Wim Janssens

A Study of the Relationships Between Generation, Market Orientation, and Innovation in Family Firms

This study focuses on market orientation in family-owned firms. Market orientation is influenced by organizational characteristics and is at the same time a key antecedent of innovation. Since the generation in control largely shapes the family firm’s organization, the authors examine the relationships between the generation in control, market orientation, and innovation. Using regression analysis, the study demonstrates that later generations show a lower level of market-oriented behavior, that the positive relationship between market orientation and innovation is maintained in a family firm sample, and that the generation in control influences innovation through its influence on market orientation.

The Presence of a Pleasant Ambient Scent in a Fashion Store The Moderating Role of Shopping Motivation and Affect Intensity

Marketing managers are increasingly using olfactory marketing instruments in the retail environment. However, the question is whether scents in the store are desirable for all consumer types. Research on the moderating role of individual differences on the impact of scents in the marketplace is scarce. This article focuses on how ambient fragrances in the store can influence customers’ affective, evaluative, and approach reactions and considers the moderating role of shopping motivation and affect intensity. A field experiment reveals that a pleasant fragrance positively influences consumers’ affective reactions, evaluations, and intentions to revisit the store, especially when the consumers score high on affect intensity. Strategically manipulating the store environment via ambient scents is an inexpensive yet effective way to positively influence consumer behavior. Retailers can use ambient scents to heighten their differentiating ability; however, the decision to diffuse a scent should be based on the target audience.

Play buddies or space invaders? Players’ attitudes toward in-game advertising

This article investigates beliefs that players of digital games hold toward the practice of in-game advertising (IGA), referred to as “attitudes toward in-game advertising” (AttIGA). The hedonic nature of IGA is the strongest, positive predictor of AttIGA. Beliefs about IGA as a means to lower games’ prices contribute positively, and beliefs about fostering materialism contribute negatively to AttIGA. Further, the relative importance of the belief factors determining AttIGA relates to the playing frequency of role-playing games and racing games. The results contribute to theory building and practical considerations of digital games as an important yet underutilized advertising medium.

Fashion Store Personality: Scale Development and Relation to Self-Congruity Theory

Abstract Over five decades ago, Martineau (1958, p. 47) introduced the notion of store personality (SP), which he defined as “the way in which the store is defined in the shopper’s mind, partly by its functional qualities and partly by an aura of psychological attributes”. The strategic role of these symbolic, humanlike attributes that can be attributed to stores, has been empirically demonstrated, with respect to customer satisfaction and perceived retail differentiation (Chun & Davies, 2006), as well as with respect to store patronage and loyalty behavior (Sirgy & Samli, 1985; Zentes, Morschett, & Schramm-Klein, 2008). A potential and reasonable explanation of the power of associations with humanlike personality, can be found in the self-congruity theory. This theoretical framework argues that if retailers can position their stores in such a way that the store’s personality is congruent with that of target shoppers, they are likely to succeed in attracting and retaining these consumers (Bellenger, Steinberg, & Stanton, 1976; Zentes et al., 2008), which would in turn enhance profitability (Sirgy, Grewal, & Mangleburg, 2000). However, self-image congruity is still in its infancy in retailing research (Chebat, El Hedhli, & Sirgy, 2009; O’Cass & Grace, 2008; Sirgy et al., 2000), in comparison to the extensive corroborations of the theory across many product categories (Sirgy, 1982). The present study aims to fill this gap in the literature, focusing on fashion retailing in particular. As image and identity concepts are arguably more salient in fashion retailing than in any other sector (Cheng, Hines, & Grime, 2008; Zentes et al., 2008), store personality perceptions can be expected to be particularly relevant in this area of the retail industry. Compared to weekly grocery shopping, for instance, shopping for clothes is an opportunity for self-expression par excellence (Buttle, 1992; for an overview of the role of clothing, see Burns, 2010). We start by introducing “concept-scale interaction” effects in Section 1. This phenomenon implies that rather than applying general brand/store personality scales such as the ones that were developed by Aaker (1997) or d’Astous and Lévesque (2003), it is advisable to adopt a contextual approach by developing a SP scale tailor-made for fashion retailing. In Section 2, we subsequently define the construct “fashion store personality” according to Rossiter’s (2002) C-OAR-SE procedure and Section 3 briefly discusses self-congruity theory and its applications in a retail context. Subsequently, a measurement instrument is developed for Fashion Store Personality (FSP) in Section 4. The scale construction procedure consists of three steps. First, repertory grid analysis is carried out in fifty-one individual interviews, in order to generate adjectives that people naturally use to describe the personality of fashion stores. Female participants dominate throughout this study as the interest in fashion is characteristic among women within this age range (Evans, 1993) and clothing for men is often bought by their female partner (Banister & Hogg, 2004). After a preliminary purification of the elicited item pool, a consumer survey (n=481) is carried out. By means of Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation five underlying FSP dimensions are identified in the resulting dataset: “chaos”, “innovativeness”, “sophistication”, “agreeable-ness”, and “conspicuousness”. The psychometric properties of this measurement instrument are checked and the scale’s reliability, stability and validity meet the common standards. Subsequently, based on this operationalization, the role of self-congruity in the context of fashion retailing is explored in Section 5. First, the extent to which consumers shop in fashion stores with a personality that they perceive to be similar to their own, is studied (Section 5.1). An inspection of the correlations between the consumer’s self-image and her perceptions of FSP of her most patronized fashion store supports the idea of SC theory in fashion retailing. Furthermore, a multidimensional scaling (MDS) visually identifies, in a multidimensional space, which types of consumer personality do or do not cluster with certain types of fashion store personality. Overall, the findings indicate that (1) agreeable consumers seem to patronize agreeable fashion stores, (2) open-minded and extraverted consumers correspond to innovative fashion stores, (3) sophisticated and little chaotic stores match best with conscientious consumers, and (4) neuroticism in a consumer is found to be associated with conspicuousness and chaos in a fashion store. Finally, the relative importance of the five FSP dimensions in explaining fashion store choice is assessed using a stepwise multiple discriminant analysis (Section 5.2). Overall, the results indicate that it is worthwhile to take FSP into consideration when explaining consumers store choices. In particular, chaos and sophistication are the two FSP dimensions that consumers mind most when choosing a fashion store to patronize. As self-image congruence seems to have an impact on consumers’ store choice, the findings of the present study highlight the role of FSP in retailing positioning strategies. In order for retailers to exhibit a personality that matches the one of their target group, a wide variety of tools can be used (Brengman & Willems, 2009, on determinants of fashion store personality). Further research could provide additional support for this scale’s superiority over general brand/personality scales. Moreover, a cross-cultural validation as well as a study of the scale’s use among male consumers would be valuable.

Exploring consumer reactions to incongruent mild disgust appeals

The attitude towards the advertisement (Aad) and the brand (Ab) and brand recall for disgust and non‐disgust advertising appeals for a tour operator were studied in a sample of 244 Belgians. Disgusting advertisements led to a significantly more negative Aad than non‐disgusting advertisements and did not lead to better brand recall. The negative reactions to disgust advertisements were especially outspoken for individuals with high affect intensity, high sensitivity to disgust and high product category involvement, whereas the difference with non‐disgust appeals was not significant for individuals low in affect intensity, sensitivity to disgust or product category involvement. Attitudes and recall were similar across demographic segments, and for a new and an existing brand. Results showed that Aad fully mediated the impact of disgust on Ab.

The effect of history of teasing on body dissatisfaction and intention to eat healthy in overweight and obese subjects.

BACKGROUND Obesity has become a health problem in western Europe and Belgium. In Belgium, 54% of the males and 40% of the females are overweight. A high percentage of overweight kids endure teasing because of their weight. The effect of history of teasing on body dissatisfaction and the intention to eat healthy is studied. METHODS In a sample of 239 overweight and obese participants with a history of teasing about their weight, factors contributing to weight-controlling behaviour were studied to gain more insight into the understanding of the lack of such behaviour. By means of a path model, the intention to eat healthy was estimated by body mass index (BMI), social norm, internalization, history of teasing, body dissatisfaction and self-efficacy. RESULTS History of teasing and social norm had a direct effect on body dissatisfaction as well as an indirect effect through internalization. BMI appeared to have no effects. Both body dissatisfaction and self-efficacy had effects on the intention to eat healthy. CONCLUSION Self-efficacy has a large effect on intention to eat healthy and should be heightened. The environmental factors contribute to high body dissatisfaction. This high body dissatisfaction, however, does not have a large effect on the intention to eat healthy.

Impact of Threat Appeals on Ad Evoked Fear and Message Credibility: The Role of Prime, Frame and Dead Relatedness

This study investigates the impact of the threat level (death-related or body harm related) and gain and loss framed messages in a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal, as well as the impact of the valence of the media context in which the PSA is embedded in a sample of 266 young Belgian adults. The PSA threat level and the combination of negative message framing, negative context priming and high-threat messages have a significant effect on evoked fear. Evoked fear plays the strongest role in the development of message credibility, more than cognitive factors such as perceived threat and coping efficacy.