Utpal M. Dholakia

An Assessment of Chronic Regulatory Focus Measures

Prior consumer research has demonstrated the ability of promotion and prevention regulatory orientations to moderate a variety of consumer and marketing phenomena but also has used several different methods to measure chronic regulatory focus. This article assesses five chronic regulatory focus measures using the criteria of theoretical coverage, internal consistency, homogeneity, stability, and predictive ability. The results reveal a lack of convergence among the measures and variation in their performance along these criteria. The authors provide specific guidance for choosing a particular measure in regulatory focus research and suggest a composite measure.

The Scope and Persistence of Mere-Measurement Effects: Evidence from a Field Study of Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Self-generated validity research has demonstrated that responding to survey questions changes subsequently measured judgments and behavior. We examine the scope and persistence of the effect of measuring satisfaction on customer behavior over time. In a field experiment conducted in a financial services setting, we hypothesize and find that measuring satisfaction (a) changes one-time purchase behavior, (b) changes relational customer behaviors (likelihood of defection, aggregate product use, and profitability), and (c) results in effects that increase for months afterward and persist even a year later. These results raise questions concerning the design, interpretation, and ethics in the conduct of applied marketing research studies. Copyright 2002 by the University of Chicago.

Tell Me a Good Story and I May Lend You Money: The Role of Narratives in Peer-to-Peer Lending Decisions

We examine the role of identity claims constructed in narratives by borrowers in influencing lender decision making regarding unsecured personal loans. We study whether the number of identity claims and their content influence decisions of lenders and whether they predict longer-term performance of funded loans. Using data from the peer-to-peer lending website Prosper.com, we find that unverifiable information affects lending decisions above and beyond objective, verifiable information. Specifically, as the number of identity claims in narratives increases, so does loan funding but loan performance suffers, because these borrowers are less likely to pay back. In addition, identity content plays an important role. Identities about being trustworthy or successful are associated with increased loan funding but ironically they are less predictive of loan performance compared with other identities (moral and economic hardship). Thus, some identity claims are meant to mislead lenders while others are true representations of borrowers.

Auction or agent (or both)? A study of moderators of the herding bias in digital auctions

Abstract Recent research has shown that buyers in digital auctions are susceptible to the herding bias —gravitation toward listings with existing bids and inconsideration of listings without any bids, manifested in categories of listings that are either coveted or entirely overlooked by buyers. This article investigates two specific types of moderators of herding bias: auction attributes (volume of listing activity, and posting of reservation price) and agent characteristics (seller and bidder experience), and increases our understanding of mechanisms underlying this bias. Practical implications for participants and organizers of digital auctions are discussed, and promising future research opportunities are highlighted.

Antecedents and Consequences of Online Social Interactions

Abstract Online social interactions occur in many venues, from e-mail lists and Usenet newsgroups to real-time chat-rooms and multiuser domains (MUDs). We conceptualize such online interactions as intentional social action and study its individual-level antecedents (attitudes, perceived behavioral control [PBC], anticipated emotions) and social-level antecedents (subjective norms, group norms, social identity). Further, we examine a number of its key behavioral outcome consequences such as changes in offline interactions with family and friends, engagement in neighborhood activities and hobby groups, and the use of such mass media as television, radio, and print publications. An empirical study involving 545 members of 7 different types of high- and low-interactivity online venues not only supports our theoretical framework but uncovers interesting venue- and gender-related differences among participants.

Explaining Employee Engagement with Strategic Change Implementation: A Meaning-Making Approach

Using a framework of meaning-making derived from social psychological research on how individuals manage adverse life events and research on sensemaking, we develop and test a theory about how frontline employees overcome the challenges of implementing strategic change. We find that certain types of meaning-making (strategy worldview and benefits finding) can create the requisite psychological resources that facilitate employees engaging in change implementation behaviors. The meaning-making change adaptation model (MCAM) we develop helps explain when and how employees adapt to change, thereby opening the “black box” of how to facilitate more effective strategic change implementation. We develop and empirically test the MCAM using qualitative and quantitative data from a Fortune 500 retailer.

Does Online Community Participation Foster Risky Financial Behavior

Although consumers increasingly use online communities for various activities, little is known about how participation in them affects peoples decision-making strategies. Through a series of field and laboratory studies, the authors demonstrate that participation in an online community increases peoples risk-seeking tendencies in their financial decisions and behaviors. The results reveal that participation in an online community leads consumers to believe that they will receive help or support from other members should difficulties arise. Such a perception leads online community participants to make riskier financial decisions than nonparticipants. The authors also discover a boundary condition to the effect: Online community members are more risk seeking only when they have relatively strong ties with other members; when ties are weak, they exhibit similar risk preferences as nonmembers.

Virtual Team Performance in a Highly-Competitive Environment

In this article, we empirically validate a version of the input-mediator-output-input (IMOI) model (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt, 2005), adapting it to investigate virtual team performance in a highly competitive environment. Our hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling across time periods with data obtained from 606 professional online gaming teams belonging to the European Electronic Sports League. The findings validate the hypothesized IMOI model, and demonstrate the effects of anticipated emotions on shared motivation of team members. The results contribute to theory and have significant implications for the management of geographically distributed work groups.

Individual and Group Bases of Social Influence in Online Environments

Online social interactions in the form of collaborative browsing and recreational chatting were studied. The theory of planned behavior and an augmented theory of planned behavior with the inclusion of group norms and social identity were used to explain decision making by Indian recreational chatters (n = 176) and decision making and behavior by American collaborative browsers (n = 160) and recreational chatters (n = 157). Consistent with predictions under the theory of planned behavior, attitudes and perceived behavioral control were significant determinants of intentions, and intentions influenced behavior. Subjective norms failed to affect intentions. Group norms also proved to be important determinants in all 3 samples, and social identity was salient for American and Indian recreational chatters but not for American collaborative browsers. In tests of hypotheses, intentions were reconceptualized as we- or shared-intentions, and all variables under test contained group action as the referent, in contrast to past research, which has focused on individual action.

How Businesses Fare with Daily Deals: A Multi-Site Analysis of Groupon, Livingsocial, Opentable, Travelzoo, and BuyWithMe Promotions

We examine performance of daily deals run through five major sites in 23 US markets. In a survey-based study of 324 businesses that conducted a daily deal promotion between August 2009 and March 2011, 55.5% of businesses reported making money, 26.6% lost money and 17.9% broke even on their promotions. Although close to 80% of deal users were new customers, significantly fewer users spent beyond the deal’s value or returned to purchase at full price. 48.1% of businesses indicated they would run another daily deal promotion, 19.8% said they would not, and 32.1% said they were uncertain. We also examined drivers of deal profitability, the loyalty of merchants to a daily deal site, and how spending on daily deals has affected spending of businesses on other marketing programs. Overall, our findings lead us to conclude that there are relatively few points of differentiation between the daily deal sites, making it harder for any one site to stand out from the others. Our findings also uncovered a number of red flags regarding the industry as a whole: (1) the relatively low percentages of deal users spending beyond the deal value (35.9%) and returning for a full-price purchase (19.9%) are symptomatic of a structural weakness in the daily deal business model, (2) less than half of the businesses indicated enthusiasm about running another daily deal in the future, (3) fully 72.8% indicated openness to considering a different daily deal site, and (4) only 35.9% of restaurants/ bars and 41.5% of salons and spas that had run a daily deal asserted they would run another such promotion in the future. All of these findings point to the same conclusion: Over the next few years, it is likely that daily deal sites will have to settle for lower shares of revenues from businesses compared to their current levels, and it will be harder and more expensive for them to find viable candidates to fill their pipelines of daily deals.