Consumer Expertise Research Articles

On a Need-to-Know Basis: How the Distribution of Responsibility Between Couples Shapes Financial Literacy and Financial Outcomes

Many consumers suffer from low levels of financial literacy, and attempts to increase this dimension of consumer expertise via educational interventions are typically unsuccessful. We propose that many of these apparent deficits in literacy and learning may be caused by a cognitively efficient distribution of responsibility for knowledge and decision-making in different domains between relationship partners. New relationship partners adopt specialized domains of responsibility quickly and intuitively in a process guided more by circumstantial factors than by matching tasks with aptitudes (study 1). Cross-sectional data from consumers in long-term relationships provide evidence that distributions of responsibility for financial decision-making between partners may give rise to differences in financial literacy, such that the financial specialist develops expertise in this area while the non-specialist does not (study 3). This ever-growing gap in financial literacy is generally unrecognized by consumers (studies 2, 4), despite being linked to corresponding differences in both financial decision-making (studies 5, 6) and financial information search (study 6). Consumers seem to develop expertise on a “need to know” basis. We argue that offloading responsibility to a relationship partner may eliminate this need in the present, while simultaneously creating barriers to developing expertise if and when it is needed in the future.

Empirical Research on Consumer Expertise and Perceived Value of Fund Investors

In Highly professional and complicated industries, the enterprises usually anticipate improving their product or service knowledge system through customer education to let consumers perceive the value and usability of products or service better. Based on retrospection into related research literature, the decision-making process of Chinese fund investors are deeply studied by taking fund investors as the research objects and keeping foothold in service-dominant logic this paper. Thus, the relation among dimensions of fund investor customer expertise and perceived value is built by beginning with the customer’s resource. Through study on 309 Chinese fund investors, it’s found that there is positive correlation among dimensions of customer expertise and perceived value, and the robustness of regression analysis is very good. The conclusion of the research has certain guiding significance for the fund management company to provide professional training to the customers and those with different expertise level.

How to become a judgment device: valuation practices and the role of auctions in the emerging Chinese art market

This article studies the role of judgment devices in the emergence of markets for singularities. In particular, it seeks to understand how specific judgment devices become dominant in resolving uncertainty within these markets. Building on Karpik’s seminal theory, we argue that institutional environments (e.g. government regulations, political economic factors, the level of informality within business environments) as well as the level of expertise of consumers, co-determine which devices come to be used in new markets. Empirically, we focus on the emerging market for contemporary art in China. While auctions and auction prices are widely used in valuing contemporary art in China, this is highly illegitimate in international art markets. We argue that auctions act as a judgment device in China because of strong government backing, because other validating organizations, such as museums and art critics, are seen as untrustworthy, and because auctions send strong, easily interpretable signals to novice collectors.

10 years of Framework Act on Consumers, The Evaluation and Prospects of Consumer Education by Consumer Expert

10 years of Framework Act on Consumers, The Evaluation and Prospects of Consumer Education by Consumer Expert

Cross-modal interactions and effects of the level of expertise on the perception of bitterness and astringency of red wines

The present study investigates the role of sensory interactions and the level of expertise of consumers on the perception of bitterness and astringency in a red wine complex matrix.In the first experiment, a commercial red wine was spiked with quinine sulphate to produce two levels of bitterness. Seven samples with high and seven with low bitterness were further spiked with one of the following aroma vectors: vegetal, herbal, spicy, roasted, animal, dried fruit or with tartaric acid to modulate sourness. In the second experiment, the wine was spiked with an astringent proanthocyanidin fraction to produce two levels of astringency and with one of the seven vectors used in the first experiment or with quinine sulphate to modulate bitterness. Fourteen and 16 spiked samples of experiments 1 and 2, respectively, were sensory evaluated together with control samples to assess the intensity of the six aroma vectors, sourness, bitterness and astringency. Evaluation was performed using a descriptive analysis technique based on intensity rating by three groups of participants with different levels of expertise. The effect of the addition of one aroma vector, sourness or bitterness on bitter or astringent intensity was evaluated by ANOVA.No significant effect of aroma, sourness or bitterness was observed for astringent intensity, confirming that in these red wines, cross-modal interactions are not relevant in astringency. Bitter-aroma interactions were demonstrated for animal aroma just for less-experienced consumers (novices) attributed to a hedonic synergism. Significant decreases in bitterness due to sour vector were observed regardless consumer expertise. This could be explained in terms of interactions at both cognitive and receptor level.

Does Fair Trade Breed Contempt? A Cross-Country Examination on the Moderating Role of Brand Familiarity and Consumer Expertise on Product Evaluation

This article is a within- and cross-country examination of the impact of fair trade certification on consumers’ evaluations and attitudes toward ethically certified products. Across three experimental studies, the authors analyze how different levels of brand familiarity and fair trade expertise impact consumer decisions. The authors study this phenomenon across markets with different social orientation cultures to analyze potential dissimilarities in the way consumers evaluate and behave toward ethically certified products. Findings suggest that fair trade certifications enhance product valuations. However, this effect is especially observed for low familiar brands, once the level of fair trade expertise increases. Findings also suggest that there are individual cultural differences with respect to social and environmental labeling expertise that may account for some of the unexplained variation in choice behaviors observed across countries. Results indicate that especially in more (mature) individualistic markets (vs. collectivistic) consumer ethical behavior seems to be greatly influenced by consumers’ perceptions about the eligibility of brands using (or not) fair trade. This effect is strengthened by the significant mediating role of consumers’ ethicality perceptions on the relationship between fair trade and the willingness to pay for brands.

Do online reviews diminish physician authority? The case of cosmetic surgery in the U.S.

This article analyzes the substance and perception of online physician reviews, which are qualitative and quantitative assessments of physicians written and shared by patients, in the case of U.S. cosmetic surgery. Like other cash-pay medical specialties, cosmetic surgery is elective and paid for largely out of pocket, with patients having latitude in their choice of surgeon. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews, observations of an American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery professional meeting, and online reviews from the platforms RealSelf and Yelp, I identify two interdependent contributors to physician authority: reputation and expertise. I argue that surgeons see reviews overwhelmingly as a threat to their reputation, even as actual review content often positively reinforces physician expertise and enhances physician reputation. I show that most online reviews linked to interview participants are positive, according considerable deference to surgeons. Reviews add patients' embodied and consumer expertise as a circumscribed supplement to surgeons’ technical expertise. Moreover, reviews change the doctor-patient relationship by putting it on display for a larger audience of prospective patients, enabling patients and review platforms to affect physician reputation. Surgeons report changing how they practice to establish and maintain their reputations. This research demonstrates how physician authority in medical consumerist contexts is a product of reputation as well as expertise. Consumerism changes the doctor-patient relationship and makes surgeons feel diminished authority by dint of their reputational vulnerability to online reviews.

Examining the role of relationship factors on eWOM effectiveness in social media

This study empirically tests the impact of receiver characteristics and interpersonal relationship factors on consumer learning, attitude, and behavioural intention in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in the context of social media. This study also explores the moderating roles of consumer expertise and product involvement on the relation between interpersonal relationship factors and eWOM effectiveness. Data were collected via online survey with general social media users. Our findings reveal that source credibility and perceived similarity with eWOM message senders significantly influence various outcomes of eWOM communication including knowledge gain, further information search, pass-along behaviour, attitude toward product or service, and purchase intention. The strength of ties with the eWOM sender does not influence any eWOM outcomes. eWOM receivers' prior knowledge about product/service and product involvement serve as critical moderating factors for the effect of interpersonal relationship factors on consumer responses toward eWOM communications in social media.

Consumers’ Response to an Advertisement Using Brand Popularity in a Foreign Market

Abstract: This research examined how domestic consumers respond to an advertisement using brand popularity in a foreign market. By using structural equation modeling, it shows that the consumers’ response can change as a function of three characteristics of brand popularity in a foreign market: (a) expertise of foreign consumers, (b) similarity between domestic consumers and foreign consumers, and (c) animosity to a foreign country. Meanwhile, the similarity effect is found to be stronger for high‐preference heterogeneity than low‐preference heterogeneity. This research documents the importance of understanding the underlying mechanism to determine the effects of brand popularity in a foreign market on brand attitude and purchase intention.

Strategies to reduce the use of seclusion with tāngata whai i te ora (Māori mental health service users).

Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, have the highest crude population-based rate of seclusion events reported internationally (McLeod et al. ). This qualitative study explored Māori clinical, cultural and consumer perspectives on potential strategies and initiatives considered likely to facilitate prevention of, and reduction in, the use of seclusion, with tāngata whai i te ora (Māori mental health service users) in mental health inpatient services. A hui (gathering) over 2 days was held with 16 Māori participants with high levels of clinical, cultural and consumer expertise. The gathering was taped and the tapes transcribed. A thematic analysis of the hui data generated three key categories: Te Ao Māori (access to a Māori worldview); Te Ao Hurihuri (transforming practice); and Rangatiratanga (leadership, power, and control). The findings of this study align with the "six core strategies" for best practice to reduce the use of seclusion (Huckshorn ). A comprehensive approach to the reduction of the use of seclusion with tāngata whai i te ora is required, which is clearly based on a Māori model of care and a vision for transformation of practice in mental health inpatient services, which involves Māori leadership.

Value co-creation in e-commerce contexts: does product type matter?

Purpose Based on service-dominant logic (SDL) and related perspectives, which suggest that value is co-created through the integration of resources, the purpose of this study is to propose a model which considers two value co-creation sources: firm resources, in the form of process electronic-service quality (ESQ) and outcome ESQ, and consumer resources, as represented by consumer expertise and its antecedents (i.e. social expertise and Internet skills). The effect of product type on the relationship between both co-creation sources, and the value is analyzed. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a post-positivist approach. The study begins with cause and effect thinking to build a literature-driven model. Subsequently, pre-existent measures are adapted to the research context, and a Web-based questionnaire is built. The survey administration process yields 1,024 usable responses from Spanish Internet shoppers. To analyze the validity and reliability of the proposed scales and test the relationships hypothesized, the multivariate statistical techniques confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling are used. Findings For low-outlay/high-frequency (LO/HF) products, consumers rely more on their own resources, and expertise is more important than process and outcome quality. For high-outlay/low-frequency (HO/LF) products, however, firm resources have a stronger impact. Practical implications The study findings may be useful to design e-commerce strategies combining specific ESQ and expertise-related policies according to the type of product offered by the e-service provider. Originality/value The empirical study reported here confers similar salience to both consumer resources and firm resources to explain value perception, which is unusual. This is the first study addressed to explain perceived value in a business-to-consumer e-commerce context by jointly considering firm resources (process ESQ and outcome ESQ), consumer resources (expertise) and product type. The moderating effect of product type is consistent with insights from prior marketing research but counterintuitive. It could be thought that expertise should be more important for HO/LF products, which is contrary to the results of this study.

The Good, the Bad, and the Expert: How Consumer Expertise Affects Review Valence Effects on Purchase Intentions in Online Product Reviews

This study aims to shed more light on the question whether, and under what circumstances, valence affects consumers' intention to buy a product after reading an online review. We hypothesize that receiver expertise could possibly moderate a the impact of review valence on consumers' purchase intentions, and b the asymmetric effects of positive and negative reviews. To test these hypotheses, we conducted an experiment, exposing participants n=470 to reviews varying in valence i.e., positive, neutral, negative, with purchase-intention as the dependent variable. The results support the moderating role of receiver expertise for both the influence and weight of review valence effects. This explains the inconsistent results for review valence reported in previous studies.

An in vitro model of placental inflammation

Extant consumer behavior research has alluded to learning in coping with stressful experiences; however, little research exists regarding situated learning or in situ learning that is dynamic and changing in nature. This exploratory study addresses the important but under-studied area: consumers' situated learning with stressful service experiences. It provides in-depth understanding of key factors influencing situated learning and its relevance to effective coping. Specifically, we examine the influencing factors of situated learning and how it relates to effective coping. Besides, we explore the differences in situated learning across two cultural contexts by understanding consumers in USA and China. Through Semi-structured and in-depth interview with 20 U.S. consumers and 16 Chinese consumers, we found that situated learning is an important mechanism that enhances coping. Need for closure, psychological closeness to the problem, and consumer expertise helped enhance consumers' learning and coping. Unlike their U.S. counterparts, Chinese consumers initiated the process of learning long before experiencing the actual service, possessed greater zone of tolerance towards stressful service episodes with attempts to even “save the face” of providers, and trusted their own ability to cope rather than depend on the service provider. Interestingly, U.S. participants discussed the importance of optimism as a way to learn and cope.

On a Need-to-Know Basis: Divergent Trajectories of Financial Expertise in Couples and Effects on Independent Search and Decision Making

Many consumers suffer from low levels of financial literacy, and attempts to increase this dimension of consumer expertise via educational interventions are typically unsuccessful. We propose that many of these apparent deficits in literacy and learning may be caused by a cognitively efficient distribution of responsibility for knowledge and decision-making in different domains between relationship partners. New relationship partners adopt specialized domains of responsibility quickly and intuitively in a process guided more by circumstantial factors than by matching tasks with aptitudes (study 1). Cross-sectional data from consumers in long-term relationships provide evidence that distributions of responsibility for financial decision-making between partners may give rise to differences in financial literacy, such that the financial specialist develops expertise in this area while the non-specialist does not (study 3). This ever-growing gap in financial literacy is generally unrecognized by consumers (studies 2, 4), despite being linked to corresponding differences in both financial decision-making (studies 5, 6) and financial information search (study 6). Consumers seem to develop expertise on a “need to know” basis. We argue that offloading responsibility to a relationship partner may eliminate this need in the present, while simultaneously creating barriers to developing expertise if and when it is needed in the future.

A consensus guideline for antipsychotic drug use for dementia in care homes. Bridging the gap between scientific evidence and clinical practice.

To produce a practice guideline that includes a set of detailed consensus principles regarding the prescription of antipsychotics (APs) amongst people with dementia living in care homes. We used a modified Delphi consensus procedure with three rounds, where we actively specified and optimized statements throughout the process, utilizing input from four focus groups, carried out in UK, Norway, and the Netherlands. This was done to identify relevant themes and a set of statement that experts agreed upon using the Research and Development/University of California at Los Angeles (RAND/UCLA) methodology. A total of 72 scientific and clinical experts and 14 consumer experts reached consensus upon 150 statements covering five themes: (1) General prescription stipulations, (2) assessments prior to prescription, (3) care and treatment plan, (4) discontinuation, and (5) long-term treatment. In this practice guideline, novel information was provided about detailed indication and thresholds of symptoms, risk factors, circumstances at which APs should be stopped or tapered, specific criteria for justifying long-term treatment, involvement of the multidisciplinary team, and family caregiver in the process of prescription. The practice guideline is based on formal consensus of clinicians and consumer experts and provides clinicians relevant practical information that is lacking in current guidelines.

The influence of experts' positive word-of-mouth on a wine's perceived quality and value: the moderator role of consumers' expertise

This study examines the effects of positive word-of-mouth from a knowledgeable source on quality and value perceptions of wine. These effects were analyzed considering the potential differences produced by a wine's price and participants' level of expertise on the category. Data were collected using an experimental design in which price and positive word-of-mouth were manipulated, consumer expertise on the category was controlled, and perceptions of quality and value were measured. Results suggest that positive word-of-mouth from a knowledgeable source positively affects quality and value perceptions, but those effects are contingent on the price of the wine under evaluation and the level of consumer expertise. For a low-priced wine, the effect of positive word-of-mouth on perceived quality is greater for expert consumers than for novice consumers, whereas for a high-priced wine this increase of perceived quality is observed only for novice consumers. Results also revealed a significant increase on perceived value for both novice and expert consumers, but only for the low-priced wine.

A cross-cultural exploration of situated learning and coping

Extant consumer behavior research has alluded to learning in coping with stressful experiences; however, little research exists regarding situated learning or in situ learning that is dynamic and changing in nature. This exploratory study addresses the important but under-studied area: consumers' situated learning with stressful service experiences. It provides in-depth understanding of key factors influencing situated learning and its relevance to effective coping. Specifically, we examine the influencing factors of situated learning and how it relates to effective coping. Besides, we explore the differences in situated learning across two cultural contexts by understanding consumers in USA and China. Through Semi-structured and in-depth interview with 20 U.S. consumers and 16 Chinese consumers, we found that situated learning is an important mechanism that enhances coping. Need for closure, psychological closeness to the problem, and consumer expertise helped enhance consumers' learning and coping. Unlike their U.S. counterparts, Chinese consumers initiated the process of learning long before experiencing the actual service, possessed greater zone of tolerance towards stressful service episodes with attempts to even “save the face” of providers, and trusted their own ability to cope rather than depend on the service provider. Interestingly, U.S. participants discussed the importance of optimism as a way to learn and cope.

Consumer expertise matters in price negotiation

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to study the effect of consumer expertise on mortgage loan prices. We argue that consumer expertise should affect price due to two reasons: (1) loan mortgage prices in non-price-regulated settings are usually the result of a bank-customer negotiation process; and (2) a mortgage loan is a complex product. Design/methodology/approach – Data on mortgage loan prices were used for a sample of 1,055 households for 2005 (Bank of Spain Survey of Household Finances, EFF-2005). Findings – The regression results indicate that consumer expertise-related metrics are highly significant as predictors of mortgage loan prices. Findings also indicate that cost-related variables and a measure of risk with low discrimination power (i.e. having a permanent employment contract, which accounts for 70 per cent of contracts in Spain) affect price. Surprisingly, more sophisticated measures of credit risk do not have such a significant impact on mortgage prices. Research limitations/implications – Empirical results refer to the credit conditions prior to the financial crisis and could shed some light on the factors that led to it. Practical implications – Findings seem to indicate that, in the period under study, bank managers prioritized capturing new business in the short-term against normative prescriptions, which suggest that price should be credit-risk adjusted (financial literature) and long-term consumer potential adjusted (marketing literature). The post-2008 difficult economic situation of Spanish banks (linked to an excessive portfolio of mortgage loans granted at very low prices) shows that these strategies were wrong. Originality/value – An uncommon perspective was adopted. The importance of consumer expertise-related variables on price has been underemphasized by prior research. The effect of consumer expertise is assessed by using a large and comprehensive database.

Executive summary of “Linking user experience and consumer-based brand equity: the moderating role of consumer expertise and lifestyle”

Executive summary of “Linking user experience and consumer-based brand equity: the moderating role of consumer expertise and lifestyle”

Linking user experience and consumer-based brand equity: the moderating role of consumer expertise and lifestyle

Purpose– The study aims to explore the buildup of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) from positive derived experiences. Rewarding experiences with products make a user feel good about their decision to buy and use them. Those feelings get accrued as strong consumer–brand relationship, measured comprehensively by CBBE in marketing literature.Design/methodology/approach– The study is conducted in two phases – exploratory and validation. The exploratory phase involved conceiving a theoretical framework from in-depth literature review. The framework is then validated through a survey-based empirical phase. Smartphones form the context of the work.Findings– The three consumption values used in the study are usability, social value and pleasure in use. Brand equity has been conceptualized and measured as brand association, perceived value, brand trust and brand loyalty. The moderating role of user expertise, as well as lifestyle, was also tested on pleasure derived. Most of the hypothesized relationships between different constructs of experience and brand equity were found significant. Significant evidence for hierarchical formation of brand equity was also established.Research limitations/implications– Lack of evidence of moderation of lifestyle may be ascribed to the validity of the scale used to measure it in the current context and needs to be updated. The study contributes by conceiving experience as a multidimensional framework based on Holbrook’s typology, besides validating its relationship to CBBE. Hierarchical formation of brand equity is also a novel contribution.Practical implications– This study provides an indicative guide to marketers with design cues that can provide relevant consumption values in the quest for a positive brand impression. It also provides directions for segmenting the smartphone market based on user expertise for better branding.Originality/value– The study is innovative by relating experience, conceptualized with Holbrook’s framework and CBBE – something yet to be seen in the literature.