Amar Cheema

The Effect of Need for Uniqueness on Word of Mouth

This research examines the psychosocial cost associated with positive word of mouth (WOM), which can decrease the uniqueness of possessions and thus harm high-uniqueness consumers (pilot study). As a result, high- (versus low-) uniqueness consumers are less willing to generate positive WOM for publicly consumed products that they own. However, high uniqueness does not decrease willingness to generate WOM for privately consumed products (Study 1). Study 2 demonstrates that for publicly consumed products, WOM that includes positive recommendations is more persuasive than WOM that only contains product details. Consequently, the effect of uniqueness is more pronounced for WOM recommendations than for WOM that only provides details (Study 3). Study 4 confirms that high- (versus low-) uniqueness consumers are less willing to recommend a public product to others but are equally willing to discuss product details. Study 5 analyzes real-world WOM content and finds evidence in support of these results.

Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition

This paper examines how ambient noise, an important environmental variable, can affect creativity. Results from five experiments demonstrate that a moderate (70 dB) versus low (50 dB) level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products. A high level of noise (85 dB), on the other hand, hurts creativity. Process measures reveal that a moderate (vs. low) level of noise increases processing difficulty, inducing a higher construal level and thus promoting abstract processing, which subsequently leads to higher creativity. A high level of noise, however, reduces the extent of information processing and thus impairs creativity.

Earmarking and Partitioning: Increasing Saving by Low-Income Households

This research examines the effects of earmarking money on savings by low-income consumers. In particular, the authors test two interventions that are designed to enhance the effects of earmarking: (1) using a visual reminder of the savings goal and (2) dividing the earmarked money into two parts. Consistent with prior research suggesting that partitioning increases self-control, people save more when earmarked money is partitioned into two accounts than when it is pooled into one account. In addition, the presence of the visual reminder increases the savings rate. The authors conclude with implications for consumer welfare and directions for further research.

The Effect of Red Background Color on Willingness-to-Pay: The Moderating Role of Selling Mechanism

The authors investigate the effect of red backgrounds on willingness-to-pay in auctions and negotiations. Data from eBay auctions and the lab show that a red (vs. blue) background elicits higher bid jumps. By contrast, red (vs. blue) backgrounds decrease price offers in negotiations. An investigation of the underlying process reveals that red color induces aggression through arousal. In addition, the selling mechanism—auction or negotiation—alters the effect of color by focusing individuals on primarily competing against other bidders (in auctions) or against the seller (in negotiations). Specifically, aggression is higher with red (vs. blue or gray) color and, therefore, increases bid jumps in auctions but decreases offers in negotiations.

Surcharges and Seller Reputation

We propose that consumers buying from low- (vs. high-) reputation sellers pay greater attention to surcharges. Thus, reputation moderates the effect of surcharges on purchase. Data from eBay show that consumers adjust bids to account for surcharges when buying from low-reputation sellers but not when buying from high-reputation sellers (study 1). Study 2 replicates this effect with partitioned versus consolidated prices. Study 3 reveals that consumers take longer to make purchasing decisions when buying from low-reputation sellers and that response times mediate the moderating role of reputation. Furthermore, the effect of surcharges levied by low-reputation sellers is attenuated for consumers with low (vs. high) need for cognition (study 4).

Framing Goals to Influence Personal Savings: The Role of Specificity and Construal Level

In four studies, the authors show that consumers’ savings can be increased or decreased merely by changing the way consumers think about their saving goals. Consumers can (1) either specify or not specify an exact amount to save (goal specificity) and (2) focus on either how to save or why to save (construal level). The results illustrate that specific goals help consumers save more when the saving goal is construed at a high level but that nonspecific goals help consumers save more when the saving goal is construed at a low level. The same pattern of results occurs with anticipated saving success and actual savings. Mediation analyses reveal that for high-level construers, specific (vs. nonspecific) goals lead to success because they are perceived as more important. However, specific (vs. nonspecific) goals are also perceived as more difficult, which is more discouraging for low-level construers.

Influence of Warm versus Cool Temperatures on Consumer Choice: A Resource Depletion Account

Across five studies, the authors demonstrate that warm (vs. cool) temperatures deplete resources, increase System 1 processing, and influence performance on complex choice tasks. Real-world lottery data (pilot study) and a lab experiment (Study 1) demonstrate the effect of temperature on complex choices: People are less likely to make difficult gambles in warmer temperatures. Study 2 implicates resource depletion as the underlying process; warm temperatures lower cognitive performance for nondepleted people but do not affect the performance of depleted people. Study 3 illustrates the moderating role of task complexity to show that warm temperatures are depleting and decrease willingness to make a difficult product choice. Study 4 juxtaposes the effects of depletion and temperature to reveal that warm temperatures hamper performance on complex tasks because of the participants’ increased reliance on System 1 (heuristic) processing.

Bidding Behavior in Descending and Ascending Auctions

This research examines how individual differences and institutional practices influence consumer bidding in auctions. Bidders may be motivated by different goals, e.g., thrill (of winning the item, with minimal attention to what they pay for it) versus prudence (winning the item at a price at or below its perceived value). Also, innate or auctioneer-induced differences may exist in the precision and salience of bidder cognitions about the items value. We report two studies on how these motivational and cognitive factors influence bids in descending and ascending auctions, respectively. Each study also manipulated a situational variable (wait time at each price step). The two auctions realized different average prices for the same item set. Average bids were higher in the descending (versus ascending) auction in several study conditions. In both auction formats, bidders primed with thrill (versus prudence) bid higher, but more precise and/or salient values attenuated this goal effect. Among other results, in the descending auction, longer wait times elicited higher bids from bidders primed with thrill (but not prudence). In the ascending auction, longer wait times produced lower bids for bidders primed with prudence (but not thrill). These findings on consumer bidding behavior have practical implications for auction design.

Do Evaluations Rise with Experience

Sequential evaluation is the hallmark of fair review: The same raters assess the merits of applicants, athletes, art, and more using standard criteria. We investigated one important potential contaminant in such ubiquitous decisions: Evaluations become more positive when conducted later in a sequence. In four studies, (a) judges’ ratings of professional dance competitors rose across 20 seasons of a popular television series, (b) university professors gave higher grades when the same course was offered multiple times, and (c) in an experimental test of our hypotheses, evaluations of randomly ordered short stories became more positive over a 2-week sequence. As judges completed repeated evaluations, they experienced more fluent decision making, producing more positive judgments (Study 4 mediation). This seemingly simple bias has widespread and impactful consequences for evaluations of all kinds. We also report four supplementary studies to bolster our findings and address alternative explanations.

The Effect of Bracketing on Spending

This research studies how bracketing one large pot of money into several small pots affects spending patterns. Because individuals usually make decisions in the frame provided to them (Slovic, 1972), bracketing one large pot into several small pots may necessitate breaking open multiple pots to spend. Breaking open a pot, which may be similar to breaking a rule, is aversive to individuals. Thus, they may spend less, and more slowly, from several small pots than from one large pot. We demonstrate the consequences of bracketing for gambles with real monetary implications and explore how bracket artificiality moderates this effect.