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This research represents the first systematic empirical examination of the motivation to spread word of mouth about consumption activities in order to self‐express, a phenomenon that has been observed in both the academic literature and the popular press. Consumption‐focused self‐expression is a motivation to engage in word‐of‐mouth communication that is distinct from other word‐of‐mouth motivations that have been discussed in the literature. This work defines consumption‐focused self‐expression word of mouth as communication about one's consumption activities for the purpose of expressing one's self‐concept and attracting attention to oneself. A scale to measure consumption‐focused self‐expression word of mouth is developed and shown to exhibit a consistent scale structure, acceptable reliability, and convergent, discriminant, nomological, and predictive validity. Scores on the consumption‐focused self‐expression word‐of‐mouth scale are shown to predict differences in the quantity and nature of consumers’ actual word‐of‐mouth communications via the social networking Web site Facebook.

Researchers have operationalized communal and exchange relationship perceptions as either mutually exclusive categories or opposite ends of a continuum. This research conceptualizes these relationships as distinct constructs that should be measured separately. We develop multi-item measures of communal and exchange relationship perceptions and find that they are actually positively correlated. We also examine the way communal and exchange relationship perceptions combine to influence intrinsic, extrinsic, and social motivations to donate, a category stipulated in economics, but not in psychology. We find that both relationship perceptions influence consumer attitudes toward donating through a mix of intrinsic, extrinsic, and social motivations.

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Previous research has shown that a touch or haptic element attached to a persuasive appeal can increase persuasion, particularly for individuals who have a clear preference for touch to enjoy its sensory feedback (high autotelics). This research extends previous work by including involvement in the context of an appeal by a nonprofit. We find, in an experiment where we manipulate involvement, that when a haptic element is present, high autotelics are more persuaded regardless of their involvement with the message. However, for low autotelics, a haptic element increases persuasion under conditions of low versus high involvement with the message. A second experiment measures involvement and finds that again, under low involvement conditions, both high and low autotelics are persuaded by a touch element. Finally, a field study with a local symphony orchestra is conducted in which involvement with the message is low but involvement with the company is high. In this case, a touch element is only persuasive for high autotelics.

Previous research on consumer nostalgia has concluded that nostalgic feelings primarily have a positive effect on consumers, boosting positive feelings and affective responses. However, evidence suggests that consumers who hold nostalgic feelings toward a specific brand sometimes respond negatively to updated or modified versions of the brand. This research tests the moderating effect of consumers' brand nostalgia on their responses to changes to a brand. Across four studies, the authors find that consumers who are nostalgic toward a specific brand exhibit a positive bias toward the original version of the brand that leads them to perceive the brand as having changed more than do less nostalgic consumers. Further, when the change to the brand is perceived to be large, individuals who are highly nostalgic for a brand show a significantly sharper decrease in reported attitude and behavioral intentions toward the changed brand than do their less nostalgic counterparts. This effect is in opposition to the positive effects of a general tendency toward nostalgia proneness. These results are replicated across multiple product categories and both manipulated and real changes, and the effect is found to be mediated by the consumer's biased perception of how much the brand has changed.

This research seeks to expand the current understanding of nostalgia towards childhood as it relates to consumer brand relationships and provide a framework for better understanding the phenomenon as it appears in both academic and real-world settings. In this paper, the authors use existing literature on nostalgia and consumer interviews to define childhood brand nostalgia as a positively valenced emotional attachment to a brand because of the brand's association with fond memories of the individual's non-recent lived past. A scale to measure an individual's childhood brand nostalgia is developed and tested to ensure convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. The scale is found to capture individual differences in nostalgic feelings towards a single brand, and individuals are found to have varying levels of nostalgic feelings for multiple brands across multiple product categories. This demonstrates the usefulness of this scale in determining a consumer's nostalgia towards a particular brand from their childhood.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how conflicting brand preferences between a social group and an individual may lead the individual to hide their consumption. Specifically, the authors examine the conditions under which hiding behaviour is most likely to occur and the impact of susceptibility to interpersonal influence on the decision to hide. Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments were conducted using a combination of student and adult samples. Analysis of variance and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Findings – Findings suggest that individuals are most likely to hide their consumption behaviour when group sanctions for non-conformity are severe, but the likelihood of being caught is low. Further, individual differences in susceptibility to interpersonal influence are found to affect individuals’ decisions to hide their consumption behaviour. Research limitations/implications – By identifying hidden consumption behaviour as a possible response to preference conflict, this research contributes to the literature on social influence and extends our understanding of how consumers behave when influenced by social group pressure. Originality/value – The present work establishes hiding behaviour (a concept which has yet to be thoroughly explored in the literature) as an alternative yet viable response to preference conflict.