Keith Wilcox

Why Do Consumers Buy Counterfeit Luxury Brands

This research demonstrates that consumers’ desire for counterfeit luxury brands hinges on the social motivations (i.e., to express themselves and/or to fit in) underlying their luxury brand preferences. In particular, the authors show that both consumers’ preferences for a counterfeit brand and the subsequent negative change in their preferences for the real brand are greater when their luxury brand attitudes serve a social-adjustive rather than a value-expressive function. In addition, consumers’ moral beliefs about counterfeit consumption affect their counterfeit brand preferences only when their luxury brand attitudes serve a value-expressive function. Finally, the authors demonstrate that the social functions served by consumers’ luxury brand attitudes can be influenced by elements of the marketing mix (e.g., product design, advertising), thus enabling marketers to curb the demand for counterfeit brands through specific marketing-mix actions.

Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control

Online social networks are used by hundreds of millions of people every day, but little is known about their effect on behavior. In five experiments, the authors demonstrate that social network use enhances self-esteem in users who are focused on close friends (i.e., strong ties) while browsing their social network. This momentary increase in self-esteem reduces self-control, leading those focused on strong ties to display less self-control after browsing a social network. Additionally, the authors present evidence suggesting that greater social network use is associated with a higher body mass index and higher levels of credit card debt for individuals with strong ties to their social network. This research extends previous findings by demonstrating that social networks primarily enhance self-esteem for those focused on strong ties during social network use. Additionally, this research has implications for policy makers because self-control is an important mechanism for maintaining social order and well-being.

Indulgence or Self-Control: A Dual Process Model of the Effect of Incidental Pride on Indulgent Choice

This research examines the largely unexamined effect of incidental pride on consumer self-control. The results demonstrate that incidental pride influences long-term goal pursuit through dual processes that result in conflicting outcomes for consumer decisions: indulgent choices when promoting a sense of achievement and virtuous choices when promoting self-awareness. A series of four experiments in the money and health domains shows that the relative weight of each process at the time of a decision determines whether incidental pride leads to more or less indulgence. We provide outcome and process support for our theory, linking pride to self-control behavior in the consumption domain, and rule out alternative explanations for our findings. Thus, the findings demonstrate that the influence of incidental pride on self-control is contingent on the cognitive and contextual factors that affect decision making.

Leave Home Without It? The Effects of Credit Card Debt and Available Credit on Spending

This research examines how credit card debt affects consumer spending. In five experimental and field studies, the authors demonstrate that outstanding credit card debt increases spending for consumers with high self-control. They also show that this effect can be eliminated by increasing the available credit on the credit card. Thus, when the available credit is low, consumers with greater self-control increase spending, but when the available credit is high, they reduce spending. The results extend the literature on goal violation and self-control and offer insights into consumer decision making and consumption patterns under conditions of debt.

Shall I Tell You Now or Later? Assimilation and Contrast in the Evaluation of Experiential Products

This research demonstrates that the effect of product information on the evaluation of an experiential product depends on the order with which such information is presented. In a series of experiments, we find that when information is presented before consuming an experiential product, the information results in an assimilation effect such that consumers evaluate the same experience more positively when the product information is favorable compared to when it is unfavorable. More interestingly, we demonstrate that when such information is presented after consuming an experiential product, it results in a contrast effect such that consumers evaluate the same experience more negatively when the product information is favorable compared to when it is unfavorable. These findings have important implications for marketers in a host of experiential categories.

Choice, Rejection, and Elaboration on Preference-Inconsistent Alternatives

Previous research has demonstrated that rejecting product alternatives (i.e., choosing which alternatives to give up) may cause preference reversals compared to choosing alternatives. We provide an investigation into the psychological processes underlying this phenomenon. These preference reversals can be caused by increased elaboration on the features of preference-inconsistent alternatives when people reject alternatives. When these features are appealing, increased elaboration increases preference for preference-inconsistent alternatives. When these features are unappealing, increased elaboration may reduce preference for preference-inconsistent alternatives. The findings provide insight into how the amount of elaboration on product alternatives may mediate the influence of different decision-making tasks on decision outcomes.

Consumers' Response to Commercials. When the Energy Level in the Commercial Conflicts with the Media Context.

This research examines how media-induced consumer activation level affects consumer response to highly energetic commercials. Over six studies, including a Hulu field experiment, the authors report that consumers who are experiencing a deactivating emotion (e.g., sadness induced by a movie) find it more difficult to watch highly energetic commercials compared with consumers who are not experiencing a deactivating emotion. As a result, consumers experiencing a deactivating emotion are less likely to watch highly energetic commercials and recall the advertiser compared with consumers who are not experiencing a deactivating emotion. The authors do not observe these effects when consumers experiencing a deactivating emotion watch commercials that are moderately energetic or when consumers do not experience a deactivating emotion. These findings suggest that when advertisers run commercials in a media context that induces a deactivating emotion (e.g., sadness, relaxation, contentment), they should avoid running highly energetic commercials (e.g., with upbeat, enthusiastic spokespeople). In addition, this research recommends that when advertisers are unable to determine the emotions induced by the media context, they should run commercials that are moderate in energy. The results of a meta-analysis across the present studies show that consumers experiencing a deactivating emotion will respond as much as 50% more favorably to moderately energetic commercials compared with highly energetic commercials.

Discrepant Fluency in Self-Customization

This research demonstrates that during self-customization, consumers use their experiences from prior feature decisions to form expectations about subsequent decisions. When the difficulty experienced during decisions later in the process deviates from that which occurs earlier in the process, consumer preference is affected by the discrepancy between actual and expected difficulty. Specifically, the results show that when the difficulty experienced during feature decisions deviates from expectations, consumers may spend more or less money on product features as a result of discrepant fluency than when they perform the same task and the level of difficulty is expected. The results demonstrate that discrepant fluency effects are not limited to sequential decisions but can influence a single feature decision, which was accomplished by altering consumers’ expectations before the decision. These discrepant fluency effects emerge even when the attributes of the alternatives and the composition of the focal decision settings remain the same.

How being busy can increase motivation and reduce task completion time

This research tests the hypothesis that being busy increases motivation and reduces the time it takes to complete tasks for which people miss a deadline. This effect occurs because busy people tend to perceive that they are using their time effectively, which mitigates the sense of failure people have when they miss a task deadline. Studies 1 and 2 show that when people are busy, they are more motivated to complete a task after missing a deadline than those who are not busy, and that the perception that one is using time effectively mediates this effect. Studies 3 and 4 show that this process makes busy people more likely to complete real tasks than people who are not busy. Study 5 uses data from over half a million tasks submitted by thousands of users of a task management software application to show that busy people take less time to complete a task after they miss a deadline for completing it. The findings delineate the conditions under which being busy can mitigate the negative effects of missing a deadline and reduce the time it takes to complete tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record