity based on forces of association and disassociation. Black metal bands associated with past color choices of non-black metal bands up to a point, after which they started to disassociate from them. The positioning is dynamic, pursuing adaptation to external events. Black metal bands reacted to their stigmatization in Norwegian society by increasing colorfulness and later returning to a darker aesthetic in defiance of the genre's commercialization. Our analysis attests to color's ability to organize producers' exchange of information and attention, illustrating the interweaving of aesthetic features and relational processes in markets.
Proprietary Knowledge Protection and Product Market Performance
Justin Hung Nguyen, Peter Pham & Buhui Qiu
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
Does proprietary knowledge protection (PKP) spur or hinder the product-market performance of new firms? Exploiting the staggered adoptions of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine by US State Courts, which enhance PKP, we show that treated firms increase industry-adjusted sales growth by 2% compared to control firms. The effect is concentrated among small and young firms, and increases with the scope of proprietary knowledge and rivals' access to external finance. PKP encourages firms to develop new products and stimulates IPO activity. Our results suggest that PKP alleviates predation risk associated with "deep-pocket" rivals by allowing firms to maintain competitive advantages.