Emi Moriuchi

Role of brand names and product types on bicultural consumers’ purchase intentions

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of brand names and product types on bicultural’s purchasing intention. In cross-cultural marketing, a current popular position among bicultural consumer advocates that brand name that has a foreign character denotes that when an unknown brand is present, and if the unknown brand is a hedonic product, then a foreign character that has a long-standing history of delivery quality products should be mandatory. Design/methodology/approach Through a multidisciplinary literature review, qualitatively supported differences in bicultural consumers from a majority-minority status are reviewed and formulated as hypotheses, and a survey is used to collect quantitative data from a stratified random sample. Findings A 2 (cultural identity vs felt ethnicity) × 2 (English brand name vs Japanese brand name) factorial experiment, which tested this contention, revealed that, although consumers are considered biculturals, they will be more inclined to perceive products to be of higher quality when the product is written in Japanese than in English. Furthermore, the result shows that felt ethnicity has a significant impact on attitude toward brand names, whereas bicultural’s cultural identity does not. However, on the other hand, cultural identity has a significant impact on the product type considered, whereas felt ethnicity does not. Research limitations/implications As a starting point for understanding the bicultural consumer from a majority-minority perspective, this study is subject to exploratory research limitations. Practical implications The result suggests that when developing ads, managers should take into account the effect of language characters has on their target audience’s ethnicity. As it is common for ads to consist of written language, colors, images and messages, managers should not just concentrate on one, rather should consider how all these factors can come together and create a favorable ad. Originality/value As the number of immigrants increase in the USA, the notion of considering what a melting pot is has reached another level. Predicted by the US census, in the year 2050, the minority population will take over the mainstream population, resulting in a majority-minority status for these minority individuals. Businesses will then have to redesign their strategy in marketing to this new market segment and not fall victim to these new challenges. They can turn around and leverage them as marketplace opportunities. This study provides some early insights that can help marketers strategically and creatively think of leverage such opportunities.

IS THAT REALLY AN HONEST ONLINE REVIEW? THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DISCLAIMERS IN ONLINE REVIEWS

Due to an increase in manipulated online reviews, giant e-vendors such as Amazon.com, are trying ways to deter untruthful online reviews. One of their strategies was to make sure that the consumers include disclaimers that products received were free or discounted. This article calls for an investigation of the use of disclaimers on online reviews that post challenges, opportunities, and promises for social commerce such as Amazon.com. This study aims to develop an understanding of social commerce-related phenomena and to provide online retailers best practices when integrating social commerce as part of their marketing plan.

Scarcity Appeals in Advertising: Comparison of Product Uniqueness and Popularity Signals—An Abstract

This study examines young American consumers’ perceptions towards product uniqueness and product popularity signal in ads. Two theories, commodity theory and need for uniqueness theory, are used. Keller (2001) posits that consumers’ brand perceptions are driven by their unique needs. Aggarwal and McGill (2012) noticed that scarcity messages will interact significantly with the brand concept as there will be stronger effect on purchase intentions due to symbolism than functionality. In addition, Micu and Chowdhury (2010a, b) agreed that symbolic appeals of product will fulfill consumers’ experiential needs. On the other hand, when there is an excess demand, it means that the product is popular, and the perception of uniqueness and scarcity as a status symbol will decrease.

The Effectiveness of Donation Advertising: An Experimental Study for Felt Ethnicity and Messages on In-Groups and Out-Groups

Natural disaster is inevitable and people’s cooperation is indispensable. With the power of advertising, in-group and out-group donors perceive a different “need” to donate to the respective groups of victims (domestic vs. international). However, past research has yet to clarify the type of messages that differentiates individual’s donation behavior. This study seeks to further the understanding of prosocial behavior by exploring the motivation behind donation, attitude toward helping others, one ethnic identity, and one’s attitude toward different types of donation ads and their impact on charitable donation advertising effectiveness that is tied to one’s ethnic identity. By utilizing TPB and ELM theory as well as the SIT, this study looks at how ethnic identity on donation behavior can influence donor’s attitude toward the different types of ads and advertising effectiveness based on their feelings toward their ethnic identity.