Anne L. Roggeveen

“Like it or not”: Consumer responses to word‐of‐mouth communication in on‐line social networks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online social network.Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were addressed using two online surveys. The first of these examined persuasive WOM communications on Facebook, the second investigated WOM communication on Twitter.Findings – It was found that closeness to the source of a persuasive communication may have less of an impact on message acceptance in online social networks compared to traditional WOM. The number of persons in a product network, as well as whether those members of a product network are also members of ones friend network, are important factors that determine message acceptance.Originality/value – The paper demonstrates differences between online versus traditional WOM, and has important implications for marketing practitioners.

Deal or no deal

Purpose – Information typically posted on group buying websites includes number of previous buyers, whether a limit has been placed on purchase number, and the time remaining until the deal expires. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that these factors may interact such that, under certain circumstances, purchase likelihood is reduced.Design/methodology/approach – The paper first examines actual online data; the authors then follow this with a 2×2×2 experiment in which they demonstrate psychological process.Findings – Providing previous‐buyer‐number information can have a positive effect on a consumers decision to purchase at an online group buying website (e.g. Groupon). Imposing a purchase limit can increase these positive effects, but providing information on time‐to‐expiration (if it is relatively long) can negate the effects. Both perceived value and anticipated regret are found to be mediating factors.Research limitations/implications – It is possible that effects may be attenuated as a re...

Perceived Source Variability Versus Familiarity: Testing Competing Explanations for the Truth Effect

This article tests 2 competing explanations for the truth effect, the finding that repeated statements are believed more than new statements. Previous research has put forth 2 explanations for this effect—subjective familiarity and perceived source variability. The subjective familiarity explanation holds that repeated statements feel more familiar and are therefore believed more than new statements. This explanation has received strong support in the literature. The source variability explanation holds that people attribute repeated statements to different sources; this belief, that multiple sources endorse the statement, increases belief in repeated statements relative to new statements attributed to a single source. However, previous studies testing this explanation have confounded source variability with source credibility. This research aims to tease apart the effects of subjective familiarity and source variability while holding source credibility constant across conditions. Results of the first 2 experiments manipulating number of sources and measuring recognition implicate subjective familiarity rather than perceived source variability as the mechanism underlying the truth effect. However, the third study demonstrates that source variability does enhance belief in repeated statements that are initially perceived as low in plausibility. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. You are flipping through a magazine and see an ad for Take Control, a spread made from natural soybean extract. The ad says “Take Control tastes great and helps promote healthy cholesterol levels!” Do you believe it? What if you then see a picture of Regis Philbin with his testimonial “Sounds too good to be true? Wait ’til you try it. It’s delicious and helps me look after my cholesterol!” —will his testimonial increase your belief? Without product experience, you may be forced to depend on cues (such as how familiar the claim feels or how many

How the Order of Sampled Experiential Products Affects Choice

The results of five experiments reveal that when sampling a series of experiential products (e.g., beverages, music), consumers prefer the product sampled second in a series of two desirable products but relatively prefer the product sampled first in a series of two undesirable products. The underlying process for both outcomes is a recency effect, such that there is better recall for the most recently sampled experiential product. The recency effect observed for experiential products reverses to a primacy effect when sampling nonexperiential products (e.g., scissors). The authors also demonstrate that the placement of an undesirable experiential product in conjunction with two desirable experiential products can exaggerate preference for the later-sampled desirable product (when the undesirable product is sampled first) or result in preference for the earlier-sampled desirable product (when the undesirable product is sampled between the two desirable products). However, the preference for the earlier-sampled desirable product holds only if there is no time delay between the sampling of the products or between the sampling and the choice evaluations.

Shall I Tell You Now or Later? Assimilation and Contrast in the Evaluation of Experiential Products

This research demonstrates that the effect of product information on the evaluation of an experiential product depends on the order with which such information is presented. In a series of experiments, we find that when information is presented before consuming an experiential product, the information results in an assimilation effect such that consumers evaluate the same experience more positively when the product information is favorable compared to when it is unfavorable. More interestingly, we demonstrate that when such information is presented after consuming an experiential product, it results in a contrast effect such that consumers evaluate the same experience more negatively when the product information is favorable compared to when it is unfavorable. These findings have important implications for marketers in a host of experiential categories.

The Impact of Dynamic Presentation Format on Consumer Preferences for Hedonic Products and Services

Manufacturers and online retailers are readily availing themselves of new technologies to present their merchandise using a variety of formats, including static (still image) and dynamic (video) portrayal. Building on vividness theory, the authors propose and demonstrate that presenting products and services using a dynamic visual format enhances consumer preference for hedonic options and willingness to pay for those options. The dynamic presentation format increases involvement with the product/service experience in a manner presumably similar to that of the actual product experience. The result is an increased preference for and valuation of hedonic options. This holds true for experiential and search products in single and joint evaluations and carries over to subsequent choices. Across all studies, the results demonstrate that a dynamic (relative to static) presentation format enhances choice of the hedonically superior (vs. utilitarian-superior) option by more than 79%.

Does the Frame of a Comparative Ad Moderate the Effectiveness of Extrinsic Information Cues

This research investigates how framing moderates the use of message cues on performance risk evaluations. Understanding the moderating impact of the frame is important from a theoretical perspective as the frame is a critical contingency factor in how evaluations are formed. This research extends previous results by testing whether framing affects the use of other extrinsic cues, determining the effect when there are multiple extrinsic cues, determining the impact when extrinsic information is not explicitly provided, and providing evidence that positively framed messages engender more thorough analysis of message cues than negatively framed messages and affect how extrinsic cues are used. (c) 2006 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

The personalization-privacy paradox: implications for new media

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate personalized communications through digital media, which include display, search, social and mobile communications. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the literature pertaining to different digital mediums, the authors explore how different factors influence consumers’ responses to personalized communications. The current study integrates and reviews prior literature related to personalization, seeking a richer understanding of when personalized communications improve or hinder customer–firm interactions. Findings – Personalization can both enhance and diminish consumer engagement with the firm: it may heighten privacy concerns because consumers worry about how their data are collected and used, and it can also benefit them in meaningful ways. Thus, firms must use the information that they collect in a strategic manner to balance this personalization-privacy paradox. This paper finds that the benefits of personalization may vary as a function of the medium th...

Price Number Relationships and Deal Processing Fluency: The Effects of Approximation Sequences and Number Multiples

This research investigates how the relationships among pieces of numerical information in a price promotional offer (i.e., regular price, sale price, absolute discount, and relative discount) affect deal processing fluency. Across four studies (including a field study involving purchase data collected from an online group-buying website), the authors show that when the numbers constitute an approximation sequence or are multiples of one another, deal processing fluency is increased, which influences deal liking and ultimately has an impact on consumers’ price promotion predilection. In addition, this article demonstrates that when consumers are not highly motivated to process numerical information, they may choose deals that offer less economic value but feature a combination of numbers that they can more fluently process. This research has important implications for the type of numerical information marketers should include in price promotional offers.

Changing False Beliefs from Repeated Advertising: The Role of Claim-Refutation Alignment

This research addresses refutation of false beliefs formed on the basis of repeated exposure to advertisements. Experiment 1 explores belief in the refutation as a function of the perceptual details shared (alignment) between the claim and the refutation as manipulated by whether the original claim was direct (assertion) or indirect (implication). Experiment 2 then examines whether this effect will carry through to belief in the original claim after exposure to the refutation. Findings indicate that direct refutations of indirect claims are believed more than refutations of direct claims. However, direct refutations of direct claims are more effective in reducing belief in the original claim. We argue that recollection of the original claim facilitates automatic updating of belief in that claim. Experiment 3 demonstrates that an alternative cue (a logo) in a refutation that facilitates recall of the original claim enables reduction of belief in the original indirect claim; this finding helps to pin down the mechanism—recall of the original claim—underlying belief updating. Further, Experiment 3 finds that multiple cues to recalling the original claim may prevent the automatic updating process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.