Claus Ebster

Applying the door-in-the-face compliance technique to retailing

The door-in-the-face (DITF) approach, a sequential compliance technique in which a large request is followed by a more moderate request, has been shown to increase compliance in a variety of non-business situations. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the DITF technique could also be used to increase sales in a retailing context. A field experiment outside an alpine hut was conducted. A total of 375 consumers participated in the experiment. As they passed by the entrance to the mountain hut, they were approached by an experimenter who invited them to buy some home-made cheese. In the experimental groups the DITF technique was used by the salesperson. The results show that the DITF technique can lead to a significant increase in the number of consumers making a purchase. Furthermore, it was found that this compliance technique is even more effective when it is used by a highly credible seller and when the seller points out that the more moderate request constitutes a concession. The large effect of the DITF intervention (the number of consumers making a purchase increased 15 to 40 percentage points over the control group) suggests that this technique could be used successfully in retailing.

The Influence of Shopping Carts on Customer Behavior in Grocery Stores

Univ. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Udo Wagner is Professor of Marketing at the University of Vienna, Department of Management, Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, A-1090 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43-(0)1-4277-38011, Fax: +43-(0)1-4277-838012, E-Mail: udo.wagner@univie.ac.at Univ. Doz. Dr. Claus Ebster is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Vienna, Department of Management, Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, A-1090 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43-(0)1-4277-38017, Fax: +43-(0)1-4277-838012, E-Mail: claus.ebster@univie.ac.at Mag. Ulrike Eske is Research Assistant at the University of Vienna, Department of Management, Oskar-MorgensternPlatz 1, A-1090 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43-(0)1-4277-38012, Fax: +43-(0)1-4277-838012, E-Mail: ulli.eske@aon.at Mag. Wolfgang Weitzl is PhD Student at the University of Vienna, Department of Management, Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, A-1090 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43-(0)1-4277-38012, Fax: +43-(0)1-4277-838012, E-Mail: wolfgang.weitzl@gmx.net The Influence of Shopping Carts on Customer Behavior in Grocery Stores

Context Effects of Erotic Television Advertising

Univ.-Doz. Dr. Claus Ebster is Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Vienna, Department of Marketing, Brünner Straße 72, A-1210 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43 (0)1 4277-38017, Fax: +43 (0)1 4277-38014, E-Mail: claus.ebster@univie.ac.at. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Udo Wagner is Professor of Marketing at University of Vienna, Department of Marketing, Brünner Straße 72, A-1210 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43 (0)1 4277-38011, Fax: +43 (0)1 4277-38014, E-Mail: udo.wagner@univie.ac.at. Verena Richter is Research Assistant at University of Vienna, Department of Marketing, Brünner Straße 72, A-1210 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43 (0)1 4277-38025, Fax: +43 (0)1 4277-38014, E-Mail: verena.richter@univie.ac.at. Madeleine Prenner is Research Assistant at University of Vienna, Department of Marketing, Brünner Straße 72, A-1210 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43 (0)1 4277-38025, Fax: +43 (0)1 4277-38014, E-Mail: madeleine. prenner@univie.ac.at. Context Effects of Erotic Television Advertising

The Role of Variety Engineering in the Co-creation of Value

By integrating methods and models from systems science, the interdisciplinary field of service science has provided the basis for a possible radical shift in understanding the coordination mechanisms underlying global market dynamics. The Variety Engineering Model is found to support and extend the evolving framework of service-dominant logic by shedding light on the relational nature of interacting social agents, who co-create value by steering their behavior towards shared meanings through conversation. In our highly complex present-day world the main driver of balancing agents’ complexity asymmetries is self-organization. Without adequate management, this self-regulation seldom produces socially desirable outcomes. We conceive the proposed systemic methodology as an effective guideline for supporting managers to coordinate this process towards common policies, which may foster sustainable structures.

The After-Effects of Fear-Inducing Public Service Announcements

Messages using fear appeals often appear in social marketing, to promote causes such as smoking cessation, healthcare and driving accident prevention. Fear appeals can enhance the effectiveness of such communications, but they also may have unintended side effects. This study investigates the effect of fear-inducing public service announcements on evaluations of subsequent commercials in a commercial break. In two laboratory experiments, the authors measured participants’ evaluations of advertisements using a program analyzer. In line with affective priming theory, the results showed that fear-inducing public service announcements can negatively affect evaluations of subsequent commercials.

Studying Business Administration in Vienna

The goal of this study was to investigate how students at the Center for Business Studies at the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Economics and Business differ with respect to their personality traits and their expectations of their respective universities. To this aim, 816 students at the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Economics and Business were surveyed using face-to-face interviews. Results indicate that students at the two institutions differ in a variety of ways. Students at the University of Vienna evaluate broad course offerings, support services by lecturers, and a good climate between students as being more important than do students at Vienna University of Economics and Business. Respondents in the two samples also differ with respect to their self-assessed verbal and quantitative skills. The implications of these results are discussed and findings are compared with those of an earlier study investigating students at the two universities.