Social comparison orientation and frequency: a study on international travel bloggers

This study adopts a social comparison theory perspective to examine the drivers of social comparison frequency (SCF) on Facebook among international travel bloggers who utilize Facebook for their travel blogging activities. An online survey led to 99 usable responses covering travel bloggers from 33 countries. Results suggest that there is a strongly positive and significant relationship between SCF on Facebook and the Ability dimension of social comparison orientation (SCO), as well as between SCF and opinion leadership. While professional travel bloggers are more likely to be opinion leaders, non-professional travel bloggers tend to compare themselves with others on Facebook considerably more often. Overall, it seems that Facebook is deployed in a rather strategic way by travel bloggers who try to enhance the visibility of themselves and their blogs vis-à-vis international competitors. Research contributions and managerial implications are discussed

Brand prominence and social status in luxury consumption: A comparison of emerging and mature markets

This research investigated how the use of a prominent versus subtle branding strategy and status consumption affect consumers’ intention to buy luxury products across emerging and mature markets. To this end, an experimental study with consumers in India (emerging market) and the United States (mature market) was conducted. The results suggest that Indian (but not U.S.) consumers with a higher status consumption tendency are more willing to purchase prominently branded luxury products than subtly branded ones. On the other hand, U.S. (but not Indian) consumers with a lower status consumption tendency are more willing to purchase subtly branded luxury products than prominently branded ones. The paper discusses these findings, highlights their contribution to luxury research, and illustrates their practical value for luxury companies interested in targeting mature and emerging markets

Product Touch in the Real and Digital World: How Do Consumers React?

This research examines how touching (versus not touching) tactile-functional products—namely those that provide a tactile feedback related to their utilitarian characteristics—affects these products’ expected ease of use, as well as consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward them. Three experimental studies investigated these effects by focusing on consumer electronics. Study 1 shows that product touch positively affects consumer attitude toward tactile-functional products via an increase of said products’ expected ease of use. Study 2 reveals that such an effect is moderated by consumers’ instrumental need for touch, that is, their propensity to touch products for diagnostic reasons. Study 3 demonstrates that even the mere imagination of product touch (vicarious touch) can boost the expected ease of using tactile-functional products and consumers’ intentions toward them. Thus, traditional and online retailers should be aware of the importance of actual and imagined product touch when striving to effectively market such products