Consumer Information Processing Research Articles

Organizational resistance to performance‐enhancing technological innovations: a motivation‐threat‐ability framework

PurposeOrganizational resistance to technological innovations creates hurdles to diffusion of innovations in industrial technology markets. This study aims to examine the causes of this problematic phenomenon and develop useful strategies to overcome innovation resistance of organizational customers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's conceptual framework is adapted from the motivation‐opportunity‐ability (MOA) paradigm of consumer and organizational information processing. The analysis draws on a body of multidisciplinary literature, empirical observations, and case studies.FindingsThe determinants of organizational innovation resistance encompass the psychological, economic, technological, political, strategic, and organizational structural aspects of a technological innovation. Information flow is the key to breaking through the resistance barrier and promoting diffusion of innovations among industrial customers.Research limitations/implicationsAn empirical study is needed in the future to test the propositions developed.Practical implicationsThe study offers useful strategies to overcome organizational innovation resistance and new approaches to segment and target organizational buyers in technology markets.Originality/valueThe paper fills a research gap in studies on diffusion of innovation by explaining organizational innovation resistance and proposing useful strategies to tackle this problem.

L’effet de stimuli externes et des variables individuelles sur le traitement initial de l’information par le consommateur

The neo-classical economic theory of the consumer behavior defines a utility function in terms of a global number of characteristics a product process or the result of several purchase activities. Every consumer can be in the context of aninefficient consumption function if the choice of the product bought doesn't fit with the state of preferences for the characteristics of this product. Thus, an efficient consumption function requires an adequate level of information that the mechanics of the market performance doesn't guarantee as well as for the consumption function as for the production function. In this paper, the consumer information processing limit is exposed showing an important gap between the preferred and memorized information by the consumer during the decision process. The concept of pre-processed information proposed could possibly improve the efficiency of the consumption function.

Language influence in responses to questionnaires by bilingual respondents: A test of the Whorfian hypothesis

This paper examines how sub-cultural respondents differ in their perceptions and answers to questionnaire items tapping their acculturation and ethnic identity. A related objective is to examine how bilingual respondents exposed to an instrument in the source language perceive it compared to subjects exposed to the instrument in their native language. Prior studies find that respondents can answer differently according to the language of the questionnaire. The framework is based on the Whorfian hypothesis and the Revised Hierarchical Model. About 500 questionnaires are collected from Greek-Canadians residing in Eastern Canada. Findings indicate the presence of several non-invariant factor loadings and covariances, indicating that caution should be exercised when carrying out ethnic identity studies with respondents who are given the choice of the language of the questionnaire. Research on how differences between languages affect consumer information processing and cognitions can shed light on a new form of response style in cross-cultural research.

Need for cognitive closure and information search strategy

AbstractThe authors investigated whether need for cognitive closure (NFCC) affected one's style of information search (attribute‐based search vs. alternative‐based search) in consumer choice. There has been growing interest in NFCC in marketing and its relationship to consumer information processing. However, no study to date has examined the different information search strategies that consumers employ when they (1) possess different levels of NFCC or (2) are exposed to situations that evoke more or less NFCC. Across two studies where Study 1 measured NFCC while Study 2 manipulated NFCC, the authors commonly found that higher NFCC compared to lower NFCC resulted in (1) a greater preference for the attribute‐based search over the alternative‐based search and (2) a consideration of a smaller amount of information to make a final choice. Implications for consumer information processing and sales strategies are discussed along with future research directions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Analogies and Mental Simulations in Learning for Really New Products: The Role of Visual Attention

Really new products (RNPs) create new product categories or at least significantly expand existing ones. The development of RNPs is a strategic priority for most companies. However, 40% to 90% of new products fail, often due to consumers' lack of understanding of product features and benefits. Learning strategies, such as analogical learning and mental simulation, can help consumers understand the benefits of RNPs and thus may contribute to the successful development of marketing campaigns. Moreover, the presentation format of marketing communications is likely to influence consumers' understanding of the product. Pictorials have the potential to convey novel information without overloading the decision maker and thus may be a more efficient way to present information about RNPs than words. This paper contributes to a better understanding of consumer information processing in learning for RNPs. Study 1 examined the impact of (1) learning strategies (analogical learning vs. mental simulation) and (2) presentation formats (words vs. pictures) on product comprehension. Study 2 used an eye‐tracking experiment to assess how respondents' visual attention patterns may affect product comprehension. Study 1 showed that the use of words in marketing communications for RNPs is generally more effective to enhance product comprehension than the use of pictorials. However, the video glasses were a notable exception as the combination of mental simulation and pictures yielded a high comprehension level for this product. This suggests that the use of pictorials may be appropriate to convey information for products of a more hedonic as opposed to utilitarian nature. Study 2 used a combination of eye‐tracking measures and self‐reports to help illuminate the cognitive processes at work when consumers learn new product information. The results suggest that an increase in attention to an element of the advert can account for one of two underlying processes: (1) an increase in comprehension; or (2) a difficulty to understand product information which may result in consumer confusion. This study adds evidence to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the power of learning strategies such as mental simulation and analogical learning in preparing consumers for new product acceptance. The use of visual stimuli contributes to the debate on the effectiveness of words versus pictures, seldom applied in a new product development (NPD) context. These findings are integrated into a discussion of the managerial implications and the potential avenues for future research in the area.

Toward a General Model of Consumer Empowerment and Welfare in Financial Markets with an Application to Mortgage Servicers

Policy makers and consumer advocates suggest that mortgage servicers are prone to mistakes and predatory practices that negatively impact consumer financial well‐being. Using this industry as a case study, a general model of consumer empowerment and welfare is developed integrating theoretical concepts related to market structure, firm orientation, and consumer information processing. The model illuminates the most distinctive characteristics of mortgage servicing: high switching costs faced by consumers and mortgage servicers’ inability to negotiate with some borrowers. Additionally, the model posits that the most common remedy in the financial services industry, information disclosure, is unlikely to directly improve consumer welfare.

Consumer Thinking Style, Task Congruence, and Performance: New Measures of Task-Specific Experiential and Rational Cognition

Decades of theoretical and empirical research in social and cognitive psychology provide strong evidence that consumers process information in two distinct and qualitatively different ways: rational and experiential. However, there has been surprisingly little research attention devoted to explicitly measuring how situational influences directly impact thinking style. Further, attempts to simultaneously measure the two dimensions of thinking style as either situation-specific or as an enduring state are even fewer and lack validation in a broad context. In five studies, we develop and validate a new instrument for measuring experiential and rational situation-specific thinking style in the context of a range of performance tasks designed to induce primarily rational or experiential cognition, as well as in the context of differing motivations toward the same task. We establish congruence effects related to the fit of situation-specific thinking style and the nature of the task on performance outcomes; also, we show that the prediction of task performance and related outcomes from dispositional thinking style is completely mediated by situation-specific thinking style.

The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use

This article demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can prime concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information. We theorized that when reasonably salient, a high versus low ceiling can prime the concepts of freedom versus confinement, respectively. These concepts, in turn, can prompt consumers’ use of predominately relational versus item‐specific processing. Three studies found support for this theorizing. On a variety of measures, ceiling height–induced relational or item‐specific processing was indicated by people’s reliance on integrated and abstract versus discrete and concrete ideation. Hence, this research sheds light on when and how ceiling height can affect consumers’ responses.

A review of European research on consumer response to nutrition information on food labels

The aim of this study was to review research conducted in 2003–2006 in the EU-15 countries on how consumers perceive, understand, like and use nutrition information on food labels. Based on a search of databases on academic publications, Google-based search, and enquiries directed to a range of food retailers, food companies, consumer associations and government agencies, a total of 58 studies were identified. These studies were summarised using a standard format guided by a model of consumer information processing, and these summaries were subsequently processed using the MAXqda software in order to identify key findings and common themes across the studies. The studies show widespread consumer interest in nutrition information on food packages, though this interest varies across situations and products. Consumers like the idea of simplified front of pack information but differ in their liking for the various formats. Differences can be related to conflicting preferences for ease of use, being fully informed and not being pressurised into behaving in a particular way. Most consumers understand the most common signposting formats in the sense that they themselves believe that they understand them and they can replay key information presented to them in an experimental situation. There is, however, virtually no insight into how labelling information is, or will be, used in a real-world shopping situation, and how it will affect consumers’ dietary patterns. Results are largely in line with an earlier review by Cowburn and Stockley (Public Health Nutr 8:21–28, 2005), covering research up to 2002, but provide new insights into consumer liking and understanding of simplified front of pack signposting formats. There is an urgent need for more research studying consumer use of nutritional information on food labels in a real-world setting.

Thumbnails as online product displays: How consumers process them

Thumbnails are typically miniature product images displayed on one page of a Web site and hyperlinked to other pages in the site. As a type of online product display, thumbnails are used to attract Web surfers to enter the internal environment (i.e., internal pages) of a virtual store. Thumbnails are often organized in rectangular arrays; when consumers view such an array, the rectangular configuration is likely to activate an eye-movement (scanning) routine in the consumers’ memory that causes them to scan the array in a manner similar to their reading of text. The presence of the routine and its influence on consumers’ scanning of thumbnails are supported by the results of an eye-tracking experiment reported in this article. The experiment shows that consumers process information in the middle and left regions of a thumbnail array to a greater extent than they do in the right regions, and that they can find a particular product more quickly if it is placed in the middle and left regions. As expected, the results are consistent with the dominant reading direction of the participants in the experiment. In demonstrating differing levels of processing for items located across an array, the findings have significant marketing implications.

食品購買における消費者の情報処理プロセスの特質―認知的概念モデルと発話思考プロトコル分析―

We know a trend toward supply of the detailed production history information of a food at the point of purchase to consumer with trace-ability system in the food chain. On the other hand, psychological consumer behavior research has pointed out the limitation of information processing capacity and therefore the adoption of the simplified information processing methods as heuristics at the point of purchase.This study has given the consumer information processing model has been based on comprehensive models as EBM Model, Bettman Model, Elaboration Likelihood Model and so on. Based on the model, we have collected the protocol date of consumers by thinking aloudmethod at the point of five kinds flesh foods purchase in a retail shop, and have analyzed the number of search items and attributes of the foods, the kinds of decision strategy and the times of the information processing. As the results, we have pointed out routine problem solving or limited problem solving included heuristic decision strategies in the consumer information processing at the point of purchase. Accordingly, it is not a realistic idea that consumers make it a practice to refer the supplied great detailed information at the point of food purchase. It is desirable that we supply essential information of food attributes with simplified condition to consumers.

Marketers Who Measure the Wrong Thing Get Faulty Answers

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> The purpose of this article is to address why older advertising measurement systems (based on outdated theories of how consumers process information) are specifically leading to some marketers getting faulty answers that may undermine marketing return on investment (ROI). The article draws heavily on the book <i>What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds</i> (Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart, published by Kaplan in 2006) to provide data and insight underscoring the importance of using observational measurement based on design of experiments rather than self-stated approaches or advertising recall (both of which are shown to produce misleading results). Thanks to advances in neuroscience, we have a better idea of how advertising is processed; and thanks to new research systems based on design of experiments, we have a practical way to measure advertising effectiveness and marketing ROI.

The Effects of Consumer Risk Perception on Pre-purchase Information in Online Auctions: Brand, Word-of-Mouth, and Customized Information

This study examines how consumer information processing affects consumers' perception of risk prior to purchase. In particular, this research focuses on pre-purchase information such as brand, word-of-mouth, and customized information. The results show that customized information and word-of-mouth communication influence consumers more than do other types of information from online auctions. Consumers rely on these two factors because they are based on consumer experience and relevant to product purchase. Nevertheless, brand also has a significant effect upon consumer perceived risk. Pre-purchase information processing is directly related to reducing consumers' risk perception. In particular, information processing associated with product performance plays a crucial role in reducing consumers' perceived risk in online transactions. The results offer insights to e-marketers and e-marketing researchers about the role of pre-purchase information in management and e-commerce.

The Role of Thin-Slice Judgments in Consumer Psychology

This article examines the potential theoretical and practical contributions that thin‐slice judgments may offer to consumer psychology. We begin by exploring thin‐slice judgments in the context of existing consumer information processing research. Then, we discuss the antecedents of thin‐slice judgments, the type of processing that may underlie and impact thin‐slice judgment formation. Finally, we review the potential consequences of thin‐slice judgments and investigate applications within the consumer domain.

Organizational motivation, opportunity and ability to measure marketing performance

The authors draw on the MOA (motivation, opportunity, ability) framework from consumer information processing theory to explore the drivers of performance information processing, satisfaction with marketing performance assessment systems, and top management intentions to change them. A survey of senior managers at 66 large corporations reveals that organizational ability and opportunity to process marketing performance information appear to have positive effects on both the sophistication of processing and satisfaction with performance measurement. Motivation to process has both direct and moderating effects on future measurement spending plans. On the other hand, satisfaction with the system did not appear to influence future spending plans. Managerially, developing the organization's ability to interpret performance data appears to have the strongest effects on managers' attitudes and intentions regarding the measurement system.

A consumer behavior approach to modeling monopolistic competition

In this paper, we attempt to integrate research on consumer information processing and the consumer choice process with the goal of proposing a general framework for modeling consumer behavior in monopolistically competitive industries. Following a pattern of inductive reasoning, we posit a set of consumer behavior propositions that is consistent with observed results from context effects experiments and the phased decision-making literature. We propose that, faced with many competing brands in a monopolistically competitive environment, consumers can be said to construct consideration sets on the basis of non-compensatory rules and subsequently to choose from among competing brands within a consideration set on the basis of compensatory rules. We identify five product–market characteristics that consumers use as heuristics to maximize the probability of making the optimal brand choice while minimizing the cost of acquiring and processing information about competing brands. We propose that consumers use memory and stimuli based information to evolve their unique perceptions of these product–market characteristics. As a follow-up to our inductive approach, we show that the empirically documented context effects are consistent with our behavioral propositions. Finally, we use the propositions to explain several classic cases of consumer behavior observed in the beer, ice cream, and automobile industries.

Designing the Solution: The Impact of Constraints on Consumers’ Creativity

Across a variety of domains, consumers often choose to act as the designer of their own solution, sourcing the necessary components and assembling the parts to meet their specific goals. While thinking creatively is an integral part in the daily life of every consumer, surprisingly little research in marketing has examined the factors influencing such processes. In our research, we examine how input and time constraints influence the way in which consumers process information during a creative task and how those processes, in turn, influence the creativity of the solution. Paradoxically, we find that input constraints encourage more creative processing, provided the individual is not under significant time constraints.

The Importance and Motivational Content of Money Attitudes: South Africans with Living Standards Similar to Those in Industrialised Western Countries

Long neglected in psychological research, money attitudes influence consumer decisionmaking and information processing, and may be active whenever consumers contemplate money situations or exchange relations. This study focused on the money attitudes of 221 urban South Africans whose standards of living are similar to those in industrialised Western countries. A recently developed pan-cultural theory on human values is used to gain insights into the fundamental motivations of money attitudes. The results suggest that money attitudes and value priorities have predictable and theoretically meaningful relations and provide evidence supporting the nomological validity of the revised Money Attitude Scale (MAS). Confirmatory analyses support the five-factor structure of the MAS scale and the hypothesised structure of the Portrait Values Questionnaire. Five new money attitudes are proposed for future research to broaden the scope of the MAS and refine its measurement.

The Influence of Choice Justification and Stimulus Meaningfulness on the Attraction Effect

The “attraction effect” occurs when preference fora target product increases relative to a competitor when a choice option that is dominated by the target brand, but not by the competitor brand, is included in the choice set. The present article offers an explanation for this outcome in terms of two principles of consumer information processing: data deficiency and cognitive resource deficiency. Specifically, results from a lab experiment with 234 student respondents show that when product information is relatively “meaningless” and thus, data deficient, making respondents allocate greater cognitive resources to the decision task by asking them to justify their decision, increases the attraction effect. However, when the product information is quite “meaningful” and thus, not data deficient, increasing resource allocation by instructing respondents to justify choice, decreases the attraction effect. We propose that when the stimulus is less meaningful, the additional processing effort that justification induces is used to generate heuristics to justify choice, which enhance the attraction effect. However, when the stimulus is more meaningful, justification induces respondents to make choices based on a consideration of the meaningful information that is provided, without the biasing influence of the context, thus diminishing the attraction effect. The implications of these findings for marketing and future research directions are highlighted.

Print and Online Catalogs

A study is presented that examines the influence of print and online catalogs on consumer information processing. Petty and Cacioppo's (1979) elaboration likelihood model and research from the field of humancomputer interaction are used to hypothesize differences in consumer information processing when exposed to retail catalog information via print and online communication modes. Theory suggests, and results support, that a print catalog is more effective at stimulating cognitive elaboration and positive affect than a direct extension of the print catalog online. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.