Consumer Control and Empowerment: A Primer

Wathieu, Luc; Brenner, Lyle; Carmon, Ziv; Chattopadhyay, Amitava; Wertenbroch, Klaus; Drolet, Aimée; Gourville, John T.; Muthukrishnan, A. V.

doi:10.1023/a:1020311914022

Cited by 288 publications

(259 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Increasing levels of automation of consumer chores (e.g., in smart homes and in self-driving cars) and of automation of marketing in big-data-driven micro-targeting (e.g., with personalized content recommendation algorithms) are undoubtedly helping empower consumers by increasing their convenience and safety, lowering their search costs, and more optimally satisfying their preferences [67]. At the same time, the benefits of such automation make questioning its effects on consumer autonomy and well-being more important than ever.…”

Section: Psychological Reductionism Of Marketing Automationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the standard economic perspective of utility theory, this development should help consumers find and choose options that best suit their needs, allowing them to lower their search costs and increase the utility they derive from their choices [4,42,61,62]. Marketers, researchers, and policy makers generally assume that lowering search, transaction, and decision-making costs empowers consumers and increases consumer welfare [67]. Sophisticated algorithms plowing through vast amounts of consumer data, for example, allow online marketers to serve up just the right product or service, relieving consumers not only of the costs of searching but also of the unpleasant and difficult tradeoffs, which consumer choice often entails [3,49,60].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consumer Choice and Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

André

Carmon

Wertenbroch

et al. 2017

Cust. Need. and Solut.

Self Cite

196

131

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Recent developments in the field of artificial intelligence and data analytics are facilitating the automation of some consumer chores (e.g., in smart homes and in self-driving cars) and allow the emergence of big-data-driven, micro-targeting marketing practices (e.g., personalized content recommendation algorithms). We contend that those developments can generate a tension for marketers, consumers, and policy makers: They can, on the one hand, contribute to consumer well-being by making consumer choices easier, more practical, and more efficient. On the other hand, they can also undermine consumers' sense of autonomy, the absence of which can be detrimental to consumer well-being. Drawing on diverse perspectives from marketing, economics, philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology, we explore how consumers' sense of autonomy in making choices affects their wellbeing. We discuss how new technologies may enhance or diminish consumers' perceptions of being in control of their choices and how either of those can, in turn, enhance of detract from consumer well-being. Building on this, we identify open research questions in the domain of choice, well-being, and consumer welfare, and suggest avenues for future research.

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Section: Psychological Reductionism Of Marketing Automationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer Choice and Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

André

Carmon

Wertenbroch

et al. 2017

Cust. Need. and Solut.

Self Cite

196

131

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“…This definition builds on the understanding of control as a sense of personal control of a given situation (Inesi et al, 2011;Paterson and Neufeld, 1995); this feeling of controlling the situation can alleviate stress (Glass and Singer, 1972) as it gives the individual a sense of being in 6 charge over what happens. This definition of perceived control is crucial to understanding services, as it leads to higher consumer confidence (Bearden et al, 2001) and satisfaction (Wathieu et al, 2002) with the service. However, achieving the desired outcome might be easier in some services and more difficult in others; in more complicated service contexts such as visiting a bank or visiting a doctor, the use of a special vocabulary might lead to misunderstandings, particularly if the interaction takes place in the consumer's second language (Holmqvist and Grönroos, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer willingness to communicate in a second language

Holmqvist

Vaerenbergh

Grönroos

2014

Management Decision

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Consumer willingness to communicate in a second language: Communication in service settingsPurpose -The service management literature emphasizes the importance of communication, but language difficulties can make communicating in business settings more difficult. This paper addresses consumer willingness to communicate in a second language to identity the antecedents that drive consumer language preferences.Design/methodology/approach -The paper presents the findings of an empirical study in two multilingual countries with a total of 361 adult respondents.Findings -The findings show perceived control to be the strongest antecedent of consumer willingness to communicate in a second language, and identifies second language skills as an antecedent in countries with little political tensions related to language, while political considerations is a strong antecedent in countries where language use is political.Research limitations/implications -The study is limited to countries with more than one official language. While multilingual countries make up around 2/3 of the world's population, future research could test whether the same antecedents are applicable in monolingual societies.Practical implications -The findings help managers to understand in which situations consumers may be willing to switch language, and in which situations it is important to serve consumers in more than one language.Originality/value -The paper is the first to draw upon both the service management literature and the sociolinguistic literature to develop and test a model to explain consumer language preferences.Keywords: service encounters, language, perceived control, willingness to communicate Article classification: Research paper 3 INTRODUCTIONService management research has long recognized that the globalization of business is changing companies' interactions with consumers (Grönroos, 1994). In an increasingly global and multilingual world, managers face the challenge of both managing transnational and multilingual organizations (Maclean, 2006), serving consumers speaking different languages, and understanding which language consumers prefer to use in different situations (Holmqvist and Grönroos, 2012). Building on the view of the service encounter as a dyadic interaction in which consumers actively participate (Surprenant and Solomon, 1987), service research emphasizes that interactions in which both the consumer and the service personnel play integral roles strongly influence services (Bitner, 1990;Grönroos, 2008). As the actual interaction between the consumer and the company is a crucial part of how consumers perceive service encounters (Bitner, 1990), communication quality play an important role for the outcome of the interaction (Sieg et al., 2012). Moreover, the emergence of the service logic mandates increased attention to the importance of the consumer as a value creator during interactions (Grönroos, 2008;Vargo and Lusch, 2004;Vega-Vazquez et al., 2013).Despite the emphasis on the importance of understanding how consumers com...

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“…For consumers, better decisions are directly related to increased control, empowerment, and happiness (Desmeules, 2002;Dhar & Kim, 2007;Wathieu et al, 2002). Positive priming strategies can make cognitive tasks more efficient and helpful, not only to consumers, but also to organizations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Consumer Decisions: The Conscious Use of Primes as Performance Enhancers

Nicolao

Yorkston

Brocato

et al. 2016

BAR, Braz. Adm. Rev.

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Through this article we examine ways through which consumers can take advantage of marketers' priming attempts and make better decisions. Specifically, we investigate what happens when individuals are made aware of primes that may potentially improve their performance. Using an Embedded Figures Test, we demonstrate that individuals can be consciously primed into an analytic thinking mindset and perform better when they believe that the prime will enhance performance. Individuals are able to successfully ignore the prime when they believe that the prime hinders performance. Utilizing both holistic and analytic primes and by alternating the valence of the prime's potential outcome, we are able to disentangle the conscious effects of primes from demand effects. We discuss how these findings may lead to and suggest avenues for future research.

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Consumer Control and Empowerment: A Primer

Cited by 288 publications

References 15 publications

Consumer Choice and Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

Consumer Choice and Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

Consumer willingness to communicate in a second language

Improving Consumer Decisions: The Conscious Use of Primes as Performance Enhancers

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