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Research in social psychology has extensively referenced and used Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action to predict and understand motivational influences on behavior Recently Ajzen has proposed an extension of the theory by including perceptions of behavioral control as an additional predictor of intentions and behavior. The present research compared Ajzen's theory of planned behavior with the theory of reasoned action for 10 behaviors chosen to represent a range with respect to control over performing the behavior. he results indicate that inclusion of perceived behavioral control enhances the prediction of behavioral intention and behavior Consistent with the theory of planned behavior, the effects of perceived behavioral control on a target behavior are most vivid when the behavior presents some problem with respect to control.

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Color is an integral part of products, services, packaging, logos, and other collateral and can be an effective means of creating and sustaining brand and corporate images in customers’ minds. Through an eight-country study, the authors explore consumers’ preferences for different colors and color combinations. The results show cross-cultural patterns of both similarity and dissimilarity in color preferences and color meaning associations. When subjects are asked to match colors for a product logo, some color combinations suggest a consistency in meaning, whereas other combinations suggest colors whose meanings are complementary. The authors discuss implications for managing color to create and sustain brand and corporate images across international markets.

This research responds to the attendant need for empirical evidence pertaining to how marketing affects firm performance. Using the Fama-French method, common in finance, and a leading marketplace measure of a brand’s financial equity value, the authors provide empirical evidence for the branding-shareholder value creation link. The results extend previous research by showing that strong brands not only deliver greater returns to stockholders than does a relevant benchmark but do so with less risk. This finding holds even when market share and firm size are considered.

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Two conceptualizations of innovativeness are operationalized and related to the new product adoption process. Multi‐item scales designed to measure consumer independent judgment making (i.e., the degree to which an individual makes innovation decisions independently of the communicated experience of others) and consumer novelty seeking (i.e., the desire to seek out new product information) are developed and tested on adult consumers. Tests of the hypothesized effects of these traits show that consumer novelty seeking is positively related to early stages of the adoption process (i.e., actualized novelty seeking and new product awareness), whereas consumer independent judgment making is only associated with later stages of the adoption process (i.e., new product trial). The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

A new generational cohort is emerging from the Millennial market segment as a result of cataclysmic events that have occurred since 2008. Interviews with college upperclassmen in the United States identified significant events influencing their values, the values arising from these events, and new values not associated with older Millennials. The most important events identified included the Great Recession, 9/11, and the election of the first African-American president. Values of Millennials were assessed in online surveys of college juniors and seniors in the United States in the fall of 2009 and 2010 and among older Millennials, aged 27-31, during the summer of 2010. The values most strongly differentiating the younger and older Millennials were "piety" and "thrift." Younger Millennials in the United States are less thrifty and more secular and sexually permissive than older Millennials. They are also less patriotic and less concerned about politics, sustainability, saving, and making mistakes in life. This suggests a splintering of the Millennials cohort as a result of the Great Recession and the potential emergence of a younger "entitlement" cohort. It also suggests further investigation of cross-national value shifts among younger Millennials, prompted by the Great Recession.