Consumer Information Processing Research Articles

To What Extent Should Emerging Brands Maintain Distinctiveness in the Global Market? The Effect of Brand Isomorphism Level on Brand Evaluation

Extensive research on global branding has mainly adopted a behavioral perspective (e.g., consumer information processing, self and identity theory, and consumer culture theory). This study focuses on the dual tradeoff between distinctiveness and conformity with their mainstream peers for emerging brands in the global marketplace from a legitimacy perspective. Building on the optimal distinctiveness theory, this study investigates the effect of brand isomorphism level on brand evaluation by several empirical studies. Results indicate that brand evaluation shows an inverted U-shaped trend of rising first and then declining as the degree of isomorphism increases. Furthermore, this study also explores the contingent condition of our proposed effect by introducing a moderator of cognitive distance, which demonstrates consumers higher in cognitive distance should perceive more conformity to be legitimate relative to consumers lower in the cognitive distance in the global marketplace. Implications for theory and the practice of this work are discussed.

Cultural cognition and endorser scandal: Impact of consumer information processing mode on moral judgment in the endorsement context

Robust evidence suggests that cultural variation affects consumer information processing. However, how different cultural orientations lead consumers to different moral judgments toward celebrity endorsers’ unethical behaviors is less appreciated. Drawing on the dual agency model, we show through two experiments that consumers’ information processing mode (holistic vs. analytic) leads to different moral judgment outcomes. This study contributes to the literature by (1) identifying the substantial roles of consumers’ cultural background and cognitive processing style on their response to negative publicity about celebrity athletes, (2) demonstrating the influence of cultural cognition on moral reasoning for both chronic (study 1) and working self-concepts (study 2), and (3) empirically testing the mediating role of the information processing mode on the effect of cultural cognition on moral judgment processes and its subsequent outcomes for celebrity athlete evaluation. The findings shed important managerial insights for managers dealing with athlete’s unethical behaviors in different cultural contexts.

The role of need for cognition in consumers' mental imagery: a study of retail brand's Instagram

PurposeDrawn from the concepts of processing fluency and mental imagery, the present study aims to fill the void by developing the mechanism underlying consumers' cognitive processing of visually appealing digital content in social media (i.e. Instagram) of retail brands.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using a web-based survey method with consumers residing in the USA (N = 328). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to investigate the proposed hypotheses. In addition, measurement invariance and multigroup analyses were conducted to test the moderation effect of need for cognition (NFC).FindingsThe results supported the pivotal role of mental imagery when consumers process visual messages in the context of a retail brand's Instagram. Both comprehension fluency and imagery fluency positively influence mental imagery, which in turn cultivates positive attitude towards the brand. The mediating role of mental imagery is confirmed. Furthermore, individuals' NFC interacts with imagery fluency but not with comprehension fluency such that high NFC strengthens the effect of imagery fluency on mental imagery. That is, when high-NFC consumers process information on Instagram, their perceptions of ease of generating imagery likely evoke visual representation of the brand's messages on Instagram in their minds.Practical implicationsThis research provides feasible ways for brands to increase the effectiveness of digital marketing communications in social media (e.g. optimising of the contextual features of visual information and employing interactive features such as filters of social media to enhance processing fluency).Originality/valueWithin the context of digital retailing, this study provides a new perspective of consumers' imagery processing to investigate the effectiveness of visual-focussed messages.

Effect of the model eye gaze direction on consumer information processing: a consideration of gender differences

PurposeThe purpose of this paper aims to investigate the effect of a model's eye gaze direction on the information processing behavior of consumers varying based on their gender.Design/methodology/approachAn eye-tracking experiment and a memory test are conducted to test the research hypotheses.FindingsCompared to an averted gaze, a model with a direct gaze attracts more attention to the model's face among male consumers, leading to deeper processing. However, the findings show that when a model displays a direct gaze rather than an averted gaze, female consumers pay more attention to the brand name, thus leading to deeper processing.Originality/valueThis study contributes to not only the existing eye gaze direction literature by integrating the facilitative effect of direct gaze and considering the moderating role of consumer gender on consumer information processing but also the literature concerning the selectivity hypothesis by providing evidence of gender differences in information processing. Moreover, this study offers practical insights to practitioners regarding how to design appealing webpages to satisfy consumers of different genders.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-01-2020-0025

Effects of Time for Deliberation and Disfluency on Omission Neglect

The use of disfluency in marketing signage has more complex effects than what past research suggests. Time plays an important role in consumer information processing of signage presented disfluently. Three experimental studies suggest that the effects of disfluency on the awareness of missing information, purchase likelihood, and likelihood of future surprise depend on whether consumers have more or less time to process the information. When they have a limited amount of time, disfluency improves their awareness of missing information, leading to not only a lower likelihood of immediate purchase but also less surprise when important omissions are revealed later. Nevertheless, the effects are attenuated when consumers have a greater amount of time.

How Consumers Process Complex Information Related to Food Biotechnology: The Case of Citrus Greening

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to understand how consumers process information about different applications of biotechnology in food. The context of this study was the case of citrus greening, a bacterial disease infecting citrus groves around the world. The most promising solution to this disease involves the use of biotechnology, but it will be important to understand how consumers form attitudes toward food treated in this way to successfully bring the product to market. Social judgment theory and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) were used to guide the study, and eight focus groups (n = 73) were conducted to collect qualitative data from a sample of citrus consumers from four different regions in the USA. Evidence of ego involvement, peripheral cues, personal experiences, and knowledge seemed to be most indicative of assimilation, contrast, and non-commitment of information. Findings from this research can guide strategic marketing for novel food biotechnologies.

A 2020 perspective on “The building of online trust in e-business relationships”

Abstract This research commentary discusses the perspectives offered in the article “The building of trust in online relationships.” The update argues that the creation of online trust is essential to support effective e-commerce transactions and interorganizational relationships. This goes beyond the advantages that buyers and sellers perceive to have become available through the digitalization of transaction-making. For this reason, we call for new kinds of research that goes beyond what the literature has presented before, to include new kinds of data, such as the digital traces of speech and communication. We also advocate more experimental research on consumer perceptions of organizational trustworthiness, including the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) of the brain to gain a more complete understanding of consumer information and perception processing, and their effects on their decision-making.

Consumer Information Processing in Purchase Decisions of Dairy Products and Effectivity of In-store Display

Consumer Information Processing in Purchase Decisions of Dairy Products and Effectivity of In-store Display

Sisters Together: Lessons Learned from Implementing a Grocery Store Campaign in Michigan Communities at Risk for Neural Tube Defects.

Sisters Together intended to develop and disseminate folic acid (FA) educational materials through a point-of-purchase program in low-income predominantly African American communities in Southeastern Michigan counties with high prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs). Guided by the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Consumer Information Processing Model, 17 supermarkets hosted displays, shelf-signs, and food tastings and tracked purchases of FA sources, alongside customer-intercept and store manager surveys, and observational logs. Stocking and signage were implemented with moderate-to-high fidelity, and food tastings with high reach and dose. Purchases of black beans, spinach, orange juice, and supplements showed increases, although only a third of the women identified them as sources of FA. Only 21/122 women (17%) surveyed reported seeing the shelf-signs. Theory-driven, grocery store-centric interventions are effective strategies to address gaps in FA education, with the key behavior change mechanism appearing to be modeling "procedural knowledge."

The implicit sensory association test (ISAT): A measurement approach for sensory perception

In the field of sensory marketing, implicit consumer information processing plays an important role because a large proportion of sensory stimuli is perceived unconsciously. Current consumer research calls for integrative models that consider both unconscious and conscious processes. This paper introduces the implicit sensory association test (ISAT)—a novel response latency measurement approach for implicit sensory perception. The ISAT provides a counterpart to the recently developed measurement approach for explicit sensory perception based on the sensory perception item set. Thus, the ISAT enables the measurement of all five sensory dimensions (i.e., implicit visual, acoustic, haptic, olfactory, and gustatory perception). In three studies, we provide empirical evidence that the ISAT measures (1) are valid and reliable, (2) show highly significant relationships with essential marketing-related outcome variables, and (3) can give valuable insights in addition to explicit measures, finding both positive and negative relationships between implicit and explicit sensory perception.

Functional Neuroimaging Reveals Neural Processes Underlying Food Technology Attitudes and Risk Perception

ObjectivesAdvances in food technology provide numerous benefits including improvements in sustainability, quality, and food security. However, consumers often perceive such technologies as risky, even when extensively vetted for safety. Neuroimaging has the potential to reveal how the consumer brain processes information about technologies and how this processing relates to their attitudes and risk perception. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how brain activation during processing of infographics about food technologies related to subsequent ratings of risk and attitudes. Based on neuroeconomic research, we hypothesized that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) would track positive attitudes for the technologies due to its role in computing subjective value and positive affect. In contrast, we predicted that the lateral PFC would track perceptions of risk associated with the technologies due to its role in processing conflict and uncertainty.Materials and MethodsParticipants (n = 53; 31 Female; Age 18- 43) completed a neuroimaging study at Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute. Participants were scanned while viewing 6 different food technology infographics in 30s blocks: hormone implants, antibiotics, vaccines, GMOs, animal welfare technology, and sustainability technologies. Between viewing blocks, participants answered attitudes and risk perception questions for each technology. The scans were analyzed using a mixed effect implemented in FSL’s FEAT software and corrected for multiple comparisons (p < 0.05) using cluster-based thresholding with a primary threshold of z = 3.1 (p < 0.001).ResultsParticipants had lower attitudes and higher risk perception for antibiotics and hormones relative to GMOs and vaccines (risk perception: t(52) = 5.07, p < 0.001; attitudes: t(52) = 8.35, p < 0.001) and animal welfare and sustainability technologies (risk perception: t(52) = 6.60, p < 0.001; attitudes: t(52) = 7.65, p < 0.001). Consistent with our predictions, a cluster in lateral PFC (1496 voxels, p < 0.001) was positively associated with between-infographic differences in risk perception (and negatively associated with attitudes) such that it was most highly activated for the hormones and antibiotics and less so for the lower perceived risk technologies. Additionally, we observed a cluster in vmPFC (648 voxels, p < 0.001) that was positively associated with attitudes and thus was most highly activated for the lower perceived risk and higher attitude technologies. Several additional areas were associated with risk and attitudes including lateral parietal cortex, precuneus, occipital, and middle temporal gyrus (p < 0.05).ConclusionOur results present a critical step forward in understanding how consumers process information about food technologies. We found areas of the vmPFC tracked positive attitudes and lateral PFC tracked perceptions of risk and lower attitudes. These findings are important because they suggest that PFC regions may contribute to how consumers process information about food technologies, which can affect how they retain and use information to update their beliefs. Future research should examine whether fMRI may be useful prospectively for predicting consumer responses to information campaigns about food technologies.

Do Your Ads Talk Too Fast To Your Audio Audience?

ABSTRACT Speech rate plays a critical role in understanding speech and therefore in advertising messages. Announcers tend to speak fast in radio and television commercials. Can this pace affect consumers9 cognitive processing? This study analyzes the effects of different speech rates (160, 180, and 200 words per minute) on the effectiveness of commercials, physiological arousal and attention, emotional valence, and recall and recognition of information with respect to audio advertisements. The results showed that speech rate influenced cognitive processing and modified the consumer9s physiological response. The commercials at a moderate rate—180 words per minute—achieved the best results. These findings suggest that the announcer9s rate should be adjusted to achieve the best consumer information processing.

Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

AbstractMore than 15 years ago, Van Boven and Gilovich (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 2003, 1193) presented evidence that experiential purchases make people happier than material purchases once consumers have covered their basic needs. This experiential advantage has attracted significant attention from researchers in the fields of social and consumer psychology. In this article, we review the literature on this subject. We first define the constructs of experiential and material purchases, and contrast them with previous, related constructs. We then identify and review the different mechanisms that appear to underlie the experiential advantage. Finally, we examine evidence of systematic differences in how people make decisions about material and experiential purchases, focusing on differences in how consumers process information and evaluate options prior to making a purchase.

Effects of background complexity on consumer visual processing: An eye-tracking study

Product images are an important element of web design. Although many studies have been conducted on web design, the effect of the background of a product image has been ignored. This study investigates the influence of the background complexity of a product image on consumer attention, information processing, and purchase intention using eye-tracking and questionnaire methods. Furthermore, it considers the moderating effects of consumer cognitive style. The results show that product images with higher background complexity attract greater attention, but most of that attention is focused on the background. Product images with moderate background complexity best promote consumer processing of product information, thereby increasing purchase intention. In addition, consumer cognitive style moderates the effect of background complexity on that person's attention to the product textual description. Specifically, consumers with a field-dependent cognitive style are more susceptible to being influenced by background complexity.

Examining the Effect of Positive Online Reviews on Consumers' Decision Making

Online reviews play an important role in consumers' decision making. However, limited studies have been conducted to understand the effects of online reviews on consumers' behavior. Drawing upon the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the valence framework, a research model was developed to investigate the perceived benefits and potential risks brought by positive online reviews. The moderating effect of review skepticism was also examined. Data were collected through on online survey based on consumers' perceptions of the positive reviews from restaurants and food businesses and analyzed with partial least squares. The results indicated that argument quality and source credibility influence information usefulness, which further influences consumers' behavioral intentions. The influence of positive online reviews on perceived risk differs between high and low skepticism consumers. This research offers a more in-depth understanding of consumer information processing in an online context and benefits practitioners by allowing them to better understand consumers.

Anxiety increases visual attention to hedonic foods: A preliminary eye-tracking study on the impact of the interplay between integral and incidental affect on foods

Two types of affect influence consumers' attention: incidental affect unrelated to a particular perception or judgment and integral affect directly related to the particular options under consideration. Although integral and incidental affect likely coexist on a regular basis, the claim that both concurrently guide consumers' attention has thus far received little attention. To fill this gap, the present study investigated the effects of the interplay of integral and incidental affect on the visual processing of food. Food labels play an essential role in attracting consumer attention. Food labels include sources of integral affect (e.g., food type, pictures), and consumers often view food labels under the influence of incidental affect (e.g., an unrelated anxiety-inducing message or personal experience). According to the appraisal tendency framework, incidental experiences of anxiety can enhance affective processing of food due to the uncertainty associated with anxiety. In our study, participants were first subjected to manipulation of an incidental emotion (anxiety, anger, or neutral). Then, they passively viewed food labels, including pictures and nutrient labels, for hedonic and healthy foods. Subject's eye movements were tracked during this stage of the study. Our results showed that the induction of incidental anxiety, but not anger or neutral feelings, led to greater visual attention on hedonic foods only. These findings shed light on the interplay between incidental and integral affect in consumer information processing, demonstrating that the co-occurrence of incidental anxiety and integral hedonic feelings enhance visual attention to food.

Functional Neuroimaging Reveals Neural Processes Underlying Food Technology Attitudes and Risk Perception

ObjectivesAdvances in food technology provide numerous benefits including improvements in sustainability, quality, and food security. However, consumers often perceive such technologies as risky, even when extensively vetted for safety. Neuroimaging has the potential to reveal how the consumer brain processes information about technologies and how this processing relates to their attitudes and risk perception. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how brain activation during processing of infographics about food technologies related to subsequent ratings of risk and attitudes. Based on neuroeconomic research, we hypothesized that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) would track positive attitudes for the technologies due to its role in computing subjective value and positive affect. In contrast, we predicted that the lateral PFC would track perceptions of risk associated with the technologies due to its role in processing conflict and uncertainty.Materials and MethodsParticipants (n = 53; 31 Female; Age 18- 43) completed a neuroimaging study at Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute. Participants were scanned while viewing 6 different food technology infographics in 30s blocks: hormone implants, antibiotics, vaccines, GMOs, animal welfare technology, and sustainability technologies. Between viewing blocks, participants answered attitudes and risk perception questions for each technology. The scans were analyzed using a mixed effect implemented in FSL’s FEAT software and corrected for multiple comparisons (p < 0.05) using cluster-based thresholding with a primary threshold of z = 3.1 (p < 0.001).ResultsParticipants had lower attitudes and higher risk perception for antibiotics and hormones relative to GMOs and vaccines (risk perception: t(52) = 5.07, p < 0.001; attitudes: t(52) = 8.35, p < 0.001) and animal welfare and sustainability technologies (risk perception: t(52) = 6.60, p < 0.001; attitudes: t(52) = 7.65, p < 0.001). Consistent with our predictions, a cluster in lateral PFC (1496 voxels, p < 0.001) was positively associated with between-infographic differences in risk perception (and negatively associated with attitudes) such that it was most highly activated for the hormones and antibiotics and less so for the lower perceived risk technologies. Additionally, we observed a cluster in vmPFC (648 voxels, p < 0.001) that was positively associated with attitudes and thus was most highly activated for the lower perceived risk and higher attitude technologies. Several additional areas were associated with risk and attitudes including lateral parietal cortex, precuneus, occipital, and middle temporal gyrus (p < 0.05).ConclusionOur results present a critical step forward in understanding how consumers process information about food technologies. We found areas of the vmPFC tracked positive attitudes and lateral PFC tracked perceptions of risk and lower attitudes. These findings are important because they suggest that PFC regions may contribute to how consumers process information about food technologies, which can affect how they retain and use information to update their beliefs. Future research should examine whether fMRI may be useful prospectively for predicting consumer responses to information campaigns about food technologies.

Effects of consumer sensory perception on brand performance

PurposeSensory perception is an important factor to understand and effectively appeal to consumers. As consumers process information consciously and subconsciously, both perception levels (explicit and implicit) are essential to investigate. This paper aims to analyze the effects of explicit and implicit sensory perception on brand experience and brand-related performance indicators and then investigate the correlations between the senses and experience dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a field experiment in a coffee house. For data collection, the authors used a questionnaire for explicit measures and a response latency measurement for implicit measures. For data analysis, structural equation modeling and a correlation analysis were conducted.FindingsThe results reveal positive relationships between explicit and implicit sensory perception, brand experience and brand performance in the context of gastronomy. Furthermore, implicit perception acts through explicit perception, and brand experience plays a major role as a mediator between sensory perception and consumer responses. Moreover, visual and haptic perception reveal the highest weights in the structural model and the strongest correlations with the experience dimensions.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to consumer research by providing empirical evidence for the importance of both the explicit and implicit sensory perception to effectively appeal to consumers. The results give valuable insights on the effectiveness of sensory marketing in generating memorable brand experiences and positive brand performance. Furthermore, the findings provide new knowledge on which senses (explicit and implicit) are related to different types of experiences.

Impression management for corporate brands over mobile media

PurposeAs organizations increasingly engage with consumers over mobile devices, there is a growing need to understand how consumers react to impression management over platforms with limited textual content. The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess how different impression management tactics can be used in mobile media to enhance consumer perception-attitude-intentions toward a corporate brand.Design/methodology/approachWe surveyed 670 consumers and estimate structural equation models and repeated-measures ANOVAs to determine how short passages employing alternate impression management tactics influence consumers’ perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions.FindingsResults reveal that each impressions management tactic (i.e. ingratiation, intimidation, organizational promotion, supplication and exemplification) influences consumer perceptions, attitudes and intentions. The authors compare differences in how the impressions management tactics influence each stage of the perception-attitude-intentions model and find evidence that initial differences in perceptions favoring ingratiation and exemplification appeals become magnified for purchase intentions.Research limitations/implicationsRecent calls for research focus on an understanding of how consumers process information on reduced-content platforms of small-screened mobile devices. These results provide empirical evidence of the use of impression management and the difference between five impression management tactics on enhancing consumer perception-attitude-intentions model.Practical implicationsThe results of this study will provide marketers with insights to optimize communications and corporate brands with consumers over mobile media.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the nascent yet vital literature on mobile marketing by focusing on how impression management tactics influence perceptions, attitudes and intentions through the short message characteristic of mobile platforms. The authors develop a framework for how corporate brand management can strategically use impressions management tactics in this novel domain.

Perceived financial well-being and its effect on domestic product purchases

PurposeGlobal brands are attracted to emerging markets because of increasing wealth among their middle classes. However, amid increasing levels of consumer financial stress in many emerging markets, evidence points towards increased preferences for domestic products. The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychological constructs that mediate and moderate the relationship between reduced perceived financial well-being (PFWB) and domestic product purchases.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a model drawing from three theoretical perspectives: consumer stress and coping, consumer information processing and social identity theory. Hypotheses are tested via structural equation modelling and moderated mediation analyses using data from a survey of Brazilian consumers (n=1,043).FindingsResults show that the positive relationship between reduced PFWB and domestic product purchases is partially mediated by perceived value of global brands and frugality descriptive norm. Further analyses demonstrate that consumer confidence moderates the mediating effects of perceived value of global brands and pro-social consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between reduced PFWB and domestic product purchases.Research limitations/implicationsThe antecedents of domestic product purchases identified in this study indicate opportunities for marketers of domestic and foreign products to respond to reduced PFWB, especially in relation to pricing, branding and communications. Future research should examine implications of PFWB on different populations, including other emerging markets, developed markets and lower-income consumers.Originality/valueThis study contributes to international marketing literature by examining the hitherto unexplored influence of reduced PFWB on domestic product purchases.