Arul Mishra

The Influence of Price Discount versus Bonus Pack on the Preference for Virtue and Vice Foods

The authors find that consumers prefer a bonus pack to a price discount for virtue foods but they prefer a price discount to a bonus pack for vice foods. Prior research has shown that, all else being equal, consumers prefer bonus packs to price discounts. The authors propose that this preference does not hold for vice food, because consumers cannot generate good justifications for buying such food when a bonus pack is offered because this would mean consuming more of the vice. However, a price discount on a vice food can be justified because it acts as a guilt-mitigating mechanism. For virtue foods, the absence of both anticipated postconsumption guilt and the resultant need to justify leads consumers to prefer a bonus pack to a price discount. The authors demonstrate the proposed effect and test its underlying process across five experiments.

Money: A Bias for the Whole

We document the phenomenon of “bias for the whole,” wherein greater value is perceived for money in the form of a whole (large denomination) than for equivalent amounts of money in parts (smaller denominations), resulting in a lower inclination to spend with the whole. We demonstrate across four experiments that the bias arises from greater processing fluency experienced in processing the whole as opposed to parts. This processing fluency is hedonically marked and generates positive affect that is attributed to the money, which results in an overvaluation of the whole, making one reluctant to spend with the whole.

The Influence of Bite-Size on Quantity of Food Consumed: A Field Study

While research has extensively investigated how portion sizes can influence the quantity of food consumed, relatively little work has been done to explore how bite size influences overall consumption. This research seeks to address this concern. In a field study, we collected data in a restaurant and manipulated bite size by providing diners with small or large forks. We found that diners consumed more from smaller rather than larger forks. Utilizing motivation literature, which ties into the unique factors present in a restaurant consumption setting (e.g., diners have a well-defined goal of hunger satiation because they invest effort by visiting a specific restaurant, choose from a menu, and pay money for the meal), we present our rationale for the pattern of results. Moreover, in a controlled lab study we demonstrate that when these factors are absent, the pattern of results is reversed.

Influence of Contagious versus Noncontagious Product Groupings on Consumer Preferences

This article studies the influence of product groupings on consumer preferences. Specifically, it is proposed that when each product in two groups has an equal chance of a gain, consumers prefer to choose from a group that appears more contagious (e.g., products arranged close together, similarly, or symmetrically). However, when each product in two groups has an equal chance of a loss, consumers prefer to choose from a group that appears less contagious (e.g., products arranged apart, dissimilarly, or asymmetrically). Across three experiments, the effect is demonstrated, and contagion theory is used to explicate the underlying process.

In Praise of Vagueness: Malleability of Vague Information as a Performance-Booster

Is the eternal quest for precise information always worthwhile? Our research suggests that, at times, vagueness has its merits. Previous research has demonstrated that people prefer precise information over vague information because it gives them a sense of security and makes their environments more predictable. However, we show that the fuzzy boundaries afforded by vague information can actually help individuals perform better than can precise information. We document these findings across two laboratory studies and one quasi–field study that involved different performance-related contexts (mental acuity, physical strength, and weight loss). We argue that the malleability of vague information allows people to interpret it in the manner they desire, so that they can generate positive response expectancies and, thereby, perform better. The rigidity of precise information discourages desirable interpretations. Hence, on certain occasions, precise information is not as helpful as vague information in boosting performance.

We are What We Consume: The Influence of Food Consumption on Impulsive Choice

Consumers’ impulsive choices have traditionally been attributed either to contextual factors, such as product attributes and store environment, or to individual personality traits. In this article, the authors find that type of food consumed can also influence impulsive choice. Specifically, food that enhances the levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin can reduce impulsive choice. To test the hypotheses on the influence of serotonin on postconsumption impulsive choice, the authors collected data on the eve of Thanksgiving. The occasion of Thanksgiving dinner provides a naturalistic setting in which people consume a tryptophan-rich meal (tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin). The authors replicate these findings and obtain converging evidence in a lab setting in which they give some participants a tryptophan-rich beverage and observe their postconsumption impulsive choices.

The Group-Contagion Effect The Influence of Spatial Groupings on Perceived Contagion and Preferences

We used contagion theory as a framework for studying the influence of spread of qualities in a group. We found that peoples preferences change depending on how objects are arranged in a group. They prefer to choose from a closely arranged group if one unidentified object in that group has a positive quality, but prefer to choose from a group in which objects are farther apart if one unidentified object in that group has a negative quality. We call this pattern of preference the group-contagion effect. We also found that the magnitude of the effect increases if the number of objects possessing the positive or negative quality increases.

Consistency and Validity Issues in Consumer Judgments

Prior research has traced poor judgment quality to poor calibration. We suggest inconsistency to be another reason for poor judgment quality-utilizing different models on different occasions resulting in increased wandering in judgments. We demonstrate differing consistency in the utilization of models depending upon which variable is used as a cue and which is used as the criterion to be predicted. This results in differing correlations underlying judgments between the same two variables, an internally inconsistent pattern. We trace this to the utilization of lay causal models to make predictions but with the strength of the causal story moderating the consistency in use of the model. (c) 2006 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Cultural and Economic Impacts on Global Cultural Products: Evidence from U.S. Movies

Existing international product diffusion studies have identified economic and cultural factors that influence consumers’ acceptance of new products, but they have not fully examined these factors’ roles in the international diffusion of global cultural products. The authors examine country-level economic and cultural factors that influence consumers’ acceptance of new global cultural products across countries. Using 846 recent U.S. movies’ box office performances in 48 national markets as the empirical context, the authors obtain the following key novel findings on product sales: (1) an inverse U-shaped impact of economic development status, (2) a positive impact of the cultural compatibility of the product and the market, and (3) a U-shaped impact of intercountry cultural distance in the presence of cultural compatibility and a decreasing linear impact of cultural distance in the absence of cultural compatibility.

What's in a Message? The Longitudinal Influence of a Supportive Versus Combative Orientation on the Performance of Nonprofits

In this article, the authors propose that in the long run, a nonprofit organization with supportively oriented positioning (e.g., promoting a cause) is likely to survive longer and achieve more donations compared with a nonprofit with a combative orientation (e.g., fighting against something). To test this proposition, the authors adopt a three-pronged approach that (1) uses publicly available financial data from nonprofits’ tax filings over a ten-year period, (2) measures annual donor pledges from a field study with a registered nonprofit organization, and (3) examines actual donation behavior of participants in a longitudinal lab study. Moreover, the authors test this proposition for donations of money as well as time. They consider various theoretical mechanisms that might cause the proposed effect, such as regulatory focus theory, inertia in giving, and the preponderance of supportive charities.