Manoj Hastak

Understanding and Facilitating the Usage of Nutritional Labels by Low-Literate Consumers

This research examines how low-literate consumers use nutritional labels on packages and the ways such usage can be facilitated. Using research on nutritional labeling and on low-literate consumers as bases, the authors design an experiment to test specific hypotheses about the effects of graphic versus nongraphic formats on usage of nutrition information by consumers with different levels of literacy. The authors discuss implications of the findings for further research and for public policy.

The Role of Summary Information in Facilitating Consumers' Comprehension of Nutrition Information

Percent daily values provide important information that consumers can use to manage the nutritional quality of their diets. The authors report on four experiments that examined conditions in which summary information (such as average or range) may prove more useful than daily values in assessing nutritional content and conditions in which it may not. Two experiments provided evidence that summary information outperforms percent daily values in helping consumers judge the nutritional content of a brand compared with other offerings in that category. Two more experiments identified a key variable—the availability of multiple brands for comparison—that moderates the facilitating effect of summary information.

Deception by Implication: A Typology of Truthful but Misleading Advertising and Labeling Claims

The authors develop a new typology of truthful but misleading advertising and labeling claims. Although several typologies of deceptive or misleading advertising appear in the literature, the authors’ typology relies on legal cases as well as a diverse set of psychological theories to provide a richer and more comprehensive understanding of why consumers are likely to be misled by a particular type of deception. The goal is to generate a better appreciation of how consumers process various types of potentially misleading information and to explore implications for further research.

Customer Experience with Rent-to-Own Transactions

The authors examine the characteristics and experiences of rent-to-own customers using a nationwide survey of 532 customers and 11,575 noncustomers. The authors find that most customers have low incomes and education levels, but most have a motor vehicle and some type of credit card or bank account; most customers use rent-to-own transactions to purchase merchandise, not merely as short-term rentals; and most customers are satisfied with the transactions and are treated well if they are late making a payment, though some experience abusive collection practices. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for public policy.

Empirical Evidence on the Determinants of Rent-to-Own Use and Purchase Behavior

This study uses logit and multinomial logit models and data from a nationwide random sample of rent-to-own (RTO) customers to investigate financial, demographic, regulatory, and other factors associated with consumer use of RTO transactions and the purchase of RTO merchandise. The analysis recognizes that RTO transactions can be used for either the purchase of merchandise or a temporary rental and models the determinants of use and purchase separately for each group of customers. The study concludes that income, access to credit, education, and race are significant determinants of whether consumers use RTO transactions with the intent to purchase. The study also finds some indication that state RTO laws may affect use and purchase, although this result is less robust. The determinants differ for consumers entering RTO transactions intending to purchase and intending a temporary rental, suggesting the industry serves two separate and distinct markets. The policy implications are discussed.

Facilitating and inhibiting effects of brand cues on recall, consideration set, and choice

Abstract This article reports on an experiment designed to investigate the effects of brand cues on subsequent retrieval and consideration of other brands in a category. Past research that has investigated these effects in the marketing literature has produced conflicting results, with some studies showing facilitative effects and others demonstrating inhibitory effects of cuing. The present research attempts to reconcile these conflicting findings and to identify the conditions under which facilitation or inhibition occurs. We also explore whether cuing effects on brand recall necessarily extend to brand consideration and choice.

Regulation of the Rent-to-Own Industry: Implications of the Wisconsin Settlement with Rent-A-Center

In August 1999, the Wisconsin attorney generals office sued Rent-A-Center (RAC) for violating the states consumer act and deceptive advertising law. The parties eventually settled in November 2002. In this article, the author evaluates the merits of the case against RAC, RACs response to the settlement, and implications of the settlement for Wisconsin consumers as well as the rent-to-own industry.

The Effects of Nutrition Information and Claims on Consumer Judgements of Product Benefits

While manufacturers of food products may look at nutrition lable schemes as promotional opportunities to place their claims on product packages, the lack of consistency between nutrition information and claims made by the manufacturers might be a source of confusion for the consumers, thereby subverting the purpose of the schemes. Since scant information is available concerning the impact of such inconsistencies on consumer judgements and beliefs from non-North American, especially, Asian contexts, an experimental study was conducted in Singapore. The study is briefly described here, including its objectives and results. Policy implications are discussed as well.