Underdog consumption: An exploration into meanings and motives

McGinnis, Lee Phillip; Gentry, James W.

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.01.026

Cited by 69 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Contrasting with 'upper dog' or 'top dog', the underdog refers to an entity, a person or a group of persons that is disadvantaged or perceived as unlikely to prevail in a struggle (Vandello, Goldschmied, & Richards, 2007). In the marketing context, an underdog may refer to a non-market dominant brand or company, or a disadvantaged person (McGinnis & Gentry, 2009). An underdog was often associated with pejorative descriptions such as a person with low-status who is disadvantaged and less likely to win.…”

Section: Underdog Consumermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, defending the little status that one can possess may turn into a powerful source of motivation and aspiration (Aquino & Douglas, 2003). In this vein, McGinnis and Gentry (2009) Kim et al (2008) refers to the motivation for supporting the underdog as 'the underdog effect' and describe it as 'people's tendency to support or root for an entity that is perceived as attempting to accomplish a difficult task, and that is not expected to succeed against an explicit or implicit advantaged opponent' (p. 2551). If so, one can ask why do people, overwhelmingly, support a person who is perceived as disadvantaged and is expected to lose.…”

Section: Underdog Consumermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empathy (McGinnis and Gentry, 2009) Empathy drives individuals to support underdogs. Empathetic persons are likely to identify with the plight of those who worked harder and perhaps longer in order to get to a better status.…”

Section: Motivations For Supporting Underdogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Freedom of choice (McGinnis and Gentry, 2009) Supporting underdogs keeps the competitive forces alive and allows the consumer to have the best choices (i.e., products, prices, etc. )…”

Section: Motivations For Supporting Underdogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inspiration (Kim et al, 2008;McGinnis and Gentry, 2009) The inspiration makes people feel empowered and motivated to support underdogs, as 'heroic accomplishments' of underdogs serve as inspiration and a guide for socially sanctioned behaviours.…”

Section: Motivations For Supporting Underdogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Consumers’ motivations and roles in rooting for or against underdog consumer

Zourrig

Hedhli

2017

Int J Consumer Studies

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When wronged customers feel powerless they could bring publicly their fight against offending firms. Doing so could help to put the perpetrator firms under pressure and urge them to restore fairness. While some consumers could express their commitment to wronged consumers, others may disagree and disapprove their fight. This paper investigates consumers' motivations and roles in supporting and rooting against powerless customers-referred here as underdogs. Using a netnography approach to analyse online participants' postings, we identified two types of roles:supportive and unsupportive roles. The former consist of five consumers' roles that are endorsed when rooting

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Section: Underdog Consumermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Underdog Consumermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motivations For Supporting Underdogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Freedom of choice (McGinnis and Gentry, 2009) Supporting underdogs keeps the competitive forces alive and allows the consumer to have the best choices (i.e., products, prices, etc. )…”

Section: Motivations For Supporting Underdogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motivations For Supporting Underdogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Consumers’ motivations and roles in rooting for or against underdog consumer

Zourrig

Hedhli

2017

Int J Consumer Studies

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Boycott or buycott? Understanding political consumerism

Neilson

2010

J of Consumer Behaviour

232

179

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This research addresses the question of how boycotting (punishing business for unfavorable behavior) differs from buycotting (rewarding business for favorable behavior). This analysis of 21 535 adults from the 2002/2003 European Social Survey (ESS) compares the effects of social capital, altruism, and gender on different categories of political consumers. Logistic regression analyses reveal that boycotters do indeed differ from buycotters. Specifically, women and people who are more trusting, involved in more voluntary associations, or more altruistic are more likely to buycott than boycott. These differences support the inclusion of both boycott and buycott measures in future studies of political consumerism.

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How Power States Influence the Persuasiveness of Top‐Dog versus Underdog Appeals

Jin

Huang

2018

J Consum Psychol

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Although both top‐dog and underdog positioning appeals are widely used in marketing and advertising, little is known about which strategy is more effective in persuading consumers. By introducing a sense of power, a social variable that is inherently relevant to the nature of the top‐dog versus underdog classification, we propose that consumers' responses to these two appeals are influenced by their psychological experience of power. Specifically, low‐power consumers will respond to top‐dog appeals more favorably because associating with top dogs facilitates power restoration. In contrast, high‐power consumers will respond to underdog appeals more favorably because supporting underdogs facilitates power expression. In four experimental studies, we provide consistent support for our main predictions as well as the underlying processes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate the differential effect of consumers' power states on their attitudes toward top‐dog versus underdog appeals. Providing process evidence, Studies 3 and 4 identify boundary conditions under which the basic effect was eliminated. These findings contribute to the persuasion literature and power research and provide important implications for positioning strategy and advertisement development.

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Underdog consumption: An exploration into meanings and motives

Cited by 69 publications

References 22 publications

Consumers’ motivations and roles in rooting for or against underdog consumer

Consumers’ motivations and roles in rooting for or against underdog consumer

Boycott or buycott? Understanding political consumerism

How Power States Influence the Persuasiveness of Top‐Dog versus Underdog Appeals

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