489 research outputs found

    Customers’ Goal-Related Behavior in Loyalty Programs

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    Goal plays a vital role in the purposive behavior of consumers, and goal pursuit represents an important psychological mechanism under loyalty programs. The purpose of my dissertation is to understand loyalty program members’ goal pursuit behavior and uncover the underlying psychological mechanisms. The first essay examined how success or failure to achieve a tier goal affects consumers’ subsequent goal pursuit behavior. Specifically, utilizing two lab experiments and 5,719 customers’ flight activities data from a major airline’s multi-tiered frequent flyer program, this essay studied the effect of goal completion magnitude on individuals’ effort toward achieving subsequent goals, and how goal type moderates this relationship. I found that, when individuals failed to reach their preset goal, those failed an attainment goal put more effort in pursuing their subsequent goal than those who failed a maintenance goal. The opposite was true when individuals were highly successful in achieving their goals. In addition, when goal pursuit was successful, goal achievement magnitude and subsequent goal pursuit effort showed a positive linear relationship for individuals with a maintenance goal but an inverted U-shaped relationship for those with an attainment goal. For individuals with an attainment goal, high goal achievement created a surprising hampering effect on subsequent goal pursuit effort, which I termed the “close-but-no-cigar effect”. Two subsequent lab experiments explored the underlying psychological mechanisms. In the goal failure situation, negative self-efficacy mediated the effect of goal type on subsequent goal pursuit effort; in the goal success situation, negative emotion and counterfactual thinking were found to be the key drivers. The second essay investigated loyalty program members’ reactions to email messages as a function of their program status. Applying construal level theory to two different distance dimensions, this essay showed that goal distance and tier level jointly moderate the relative effectiveness of abstract vs. concrete framing and cognitive vs. emotional appeals in email marketing messages. I analyzed 240 email campaigns that were sent to 19,281 loyalty program members from September 2016 to December 2016. I found that when goal distance is large, cognitive appeal is more persuasive than emotional appeal, and abstract message framing is more persuasive than concrete framing. In contrast, when consumers are close to their goals, emotional appeal is more effective than cognitive appeal, while abstract and concrete message framings are equally effective. In addition, these moderating effects of goal distance are stronger at lower tier levels than at higher tiers. Tiers served as a vertical dimension in forming one’s mental construal level. The insights from this research can help loyalty program managers optimize marketing communication to individual members

    Content is King? The Effectiveness of Message Content, Personalization, and Location in Mobile In-Store Advertising

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    Smartphones have become a vital part of our lives, a personal assistant helping us as customers mastering everyday tasks. For example, the new stationary supermarket Amazon Go implements customers’ smartphones as an integral part for completing the grocery shopping process (e.g. used to check-in, for payment). As in-store communication over smartphones becomes increasingly important, retailers pay their attention to mobile in-store advertising, which offers them new perspectives to interact with customers at the point of sale. In this study, we therefore investigate the effectiveness of mobile in-store advertising by empirically examining which combination of message content is most effective for different in-store locations. Drawing on Construal Level Theory, we conduct an online choice experiment, using a simulated supermarket shopping task. Results show that personalization in combination with price promotions are most effective regarding the choice of the target product when spatially close to the product. Moreover, personalization strengthens the impact of ad content at the shelf, representing an amplifying effect on product choice

    Sustainable IS Use: What IS Needed to REDUSE

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    Facing ever-looming climate change, studying the drivers for individuals\u27 Information Systems (IS) Use to reduce environmental harm gains momentum. While extant research on the antecedents of sustainable IS Use has focused on specific theories, interventions, contexts, and technologies, a holistic understanding has become increasingly elusive, with a synthesis remaining absent. We employ a systematic literature review methodology to shed light on the driving antecedents for sustainable IS Use among individual consumers. Our results build on findings of 29 empirical studies drawn from 598 articles retrieved from our premier outlets and a forward/backward search. The analysis reveals six salient complementary antecedents: Relief, Empowerment, Default, User-centricity, Salience, and Encouragement. We recommend considering these concepts when developing, deploying, promoting, or regulating digital technologies to mitigate individual consumers’ emissions. Along with memorable and implementable concepts, our theoretical framework offers a novel conceptualization and four promising avenues for researchers on sustainable IS Use

    REVISIT THE INFORMATION ADOPTION MODEL BY EXPLORING THE MODERATING ROLE OF TIE STRENGTH: A PERSPECTIVE FROM CONSTRUAL LEVEL THEORY

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    Previous studies on review information adoption, drawing upon dual process theory, focus on the important roles of two key review-related factors namely argument strength and source credibility, but pay less attention to the social relationships between review sources and recipients. To fill this research gap, based on the construal level theory, we articulate that tie strength moderates the impacts of argument strength and source credibility on content diagnosticity. A survey was conducted to examine the proposed research model and hypotheses and the results showed that the relationship between argument strength and content diagnosticity is stronger when tie strength is weak than when tie strength is strong while the relationship between source credibility is stronger when tie strength is strong than when tie strength is weak. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed

    The Role of Social Distance in Narrative Persuasion for Risk Prevention

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    This research was designed to examine how narrative messages about safe driving in media can influence favorable persuasive outcomes related to driving without cell phone use. Based on the entertainment overcoming resistance model (EORM) and construal level theory (CLT), three hypotheses were proposed that considered the role of narrative engagement and persuasive resistance in increasing favorable outcomes associated with safe driving. For this study in particular, CLT and EORM predicted that a narrative featuring low social distance would be more effective in increasing favorable persuasive outcomes by increasing narrative engagement and decreasing persuasive resistance. It was also predicted that narrative engagement and persuasive resistance would mediate the relationship between social distance and persuasive outcomes. An experiment was conducted among college students using different versions of news stories as the stimuli to test the hypotheses. Results from a series of hierarchical regressions revealed that the low social distance narrative actually increased persuasive resistance, which was contrary to what was predicted. It was also found that one form of persuasive resistance was a significant mediator in the relationship between social distance and persuasive outcomes. This study suggests that when testing the propositions of construal level theory under the context of narratives, it is important to think about how CLT propositions will interact with narrative features and produce unique persuasive outcomes through narrative mechanisms

    Personalization as a Strategy to Build Customer Relationship: The Role of Intimacy

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    Personalization that uses information technology to tailor content and products/services to the preferences and tastes of individual customers has become a useful function for online marketing. Many techniques have been developed, and research on personalized services has increased substantially in recent years. The objective of the thesis research is to investigate the relationship building perspective in investigating the effectiveness of personalization, which treats intimate experience resulting from personalized response as an important factor to affect the outcomes of relationship marketing, including the willingness to self-disclosure, customer loyalty, and customer’s attitude towards the personalized recommendations. This study will conduct controlled laboratory experiments on personalization Website in which the personalization agent will appear socialness, use personalized interface to interact with users, and provide personalized recommendation to users. The results and findings will provide valuable information to practitioners and researchers

    The interplay between regulatory focus and temporal distance in the health context

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    Objectives: This study identifies how the interaction between temporal distance, regulatory focus, and framing of health outcomes affects individuals' intention to adopt a personalized nutrition service. Design: A 2 (temporal distance: immediate health outcomes vs. delayed health outcomes) × 2 (regulatory focus: prevention vs. promotion) × 2 (health outcome framing: illness prevention vs. health promotion) full-factorial between-subjects design. Methods: In two experiments with samples of 236 and 242 students, regulatory focus was manipulated by asking participants to describe which academic outcomes they want to either achieve or prevent and how they aim to do this. Temporal distance and health outcome framing were manipulated by modifying descriptions of personalized nutrition services. To study the process through which temporal distance, regulatory focus, and health outcome framing affect adoption intention, measures of perceived privacy risk and perceived personalization benefit were included as mediators. Results: The interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus had a significant effect on adoption intention, perceived privacy risk, and perceived personalization benefit. For prevention-focused individuals' adoption intention was higher, perceived personalization benefit was higher, and perceived privacy risk was lower when health outcomes were immediate instead of delayed. These effects were not significant for promotion-focused individuals. Health outcome framing affected the interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus, but only in Study 1. Only perceived personalization benefit served as a mediator. Conclusion: Tailoring temporal distance to individuals' regulatory focus increases adoption intention for personalized nutrition advice. Statement of contribution: What is already known on this subject? Intention to adopt dietary recommendations results from a cognitive decision-making process. Regulatory focus and temporal distance are relevant for the adoption of dietary recommendations. Temporal distance and regulatory focus are interrelated. What does this study add? The interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus affects adoption intention. Interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus moderates the cognitive process that drives adoption.</p

    PERSONALIZED SERVICES AS EMPATHIC RESPONSES: THE ROLE OF INTIMACY

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    Personalization that uses information technology to tailor content and products/services to the preferences and tastes of individual customers has become a useful function for online marketing. Many techniques have been developed, and research on personalized services has increased substantially in recent years. Several theories have been proposed to explain the effect of positive consumer attitude toward personalized services such as reducing information overload and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. These theories are grounded on a rational perspective. As personalization can be treated as an empathic response to the service receivers, we cannot ignore the role of emotion in a relationship building process. In this paper, we propose the relationship building (or Guanxi in Chinese) perspective in investigating the effectiveness of personalization, which treats intimate experience resulting from personalized response as an important factor to affect the receivers’ attitude towards the personalized recommendation. We conducted a controlled laboratory experiment on personalized recommendation to examine the role of intimacy in affecting consumer attitudes. Our findings indicated that intimate experience does mediate the effect of personalized response on consumer attitudes toward the recommendation. The results and findings provide valuable information to practitioners and researchers

    Personalization-Privacy Paradox: Personal Health Information Context

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    While healthcare institutions continue to invest in personal health information (PHI) capabilities, consumers are increasingly becoming concerned about the use and storage of PHI. At the same time, consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits that accrue from the use of PHI –i.e., the benefits of getting personalized healthcare. We use the Information Boundary Theory (IBT) to examine the effect of this tension–personalization-privacy paradox-on consumers’ willingness to share PHI. We contextualize the theoretical model by integrating the role of discrete contextual factors at play – trust in the electronic medium, information type, requesting stakeholder, and health status. In doing so, our research contributes to theory as well as practice. We expand and enrich the IBT by contextualizing it to the healthcare domain. The research contributes to practice by providing insights that can be used as a guide to craft healthcare IT implementation policy. Our/my research also addresses IS communities’ call for more research on consumer perspective

    Understanding Sticky News: Analyzing the Effect of Content Appeal and Social Engagement for Sharing Political News Online

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    This dissertation investigates the concept of news stickiness and why certain news stories are shared more than others in an online environment. Building on theories of framing, uses and gratifications, and social psychology, the study is guided by the perspective that sharing behavior is considered a joint product of informational and personal factors. Previous research in the investigation of sharing motivations were usually one-sided, focusing on one particular attribute that contributes to the behavior; however, this dissertation argues the two key factors that drive news sharing each play a role in moving the audiences from content “internalizing” to content “externalizing.” Additionally, the dissertation also considers that the act of news sharing is carried out by humans and therefore, driven by the innate human needs that extend beyond content captivation. To bridge the gap in existing research, this dissertation adopts a mixed methods approach consisting of the following: 1) Framing analysis of the “most shared articles of the day” on the New York Times website, examining shared content characteristics; and 2) online experiment testing whether the content features concluded from the framing analysis would make news stories more likely to be shared, with a post-experiment questionnaire evaluating the audience’s psychological motivations for sharing. Findings revealed that news personalization, particularly the use of emotional testimony, localized identification, and partisan provocation, constitutes the key content appeal shared by all articles sampled. Moreover, social engagement appeal is made up of five elements that help explain sharing behavior: reciprocal value, individual interest, information utility, persuasion potential, and the bandwagon effect. This dissertation is a step forward toward better understanding of how to make news sticky, in a sense that the news will not only be read but will also be shared extensively. It provided recommendations for news organizations seeking to analyze web traffic data and produce content that deeply resonates with their audiences. This study further contributed to the theoretical frameworks in audience engagement by associating human psychology with news sharing and ultimately confronted concerns such as an attraction to ‘fake news’ or a lack of interest in critical news on key issues
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