Consumer Perception and Evaluation of Waiting Time

Telephone waiting times for a commercial service were varied in two different experiments. In the first experiment, the telephone rate was either zero or fixed at Dfl.1.- (approx. $0.40) per minute. Consumer perceptions of waiting times could be described best by a psychophysical power function. Furthermore, wait evaluations were mainly influenced by the difference between the consumers' acceptable and perceived waiting times. The negative effect of perceived waiting time on wait evaluations was increased by the monetary costs of waiting. In the second experiment, the waiting times were filled in different ways: music, queue information, and information about expected waiting time. Information about the expected waiting time significantly reduced the consumer's overestimation of waiting time, whereas information about wait duration and queue increased the negative effect of perceived waiting time on wait evaluations

Service Processes as a Sequence of Events

In this paper the service process is considered as a sequence of events. Using theory from economics and psychology a model is formulated that explains how the utility of each event affects the overall evaluation of the service process. In this model we especially account for the peak-and-end rule and negative consumer time preference. This model is tested in the context of telephone service calls in the financial service market. Our results show that both the average utility and the positive peak of the events positively affect customer satisfaction with the service call. Surprisingly, the end of the sequence has a negative effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed

The Role of Schema Salience in Ad Processing and Evaluation

Advertising grids such as the Rossiter-Percy grid (Rossiter & Percy 1991, 1997) propose that brand-matching advertising is more effective than brand-mismatching advertising. However, for the match hypothesis to hold the brand schema needs to be salient in ad processing and evaluation. In this study we test how schema salience affects ad processing and evaluation. Two separate experiments were conducted, employing the same brand descriptions and ad scenarios. In the first experiment, the brand schema was made salient in ad processing, whereas in the second experiment the ad schema was made salient. In the first experiment brand(ad combinations were evaluated in line with the Rossiter-Percy advertising grid. If the brand schema was salient, consumers evaluated matching combinations of ad type and brand purchase motivation more favorably than mismatching combinations. In the second experiment, brand(ad combinations were evaluated in accordance with the existing ad schema. This implies that when the ad schema was salient, evaluations of brand(ad combinations were not affected by matches or mismatches between ads and purchase motivations for the brands. The two studies show that evaluation of brand(ad combinations depends on the schema that is salient at the time of information processing. Consequently, brand-matching advertising is effective only if consumers consciously relate ad information to brand knowledge, i.e., if the brand schema is salient in ad processing

The Effectiveness of Advertising Matching Purchase Motivation

Several authors have proposed frameworks to help advertisers predict and plan advertising effectiveness. Rossiter and Percy's advertising grid (1997) recommends that the ad appeal should match the purchase motivation or attitude base. They suggest that for utilitarian brands informational advertising is more effective than transformational advertising. Likewise, for hedonic brands transformational advertising is more effective than informational advertising. These recommendations were tested in an experiment with different products and different ads. Advertising effectiveness was measured by brand and ad evaluations. In contrast with Rossiter and Percy, we find that advertising that mismatches rather than matches the motivation for the brand is more effective. Our finding can be explained in two ways. Firstly, schema theory suggests that a moderate degree of incongruity between advertising and brand perceptions and unexpected but relevant information in the mismatching ad results in favorable evaluations, as compared with a matching ad. Secondly, research on attitudes and persuasion suggests that, if typical product category ads are associated with negative affect, the particular ad functions as a counterattitudinal message, which is more persuasive in the case of a mismatch rather than a match with the category ads. We find evidence for both explanations