Richard Staelin

A Model of Consumer Information Search Behavior for New Automobiles

Information search is a critical component of the purchase decision process for most consumer durables. This paper postulates a descriptive model of information search and tests the hypothesized relationships using survey data obtained from a probability sample of new automobile purchasers. The results support the hypothesis that there are at least two unique components of prior knowledge: specific product knowledge and general product-class knowledge. The former causes less external search, the latter causes more external search. Cost of search was found to be negatively related to external search, while external search was found to be positively related to cost savings. Satisfaction was found to be related to cost savings but not to external search.

Effects of Quality and Quantity of Information on Decision Effectiveness

Providing attribute information about alternatives can both help and hinder consumers evaluate products. We separate attribute information into two components: information quality and information quantity. We hypothesize, all else being equal, that the former component improves decision effectiveness while the latter component decreases decision effectiveness. The results of an experimental investigation designed to estimate the marginal effects of these factors were compatible with these premises. In addition, evaluations were also found to suffer in situations where high levels of information quality were made available. Insights into these and other observed effects are suggested after exploring the process by which subjects used the available information.

The Information Processing of Pictures in Print Advertisements

This study postulates that the presence of a dominant picture in a print ad can alter a consumers cognitive activity while viewing the ad. Using the findings of previous research, we develop a model of the process by which a viewer evaluates, encodes, and stores information found in the ad. This model is tested in a laboratory setting. The results clearly indicate that the way a message is conveyed (pictorially or verbally), whether the viewer is given some reference point for encoding the picture (framed or not framed), and the type of claim made (objective, subjective, or characterization) have a significant effect on the processing of the information presented in the advertisements. These differences in processing are also shown to affect the viewers brand attitudes and purchase intentions.

The Patient Experience and Health Outcomes

Despite criticism of patient-satisfaction measures, patient-experience surveys that are designed and administered appropriately provide robust measures of the quality of health care and offer insight into a dimension thats otherwise difficult to measure objectively.

The path to customer centricity

The concept of customer centricity and its benefits have been discussed for more than 50 years. Despite this fact, many firms are still struggling to fully align themselves to the customer-centric paradigm. This article identifies fundamental issues and challenges that typically deter a firm from becoming customer-centric. These are mainly related to the organizational culture, structure, processes, and financial metrics of the firm. To overcome these barriers, the article suggests a path to customer centricity that is driven by a strong leadership commitment, organizational realignment, systems and process support, and revised financial metrics. The article concludes with directions for further research.

Nutrition Information in the Supermarket

Lists of nutrition information posted in supermarkets were designed to reduce the information-processing costs of comparing alternative foods. In Experiment 1, lists of vitamins and minerals increased nutrition knowledge but had no influence on actual purchases. In Experiment 2, a list of added sugar—a negative component of food—increased the market share of low-sugar breakfast cereals at the expense of high-sugar brands. We conclude that effort-reducing displays are a successful technique for increasing information use, especially for the more highly valued negative nutrients.

Mastering the Mix: Do Advertising, Promotion, and Sales Force Activities Lead to Differentiation?

The authors consider the effects of three marketing communication activities on nonproduct based differentiation. Specifically, they examine whether advertising, sales force, and promotion activiti...

Marketing Renaissance: Opportunities and Imperatives for Improving Marketing Thought, Practice, and Infrastructure

My three-year term as editor of Journal of Marketing concludes with the October 2005 issue. On the basis of my interactions with various people in the marketing community, I believe that marketing science and practice are in transition, bringing change to the content and boundaries of the discipline. Thus, I invited some distinguished scholars to contribute short essays on the current challenges, opportunities, and imperatives for improving marketing thought and practice. Each author chose his or her topic and themes. However, in a collegial process, the authors read and commented on one anothers essays, after which each author had an opportunity to revise his or her essay. The result is a thoughtful and constructive set of essays that are related to one another in interesting ways and that should be read together. I have grouped the essays as follows: •What is the domain of marketing? This question is addressed in four essays by Stephen W. Brown, Frederick E. Webster Jr., Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp, and William L. Wilkie. •How has the marketing landscape (i.e., content) changed? This question is addressed in two essays, one coauthored by Jagdish N. Sheth and Rajendra S. Sisodia and the other by Roger A. Kerin. •How should marketing academics engage in research, teaching, and professional activities? This question is addressed in five essays by Debbie MacInnis; Leigh McAlister; Jagmohan S. Raju; Ronald J. Bauerly, Don T. Johnson, and Mandeep Singh; and Richard Staelin. Another interesting way to think about the essays, as Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp suggests, is to group the essays according to whether they address issues of content, publishing, or impact (see Table 1). These 11 essays strike a common theme: They urge marketers—both scientists and practitioners—to expand their horizontal vision. What do I mean by horizontal vision? In The Great Influenza, Barry (2004) describes the enormous strides that were made in medical science early in the twentieth century. His depiction of William Welch, an extremely influential scientist who did not (as a laboratory researcher) generate important findings, includes a characterization of the “genius” that produces major scientific achievements. The research he did was first-rate. But it was only first-rate—thorough, rounded, and even irrefutable, but not deep enough or provocative enough or profound enough to set himself or others down new paths, to show the world in a new way, to make sense out of great mysteries…. To do this requires a certain kind of genius, one that probes vertically and sees horizontally. Horizontal vision allows someone to assimilate and weave together seemingly unconnected bits of information. It allows an investigator to see what others do not see and to make leaps of connectivity and creativity. Probing vertically, going deeper and deeper into something, creates new information. (p. 60) At my request, each author has provided thoughtful and concrete suggestions for how marketing academics and practitioners, both individually and collectively (through our institutions), can work to improve our field. Many of their suggestions urge people and institutions to expand their horizontal vision and make connections, thereby fulfilling their potential to advance the science and practice of marketing. In his essay, Richard Staelin writes (p. 22), “I believe that it is possible to influence directly the generation and adoption of new ideas.” I agree. I ask the reader to think about the ideas in these essays and to act on them. Through our actions, we shape our future. —Ruth N. Bolton

Stuck in the Past: Why Managers Persist with New Product Failures

In this research, the authors examine the phenomenon of escalation bias in the context of managing new product introductions. In particular, they identify three general paths—Decision Involvement Inertia, Decision Involvement Distortion, and Belief Inertia Distortion—that can lead managers to escalate their commitments. The authors test the relative strength of these paths in driving observed escalation behavior. The results show that involvement with the initial decision, a key construct in numerous explanations for escalation behavior (e.g., agency theory, self-justification), is not a necessary condition to induce commitment to a losing course of action (i.e., escalation bias). Rather, the authors find that the driving force behind escalation behavior is improper use of initial positive beliefs in the face of negative new information. This insight has implications for the groundwork necessary for organizations to design systems, policies, and procedures to help them avoid the trap of escalation bias that is often associated with major strategic decisions.

Consumer Search and Public Policy

Consumers acquire information from a variety of internal and external sources. Sources differ in their abilities to convey different kinds of information. This paper examines the implications of these sources for designing government information programs. It emphasizes the need to examine the effects of information disclosures in the total information environment.