Hume Winzar

Do we measure what we expect to measure? Some issues in the measurement of culture in consumer research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems in the measurement of culture in consumer studies and offers suggestions for remedies. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on literature from related fields, the paper discusses some general issues in the measurement of culture and draws consumer researchers’ attention to the flaws in the common cultural measures in consumer research. Implications for future research are also provided. Findings – The paper highlights two main shortcomings of commonly used culture instruments which are seldom taken into account by consumer researchers. Specifically, the commonly used culture dimensions in consumer studies do not have clear conceptual boundaries. Moreover, important differences between the different approaches to culture measuring (self- vs group-referenced and values vs practices) are always overlooked. The paper suggests that consumer research needs more focussed and refined measures and discusses which approach is better in which context....

Effectiveness of Telescopic Advertisements Delivered via Personal Video Recorders

ABSTRACT The advent of personal video recorders (PVRs) may alter existing patterns of television advertising viewing. Although much of this might be characterized by increased advertising avoidance, this article explores the potential for a new advertising model utilizing PVRs, “telescopic advertising,” enabling viewers to access extended content associated with the advertising. The effectiveness of four telescopic advertisements is compared with advertisements for the same products using the traditional 30-second TV commercial format and the infomercial format. Across four product categories, using an Australian sample, telescopic advertisements achieved significantly higher attitude toward the advertisement, attitude toward the brand, and behavioral intentions.

Product Classifications and Marketing Strategy

Marketers have often attempted to use product classification schemes to provide a “cookery book” for marketing strategy. This so‐called commodity school of thought in marketing is argued, in this paper, to be less than fruitful in providing such a cookery book. Product classifications are shown to be contingent upon marketing mix elements and assumptions about consumer response. These lead to four specific problems (1) Ex Post Definitions and Circular Logic: Products are classified ex post, and classification theory gives no hint about how to classify new products or to change existing products. (2) The Problem of Induction: Experiences with similar or existing products give few guides to appropriate or optimum strategy. (3) Fuzzy Sets: Product classification of the same product differs according to the nature of the consumer and at different times for the same consumer. (4) Generalizability of Schema: Application of a classification scheme requires the specification of all physical, market and social con...

Confucianism and work ethic: introducing the ReVaMB model

We explore the relationship between Confucian values and the “Western” concept of Work Ethic, and introduce our ReVaMB model, Relative Values and Moderated Behavior, as a framework for study. We draw from established models of the link between beliefs and behavior, and argue that current measures of values and beliefs in isolation (normative measures) are insufficient to understand choices of alternative behaviors. But it is the relative importance of potentially competing values (ipsative measures), within the context of particular situations, that affect behavior. We demonstrate the ReVaMB model as a template for understanding Confucian values and work ethic, and conclude with examples of how existing measures of different values and behavioral constructs can be turned into relative measures.

A Visual-based approach to the mapping of generic skills : its application to a Marketing degree

With increasing complexity in the world, universities continue to face pressure to demonstrate that their graduates have acquired skills beyond discipline-based knowledge. These are generic skills like critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, problem-solving and so forth. In order to demonstrate this, universities have to show how their teaching contributes to the fostering of these skills. This can be a challenge for many reasons. Our mapping approach overcomes most of the obstacles by developing multiple indicators for each generic skill, making it easy to involve the lecturers-in-charge, summarising all their evaluations into important dimensions and, finally, representing the data in a three-dimensional visual map. This allows all the marketing subjects to be simultaneously evaluated in their ability to foster different generic skills, generating useful insights for effective curriculum development in a Marketing program. We illustrate this methodology using eight generic skills and 18 marketing subjects from a major Australian university.

Franchise system investment disclosure: signaling value to prospective franchisees

Purpose – The divergent interests of franchisor and franchisee give rise to significant ex-post conflict following the purchase of a franchise. Australian regulators have sought to assist transparency in franchising decision making by legislating for disclosure documents that expose key variables that theoretically determine choice on the part of prospective franchisees. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value proposition of the disclosure document and tests its normative effectiveness using a signal-theoretic perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Potential investors were asked to consider selected attributes through a choice-based survey, consistent with consumer theory, and focussing on an attribute-based determination of value. However, complex decision making in general and choice modeling can place severe cognitive burdens on respondents and induce satisficing rather than maximizing behavioral patterns. Best-worst scaling (BWS) provided a means for potential purchasers to respond coher...

Confucianism: measurement and association with workforce performance

This paper reconsiders the approaches to measuring Confucian values, and tests their association with workforce performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine how such values and performances are prioritized across three East Asian societies, but more importantly, identifies how variations across societies might result from the way in which Confucianism has been transformed/appropriated differently across history.,A Best-Worst experimental design is used to measure three aspects of Confucianism (relational, pedagogical, and transformative), and three aspects of workforce performance (mindset, organization, and process) to capture the trade-offs by respondents from three East Asian societies: China (n=274), Taiwan (n=264), and South Korea (n=254). The study employs analysis of variance with post-hoc tests to examine differences between societies. A hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward’s method is utilized to identify clusters based on similarities within the data. And last, multiple regression analysis is applied to determine the explanatory power of Confucian values on workforce performance.,Findings confirm the prioritization of three aspects of Confucianism (relational, pedagogical, and transformative) to differ between Mainland Chinese, Taiwan Chinese, and Korean respondents – producing five distinct clusters based on similarities across three societies. Overall, between 7 and 27 percent of the variance in workforce performance could be explained by the Confucian values included in this study.,This study highlights the “different shades of Confucianism” across East Asian societies, which we coin as Confucian Origin, Preservation, and Pragmatism, and demonstrates the need to take a multifaceted perspective in the measurement of Confucian culture. The study provides empirical support for the link between Confucianism and performance at the micro-level, as originally proposed by Baumann and Winzar (2017), and identifies specific antecedents of behavior for research moving forward.

Brand competitiveness: Introducing the customer-based brand value (CBBV) – competitiveness chain

Purpose This paper aims to introduce the concept of consumer-based brand value (CBBV), a change in the perspective of brand-equity and brand value from one where the brand is considered separately from other brands. The purpose of this paper is threefold: highlighting the theoretical difference between brand equity and brand value (Raggio and Leone, 2007); conceptually linking brand equity with brand value and then with brand competitiveness; and demonstrating a straightforward method for scholars and practitioners to measure brand value and then to forecast and simulate brand competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach On a sample of 190 postgraduate students, the authors apply the conjoint analysis and best-worst scaling to illustrate our CBBV model. Following Keller (1993), the authors operationalise brand equity as the outcome of consumers’ internal mental processes, in the form of brand preference, and show how preferences data can be transformed into estimates of brand value in the form of price premium. Finally, the model allows market share simulation based on manipulation of branding and brand features. Findings The paper is more a conceptual piece, highlighting the distinction between brand equity and brand value. It also demonstrates a relatively new measurement technique for transforming measures of brand equity, in the form of brand preferences, into estimates of brand value. The paper used airlines as a service-provider example, but the technique can be applied to many hospitality and service environments. Research limitations/implications The study demonstrates how brand equity drives brand value via consumer utility, and proposes a CBBV–competitiveness chain. The authors convert individual consumer preference data to brand value with subsequent preference-based market segmentation, and estimate competitiveness in two ways: market share ceteris paribus and price premium for brand indifference. They also demonstrate how market simulation can be performed so that it allows forecasting of competitiveness (market share) based on product attributes that affect brand value. Practical implications The CBBV–competitiveness chain constitutes a (new) mindset in the marketing of hospitality, tourism and other services. The study provides a method to measure and test the components of this model and determine brand competitiveness. It used airlines in the example, but the method can be applied to many different settings such as, for example, hotel management group (Starwood, Accor, Intercontinental, Hilton). The authors show how the method allows for benefit-based market segmentation, market-share forecasting and estimation of price premium. Originality value The CBBV chain provides a conceptual link between brand equity, brand value and brand competitiveness. When equity and related constructs are often conceptualised as relative to competition, they are rarely actually measured in that manner. The study shows how brand equity measured as preferences can be transformed into brand value and competitiveness relative to the competition. The combination of conjoint analysis and best–worst scaling is relatively new to the hospitality and services industries. The authors show that these tools can be applied to these industries without depending on costly software or high-priced consultants.

Using best-worst scaling to reveal perceived relative importance of website attributes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and extend previous work involving branding and website performance and aesthetics by applying a best-worst scaling (BWS) approach. Respondents were tasked with choosing the best and worst from 16-brand attribute statements representing website communications and aesthetics, a more effective understanding of consumer segmentation is revealed between the offline facility to the online retail experience. Design/methodology/approach A research design utilising BWS was deployed to provide an alternate perspective of consumer choice in an omni-channel retail environment. Findings Findings indicate a bifurcated audience with one-half reliant on communication and the other half on aesthetics is most important in the online environment when generating a positive relationship towards the retail brand. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted within a single retail format category (sportswear and apparel) so future studies need to estimate cross-category implications. The authors also suggest online experimental designs for consumers to compare traditional retail brand images. Finally as this study utilised Australian responses only the authors suggest cross-cultural comparisons to better understand the universal nature of website functionality and its link with traditional retail formats. Practical implications Retail executives will find the results from this study useful in two ways. To ensure consistency of brand image across channels managers must communicate efficiently and effectively. Brand managers must mediate between customer segments with some preferring clear concise website communications and others well established aesthetics. Originality/value This study adopts a BWS approach to better understand consumer choices in an online/offline branding environment.

A Multinomial Probit Conjoint Preference Simulator Incorporating Varying Importance Weights

Abstract Many probabilistic conjoint preference simulators, such as those based on either a multinomial logit (MNL) share allocation or a version of the Bradley-Terry-Luce rule, are known to suffer from the problem of Independence from Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA). Johnson (1992) has developed a simulator based on the Multinomial Probit (MNP) distribution that provides a way to simulate preference shares not subject to IIA. In this paper we extend this conjoint simulator by applying individual-level importance weights to an alternative similarities matrix and discuss how these weights can be estimated and used in the simulator. We then illustrate the use of the simulator in a hypothetical situation and compare results with other simulators including the original Johnson MNP preference simulator.