Research has inadequately examined how increasing a consumer’s sense of power may positively influence healthy choices. With the global obesity epidemic worsening each year, now is an essential time for marketers and policy makers to identify ways to encourage healthy choices. Thus, the current research addresses this need and the accompanying gap in the literature. Through five studies (including a field study) involving both corporate advertising and public service announcements, results show that priming a high (vs. low) sense of power leads consumers to make healthier food purchase decisions and that this effect occurs because a higher sense of power results in a more salient health goal. Most relevant for policy makers, the findings show that priming a high sense of power through simple changes in marketing communications (e.g., using the headline “You are powerful”) is an effective way to increase healthy choice, particularly for lower-socioeconomic-status consumers.
Advertisements using assertive language are commonly seen in marketing communications, yet assertive language has often been shown to be ineffective in communication and even decrease compliance. Recent research began to examine factors that influence the effectiveness of assertive advertising messages, but little research has studied the potential moderating role of consumer‐related factors. The current research fills this gap by investigating the moderating role of consumers’ power. Across five studies, the authors find that for high‐power consumers, assertive ads are effective in promoting want products but ineffective in promoting should products. For low‐power consumers, however, assertive ads are effective in promoting should products but ineffective in promoting want products. Moreover, the authors show that this pattern of results is driven (mediated) by consumers’ perception of the fit between the advertising message and the advertised product. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Participative pricing strategies may influence consumer purchase decisions; this research proposes specifically that firms’ delegation of pricing decisions to consumers can create a control–effort trade-off. Consumers favor greater pricing control but are deterred by the effort involved in deciding what to pay. Strategies such as pay what you want (PWYW) in turn might reduce purchase intentions due to the effort involved. In contrast, strategies that increase feelings of control but not perceived effort, such as pick your price (PYP) options that let consumers choose from a limited set of prices, could enhance pricing outcomes. A field study and four laboratory experiments confirm these propositions. The findings demonstrate the mixed effects of participative pricing, identify mediating mechanisms that explain these effects, and specify common moderating conditions that shape the outcomes of participative pricing. These results have notable implications for pricing theory and practice.
Exercise behavior and mental well-being have decreased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through three studies, we investigate consumer demographic characteristics and associated psychological mechanisms leading to more favorable exercise behavior in response to a pandemic so as to encourage all consumers to engage in healthy exercise behavior. Study 1 shows that religiosity positively influences exercise behavior (including purchase of exerciserelated products) in response to a pandemic, and this relationship is mediated by sense of power. Study 2 then primes religion, replicating these findings and explains the relationship between religiosity and exercise through an approach mindset and an increased sense of power. Both Studies 1 and 2 also rule out numerous competing explanations for the relationship between religiosity and exercise behavior. Study 3 adds external validity with behavioral data from consumers' step counting smartphone apps and smart tracking devices. Findings build on terror management theory, and implications for marketers and policy makers are provided.
Through three studies, we examine how religiosity explains why some consumers in the United States are more resistant toward engaging in prosocial responses than others in response to global crises (specifically, a pandemic) and what can be done to change this. Specifically, Study 1 shows that consumers with higher levels of religiosity exhibit lower global crisis concern, because they feel less of a sense of personal control over the crisis, which leads to reduced prosocial responses. Study 2 generally replicates these effects by priming religiosity and showing that these religiously primed consumers have a lower perceived sense of control and view prosocial responses as not as beneficial, thereby reducing participation likelihood. Study 3 then shows that marketing messages can be used to improve higher religiosity consumers' perceived sense of control over a global crisis, leading to more positive prosocial responses and retailer attitudes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.