Donald R. Lichtenstein

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Donations to Corporate-Supported Nonprofits

Both theory and recent research evidence suggest that a corporations socially responsible behavior can positively affect consumers’ attitudes toward the corporation. The effect occurs both directly and indirectly through the behaviors effect on customer–corporation identification. The authors report the results of four studies designed to replicate and extend these findings. Using a field survey design, Study 1 provides evidence that perceived corporate social responsibility affects not only customer purchase behavior through customer–corporate identification but also customer donations to corporate-supported nonprofit organizations. Using experimental designs, Studies 2 and 3 replicate and extend the Study 1 findings by providing additional evidence for the mediating role of customer–corporate identification on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and customer donations. However, the combined results of Studies 2 and 3 also show that because of a “perceived opportunity to do good” by supporting a company that is changing its ways, consumers are more likely to donate to a corporate-supported nonprofit when the corporation has a weaker historical record of socially responsible behavior. Finally, Study 4 tests the relationship between the nonprofit domain and the domain of the corporations socially responsible behavior as a boundary condition for this effect.

A Cross-National Assessment of the Reliability and Validity of the CETSCALE

Though numerous calls have been made for the cross-national validation of measures used in international research, they have gone mostly unanswered. Recent research suggests that one construct and ...

Correlates of Price Acceptability

The cognitive tradeoff between price and product quality is used as a basis for hypothesizing interrelationships between two individual difference variables and two price-related responses. Results of a correlational study support the hypothesis of an inverse relationship between price consciousness and product involvement and the hypotheses that price consciousness and product involvement have opposite implications for several price-related constructs. Results also indicate a positive relationship between price acceptability level and the width of the latitude of price acceptance.

A Scale for Measuring Attitude toward Private Label Products and an Examination of its Psychological and Behavioral Correlates

A measure of consumers’ attitude toward private label brands is developed, and its psychometric properties are assessed. Predictions are then tested regarding relationships between private label attitude and (1) latent perceptual and sales promotion constructs, and (2) purchase behaviors measured in a field setting. The measure is positively related to value consciousness, deal proneness, and smart-shopper self-perceptions, and negatively related to the propensity to be brand loyal and hold price-quality perceptions. Predictive validity of the private label measure is supported by a positive relationship with private label purchases from a grocery store shopping trip. Despite a positive relationship between the latent constructs of private label attitude and deal proneness, the consumer segment that allocated a high percentage of total purchases to private label products made fewer purchases on sale or with a coupon. These findings suggest that consumers may choose between price-related deals and private label purchases.

Contextual Influences on Perceptions of Merchant-Supplied Reference Prices

Two contextual variables that have theoretical roots in information processing, attribution, and social judgment theories were manipulated along with three levels of merchant-supplied reference price in a 2 x 2 x 3 analysis of variance design. Results support the hypothesized effects of consistency and distinctiveness as contextual variables that influence internal price standards and purchase evaluations. The three price levels resulted in a curvilinear pattern of results for the purchase evaluation and source credibility dependent variables, as hypothesized. However, contrary to assimilation-contrast theory, the impact of the merchant-supplied reference price on estimates of normal and fair prices was monotonic. Copyright 1989 by the University of Chicago.

A Range Theory Account of Price Perception

It is well accepted in the behavioral pricing literature that a consumers perception of the attractiveness of a market price depends on a comparison of the market price to an internal reference price. The rationale underlying this dynamic has its roots in Adaptation-Level Theory. However, consistent with Range Theory, we postulate that a consumers assessment of the attractiveness of a market price may also depend on a comparison of the market price to the endpoints of the evoked price range. Four experiments provide evidence that variance in the width of the evoked price range affects price-attractiveness judgments in the absence of any variance in the internal reference price. Of theoretical importance, findings from the present article suggest that pricing theory is in need of augmentation in order to account for this effect. Of managerial relevance, these findings suggest that changes in context can bring about changes in the evoked price range and perceptions of the attractiveness of a market price. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.

Assessing the Domain Specificity of Deal Proneness: A Field Study

Results of two studies designed to assess the manner in which the deal proneness construct is best conceptualized are presented. On the basis of a review of the sales promotion literature, three alternatives are identified: (1) deal proneness is a general construct that encompasses various deal types (i.e., a single deal proneness construct), (2) deal proneness is a domain-specific construct (e.g., coupon proneness, sale proneness, rebate proneness), or (3) deal proneness is a construct that includes only certain types of deals (e.g., price-oriented deals, active-oriented deals). Across both studies, operationalizations consistent with each of the alternatives are developed, confirmatory factor models consistent with each are comapred, and the predictive validity of the alternatives is assessed by relating operationalizations consistent with each alternative to a variety of deal-responsive behaviors collected unobtrusively in natural field settings. Results support treating deal proneness as a domain-specific construct. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.

The Effect of Ad Claims and Ad Context on Attitude toward the Advertisement

Abstract This study examines the effect of one content and two contextual advertising manipulations on several measures of attitude toward the ad (Aad). Results indicate that such antecedent variables, each of which requires some degree of cognitive processing of information, can impact Aad in excess of their effects on perceptions of the value of the deal. Results also show that Aad is a significant predictor of attitude toward the deal after covarying out the experimental manipulations and perceptions of the value of the deal. Findings suggest that separate measures of cognitive and affective dimensions of Aad may be more appropriate than the single composite measures which have typically been employed by Aad researchers.

The Retail Value Chain: Linking Employee Perceptions to Employee Performance, Customer Evaluations, and Store Performance

The authors test a value chain model entailing a progression of influence from retail employee job perceptions → retail employee job performances → customer evaluations → customer spending and comparable store sales growth. The authors test the model using three matched samples of 1,615 retail employees, 57,656 customers, and 306 stores of a single retail chain. The authors find that three retail employee job perceptions (conscientiousness, perceived organizational justice, and organizational identification) have main and interactive effects on three dimensions of employee job performance (in-role performance, extra-role performance toward customers, and extra-role performance toward the organization). In turn, these performance dimensions exert influence on customer evaluations of the retailer (a satisfaction, purchase intent, loyalty, and word-of-mouth composite). The authors also show that employee perceptions exert a direct influence on customer evaluations, and that customer evaluations affect retail store performance (customer spending and comparable store sales growth). Finally, the authors conduct some simple simulations that show: (1) how changes in employee perceptions may raise average employee performances; (2) how changes in employee performances enhance average customer evaluations; and (3) how changes in customer evaluations raise average customer spending and comparable store sales growth. The authors then show that employee job perceptions and performances “ripple thru the system” to affect customer spending and store sales growth. The authors offer implications for theory and practice.

Involvement with the equipment component of sport: links to recreational commitment.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the involvement many sports participants have with relevant sports equipment. A structural model is presented which proposes a positive relationship between equipment involvement and recreational commitment. The model also identifies several possible outcomes of equipment involvement such as product spending levels and opinion leadership regarding the equipment. The model is tested using LJSREL analysis for a sample of recreational runners. Results confirm that both equipment involvement and recreational commitment are multidimensional constructs. Amount of running experience was found to be negatively related to perceptions of equipment importance, whereas psychological commitment to running had a positive effect. Behavioral commitment was not significantly associated with the perceived importance of running equipment, although there was a postive link with equipment knowledge. Equipment involvement was found to be a significant predictor of spending level...