Deborah Brown McCabe

The Effect of a Delay between Choice and Consumption on Consumption Enjoyment

A consumer choosing a product must often wait before consuming it. In this article, we consider the consequences of waiting on consumption enjoyment. We propose that the effect of a delay on consumption enjoyment depends on both the negative utility of the wait itself and on the positive utility of anticipating a pleasant consumption experience. These factors exert different degrees of influence, depending on characteristics of the decision task. The results of three studies suggest that a delay increases consumption enjoyment for pleasurable products when actual consumption occurs, but decreases enjoyment for imagined consumption. Furthermore, the vividness of the awaited product moderates these effects.

Infusing Technology into Personal Selling

The use of technology by salespeople has been increasing, as witnessed by the overwhelming proliferation of sales force automation, customer relationship management, and communications technology; yet little is known about how and where technology is actually being used in the field. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to empirically examine where and how technology is being used. Results indicate (1) the extent of technology used for organizing, presenting, reporting, informing, supporting and processing transactions, and communicating; (2) the levels of productivity of technology for each function; (3) whether technology is being utilized in the field by salespeople; and (4) whether it is companies or salespeople who are initiating the use of technology.

Learning Why We Buy An Experiential Project for the Consumer Behavior Course

Marketing educators have long recognized the value of engendering students’ deep learning of course content via experiential pedagogies. In this article, the authors describe a semester-long, team-based retail audit project that is structured to elicit active student engagement with consumer behavior course material via concrete, hands-on, real-world experience. For the project, students form teams to organize and conduct an observational audit of a live retail setting. In the process of completing the project, students engage with course content on their own, with their team members, and importantly, within a focal store environment, thus experiencing for themselves the effects of that content on their own shopping behavior, as well as that of others. Compelled by the project’s active pedagogy to engage in discovery, students learn not only the “what” and “why” of marketing concepts, strategies, and techniques but also “how to” implement them. Anchored in conceptual perspectives relevant to the project, the article explains the components and structure of the project and explicates its key benefits with an emphasis on the students’ perspectives. The article includes results of qualitative and quantitative analyses that support the effectiveness of the project and suggests future directions for extending pedagogical research in this area.

The Influence of Different Types of Cues-to-Action on Vaccination Behavior: An Exploratory Study

Vaccination of a population before an epidemic spreads is critical. Yet trends suggest that vaccination rates are remarkably low due to a public that ignores or views with suspicion vaccination recommendations. However, pharmaceutical companies may attempt to drive demand by lobbying for mandated vaccination. In an exploratory study, an experimental design is used to determine if firms benefit from such efforts. Consumer responses to different cues-to-action, or stimuli that arouse individuals to engage in a desired behavior, are examined. Results suggest that responses to different cues-to-action vary. Implications are discussed for businesses that may consider seeking mandates to increase demand.