Nancy Puccinelli

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.

The value of knowing what customers really want: The impact of salesperson ability to read non-verbal cues of affect on service quality

Abstract Despite recognition of the importance of the retail environment to customer experience, relatively little systematic research considers how social environmental cues might affect this experience. Two experimental studies test the relationship between salesperson ability to read customer affect and perceived service quality between two samples of student participants. Consistent with the hypotheses, when a salesperson demonstrates an ability to read customer affect, customers perceive higher service quality (Study 1). Interestingly, it seems these effects hold only for customers who interact with the salesperson and not for those who observe an interaction between a salesperson and another customer (Study 2). For each study, participants imagined they were customers and judged scenarios that depicted a salesperson demonstrating ability or inability to read non-verbal cues to customer affect.

The brain as substitute for strategic organization

Organizational scholars have begun to explore the links between cognitive neuroscience and strategic organization (Becker and Cropanzano, 2010; Powell, 2011; Senior et al., 2011). The jury is still out, but scholars seem to agree that brain science will enhance our understanding of individual and social cognition in organizations. A neglected fact about brain technologies is that they perform some of the same tasks as organizational ones. For example, people who have been taught about their own brain images have better behavioral self-control than people who have not. To the extent that the devices of strategic organization – formal structure, processes and incentives – are technologies for controlling individual behavior, brain technologies may offer an effective substitute for strategic organization. In the long run, we may see more brain science and less organization structure. Replacing organization structure with brain science may seem far-fetched and Orwellian, and it probably is – but then again, a lot of what goes on in organizations is like that. If we have learned anything from experience, it is that organizations have no aversions to fulfilling Orwellian prophecies, whether they involve bureaucracy, technology, psychological testing, or employee surveillance. Controlling individual behavior is something that organizations already do and the question is whether brain science can help them do it better. In this essay, we explore whether it is feasible to replace some forms of strategic organization with brain technologies, focusing particularly on technologies for behavioral self-control. We do not go deeply into the moral implications of these technologies, though we are concerned about them. We focus on recent developments in cognitive neuroscience and take it as given that moral considerations rather than technical efficiency should govern the use of technologies, including those involving the human brain. Brain science has the potential to make our lives better or worse, and we hope that this essay stimulates debate on the use of brain science in organizations.