Gail Tom

Consumer demand for counterfeit goods

Research on counterfeiting has focused on the supply side, with scant attention to consumer demand for counterfeit goods. Anticounterfeiting efforts would benefit from the identification of the segment(s) of consumer counterfeiting accomplices, consumers who knowingly purchase counterfeit products. This article reports on three studies, conducted at flea markets and malls, that attempted to identify consumer accomplices. Study 1 investigated prepurchase factors, Study 2 focused on factors active during purchasing, and Study 3 concentrated on postpurchase factors. The results suggest the existence of a typology of consumer accomplices, sly shoppers who purposely purchase counterfeit goods to demonstrate their consumer shrewdness and economically concerned shoppers whose intentional purchase of fake goods is driven by economic concerns. Implications for marketing practitioners are discussed.

The Use of Created Versus Celebrity Spokespersons in Advertisements

Reports on a study designed to analyse the effectiveness of real and created spokespersons in advertisements. Compares male and female spokespersons′ effectiveness by audience gender. Concludes that celebrities can be used to gain attention and maintain sales, while created spokespersons′ effectiveness is in establishing a lifelong link with the product.

A Field Study Investigating the Effect of Waiting Time on Customer Satisfaction

Abstract A field study was conducted in two different supermarkets during busy and slow hours of operation and with slow and fast checkers to determine the effects of objective waiting time, perceived waiting time, and serve time on customer satisfaction with the server and the store. Although the results of the study support previous laboratory findings that customer satisfaction with the server increases with decreasing waiting times, there were also store-specific findings. For example, in one of the supermarkets, customers reported higher satisfaction with slower checkers than faster checkers, suggesting that longer waiting times sometimes result in more satisfied customers than shorter waiting times.

Mere Exposure and the Endowment Effect on Consumer Decision Making

Previous researchers (e.g., J. A. Bargh, 1992, 2002) demonstrated the importance of nonconscious processes on consumer choice behavior. Using an advertisement, the authors determined the effect of two nonconscious processes—the mere exposure effect, which increases object preference by increasing consumer exposure to an object, and the endowment effect, which increases object valuation by providing consumer possession of an object—on consumer behavior. Although the mere exposure effect and endowment effect did not produce an interaction, they produced independent effects. The endowment effect increased object valuation but not object preference. The mere exposure effect increased object preference but not object valuation. Thus, at the unconscious level, an increase in object preference does not lead to an increase in object valuation, nor does an increase in object valuation lead to an increase in object preference. The authors discuss the importance of developing measures of unconscious process in advertising effectiveness.

Marketing with Music

Discusses the use of hit music, parodies of hit music, and originally scored music for products advertised in television commercials. Examines the results of a study undertaken to determine the role of music as a memory factor. Summarizes that music created specifically for a product is a more effective retrieval cue than a parody, which is in turn more effective than the use of original hits.

Your life on hold: the effect of telephone waiting time on customer perception

Abstract Customer phone contact with companies is a service encounter that can turn out to be a liability if customers perceive their time on hold as too long or unenjoyable. This paper reports on two studies that demonstrated that different waiting conditions (silence, music, or choice of listening alternatives) affected customer-perceived waiting time and customer perception/satisfaction with the company.

The Influence of Negative Air Ions on Human Performance and Mood

An empirical study investigating the influence of negative air ions on human performance and mood is described. The results indicate that people have faster reaction times and report feeling significantly more energetic under negative air ion conditions than under normal air conditions. Implications of the application of negative air ionizers are discussed.

The Endowment—Institutional Affinity Effect

The endowment effect occurs when ownership of a good leads consumers to value the good more than its market value. Students who were given College of Business Administration insignia mugs to keep valued them significantly more than students who were given the same mugs to examine and return (nonendowment condition). The endowment effect also occurred for plain white mugs. Students who were given plain white mugs to keep valued them more than students who were given the same mugs to examine and return. Ownership of insignia mugs not only resulted in the endowment effect but also resulted in an institutional affinity effect: Students provided higher satisfaction ratings with the College of Business Administration than did students endowed with plain white mugs and students in nonendowed conditions. This study demonstrates the impact of the endowment effect on institutional affinity for insignia goods. However, the tandem endowment-affinity effect occurs at the attitude formation stage, not when an attitude has already been formed.

A Post-Mortem Study of Student Attrition at the College of Business Administration:

The increase in competition for the college-age population and the decline in fiscal support for land-grant institutions have forced universities to consider attrition/retention issues. The College of Business Administration at a metropolitan, commuter university was interested in learning why students in good standing drop out. The findings of a survey study indicated that no single factor appeared to be the critical causal factor and that a number of variables may contribute incrementally to the decision to leave. Important to this study was the finding that a substantial number of the respondents have dropped out previously, suggesting that it may be more accurate to describe these students as stopping out rather than dropping out. Proactive strategies that may be undertaken by the college are discussed.

Everyday Low Price or Sale Price

Abstract The effectiveness of the use of an everyday low price strategy for fine jewelry at a department store chain that traditionally had used the sale price strategy prompted this article. The major objective was to attempt to determine the reasons for the failure of the everyday low price strategy. An experimental study manipulating both the context of the presentation and the consumer framing of a price offering indicated that these two factors play an important role in consumer perceptions of price offerings.