Youjae Yi

On the Evaluation of Structural Equation Models

Criteria for evaluating structural equation models with latent variables are defined, critiqued, and illustrated. An overall program for model evaluation is proposed based upon an interpretation of converging and diverging evidence. Model assessment is considered to be a complex process mixing statistical criteria with philosophical, historical, and theoretical elements. Inevitably the process entails some attempt at a reconcilation between so-called objective and subjective norms.

Effects of Loyalty Programs on Value Perception, Program Loyalty, and Brand Loyalty

The authors investigate how reward schemes of a loyalty program influence perceived value of the program and how value perception of the loyalty program affects customer loyalty. The results show that involvement moderates the effects of loyalty programs on customer loyalty. In high-involvement situations, direct rewards are preferable to indirect rewards. In low-involvement situations, immediate rewards are more effective in building a programs value than delayed rewards. Under high-involvement conditions, value perception of the loyalty program influences brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through program loyalty. Under low-involvement conditions, there is no direct effect of value perception on brand loyalty.

Multitrait-Multimethod Matrices in Consumer Research

This article examines three alternative procedures for analyzing multitrait-multimethod matrices: the Campbell-Fiske procedure, confirmatory factor analysis, and the direct product model. The implicit assumptions, as well as the strengths and weaknesses, of each approach are presented and their implications discussed. It is proposed that one should carefully examine model assumptions, individual parameters, and various diagnostic indicators, as well as overall model fits. The implications of these recommendations are illustrated through reanalyses of data from earlier studies of consumer behavior. Potentially misleading conclusions in these studies are corrected in demonstrations of the three procedures. The results show that methods often have multiplicative effects, a finding that supports the direct product model, which has not been previously used in consumer research. The need for multiple-method, multiple-measure approaches to research is highlighted by examining the limitations of single-method, single-measure approaches to theory testing. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.

State versus Action Orientation and the Theory of Reasoned Action: An Application to Coupon Usage

This article investigates how the individual difference variable of state versus action orientation moderates the pattern of relationships among constructs in the theory of reasoned action. State orientation refers to a low capacity for the enactment of action-related mental structures, whereas action orientation refers to a high capacity for this type of enactment. A field study was conducted in the context of consumers self-reported usage of coupons for grocery shopping. The results showed that state versus action orientation moderates the relative importance of determinants of intentions; specifically subjective norms become more important as people become state oriented whereas the relative importance of attitudes increases as people become action oriented. In addition, the study showed that past behavior is a determinant of intentions to use coupons. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.

An investigation into the role of intentions as mediators of the attitude-behavior relationship

Abstract Do intentions mediate all of the effects of attitudes on behavior? This study shows that discovery of the role of intentions depends on the statistical power of test procedures, the reliability of measures of intentions, and the nature of the processes intervening between intentions and behavior.

The Role of Culture and Gender in the Relationship between Positive and Negative Affect

An integrative explanation proposes that culture and gender interact to produce fundamentally different patterns of association between positive and negative emotions. People in independent-based cultures (e.g. the United States) experience emotions in oppositional (i.e. bipolar) ways, whereas people in interdependent-based cultures (e.g. China) experience emotions in dialectic ways. These patterns are stronger for women than men in both cultures. In support of the theory, Study 1 showed that positive and negative emotions are strongly correlated inversely for American women and weakly correlated inversely for American men, but strongly correlated positively for Chinese women and weakly correlated positively for Chinese men. In Study 2, findings for Koreans, although mixed, were closer to the results for Chinese.

The Effects of Contextual Priming in Print Advertisements

This study investigated one particular way that contextual materials can affect the processing of ambiguous product information in print ads. It was proposed that prior exposure to contextual factors can prime certain product attributes and subsequently increase the likelihood that consumers interpret product information in terms of these activated attributes, thereby affecting the evaluation of the adverised brand. Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis, and the results demonstrated that specific attributes relevant to evaluating the advertised brand varied in their acessibility as a function of the context and that these variations influenced brand attitudes. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

The degree of intention formation as a moderator of the attitude-behavior relationship

It was hypothesized that the degree of intention formation moderates the way in which attitudes influence behavior. Degree of intention formation ― how well-formed intentions are ― was manipulated by facilitating or disrupting the process of intention formation in a field experiment

Contextual priming effects in print advertisements : the moderating role of prior knowledge

Abstract This study examines the moderating effect of prior knowledge on the degree to which contextual priming influences evaluations of an ambiguous product (i.e., a product that can be evaluated in various ways) in the ad. Before subjects saw an ad containing ambiguous product information, one of the two product attributes pertinent to product evaluations had been brought to mind through contextual priming. Contextual priming had pronounced effects on brand evaluations among moderate-knowledge subjects, but the effects on low- and high-knowledge subjects diminished sharply. By showing that ad context can inhibit or facilitate the effects of a particular ad on brand evaluations and that the effects vary as a function of consumer knowledge, the study provides insights into the situations when contextual effects may be strong.

Assumptions of the Two-Step Approach to Latent Variable Modeling

Although methods for latent variable modeling that allow a joint analysis of measurement and theory have become popular, they are not without difficulties. As these difficulties have become more apparent, several researchers have recently called for a “two-step approach” to latent variable modeling in which measurement is evaluated separately from theory. This implies that programs for covariance structure analysis are not needed because factor analysis and regressions would suffice for analysis. Before a return to earlier practice using seemingly simpler analysis tools can be recommended, it seems prudent to consider the assumptions underlying a two-step approach. At least four implicit assumptions can be identified: (a) theory and measurement are independent, (b) results of factor analysis specifications can be generalized to other specifications, (c) the estimators have desirable statistical properties, and (d) the statistical test in one step is independent of the test in the other. The authors show that these assumptions cannot be met in general and that some of them are logically inconsistent. Thus any wholesale adoption of a two-step approach could have serious consequences.