Low Involvement Conditions Research Articles

Efecto moderador del ajuste de la extensión y la implicación en la relación entre la actitud hacia una marca padre patrimonial y la lealtad de la extensión. Aplicación al conjunto monumental de la Alhambra y el Generalife

Objective: This work proposes a model of formation of brand extension loyalty of a heritage brand parent based on the attitude towards the heritage brand parent, taking into account the mediating effect of the brand parent image and the moderating effects of the fit between the heritage parent brand and the brand extension as well as the involvement towards the product category. Methodology: An experimental study has been carried out with 328 tourists visiting the heritage destination and manipulating two levels of adjustment. A moderate mediation regression model was established using the PROCESS 3.4 software. Conclusions: The effect of the attitude towards the heritage brand on the loyalty towards the extension occurs through the image of the heritage brand. This effect is enhanced in low setting and high involvement conditions. The involvement moderates the direct effect regardless of the degree of brand extension fit. Implications: Implications are provided for the management of companies that use a heritage brand to compete in the market as well as for managers of cultural heritage. Originality and value: This work contributes to the existing knowledge about the process to the formation of brand-extension loyalty of brand of cultural heritage site, taking into account the perceptions about the parent brand in terms of attitude and image. Also, this study examines the moderating role of brand extension fit and the level of involvement with the category.

Involvement Modulates the Effects of Deception on Memory in Daily Life.

Previous studies have demonstrated that liars who adopt a false denial strategy often forget what they lied about, which has been labeled the denial-induced forgetting (DIF) effect. However, several investigations have not found such an effect. It has been suggested that involvement might play a role in the inconsistency. The present study was designed to directly determine whether involvement modulates the effects of deception on memory. Participants were assigned randomly to either high- or low-involvement conditions and were required to complete a mock shopping task. They were then asked to participate in an interview in which they were asked to respond honestly or deceptively. Two days later, final memory tests were given, and the participants were asked to give honest responses. We found a DIF effect in the high-involvement condition but not in the low-involvement condition. Moreover, the liars in the high-involvement condition created more non-believed memories in the source memory test and the destination memory test than the honest participants. In addition, liars in both the high- and low-involvement conditions forgot who they lied to. We conclude that the effects of deception on memory could be influenced by the degree of involvement.

Can’t take my eyes off of the model: the impact of sexual appeal and product involvement on selective attention to advertisements

ABSTRACT This study employed eye-tracking as a direct measure of visual attention to examine 1) the potential distraction effects of sexual appeals and 2) whether product involvement moderates the effect of sexual appeals on attention and recall of advertisements. Results indicated the distraction effects of sexual imagery only occurred in low product involvement conditions because the presence of sexualized images negatively interfered with the processing of low product involvement advertisements by increasing visual attention to the sexualized model and reducing visual attention to non-sexual message execution elements. In high product involvement conditions, sexual appeals increased visual attention to image of the product but not copy or headline.

How Perceived Processing Fluency Influences the Illusion of Knowing in Learning From TV Reports

Abstract. The present two-study work aims to contribute to an understanding of the causes and consequences of perceived processing fluency. Regarding its causes, the experimental studies ( N1 = 399; N2 = 337) found that features of television reports (e.g., footage used, background music) can heighten perceptions of processing fluency. Regarding its consequences, it was found that heightened perceived fluency biases metacognitive judgments. Specifically, considering perceived knowledge in relation to actual knowledge, recipients experiencing fluency have been found to overestimate their knowledge about the issue depicted in the experimental stimuli. The resulting illusion of knowing was particularly pronounced under conditions of low involvement, indicating that the so-called ease-of-processing heuristic underlies the effect.

DOES THE NEED FOR COGNITION, NEED FOR AFFECT AND PERCEIVED HUMOUR INFLUENCE CONSUMERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ADVERTISED BRANDS?

Cognition has long been known as a mechanism to process message besides forming desirable attitude. However, the engagement of emotions that has been limited in its discussions to the message processing theory such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) could also function as influencer to message processing and contributor to attitude formation. Hence, the purpose of this research is to examine the effects of need for cognition (NFC), need for affect (NFA) and perceived humour on consumers’ attitude towards the brands advertised. The research engaged three main studies and has adopted a quantitative basic experimental design with a random selection and distribution of participants into treatment groups. Result of study 1 showed that advertising attitude mediates between NFC and brand attitude. Study 2 found that NFA moderates between NFC and brand attitude. Study 3 revealed that NFA moderates between perceived humour and brand attitude. Finally, the results also determined that NFC, NFA, and perceived humour influence the processing of advertising message in the low and high involvement conditions of message elaborations. The findings encourage future researchers to further assess consumers’ attitude towards brand in various advertising contexts in more detail. The study contributes to the advertising guidelines for advertising firms and policy makers. In addition, the study contributes to the theoretical establishment of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) that can be used for future research extension. Keywords: Brand attitude, involvement, need for cognition, need for affect, perceived humour.

Facebook news feed ads: a social impact theory perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of “social information” in Facebook News Feed ads on American users’ advertising responses, including ad credibility, attitude-toward-the-ad, brand interest, intention to click and purchase intention. Using social impact theory as a conceptual framework, three factors were tested – relationship strength, physical distance and number of affiliated friends. The moderating role of product involvement was also investigated. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (strength of relationship: weak vs strong) × 2 (immediacy of relationship: close distance vs long distance) × 2 (number of friends: one vs several) between-group factorial design was used, and 397 research participants were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Findings Significant main effects were found for relationship strength and physical distance. Product involvement was identified as a moderating variable. No significant effects were found under the high involvement condition. Under the low involvement condition, however, relationship strength and physical distance significantly affected Facebook users’ advertising responses. Research limitations/implications Research samples were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). It is possible that the characteristics of this specific social group might have influenced the findings of the study. Only one specific product category, fast casual restaurant, was tested. Participants were asked to imagine themselves in certain scenarios. Even though the scenarios were carefully tested in the pretest and clear instructions were given, field experiments might be helpful in future research to better reflect the actual consumer experience. Practical implications Marketers should take advantage of the “social information” feature in Facebook News Feed ads, especially for low involvement products. Names of friends with stronger social relationships and within close physical distance should be included in the ads. Originality/value The study is one of the first to examine the effects of “social information” in Facebook advertising. It also confirms the Social Impact Theory in a social media setting.

When and why vivid description is effective: The role of message involvement and utilitarian attitude

With the prevalence of online shopping, product presentation tactics, especially text descriptions, are particularly significant in attracting consumers. Of current text description styles, pallid and vivid styles predominate. However, it is not entirely clear how these description styles affect consumer utilitarian attitude and purchase intention. Addressing this gap, two online experiments were conducted to support a moderated mediation model based on the elaboration likelihood model. The results reveal that the effect of text description style on utilitarian attitude is contingent upon message involvement and that utilitarian attitude in turn affects purchase intention. Compared to pallid text description, vivid text description has a more positive effect on consumer utilitarian attitude and subsequent purchase intention in low message involvement conditions. However, pallid description has a greater influence on consumer utilitarian attitude and subsequent purchase intention in high message involvement scenarios. Demonstrating the critical role of message involvement in the effectiveness of different text description styles, this study discusses both the theoretical and managerial applications of these results.

Does recommendation matter for trusting beliefs and trusting intentions? Focused on different types of recommender system and sponsored recommendation

PurposeThe advance of technology creates new possibilities for enhancing shopper experience. The purpose of this paper is to gain understanding of a recent innovation found in retail environment, a recommender system (RS). Specifically, this study investigated how the retailer’s claims of RS affect consumers’ perception of personalization, and further, trusting beliefs and intentions. Additionally, the effect of sponsored recommendation (SR) on consumers’ perceived trust was explored.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (RS claim: personalized/non-personalized)×2 (SR: present/absent)×2 (involvement: high/low) between subject factorial design was employed. An online experiment was conducted. A total of 273 response collected through Amazon MTurk were used for the analysis.FindingsThe findings showed retailer’s claims for RS were enough to increase the perception of personalization. The increased perceived personalization of the RS increased trusting beliefs and trusting intention. For SR, mixed results were found. Disclosing SR increased trusting intentions under the low-involvement condition, but the opposite effect was found under high-involvement condition.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the importance of retailers’ articulating what RS does. This can impact trusting beliefs and trusting intention. Additionally, the findings indicate SRs should be presented in accordance to the decision-making stage. The presence of SRs during the searching stage may positively impact consumer’s perception, but their presence during purchase stage may have a negative impact.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to examine the effect of different retailer’s claims on how the recommendations are generated on shopper’s perception. Also, this is one of few studies to investigate how SRs in RSs impact a shopper’s perception. This research provides insights into how an RS found in retail environment influence shopping experience.

Reassessing the effect of colour on attitude and behavioural intentions in promotional activities: The moderating role of mood and involvement

The present research examines the effect of background colour on attitude and behavioural intentions in various promotional activities taking into consideration the moderating role of mood and involvement. Three experiments reflecting different promotional activities (window display, consumer trade show, guerrilla marketing) were conducted for this purpose. Overall, findings indicate that cool background colours, in contrast to warm colours, induce more positive attitudes and behavioural intentions mainly in positive mood, and low involvement conditions. Implications are also discussed.

Emoticons' influence on advice taking

Although there is a lot of research on advice and its utilization, little research on advice has examined the effect of computer mediated communication (CMC) on advice outcomes. Emoticons, which are graphic representations of facial expressions, are unique to CMC and commonly used as a substitute for nonverbal cues that are missing from CMC. We explored the relationship between emoticons in advice messages and advice utilization. Because emoticons convey emotional information, the effects of emoticons on advice utilization may be higher when the receiver is less willing or able to analyze the message more systematically. Therefore, we examined two moderators that affect message processing: involvement and need for cognition. Two experiments tested our hypothesis. In Study 1, emoticons increased intention to utilize advice, but only under conditions of low involvement. Study 2 replicated the effects of Study 1 but also found that emoticons had a stronger effect when participants had a low need for cognition.

Are you able to recall the brand? The impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge in online – advergames

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge on gamers’ brand recall and attitude in the context of online advergames. Specifically, this investigation uses limited capacity model of attention and persuasion knowledge model to expound the conditions under which brand placements create attention, elaboration and subsequent brand recall and brand attitude.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (brand prominence: prominent versus subtle) × 2 (game involvement: high versus low involvement) × 2 (persuasion knowledge: high versus low) between-subjects measures design is used. A total of 224 student gamers participated in the study. A between-subjects measures multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that an advergame with prominent brand placement under low game involvement condition results in high brand recall but less favorable brand attitude than under high game involvement condition. Furthermore, a three-way interaction shows that for a prominent brand placement advergame with high game involvement, the subjects with high persuasion knowledge report high brand recall than the subjects with low persuasion knowledge. The findings also reveal that for a prominent brand placement advergame with high game involvement, the subjects with high persuasion knowledge report less favorable brand attitude than the subjects with low persuasion knowledge.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper adds to advertising literature from a non-traditional advertising viewpoint, predominantly in the context of online advergames, and expounds the role played by brand placement and its boundary conditions to create customers’ brand memory and attitude. Furthermore, this investigation adds to the marketing knowledge on how and where to position and embed the brands effectively in advergames taking into account the characteristics of the gamer, such as the game involvement and gamers’ persuasion knowledge about the advergame.Originality/valueThis study adds to the works of online advertising, particularly the advergames by discovering the impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge on gamers’ brand recall and attitude. Also, this study is the first in its stream toward understanding the moderating role of persuasion knowledge on Indian gamers’ recall and attitude in the context of online advertising.

Impact of diversity, quality and number of brand alliance partners on the perceived quality of a new brand

PurposeCo-branding is popular with partnerships between well-known and new brands. In a laboratory study, this paper aims to examine the effects of a single ally and multiple allies on quality perception of a brand. The results suggest that the quality perception of the new brand depends on the co-branding strategy.Design/methodology/approachFor dual-brand alliances, a single-factor design was used, with secondary brand quality level (high, medium and low) as the independent variable. Three advertisements were created by manipulating quality levels of the single partner. For multiple-brand alliances, a 2 × 3 between-subjects factorial design was used in the experiment. The two factors were diversification (homogeneous vs heterogeneous) and quality levels of the alliance (high-end, mixed and low-end).FindingsThe results suggest that the number of brand partners significantly affected the perceived quality of the primary brand. For both dual- and multi-brand alliances, the quality level of the secondary brand positively influenced the perceived quality of the primary brand. For multiple-brand alliances, even though the highest quality perceptions of the primary brand are in the heterogeneous conditions, the heterogeneity of partners (partners across different product categories) did not affect the quality perception of the primary brand.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation of the current study is that it only addresses one type of brand alliance: co-promotion. The generalization of these findings to other forms of brand alliances (e.g. ingredient branding: Intel with IBM, Dell and HP) merits further investigation. Also, in this study, respondents processed the information in a relatively low-involvement condition (note that the target ad was presented along with filler ads). They were more likely to use brand names as heuristic cues to form their judgments. Because an alliance partner also assumes risks, future research should consider the effect of the alliances on the secondary brand.Practical implicationsUnderstanding brand alliances (especially multiple-brand alliances) is critical for new product managers and marketers. Introducing a new brand has higher risk and failure rates. Companies may lower these risks by co-branding with established brands. However, they should carefully consider the diversification and quality level of the partners. If brand managers position their product as “high quality (luxury)” or “low quality (budget)”, they should choose high- (or low-) quality partners from different product categories (heterogeneous high-end or low-end alliances) because diversification strengthens the primary brand. For a single-partner alliance, the secondary brand should be of high quality.Originality/valueThis paper extends the brand alliance literature beyond single-partner to multiple-partner alliances. With multiple partners, one can explore several critical aspects of an alliance, e.g. quality variance and product class diversity across the partners.

Temporal duration and attribution process of cause-related marketing: moderating roles of self-construal and product involvement

Applying the self-construal (SC) temporal match effect to a cause marketing context, this study investigated the conditions under which cause-related marketing campaigns generate stronger altruistic attributions of sponsor motives and subsequently purchase intention. As major factors, temporal duration (long-term vs. short-term), SC (independent vs. interdependent), and product involvement (high vs. low) were incorporated in the integrative model and the three-way interaction effect on altruistic attributions was assessed. With the use of online experimental data from 323 college students, the matching effect of temporal duration and SC was found, such that independent individuals were influenced by the message that was framed with the distant, long-term duration. Our findings further found that this matching effect was more pronounced for the high-involvement product, but not for the low-involvement product. In addition, this study discovered that altruistic attributions mediated the effect of temporal duration on purchase intention in the low-involvement product condition, but not in the high-involvement condition. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed for researchers and practitioners.

Medical errors: Disclosure styles, interpersonal forgiveness, and outcomes

RationaleThis study investigates the intrapersonal and interpersonal factors and processes that are associated with patient forgiveness of a provider in the aftermath of a harmful medical error. ObjectiveThis study aims to examine what antecedents are most predictive of patient forgiveness and non-forgiveness, and the extent to which social-cognitive factors (i.e., fault attributions, empathy, rumination) influence the forgiveness process. Furthermore, the study evaluates the role of different disclosure styles in two different forgiveness models, and measures their respective causal outcomes. MethodsIn January 2011, 318 outpatients at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in the United States were randomly assigned to three hypothetical error disclosure vignettes that operationalized verbally effective disclosures with different nonverbal disclosure styles (i.e., high nonverbal involvement, low nonverbal involvement, written disclosure vignette without nonverbal information). All patients responded to the same forgiveness-related self-report measures after having been exposed to one of the vignettes. ResultsThe results favored the proximity model of interpersonal forgiveness, which implies that factors more proximal in time to the act of forgiving (i.e., patient rumination and empathy for the offender) are more predictive of forgiveness and non-forgiveness than less proximal factors (e.g., relationship variables and offense-related factors such as the presence or absence of an apology). Patients' fault attributions had no effect on their forgiveness across conditions. The results evidenced sizeable effects of physician nonverbal involvement-patients in the low nonverbal involvement condition perceived the error as more severe, experienced the physician's apology as less sincere, were more likely to blame the physician, felt less empathy, ruminated more about the error, were less likely to forgive and more likely to avoid the physician, reported less closeness, trust, and satisfaction but higher distress, were more likely to change doctors, less compliant, and more likely to seek legal advice. ConclusionThe findings of this study imply that physician nonverbal involvement during error disclosures stimulates a healing mechanism for patients and the physician-patient relationship. Physicians who disclose a medical error in a nonverbally uninvolved way, on the other hand, carry a higher malpractice risk and are less likely to promote healthy, reconciliatory outcomes.

Trends in Television Commercials Directed Towards Young Adults

Attitudes and perceptions towards advertising in general are expected to influence the success of any particular advertising. It seemed reasonable to anticipate a person’s predisposition to respond consistently towards advertising, in particular for the current study Television Advertising, either favourably or unfavourably. The influence of the attitude toward television commercial is even more significant under low involvement conditions, and for emotionally-based transformational advertising.This study explores the profile of contemporary advertising, in the wider context of trends in television advertising directed for young adults, the recent changes in the strategy, the perception and attitude of young adults to television advertising in Chennai.

The impact of word of mouth on service purchase decisions

Purpose – Primarily, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the interaction and direct effects of tie strength between sender and receiver of word of mouth (WOM) and the receiver’s service purchase decision involvement on WOM influence. A secondary aim is to investigate how a distinctive conceptualization of perceived risk, consisting of two types (outcome risk and psychosocial risk), affects service purchase decision involvement. A conceptual model incorporating these constructs and associated hypotheses is developed and tested. Design/methodology/approach – In a survey of actual service consumers, respondents were asked to recall a recent instance where they had received service purchase information via WOM, and relate their responses to this instance. Established scales were used to measure the constructs. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings – Principally, findings demonstrate a strong interaction effect between service purchase decision involvement and tie strength. Also, results highlight the complexity of the perceived risk construct, suggesting that it is appropriately modeled as two types: outcome risk, and psychosocial risk. Research limitations/implications – This research has contributed to the service marketing literature by testing a model that predicts WOM influence. Evidence confirmed that the effect of service purchase decision involvement on WOM influence is moderated by tie strength. Additionally, a conceptualization of two different types of risk associated with purchase decisions was suggested, together with empirical confirmation of their hypothesized antecedent effects on service purchase decision involvement. Findings have special implications for the literatures of persuasion, social and interpersonal influence, as well as consumer behavior in general. Practical implications – To harness the power of WOM, managers should understand who their target audience is and how consumers are related to each other (tie strength) and to the service purchase decision (service purchase decision involvement). Recommendations are made with specific illustrations of how firms can leverage tie strength under conditions of low service purchase decision involvement to enhance WOM influence. Originality/value – The formidable power of WOM wields substantial influence on consumers, particularly within a service (vs goods) purchase context, typically characterized by higher perceived risk and lower search qualities. The significant interaction between tie strength and service purchase decision involvement is a unique contribution to the service WOM literature.

Loyalty intentions

Purpose – This article aims to present a model linking loyalty intention, brand commitment, brand credibility and brand awareness. The model shows the mediating role of brand commitment and brand credibility on loyalty intention. The researchers also investigated the changes in the given model under high and low involvement conditions, explicitly considering involvement as between-subject differences rather than between-product differences. The change in customer loyalty intention under varying levels of product involvement is a highly debated topic among researchers. Design/methodology/approach – The model was tested on a sample of 318 executives who have bought and are using deodorants. The respondents had given responses for loyalty intentions, brand commitment, brand credibility, brand awareness and involvement towards the brand of deodorant that they use. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the tool for measurement of constructs and multi-group structural equation modelling for testing the hypotheses and comparing the nested models. Findings – The difference between high and low involvement groups in the given model supports the hierarchy-of-effects view. We found that attitude precedes behaviour for highly involved individuals but followed a different hierarchy among the individuals with low involvement. Research limitations/implications – This research investigates the proposed model for a single product category and so the scope of generalisability is limited to the product selected. This research has considered behavioural intention rather than the behaviour in this study. Practical implications – The study demonstrates the differences in the hierarchy-of-effects among low/high involvement groups. Thus, the findings will have an impact on the approach of practitioners, as different strategies will have to be adopted for the enhancement of loyalty intentions based on the difference in perceived involvement of consumers. Originality/value – This paper shows the need to differently target consumers with different levels of perceived involvement, within the same product class and thus between-subject involvement can be used as a segmentation variable.

Attributes of background music and consumers’ responses to TV commercials

This study extends and crystallizes the literature on the effect of background music in the TV advertising setting by focusing on differential effects of attributes of background music on consumers’ attitudes toward TV advertising based on their involvement. The familiarity of background music was more likely to influence attitudes towards advertisement, brand attitudes and purchase intentions in the low-involvement condition, whereas the product fit of background music was more likely to do so in the high-involvement condition. This indicates that effective attributes of background music can be varied according to consumer involvement.

Understanding the Relation Between Attitude Involvement and Response Latitude Using Item Response Theory

Adapting the original latitude of acceptance concept to Likert-type surveys, response latitudes are defined as the range of graded response options a person is willing to endorse. Response latitudes were expected to relate to attitude involvement such that high involvement was linked to narrow latitudes (the result of selective, careful responding) and low involvement was linked to wide latitudes (the result of disinterested, careless responding). In an innovative application of item response theory, parameters from Samejima’s graded response model were used to examine response latitude width. Other item response theory–based tools (e.g., test characteristic curves, information functions) were used to examine the influence of response latitudes on the psychometric functioning of several attitude surveys. A mix of experimental and nonexperimental methods was employed to create groups of high and low involvement surveys. Comparisons of these surveys showed that high involvement was related to significantly narrower response latitudes than low involvement. Furthermore, wide response latitudes were related to unfavorable psychometric properties such as reduced survey discrimination and reduced internal validity relative to narrow latitudes. Comparisons of information functions in high and low involvement conditions, however, were less consistent. Implications of wide response latitudes are quite unfavorable for researchers and suggest that an element of error is present when respondents feel little involvement with an attitude topic.

Culture, cognitive style and consumer response to informational vs. transformational advertising among East Asians: Evidence from the PRC

Existing literature suggests that people's cognitive styles vary significantly across nations and cultures, and that East Asians emphasize holistic information processing and are more receptive to transformational advertising than people in the West. Yet, both theoretical rationale and empirical evidence of the effect of cognitive style on consumers' advertising responses are lacking. This study proposes a congruency-activation model and adopts a three by two experimental design to examine Chinese consumers' attitude towards different advertisements. The results indicate that Chinese consumers prefer transformational and integrated ads to informational ads under both low and high involvement conditions. Protocol analysis shows that Chinese consumers engage in more affective processing than cognitive thoughts. Thus, marketers should consider the effect of the cognitive style of indigenous consumers when devising international advertising strategies.