Maggie Geuens

The Stability of Individual Response Styles

Modeling capabilities for longitudinal data have progressed considerably, but questions remain on the extent to which method bias may negatively affect the validity of longitudinal survey data. The current study addresses the stability of individual response styles. We set up a longitudinal data collection in which the same respondents filled out 2 online questionnaires with nonoverlapping sets of heterogeneous items. Between data collections, there was a 1-year time gap. We simultaneously modeled 4 response styles that capture the major directional biases in questionnaire responses: acquiescence, disacquiescence, midpoint, and extreme response style. Drawing from latent state-trait theory, we specified a 2nd-order factor model with time-invariant and time-specific response style factors and a specifically designed covariance structure for the residual terms. The results indicate that response styles have an important stable component, a small part of which can be explained by demographics. The meaning and implications of these findings are discussed.

Validity and Reliability of Scores on the Reduced Emotional Intensity Scale

The purpose of this study was to investigate the underlying factor structure of the 30-item Emotional Intensity Scale (EIS) and to construct a reduced EIS (EIS-R). The psychometric characteristics of the scales were examined from three different samples: 204 employees of the University of Antwerp, a subset of 106 of the first sample who cooperated in a retest, and 510 men and women representative of the Belgian population. The original EIS does not seem to possess an adequate factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis on a reduced scale of 17 items indicates that two factors underlie the EIS-R: a positive and a negative emotions factor. Furthermore, scores on the EIS-R were shown to have adequate reliability and validity.

PP for ‘product placement’or ‘puzzled public’?: The effectiveness of symbols as warnings of product placement and the moderating role of brand recall

This research examines the effectiveness of the European ‘PP’ symbol, recently introduced as a warning of product placement in locally produced television programmes. The authors test whether this symbol counters the pervasive effect of product placement on purchase intention. Study 1 shows that the symbol does not prompt resistance to the influence of product placement. This is because the majority of consumers neither notice nor comprehend the symbol. In Study 2, two training methods are tested to increase the symbol’s effectiveness: (1) verbal label training and (2) a combination of verbal label training and information training. The addition of information training is necessary to increase the symbol’s noticeability, whereas verbal label training helps increase the symbol’s comprehensibility and effectiveness in activating persuasion knowledge and decreasing purchase intention. Finally, the results provide evidence that brand recall is crucial for resistance to product placement, suggesting the importance of brand recall as a moderator of resistance processes.

How family structure affects parent ‐ child communication about consumption

Begins by defining consumer socialisation as the process by which young people learn to function in the marketplace; this is a key concept in studying children’s consumer behaviour and decision making. Outlines the ways that parents influence this process; they are role models, and communicate about purchases and consumption; co‐shopping and concept‐orientation are two aspects of this, as are the influence of the child and the amount of communication. Outlines the changes in family structure, including the increase in one‐parent families headed by women, which has resulted in more co‐shopping; the increase in the number of two‐income families; and the decline in numbers of children per family. Reports research on Belgian children on the four sub‐dimensions of parent ‐ child communication as affected by the family structure variables.

How to Portray Men and Women in Advertisements? Explicit and Implicit Evaluations of Ads Depicting Different Gender Roles

The purpose of the current study was to gain more insight in the evaluation of advertisements containing different gender role portrayals (stereotypical/astereotypical) by examining explicit and implicit processes of ad evaluation. The results of two experiments showed an explicit preference for ads containing astereotypical images. Implicitly, we found a preference for ‘warm’ ads irrespective of the degree of gender stereotypicality of the ad. These findings suggest that complex stimuli such as ads may inhibit implicit gender stereotype activation. At an implicit level, warmth seems a better predictor of ad evaluation.

A Motivational Account of the Question-Behavior Effect

To explain the question-behavior effect, that is, the effect of answering an intention question on subsequent behavior, this article takes on a motivational perspective and proposes that answering an intention question automatically activates an intention. The activation of this motivational state influences subsequent brand choices due to changes in brand accessibilities. Three studies provide support for the assumption that responding to an intention question affects brand choices through a motivational mechanism, such that (1) answering an intention increases the accessibility of motivation-related information and decreases the accessibility of motivation-competing information which increases the choice for the intention-related brand; (2) intention completion temporarily reverses the foregoing accessibility patterns, instigating a reversal of the brand choices for an immediate, second brand choice; and (3) the changes in brand accessibilities and thus the behavioral effect persist as the delay between the intention question and brand choice occasion increases until intention completion.

Healthy or unhealthy slogans: That's the question

An experiment was conducted to examine the effect on adolescents of different health appeals (healthy versus unhealthy) in ads for healthy and unhealthy perceived foods. The results did not reveal a main effect of product or slogan, but indicated a significant interaction effect between slogan and product. The healthy slogan only led to significantly more positive attitudes and purchase intentions when it promoted a healthy food product. An unhealthy food product received better results in combination with an unhealthy slogan than with a healthy one. This indicates that adolescents react better to ads in which the health appeal is congruent with the health perception of the product. Moreover, we took into account gender and health concern as potential moderators in the relationship between slogan and ad responses. Gender did not lead to different responses to healthy or unhealthy food ads, whereas health concern did interact significantly with the slogan type. Highly concerned adolescents responded more favorably to a healthy slogan in terms of attitudes. A necessary first step seems to be making adolescents more health conscious. A following step is to reinforce their positive attitudes toward healthy foods and turn these into real behavior.

Planning and Conducting Experimental Advertising Research and Questionnaire Design

We give an overview of the most important decisions to be taken when planning and conducting experimental advertising research. Based on previous research and state-of-the-art academic insights, we discuss good methodological practices with respect to fleshing out the contribution of a study, developing and testing experimental stimuli, selecting appropriate samples, collecting data, designing questionnaires, deciding which variables and measures to include, and determining scale measurement. This set of guidelines should enable experimental advertising researchers to optimize their study designs and to carry them out in a correct way.

The Floor Is Nearer than the Sky: How Looking Up or Down Affects Construal Level

This research shows that consumers select a different product when they look down versus up. Because (1) people are accustomed to looking down to process nearby stimuli and to looking up to process distant stimuli, and because (2) perceived distance is linked to concrete versus abstract processing, the association between moving one’s eyes or head down or up and concrete versus abstract processing has become overly generalized. A series of three experiments highlights that downward (upward) head and eye movements evoke more concrete (abstract) processing because downward (upward) head or eye movements have come to serve as a proximity (distance) cue. Two additional experiments indicate downstream behavioral consequences of moving one’s eyes or head down versus up. Consumers choose more for feasible versus desirable products when looking down and vice versa when looking up. They also tend to be more preference-consistent when looking down versus up.

Communicating the Right Emotion to Generate Help for Connected Versus Unconnected Others

This study investigated the effectiveness of positive versus negative and of other-focused versus mixed- (ego- and other-) focused feelings evoked in advertisements promoting help for connected versus unconnected needy people. Results showed that when help is asked for people to whom respondents feel connected, positive (vs. negative) and mixed-focused (vs. other-focused) feelings led to more positive ad evaluations and increased respondents’ helping intentions. When help was needed for unconnected people, the negative ads were most effective. Furthermore, it was investigated whether the effect of other-focused versus mixed-focused feelings on ad evaluations and helping intentions was mediated by people’s motivation to help.