Charitable Giving: How Ego-Threats Impact Donations of Time and Money

Consumers can exhibit charitableness in a variety of ways, e.g., by reading to the blind, serving food to the hungry, donating money to the needy, etc. Broadly speaking, however, donation behavior can take one of two forms: One can volunteer time or money. Across four experiments, we examine how and why ego-threats, i.e., menaces to one's sense of self and identity, can help foster charitable behavior and lead consumers to prefer donating time over money to their favorite charities. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theory and practice

Making Sense of Numbers: Effects of Alphanumeric Brands on Consumer Inference

This research examines when and how the presence of seemingly innocuous, non-diagnostic numbers in brand names (e.g., 7-UP) impacts consumers' judgments. Building on anchoring theory, our central proposition is that numbers contained in alphanumeric brand names can act as implicit anchors that subsequently bias (either upward or downward) consumers' assessment of a product's price, weight, volume, etc. We qualify this proposition, however, by showing that such anchoring effects occur primarily when (a) the numeric component of a name appears relevant to the judgment at hand and (b) consumers evaluate product attributes superficially (rather than systematically). Published by Elsevier B.V

Prosocial Behavior in Intergroup Relations: How Donor Self-Construal and Recipient Group-Membership Shape Generosity

This research examines the interplay of self-construal orientation and victim group-membership on prosocial behavior. Whereas consumers primed with an independent self-construal demonstrate similar propensities to help needy in-group and out-group others, an interdependent orientation fosters stronger commitments to aid in-group than out-group members. This interaction holds in both individualistic (i.e., the United States) and collectivistic (i.e., China) nations and seems driven by a belief system. For interdependents, the prospect of helping needy in-group (relative to out-group) members heightens the belief that helping others contributes to their own personal happiness, which in turn increases their propensity to act benevolently. Such in-group/out-group distinctions do not seem to operate among independents. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of our findings for the cross-cultural, intergroup-relations, and prosocial literatures before deriving insights for practice

Show Me the Honey! Effects of Social Exclusion on Financial Risk-Taking

This research examines the effects of social exclusion on a critical aspect of consumer behavior, financial decision-making. Specifically, four lab experiments and one field survey uncover how feeling isolated or ostracized causes consumers to pursue riskier but potentially more profitable financial opportunities. These daring proclivities do not appear driven by impaired affect or self-esteem. Rather, interpersonal rejection exacerbates financial risk-taking by heightening the instrumentality of money (as a substitute for popularity) to obtain benefits in life. Invariably, the quest for wealth that ensues tends to adopt a riskier but potentially more lucrative road. The article concludes by discussing the implications of its findings for behavioral research as well as for societal and individual welfare

Memory for Advertising: When do Consumers Remember and When do They Forget Social-Identity-Linked Ads?

What makes advertising memorable? A popular approach is to link ads to social identities, like gender or race. Identity-linking is thought to attract consumers’ attention and encourage encoding. We find, however, that its effectiveness depends on a person-by-situation interaction. Sometimes identity-linking backfires, resulting in poor ad memory and product avoidance