Market mavens are consumers who are highly involved in the marketplace and represent an important source of marketplace information to other consumers. Because of their influence on other consumers across a wide range of product domains, market mavens are particularly interesting to retailers. Previous studies have clarified the behavioral tendencies of market mavens. The present study focuses on psychological influences on market mavenism. A structural-equation model of the normative influences on the psychology of the market maven is developed and tested. The hypothesized model describes relationships between global psychological constructs (self-esteem, tendency to conform), consumer traits (susceptibility to interpersonal influence, consumer need for uniqueness), and a domain-specific tendency (opinion leadership), placing the market maven construct in a normative, nomological network. The hypothesized model was supported by the data. The findings reveal the complexity of the market maven by disclosing their susceptibility to normative influence despite their need for uniqueness.
One of the continuing challenges in the hotel industry is providing consistent levels of quality service across units. Although recruitment, selection, and training practices are often standardized across units (within a given market), frontline employees' performance varies. This study examines the role that individual unit management plays in this process by looking at how a manager's commitment to service quality and that person's leadership style affect the way frontline employees do their job. The fundamental implication of this study is that managers who are committed to service quality and employ an empowering leadership style can create a transformational climate that conveys their commitment to quality service to their frontline employees. This leads to employees who are more likely to share the organization's values, who understand their role in the organization, who are more satisfied with their jobs, and who perform at a higher level of quality in serving hotel guests.
Materialism influences many people. We focus on two aspects of this influence: reactions to prestige products and to the influence of others. A study of 187 U.S. student consumers shows that materialism is positively related to buying products that confer status. In contrast, materialism is negatively related to consumer independence, an enduring tendency to pay minimal attention to the prescribed norms of other consumers and to make product and brand decisions according to personal preferences. Consuming products for status is also negatively related to consumer independence. Moreover, the association between materialism and consumer independence is completely mediated by consuming for status. Materialism urges consumers to be status conscious so that they follow social norms in purchasing, but seeking status through goods is avoided by less materialistic, independent consumers. A second study (n = 258) also using student consumers confirmed these results.
Purpose -This paper aims to test hypothesized relationships of consumer need for uniqueness, attention to social comparison information, status consumption, and role-relaxed consumption with opinion leadership and opinion seeking for new fashionable clothing. Design/methodology/approach -The authors surveyed 598 consumers between the ages of 18 and 83 years using a self-administered questionnaire. Correlation and linear regression analyses showed that all four independent variables were related to both dependent variables. Findings -Consumer need for uniqueness was related positively to opinion leadership, but negatively with opinion seeking for younger consumers. Attention to social comparison information was positively related more highly to opinion seeking than to opinion leadership. Status consumption had the largest overall positive association, followed by role-relaxed consumption, which was negatively related. Research limitations/implications -Some findings confirm earlier studies and some break new ground. The findings are limited to US consumers and the convenience sample. Other limitations include the specific measures used and the cross-section survey method precludes making causal statements. The effects of other, unmeasured variables could be assessed. Practical implications -Apparel marketers seeking to encourage opinion leaders to promote their lines of new clothing might devise appeals emphasizing the social significance and status of the new fashions and how they bestow uniqueness on their wearers. Originality/value -The study not only confirms previous findings regarding consumer need for uniqueness and attention to social comparison information, but expands the description of motivating factors with status and role-relaxed consumption.
This paper describes a study in the psychology of market mavenism, the consumer tendency to become especially involved in the marketplace. The purpose was to investigate empirically associations with the important consumer characteristics of innovativeness, status consumption, and need for uniqueness. The findings support the notion that market mavenism is due less to the demographic characteristics of consumers as it is more a socially constructed phenomenon. Global innovativeness, status consumption, and creative choice counterconformity explained more variance in market mavenism than did demographics. Theoretically, these findings enrich our knowledge of the psychology of market mavens by suggesting some motivations for their behavior. Practically, marketing strategies can be fine-tuned to appeal more effectively to this important segment of consumers by appealing to mavens' willingness to try new things, to their need for uniqueness, and to their willingness to seek social status through consumption.
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