Knowledge that Transforms

Many consumers purchase products in stores, where they can physically examine and touch the items. In addition, consumers shop for products online or through direct mail, where they cannot physically examine and touch the merchandise. Building on an analysis of perceptual mechanisms involved in the sense of touch, we find that products with primarily material properties, such as clothing or carpeting, are more likely to be preferred in shopping environments that allow physical inspection than in those environments that do not. We also find that there is no difference in preference across the two environments for products with primarily geometric properties, such as packaged goods, for which vision is highly diagnostic. Furthermore, when the touch properties of a material product are verbally described, this reduces the difference in preference between the two environments.

The set of associations consumers have about a brand is an important component of brand equity. In this article, we focus on reference groups as a source of brand associations, which can be linked to one's mental representation of self to meet self‐verification or self‐enhancement goals. We conceptualize this linkage at an aggregate level in terms of self‐brand connections, that is, the extent to which individuals have incorporated a brand into their self‐concept. In 2 studies, we show that brands used by member groups and aspiration groups can become connected to consumers’ mental representation of self as they use these brands to define and create their self‐concepts. Results from Experiment 1 show that the degree to which member group and aspiration group usage influences individual self‐brand connections is contingent on the degree to which the individual belongs to a member group or wishes to belong to an aspiration group. In Experiment 2, we found that for individuals with self‐enhancement goals, aspiration group brand use has a greater impact on self‐brand connections; for individuals with self‐verification goals, on the other hand, member group use has a greater impact.

Prior research suggests that consumers evaluate firms more negatively if they attribute the firm's business practices to firm‐serving motivations rather than to motivations that serve the public good. We propose an alternative hypothesis: Firm‐serving attributions lower evaluation of the firm only when they are inconsistent with the firm's expressed motive. As such, the negative effect of consumer skepticism regarding a firm's motives can be inhibited by public acknowledgment of the strategic benefits to the firm. The power of this inhibition procedure was demonstrated in an experiment in which we manipulated the salience of firm‐serving benefits and the firm's publicly stated motive. Consumer evaluation of the sponsoring firm was lowest in conditions when firm‐serving benefits were salient and the firm outwardly stated purely public‐serving motives. This experiment also revealed that the potential negative effects of skepticism were the most pronounced when individuals engaged in causal attribution prior to company evaluation. Finally, in this study we measured the different effects on attribution and evaluation of 2 distinct forms of skepticism: situational skepticism, which is a momentary state of distrust of an actor's motivations, and dispositional skepticism, which is an individual's ongoing tendency to be suspicious of other people's motives.

Recent social psychological research demonstrates that certain types of mental simulation are particularly useful for helping individuals reach the future they envision (e.g., Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armor, 1998). More specifically, Taylor's (Pham, Taylor, 1999; Taylor et al., 1998) recent research indicates that the most successful simulations focus on the process of reaching a goal rather than on the outcomes or attainment of the goal. In this article, we extend consideration of process‐ versus outcome‐focused thought to advertising. In studies manipulating the focus of participants’ thoughts while viewing a print advertisement, we find that process‐focused thought results in significantly higher behavioral intentions than outcome‐focused thought when advertisement arguments are strong. However, in the case of weak advertisement arguments, process‐focused thought actually lowers behavioral intentions compared to thoughts focusing on the end result or outcome of product usage. Thus, in addition to increasing the persuasive power of strong advertising claims, process‐focused thinking appears to make individuals better or more discerning consumers who do not form behavioral intentions when it is inappropriate to do so.

Recent research has shown that information presented by untrustworthy endorsers is likely to be thoughtfully elaborated, whereas information presented by trustworthy endorsers is likely to be unthinkingly accepted (Priester & Petty, 1995). Study 1 manipulated argument quality and assessed cognitive responses to demonstrate that this influence of trustworthiness on persuasion holds for familiar endorsers likely to be used in actual advertisements. Study 2 demonstrated that trustworthiness can be influenced by individuals endorsing too many products, with similar persuasion consequences (i.e., untrustworthy endorsers prompt greater scrutiny of product‐related attributes than trustworthy endorsers). Study 2 also found that the attitudes that resulted from an untrustworthy endorser came to mind faster, even when those attitudes were equivalently positive—thus demonstrating that elaboration can influence attitude accessibility. This research provides evidence that attitude extremity may not be a sufficient indicator of advertising effectiveness, in that equally extreme attitudes can vary as to the bases by which they were formed, their underlying strength, and their effectiveness. Further, this research provides theoretical and strategic insight into the use of trustworthy and untrustworthy endorsers.

We examined the benefits to a corporate sponsor of two types of philanthropic activities — cause promotions and advocacy advertising. Results from 4 laboratory studies indicate that perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are affected by consumers’ elaboration levels. Consumer perceptions of CSR are more favorable for cause promotions, which do not receive much elaboration, than they are for advocacy advertising, which prompts more elaboration. In addition, perceived congruence between the sponsor and the social issue is shown to moderate these effects: Higher congruence between the sponsor and social issue increases favorable ratings of CSR for cause promotions but only if elaboration on the sponsorship activity is facilitated. On the other hand, lower congruence increases favorable ratings of CSR for advocacy advertising as long as elaboration on the sponsorship is not constrained. We also found that higher congruence enhances CSR ratings if participants are primed to focus their attention on the sponsor brand, whereas lower congruence enhances CSR if participants are primed to focus their attention on the social issue.