Are Lonely Consumers Loyal Consumers? Two-dimensional Lonely Consumer’s Brand Relationships

Although loneliness has been shown to influence various consumer behaviors, prior research conceptualized loneliness unidimensional Ly as an unpleasant feeling of inadequate relationships. Relationships can be inadequate in terms of quality and quantity, creating a two-dimensional view of loneliness. We show these dimensions have distinct effects on how consumers relate to brands. Emotional loneliness, due to insufficient relationship closeness, increases brand loyalty, whereas social loneliness, due to insufficient number of relationships, increases preference for greater brand assortment, creating the appearance of weaker loyalty to any one brand. Three studies indicate that loneliness increase and decrease brand loyalty, depending on the prevalent dimension of loneliness.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Eunyoung Jang, Zachary Arens

 

Disentangling Product Comparisons with the Attribute-Hedonic Model

Marketing policies often assume that consumers comparing products will show a hedonic contrast effect. A product seems more appealing when compared with an unappealing competitor than a highly appealing one. However, hedonic judgments are confounded with underlying attribute judgments, and it is important to delineate their effects. This paper disentangles them, consistently finding two effects in opposite directions: while attribute judgments contrast with a competitor, hedonic judgments assimilate. Consequently, the results appear to show a hedonic contrast effect on the surface. More generally, this research reveals the hidden complexity underlying product comparisons and explores the consequences for marketing tactics.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Zachary Arens

 

A Creative Abduction Approach to Theory Development in Marketing Doctoral Education

Given the need for more theory development in the field of marketing, this article presents a new approach to help doctoral students develop the creative skills necessary for developing impactful theories. It introduces a series of exercises based on a framework of creativity training and abductive reasoning. Initial results from a marketing theory seminar show that, with practice, students’ explanations for phenomena became more creative and more conceptual.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Zachary Arens

 

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Firm Innovation Performance

Using a dynamic capabilities perspective as our theoretical foundation, this study contributes by highlighting the underlying mechanism through which EO affects firm performance based on the subsequent theoretical linkages: strategic resources → strategic actions (organizational responsiveness) → competitive advantage → performance. Our theoretical rationale is that EO as an important strategic resource contributes to firm performance through a sequential link of EO → dynamic capabilities → competitive advantages → firm performance. More specifically, among various views of firm capabilities, the importance of dynamic capabilities is especially emphasized in the current business environments characterized by fast and unpredictable change.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Todd Arnold

Chinese Culture University, Taiwan: Peter Chen

 

Alliance Orientation, Competitive Advantage in NPD, and New Product Success

Strategic orientation is a key determinant of new product development (NPD) performance, yet, little is known about the real value of alliance orientation (AO) in the context of NPD, as well as how it contributes to new product success. This study advances knowledge by investigating the role of important mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the AO－new product success relationship. Applying a dynamic capabilities perspective, the research demonstrates that competitive advantage in NPD program and process play a significant and varied role (depending upon environmental conditions) in affecting new product success.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Todd Arnold

Chinese Culture University, Taiwan: Peter Chen

 

The Costs (and Opportunities) of Highly Involved Organizational Buyers

The authors examine the impact of organizational buyers’ product involvement on customers’ and suppliers’ financial outcomes, driven by buyers’ increased willingness to pay and their perceived credibility in negotiations with the supplier. The effects of these competing mechanisms are moderated by characteristics of the customer firm and the customer-supplier relationship. The authors examine effects of buyer product involvement using a survey of organizational buyers matched with secondary profit data from their supplier. Customer firms should encourage their buyers to be highly involved but limit their influence within the firm. Highly involved buyers can be potentially costly to suppliers.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Todd Arnold, Justin Lawrence, Colleen McClure

University of Missouri: Lisa Scheer

 

End User Engagement with Supplier Firm Brands: Meaningfulness of Work and Differential Impact of Other-Focused versus Self-Focused Marketing Initiatives

Findings suggest a key management concept, meaningfulness of work, can be applied to brand attachment in a work context. More specifically, results illustrate how end users find meaning on their job and develop strong feelings for supplier firm brands. The interaction between meaningfulness of work and supplier firm brand performance demonstrates that end users who find work more meaningful are more likely to both develop strong attachment for a supplier firm brand and more likely to advocate for that brand to superiors and peers.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Todd Arnold

Georgia Gwinnett College: Amy Fehl

 

Optimizing Frontline Shift Composition for Increased Customer Satisfaction and Firm Performance

Both academics and marketing managers agree that frontline employees (FLEs) are paramount for the provision of excellent service to customers. What is less well understood in extant research is the impact other employees may have upon a given individual frontline worker. We term this influence the “shift climate,” defined as the FLE’s perception of the tendencies of other members on the shift toward service behaviors that focus on customer need satisfaction. This study investigates the influence of shift climate on FLE performance.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Todd Arnold

Georgia Gwinnett College: Amy Fehl

Grand Valley State University: Valerie Good

 

Is Customer Delayed Payment a Boon or Bane for Relationship Performance?
In B2B interfirm relationships, payment terms assume a key role for relationship governance. Using data from a major U.S. industrial supplier, we find that a customer’s delayed payment initially increases subsequent relationship profit up to an inflection point, beyond which the effect turns negative, uncovering an inverse u-shaped pattern. Surprisingly, the inflection point is after the payment due date, uncovering an unexpected window of opportunity in which suppliers benefit the most from customers’ delayed payment in terms of future business expansion with their customers.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University
PI/PDs: Todd Arnold, Justin Lawrence, Hans Nguyen
University of Houston: Johannes Habel
UNSW Sydney: Hauke Wetzel
Rurh University Bochum: Sascha Alavi
Goettingen University: Maik Hammerschmidt

 

Customer participation under service captivity: the role of service providers and organizational socialization

Service captivity threatens customers’ ability and willingness to participate in a service interaction. In a qualitative study, we explore customer experiences of service captivity in a health care setting to understand limited customer participation under consumption constraints. Drawing on our findings and organizational socialization theory, we then develop and test a model in a field setting that explores the consequences of service captivity in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and then in two survey-based studies conducted in two differently captive settings. These studies highlight levers service providers can adjust to overcome service captivity and promote customer participation and satisfaction.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Todd Arnold

Texas State University: Steven Rayburn

Virginia Commonwealth University: Mayoor Mohan and Suzanne Makaram

 

A Healthcare Providers’ Service Recovery Journey with Negative Online Reviews

This research addresses important marketing strategy and service research questions by taking a practitioner’s perspective in order to understand service failure and recovery. Analogous to a customer service recovery journey, we advance a provider's service recovery journey with negative online reviews and map what healthcare providers are thinking, feeling, and doing during key touchpoints with patients and their reviews. We look at service climate in terms of service recovery and uncover how it shapes healthcare providers’ either embracing or rejecting online patient reviews, their investment in service recovery systems, and their experience throughout the service recovery journey.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University
PI/PDs: Todd Arnold
Virginia Commonwealth University: Suzanne Makaram and Haeran Jae

 

The Positive Influence of Watching Others Receive Preferential Treatment: The Role of Envy

The purpose of this research is to examine how and when companies can motivate          

non-prioritized consumers to respond positively to customer prioritization and mitigate their negative reactions. We conducted two studies to test whether non-prioritized customers can respond positively to preferential treatment received by others. We used a video experiment to increase the realism of the manipulation and to establish internal validity and we employed a field survey to demonstrate external validity. We also suggest that the aspect of upward comparison that people pay attention to can influence whether they respond positively or negatively to an upward comparison episode.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Tom Brown

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi: Yu-shan Huang

 

Trip Characteristics and Bleisure Motivation of Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition (MICE) Travelers
The objectives of this study are to 1) examine the bleisure motivations of MICE travelers, 2) investigate the trip characteristics of bleisure travelers, and 3) induce a grounded theory from data collection and analysis. Two cross-sectional studies were used to validate the results in this study. The first survey had a sample size of 387 of Thai MICE travelers to Korea, obtained from travel agencies with MICE sections registered with the Korean Tourism Organization, Bangkok office. In the second study, we used 278 participants at two MICE events in 2019 and 2020.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Goutam Chakraborty, Bongkosh Rittichainuwat

 

CO2 Storage Site Screening Platform Development and CO2 Storage Resource Analysis in SECARB Offshore Reservoirs

In this funded research study, the SAS® Viya platform was utilized to manage the geological datasets and analyze the geological characteristics of the shelf and deep-water areas through the use of correlation plots and distribution maps. In addition, a CO2 storage site screening platform was developed in SAS® Viya. This screening platform is flexible and allows for quick access to the results, which enables users to easily tune the screening criteria and understand the how various screening criterion affect the output.  

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University (external funding from SECARB)

PI/PD: Xitong Hu, Rupom Bhattacherjee, Kodjo Botchway Prem Bikkina, Jack C. Pashin and Goutam Chakraborty

 

Using Customer Data to Create a Behavioral Segmentation My Love Rewards Customers of Love’s Travel Stops

In this funded research project, we modified an existing Tableau dashboard to a user-friendly and comprehensive dashboard for Love’s Travel Stop and Stores. The project included querying data from multiple sources to bring in the margin and discount numbers for each driver in the program and member length, drink and shower credits redeemed, overall credits outstanding, overall credits redeemed, and earned tier.  Then we created new views inside the existing parameters and follow the formatting process that was already in place. This allowed us to quickly add in my new charts, without changing the entire look of the dashboard.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University (External funding from Love’s Travel Stores and Stops)

PI/PD: Goutam Chakraborty and Jordan Evan

 

Converting Hostbridge’s Customer Interface to Platform fromHB.JS to user friendly CICS

In this funded research project, we explain how each component supported the workflow that brings all of the data from different locations onto the Grafana dashboard. We wrote codes that enable the Grafana dashboard to visualize the sine wave and allowed adding new sine waves. The code is written in TypeScript, which is a superset of JavaScript, that does static type checking that can help reduce the number of errors to occur while having the applications running and servicing in JavaScript. The ability to explain the program architecture for each project is perceived as an important to client’s customers.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University (External funding from Hostbridge)

PI/PD: Goutam Chakraborty and JK Chai

 

Developing a User-Friendly Visualization for TSET to Facilitate their Decision Making

In this funded research project, we developed a comprehensive and user-friendly dashboard to visualize all of TSET’s data.  TSET as an organization is focused to motivate Oklahoma residents to quit smoking by providing their data in a dashboard form on its website, accessible to the public. The data used in the Tableau Dashboard consisted of seven different tables, six of these tables consisted of data found directly from TSET through various departments and with only one table being found from an open source.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University (External funding from TSET)

PI/PD: Goutam Chakraborty and Nikita Dwivedi

 

TERTIUS GERENS: LEADERS AS ENGINEERS OF SUBORDINATES’ NETWORKS

Research exploring leaders’ network brokering behavior, or their purposeful actions to connect their subordinates to other organizational actors, is scarce. In four studies involving multifirm interviews with both leaders and subordinates and new hires’ longitudinal diaries, we find strong evidence of a specific type of leaders’ network brokering behavior labeled network engineering. Leaders engage in network engineering by shaping subordinates’ networks through either network facilitating or restricting. Network facilitating is more research oriented and potentially more collaborative than network restricting. However, we identify several downstream realized outcomes of network facilitation and restriction, indicating that both behaviors pose advantages and drawbacks.
Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Baylor University, University of Georgia, University of Missouri-Kansas City
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty
University of Georgia:  Son Lam
Baylor University: Andrea Dixon
University of Missouri-Kansas City: Jeff Johnson

Unbundling Salesperson Work Identities: What Triggers Professional versus Organizational Identification?
Today’s employees often demonstrate stronger commitment to their chosen professions than to the companies they work for. This raises an important research question: how do salespeople’s views of the sales profession as a whole shape their career goals, motivations, attitudes and behaviors? Using a grounded theory approach, we address this question. Based on 54 in-depth interviews with sales professionals, we offer a complex process model of salesperson work identity construction. Salespeople’s professional identities are malleable and socially constructed. Salespeople engage in a complex process of assessment and reconciliation to form professional identities. This process influences important salesperson outcomes.
Sponsors: Oklahoma State University
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Curtis Schroeder

 

Making a Positive (or Negative) First Impression with Small Talk
We examine the effect of small talk and relationship orientation on customer intentions to use a service provider in three experiments and one cross-sectional survey. Customers respond positively to small talk when communally oriented, but negatively when they are more exchange oriented. Mediation analyses reveal this effect occurs because small talk differentially leads to feelings of rapport and impatience for people high (versus low) in relationship orientation. While prior research has shown benefits to small talk, we show significant downsides to using small talk with customers who are exchange oriented and show process evidence of why small talk functions as a “double-edged sword.”
Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University at Albany
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Joshua Wiener
University at Albany: Hillary Wiener

 

Salesperson Responses to a New Professional Logic: Defy, Comply, or Combine?
Drawing on institutional logic theory and evidence from 32 interviews with sales professionals, we offer a grounded model of salesperson responses to changes occurring in the field due to the pandemic. Salespeople acknowledge that the pandemic could lead to a new dominant logic (i.e., principles, unwritten rules, and practices that guide behavior) that differs from the previous logic. The extent to which a salesperson changes their behavior to align with a new logic can be explained by whether they cast the disruption as a demand or an opportunity.
Sponsors: Oklahoma State University
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Curtis Schroeder

Starting Conversations with New Customers: The Moderating Effect of Experience on Responses to Small Talk
During initial meetings with customers, salespeople can choose to begin with small talk to break the ice or they can move straight to business and provide task-relevant information. Both approaches have garnered support from different literature streams, and it remains unclear which approach is best. In two experiments, we compare customers' responses to small talk versus task talk initiated by salespeople. We consider whether the customer's experience with the service moderates the effects. When the salesperson starts with small talk, novice customers’ intentions to do business with the salesperson increase because small talk makes them feel more comfortable.
Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University at Albany
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Joshua Wiener
University at Albany: Hillary Wiener

 

Who will Compromise? The Role of Gender in Joint Ethical Decision-Making
Current understanding of how unethical behavior arises in a business context remains unclear.  This may be due in part to the complex nature of business decisions. In this study, we report the results of an experiment designed to shed some light on factors that influence how moral judgments arise in a team situation. Based on a sample of 249 undergraduate student teams, we first consider the role that the individual’s and their partner’s motivation-to-lead and political skill play in determining the extent to which the person adjusts his/her response to an ethical dilemma to reflect greater sensitivity to moral issues.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Jim Pappas

 

The Influence of Donation Resource Abundance on Choice of The Abstract Donation Target

This paper aims to investigate how to improve the donation choice toward abstract targets by matching donation resource abundance (abundant vs. limited) and message construal level (high vs. low) within donation appeals. Four studies were conducted to examine the influence of donation resource abundance on donation choice toward abstract target. We find that people with abundant resource are more likely to choose an abstract target versus a concrete target. Notably, perceived response efficacy mediates the effect of resource abundance on abstract target choice. In addition, the message construal level plays the moderate role.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Sun Yat Sen University

PI/PDs:  Xiang Fang, Pramit Banerjee

Sun Yat Sen University: Yimin Zhu, Jifei Wu, etc. 

 

The Effect of Power Distance Beliefs on Vertical vs. Horizontal Display
This research is to investigate how individuals’’ power distance beliefs influence their evaluations of the products displayed vertically or horizontally. We expect individuals’ with high power distance beliefs are more likely to prefer the products presented vertically than horizontally. This effect is stronger for material products than experiential products. Process fluency mediates the effect of PDB on the evaluations.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Xiang Fang, Pramit Banerjee

 

Touch or Click? The effect of direct and indirect human-computer interaction on consumer responses

Human-computer interaction is the way consumers access product, service and information, which affects consumers’ attitude, evaluation and purchase behavior. This paper examines how human-computer interaction affect consumer attitude and purchase intention. Four studies demonstrate that consumer with direct human-computer interaction will generate more favorable consumers’ attitudes and greater purchase intentions than those with indirect human-computer interaction. This effect is mediated by sense of immersion and this effect is moderated by the product haptic importance. These findings enrich the literature on human-computer interaction and provide some marketing implications for firms to improve product evaluation and purchase behavior by the means of human-computer interaction.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Sun Yat Sen University

PI/PDs:  Xiang Fang, Pramit Banerjee

Sun Yat Sen University: Jifei Wu, Hongyan Yu

 

Examining the Effect of a Firm’s Product Recall on Financial Values of Its Competitors

Scholars examine the effect of product recall on the recall firms from two different perspectives. One is from a consumer’s perspective, and the other is from a financial perspective. We chose the second perspective and tested how different product recall strategies (proactive vs. passive) influence competitors’ financial values. We collected 14 years (January 1996 to December 2009) of CPSC product recalls, and found that competitors experience positive abnormal returns when the recall firm employs proactive recall strategies. This confirms that investors interpret proactive recall differently from consumers. Proactive recall not only hurts the recall firm’s stock prices but benefits competitors’ financial values.

Sponsors:  Oklahoma State University, Towson University, Shanghai Univ. of Finance and Economics

PI/PDs:  Xiang Fang, Pramit Banerjee

Towson University: Yingying Shao 

Shanghai Univ. of Finance and Economics: Xiaoyu Wang

 

Service robots: The dynamic effects of anthropomorphism and functional perceptions on consumers’ responses

Although humanoid service robots continue to be adopted in many business settings, the dynamic effects of anthropomorphism and the functional perceptions of service robots on consumers’ responses remain somewhat unclear. This research aims to test the impacts of robot anthropomorphism on consumers’ trust, receptivity, and the downstream effect on satisfaction. The three sequential studies in this paper theorize and empirically examine the mediating effects of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness in the relationship between anthropomorphism and consumers’ responses to service robots. Results also demonstrate a boundary condition of task complexity in service robot adoption.

Sponsors:  Oklahoma State University, University of South Carolina, Ohio State University, National University of Singapore

PI/PDs:  Kevin So, Xiang Fang

University of South Carolina: Hyunsu Kim

Ohio State University: Stephanie Q. Liu

National University of Singapore: Jochen Wirtz

 

The Effect of Different Motives of Airbnb Hosts on their green consumption behavior

In this research, we are interested in how different motives of Airbnb hosts (money vs. social) on their green consumption behavior. We also attempt to explore the potential mediators of this effect and boundary conditions.

Sponsors:  Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs:  Xiang Fang, Kevin So, and Yuechen Wu

 

To stay or not to stay: How companies’ response strategies to the Russia-Ukraine war impact consumers’ responses

In this research, we examine how consumers respond to companies’ strategies to the war. We also explore the mediation of perceived morality of the firm and potential moderators such as product type, individuals’ morality identity, and companies’ CSR. The findings provide important guidelines for firms to manage their response strategies to the war.

Sponsors:  Oklahoma State University, North Carolina State University, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Texas A&M Kingsville, Towson University

PI/PDs:  Xiang Fang, Kevin So

North Carolina State University: Zhiyong Yang

University of Houston-Clear Lake: Fang Yu

Texas A&M Kingsville: Zhuofan Zhang

Towson University: Yingying Shao

 

Managers as Engineers of Market Knowledge Network:  Typology and a Conceptual Framework 

Adopting a grounded theory approach, we offer a typology of manager’s network engineering that is based on three key variables, including managers’ market orientation, their network approach (proactive or reactive), and their servant leadership approach (self-focused or other-focused). Specifically, we propose that marketing managers engineer the social networks of their frontline employees in four unique ways—they may 1) facilitate connections, 2) alter connections, 3) lend connections, or 4) sever connections between the frontline employees and important others.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Baylor University, University of Georgia
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty
University of Georgia:  Son Lam
Baylor University: Andrea Dixon

How are Salesperson Professional Identities Shaped? Elements of Identity Work

Today’s employees often demonstrate stronger commitment to their chosen professions than to the companies they work for. This raises an important research question: how do salespeople’s views of the sales profession as a whole shape their career goals, motivations, attitudes and behaviors? Using a grounded theory approach, we address this question. Based on 54 in-depth interviews with sales professionals, we offer a complex process model of salesperson professional identity construction. Salespeople’s professional identities are malleable and socially constructed. Salespeople engage in a complex process of assessment and reconciliation to form professional identities. This process influences important salesperson outcomes.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Curtis Schroeder

 

Making a Positive (or Negative) First Impression with Small Talk

We examine the effect of small talk and relationship orientation on customer intentions to use a service provider in three experiments and one cross-sectional survey. Customers respond positively to small talk when communally oriented, but negatively when they are more exchange oriented. Mediation analyses reveal this effect occurs because small talk differentially leads to feelings of rapport and impatience for people high (versus low) in relationship orientation. While prior research has shown benefits to small talk, we show significant downsides to using small talk with customers who are exchange oriented and show process evidence of why small talk functions as a “double-edged sword.”

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University at Albany

PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Joshua Wiener

University at Albany: Hillary Wiener

 

Who will Compromise? The Role of Gender in Joint Ethical Decision-Making
Current understanding of how unethical behavior arises in a business context remains unclear.  This may be due in part to the complex nature of business decisions. In this study, we report the results of an experiment designed to shed some light on factors that influence how moral judgments arise in a team situation. Based on a sample of 249 undergraduate student teams, we first consider the role that the individual’s and their partner’s motivation-to-lead and political skill play in determining the extent to which the person adjusts his/her response to an ethical dilemma to reflect greater sensitivity to moral issues.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University
PI/PDs: Karen Flaherty, Jim Pappas

 

Communicating with a New Customer

The question is how a sales person should communicate to a customer that is a novice. S/he is unfamiliar with the product or service being sold. The salesperson must choose between beginning in a social or functional manner. A conceptual framework and series of empirical studies support the functional approach.

Sponsor:  Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Josh Wiener, Karen Flaherty, Hillary Wiener

 

Alliance Value Creation and Appropriation: The Role of Customer- and Product-Centric Structures

Establishing a customer-centric structure is a popular but costly marketing strategy; some firms thus seek alliances with customer-centric partners, with mixed results. In this article, according to event study analyses (Study 1) of strategic alliances by Fortune 1000 firms over a 17-year period, product-centric firms create 2.5 times more value on average when they work with customer- versus product-centric partners, but they also capture significantly less share of the joint alliance value when allying with customer- versus product-centric partners. A complementary panel data analysis (Study 2) details the net long-term performance of a product-centric firm’s alliance portfolio.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, Iowa State University, University of Washington

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Iowa State University: Ju-Yeon Lee; Andrew T. Crecelius

University of Washington: Robert W. Palmatier

 

Mitigating Price Discount Spillover in Online and Offline Markets

In accordance with today’s multichannel B2B environments, the authors theorize differential effects on the seller’s margin via offline and online discount contagion. The authors test their theoretical framework across two large-scale field studies featuring spatial econometric analyses. If managers fail to consider contagion systematically, the effects of targeted discounts can spill over to untargeted buyers, resulting in approximately three times the margin losses. Granting highly differentiated discounts further fuels this contagion process, precipitating even greater margin decline. However, contagion-conscious deployment, such as targeting buyers that limit e-commerce price transparency, allows sellers to virtually eliminate adverse effects of discount contagion.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, Iowa State University, University of Washington, Colorado State University

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Iowa State University: Andrew T. Crecelius

University of Washington: Robert W. Palmatier

Colorado State University: Jonathan Z. Zhang

 

Sales Channel Specialization for B2B Resellers: Cost-matching versus Relationship-driven Models

In an effort to cost-effectively match sales channels to the shifting needs of customers and reap the benefits of sales specialization, business-to-business sellers are challenged with migrating customers between outside (field) salespeople and inside (remote) salespeople. Prevalent approaches include cost-matching—assigning less-developed accounts to low-cost inside salespeople and migrating them to the costlier outside sales channel once the account grows—and the relationship-driven approach—deploying the richer outside sales channel to establish relationships with newer customers, until the account can be migrated to inside sales. The authors’ findings challenge accepted wisdom and inform practical recommendations for sales channel specialization strategies.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, Iowa State University, University of Washington

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Iowa State University: Andrew T. Crecelius

University of Washington: Robert W. Palmatier

 

Targeting and Designing Supplier-Initiated Relationship Expansion Proposals

The authors assess effects of relationship expansion proposals contingent on three account opportunity metrics: sales potential, gross margin position, and historical service provision. Study 1 reveals that higher sales potential and higher service provision make a customer a more favorable target for a relationship expansion proposal; conversely, when a customer relationship is more profitable to the supplier, relationship expansion proposals can backfire, resulting in lost business. Study 2 focuses on the strategic design of relationship expansion proposals and demonstrates how the depth of discounting in a proposal affects purchasing, contingent on the same account opportunity metrics used in Study 1.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, Iowa State University, Marquette University, Ohio University

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Iowa State University: Andrew T. Crecelius

Marquette University: Jessica L. Ogilvie

Ohio University: Adam A. Rapp

 

When Do Inside Salesperson Investments Pay Off in B2B Buyer-Supplier Relationships? A Multi-method Investigation

Business-to-business selling firms (sellers) increasingly assign customers an inside salesperson, in addition to a traditional outside salesperson. These multichannel sales structures are believed to decrease expenses by substituting a less-costly sales channel and increase sales by enabling more efficient exchange. However, the authors theorize that substitution toward the leaner inside channel can also constrain the seller’s relationship building efforts and induce sales headwinds. Further, if some customers elect not to substitute but instead use the new channel as a supplement, the seller’s customer-level expenses can increase considerably due to the additional resources required to deploy the inside channel.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, University of Notre Dame, Iowa State University, University of Washington

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

University of Notre Dame: Vamsi Kanuri

Iowa State University: Andrew T. Crecelius

University of Washington: Robert W. Palmatier

 

Managing Moral Misalignment and Donor Defection

Unlike performance-based defectors who leave firms in response to some form of utility deficit with the offering, identity-based defectors are customers who sever relationships due to a perceived mismatch between their identities and their perceptions of the firm’s identity. Using consumer data from a multinational nonprofit firm and a framework derived from customer-company identification theory, this study examines optimal communication strategies for the reacquisition of identity-based customer defectors and reveals suboptimal reacquisition results related to traditional reacquisition messaging. This article introduces identity-based defectors to extant literature and outlines specific routes by which firms should approach their reacquisition.
Sponsor: Oklahoma State University; Florida State University; University of North Carolina, Greensboro

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Florida State University: Colleen Harmeling, Michael Brady

The University of North Carolina, Greensboro: Harrison Pugh 

 

The Upstream Impact of Online Ratings on B2B Relationships

Online reviews reflect relationships and interactions between a firm and end users. Dimensions of marketing strategy execution, such as service quality and affordable prices, drive positive reviews. These reviews therefore capture information that has implications not only for the firm, but for its upstream channel partners, a spillover effect not examined in extant research. Drawing on value capture theory, the authors investigate the differential effects of a firm’s Google reviews on its supplier’s performance, mediated by the buyer firm’s value creation–value capture tradeoff with its end users.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University; Iowa State University

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence, Colleen E. McClure, Hans Nguyen

Iowa State University: Andrew T. Crecelius

 

Motivating Customers to Respond Positively to Involuntary Intermediation: Minimizing Defection and Maximizing Purchasing

Tightening margins and emerging competitors are motivating manufacturers to streamline distribution systems by assigning customers to channels where they can be profitably served. One frequently chosen strategy is involuntary intermediation: a manufacturer unilaterally terminating a customer’s direct relationship and encouraging the customer to migrate to a designated intermediary. Drawing on event system theory, this research examines the decisions at hand for customers following an involuntary intermediation, specifically: (1) whether to migrate to the manufacturer’s designated intermediary or defect to a competitor, and (2) how much to purchase of the manufacturer’s products and other products sold by the intermediary after intermediation.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University; Iowa State University; University of Missouri

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Iowa State University: Andrew T. Crecelius

University of Missouri: Lisa K. Scheer, Divya Anand

 

Stable Prices in B2B Relationships: How Resellers React to Longer-term Pricing Policies

The authors examine when longer-term pricing policies in B2B markets can generate higher profits for suppliers. Drawing on cost of price adjustment (COPA) theory, the authors suggest that price-adjustment carries costs and benefits for customers, and that not all customers find a longer-term policy equally attractive. The authors identify customer characteristics that signal when longer-term pricing policies are more attractive to customers and more profitable for suppliers. This study utilizes a quasi-experiment from involving 8,987 business customers of a global U.S.-based industrial distributor.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University; Southern Illinois University

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence

Southern Illinois University: Omid Kamran Disfani, Ashok Bhattarai

 

Customer Delayed Payment and Customer Profitability

In B2B interfirm relationships, payment terms assume a key role for relationship governance. To foster strong relationships, suppliers commonly do not insist on immediate payment, but allow customers to delay payment until a certain due date. While past research in relationship marketing intensively focuses on mutual benefits in customer-firm relationships and contracts as governance mechanisms, the effect of customers’ delayed payment on a supplier’s future profit with a customer is unclear. Using data from a large industrial supplier, we find that a customer’s delayed payment initially increases profit up to an inflection point, beyond which the effect turns negative, uncovering an inverse u-shaped pattern. Surprisingly, the inflection point is after the due date, revealing an unexpected window of opportunity in which suppliers benefit the most from customers’ delayed payment in terms of future business expansion with their customers. These findings largely conform to a relational expectations account and are further corroborated by moderators related to the relationship strength. The findings offer important management implications for implementing mutually beneficial payment procedures.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University; University of Bochum

PI/PDs: Justin M. Lawrence; Todd Arnold; Hans Nguyen

University of Houston: Johannes Habel

Bochum University: Sascha Alavi

University of Goettingen: Maik Hammerschmidt

UNSW Sydney: Hauke Wetzel

 

Cultural Trauma and Consumer Solidarity Following Violent Marketplace Attacks (with Amy Fehl, Georgia Gwinnett College)

This research investigates consumer solidarity in a community that experienced the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. Drawing on interviews, archival data, and cultural trauma theory, the study centers on the origin of trauma, consumer adaptation, and collectivity following marketplace violence.

Sponsor: Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University

PIs: Spears School of Business: Marlys J. Mason

Georgia Gwinnett College: Amy Fehl

 

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: When and How Perceived Vulnerability Decreases Foreseeability and Culpability for Causing Harm in the Marketplace
We propose that vulnerability visibility (how easily known/observed the vulnerability is), and frequency (how rare/common the vulnerability is) shape whether or not company culpability (e.g., blame, complaining behaviors) is heightened or attenuated. When a vulnerability is more visible or common, harm and company culpability are heightened. However, when a vulnerability is invisible or rare, perceptions of foreseeability and company culpability decrease. Visibility and frequency may be features of the vulnerability itself, or have analogs in the marketing environment (e.g., a service failure happens in-person vs. online).

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

Seeing Diversity as a Zero-Sum Game: Consumer Ideology and the Threat of Outgroup Competition in the Marketplace

Focusing on consumer competitiveness and drawing from theories of ideology and intergroup relations, this research investigates unexplored ways in which consumers respond to marketplace diversity. We found that higher social dominance orientation (endorsement of inequality between groups) was associated with: 1) seeing increased competition with ethnic outgroup (but not ingroup) consumers, 2) believing that targeting ethnic outgroups would increase scarcity in a retail environment, leading to increased purchase quantity, and 3) seeing support for Black-owned businesses (vs. “American businesses”) as hurting other businesses and as less fair.

Sponsor: State of Oklahoma

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

Dual Concern: The Persuasive Power of Showing Care for Those You Criticize

Criticizing with Care: The Persuasive Power of Dual Concern in Critical Policy Messages

Marketing communication is regularly used to motivate prosocial behavioral change. This often relies on; 1) showing concern for a harmful outcome, and 2) communicating to a target group that their behavior is harmful and ought to change. As such, we introduce dual concern messaging, which firmly communicates that a target group causes harm while also showing concern for the target group.

Sponsors: State of Oklahoma, University of Oregon, University of Zurich

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd

University of Zurich: Lauren C. Howe

 

The Role of Symbolic Threat in Consumer’s Attitudes Toward Ethnic Diversity in Advertising

We find that reactions to ethnic diversity in advertising depends on: 1) the viewer’s ideology, and 2) whether or not the actors in the ad are from an ethnic group that is higher (vs. lower) in symbolic threat, which is the extent to which an ethnic group is perceived as threatening a country’s values and culture.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

Consumers’ Intuitions about Race and AI

This research looks at people’s beliefs about how AI works and its ability to make decisions/judgments based on the race of the user (e.g., the ability of facial recognition software to accurately read faces, medical diagnosis software to correctly diagnose diseases). Although people tend to be averse to AI decision-making because they see it as not being sensitive to individual uniqueness, people tend to see more homogeneity (i.e., similarly) within outgroup members. Therefore, we predict that people will see AI as making better decisions and support its use more when used to make decisions about other vs. one’s own group.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

“Cui bono”: How believing in brand conspiracies shapes relationships with brands

Against the backdrop of widespread, business-related conspiracy theories, this research examines how associating a brand with a conspiracy shapes the relationship with that brand. We demonstrate that when consumers believe a brand is involved in a conspiracy, such beliefs lead them to perceive the brand as Machiavellian, resulting in lower brand warmth and purchase intentions.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, TBS Education, KEDGE Business School

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd

TBS Education: Mathieu Alemany Oliver

KEDGE Business School: Renaud Lunardo

 

On the Political Right, the Customer is Always Right: Political Ideology, Entitlement, and Complaining

Although past research shows that conservatives are less inclined to make consumer complaints than liberals (Jung et al. 2017), we find in numerous product and service failure contexts that conservatives complain more than liberals. Findings suggest that this is due to conservatives’ relatively higher levels of consumer entitlement.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

The Effect of Seeing Veterans as Heroes on Perceived Veteran Fit for Self- vs. Other-Focused Careers

Despite overwhelmingly positive public attitudes toward veterans, veterans have experienced higher rates of unemployment and underemployment than their non-veteran peers. We investigate the consequences and implications of attaching the “hero” label to military veterans, as well as other heroized groups (e.g., firefighters, paramedics, teachers). Despite intentions to honor veterans, heroizing them leads the American public to funnel veterans into a limited set of lower-paying jobs, organizations, and careers associated with selflessness. This research offers insights into an important real-world problem and offers a first experimental investigation of the consequences and implications of labeling a group of people as heroes.

Sponsors: Duke University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd

Duke University: Matthew Stanley, Aaron C. Kay

 

Morality as Social Glue: When and Why Ingroup Members Are Judged More Harshly Than Outgroup Members for the Same Moral Transgressions

We build upon past research on moral judgments of ingroup (vs. outgroup) transgressors by investigating the social glue hypothesis, which suggests that people are more likely to derogate ingroup (vs. outgroup) members for moral transgressions because moral violations weaken the social bonds of the ingroup. We find that people judge ingroup members more harshly than outgroup members for the same transgression, and this was mediated by perceived damage to social group cohesion.

Sponsors: Duke University, Cornell University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd

Cornell University: Simone Tang

Duke University: Aaron C. Kay

 

When and Why Anti-Egalitarianism Impacts Resistance to Black-Owned Businesses

Supporting Black-owned businesses is increasingly popular as a means of rectifying racial injustices and economic inequality. How this is received by different people and why is critical, but not well understood. Three experiments show that among white Americans, anti-egalitarian beliefs about the market are selectively applied to Black-owned businesses in ways that reinforce racial hierarchies. Anti-egalitarians also saw support for Black-owned businesses specifically as more unfair and threatening, and this was particularly for support involving tangible resources that directly impact a business’s competitiveness.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

Brand Moral Grandstanding

This research explores how and when firms taking stances on moral issues is perceived as moral grandstanding, and the consequences of this. Results show that grandstanding that is meant to inspire other is seen positively, whereas grandstanding that is more dominant in nature (e.g., seen as negatively judging those with different beliefs) is received negatively. These forms of grandstanding can be communicated via advertising and social media.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd, Sahel Zaboli

 

Consumer Entitlement and Use of Self-Serve Technology

This research explores role of customer entitlement on the use of self-serve technology. We find that people higher in consumer entitlement are less likely to use self-serve technology and rate it more negatively. This is due to more entitled consumers believing that the service ought to be carried out by the service provider, rather than the consumer.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd, Hesam Teymouri

 

The Warrior Mindset and its Effect on Prosocial Consumer Behavior

The metaphor of being a “warrior” and the “warrior mindset” is common in various domains of society. One specific area that it is common is among people who have experienced trauma, where a “warrior mindset” is a common approach to dealing with trauma (e.g., illness). In addition, research shows that experiencing trauma is associated with prosocial behavior. This research explores if the warrior mindset encourages prosocial behavior.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd, Cindy Chen

 

Decreased Intentions to Pay for Content that is Thought to Emerge from “Play” as Opposed to “Work”

There is a large and growing market for digital content (e.g., YouTube videos, video game streamers, social media content, podcasts), which is often created by independent content creators. Numerous challenges exist related to the ability of these creators to make money from their products and consumers’ willingness to pay. Based on past research looking at how passion is often exploited, we investigate how this content is often seen as “play” as opposed to work and as intrinsically rewarding, thereby decreasing people’s willingness to pay.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd

University of Manitoba: Jae Yun Kim

 

How the Mere Presence of Service Robots Influences Perceptions of Human Service Providers

AI and robots are increasingly a part of providing complex services. This research explores how the mere presence of this technology in the service environment might impact people’s perceptions of human employees, including the skills/traits they ought to have, and how they ought to be/can be treated by employers and customers.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Steven Shepherd

 

Responsibilization During Crisis: Perceptions of Responsibility for Service Employee Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although past research shows that conservatives are less inclined to make consumer complaints than liberals (Jung et al. 2017), we find in numerous product and service failure contexts that conservatives complain more than liberals. Findings suggest that this is due to conservatives’ relatively higher levels of consumer entitlement.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, California State University

PI/PDs: Steven Shepherd

California State University Northridge: Nora Moran

 

The Cheating Culture: Consequences of Neurotic Competitiveness

Karen Horney (1937) discussed the concept of neurotic competitiveness. Neurotically competitive persons are more focused on defeating their opponents than on winning per se. Existing research shows that a significant segment of the American public may have a neurotic win-at-any-cost attitude. The current research will examine the link between neurotically competitive attitudes and cheating behavior in business and everyday life.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, California State University at Chico

PI/PDs: Ajay Sukhdial

California State University at Chico: Kirk Damon Aiken

 

The Joyless Economy: The Marketing Implications of Consumer Strategies for Beating Everyday Boredom

Throughout history, philosophers have argued, “Boredom is the root of all evil.” Current academic research confirms that ongoing feelings of boredom, a modern existential condition, are associated with numerous ills in society. Scholars have also argued that consuming all kinds of products and experiences is how consumers try to deal with feelings of boredom. This research will examine the commonly used strategies by individuals for beating everyday boredom and the marketing and public policy implications of such strategies.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, California State University at Chico

PI/PDs: Ajay Sukhdial

California State University at Chico: Kirk Damon Aiken

 

A Review and Meta-Analysis of Experimental Effects in Brand Alliance Research

A meta-analysis is a study of effect sizes across studies.  We analyze reported results from a large number of papers. The findings indicate that the brand alliance effect is real and of a small to medium effect size. How research design elements affect the results are analyzed.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, States of Virginia, Texas, and Ohio

PI/PDs: Kevin E. Voss, Mayoor Mohan, Jinho Jung, Fernando Jimenez

 

The Phonetic Effect of a Brand’s Post-Transgression Apology on Consumer Forgiveness

Research to understand companies’ use of brand names that we classify as unusual.  These brand names often use profanity or words that allude to body parts.  A website that tracks these names and has a list of 1,617.  We lack credible research on why marketers choose such names, how consumers view such names, and what impacts these names have on brand building.

Sponsor: School of Marketing and International Business, Spears School of Business;

PI/PD:  Minjoo Kim and Kevin E Voss

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Kevin E. Voss, Ying Ying Li, YoungOk “Sunny” Song

 

Measuring Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance: A Semantic Differential Approach

Marketing researchers are increasingly interested in the effects of attachment styles on important variables in consumer and business-to-business markets. The scales developed herein provide reliable, valid, and generally applicable scales that are shorter than available alternatives. Respondents high in attachment anxiety had significantly lower evaluations of a shoe ad with exciting positioning while those high in attachment avoidance had significantly lower evaluations of a shoe ad with authentic positioning.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Kevin E. Voss, Ying Ying Li

 

The Effect of Unusual Brand Names on Consumer’s Brand Evaluations
Research to understand companies’ use of brand names that we classify as unusual.  These brand names often use profanity or words that allude to body parts.  A website that tracks these names and has a list of 1,617.  We lack credible research on why marketers choose such names, how consumers view such names, and what impacts these names have on brand building.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Kevin E. Voss, Richie L. Liu

 

Emotional Arousal and Perceived Shared Experience: Different Mechanisms in Building Emotional Attachment?

The authors explore alternative antecedents of emotional attachment. Perceived shared experience (PSE) is a consistent antecedent of emotional attachment. The authors find that the effect of experience type (extraordinary vs. ordinary experience) on emotional attachment is mediated by PSE. The authors also demonstrate that fear arousal is an important antecedent of emotional attachment, even when viewers’ emotional arousal is attenuated due to the presence of a previously attached brand.

Sponsor: School of Marketing and International Business, Spears School of Business.

PI/PD:  Kevin E Voss

Seton Hill University: Ying Ying Li

 

The Social Media Penalty Effect

There are many opportunities for people to observe others’ social media use. This research demonstrates that a brief mention of liking to browse social media or a quick encounter of someone browsing social media triggers inferences of greater FOMO and subsequent lower self-control, leading to numerous negative downstream consequences, such as being less likely to be chosen as a task partner, service provider, employee, or a long-term romantic partner. Importantly, people are largely unaware of this social cost of using social media. However, once people are prompted to take an observer’s perspective, they are motivated to restrict their social media use.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Yuechen Wu

Georgetown University: Neeru Paharia

University of North Carolina at Greensboro: In-Hye Kang

Asset Sharing Behavior: Low Socioeconomic Status As A Barrier

The modern marketplace has provided consumers with a proliferation of models for consumption based on sharing and access. The current paper focuses on how consumers’ childhood socioeconomic status (childhood SES) impacts consumers’ willingness to provide their unused assets for sharing. We find that lower childhood SES can hinder consumers’ asset-providing behavior, and this effect of childhood SES exists beyond the influences of current socioeconomic status and asset availability. We identify greater territorial feelings towards others accessing one’s own possessions as a central mechanism driving the decreased asset providing behavior of consumers with lower childhood socioeconomic background.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Yuechen Wu

Johns Hopkins University: Meng Zhu

 

Instability of Romantic Relationship Increases Preference for Renting (vs. Buying)

Romantic relationships are a significant part of most adults’ lives. This paper examines how the stability of one’s romantic relationship impacts consumers’ buying versus renting decisions. We find that consumers whose relationship is unstable are more likely to rent products than those whose relationship prospect is stable, even for products that do not involve others and not consequential. We argue consumers in an unstable (vs. stable) relationship will experience low self-continuity (they cannot be sure that their future self will be similar to their current self), leading to a preference for renting (vs. buying), which is seen as low commitment to self-extension as compared to acquisitions.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Yuechen Wu

New York University: Jared Watson

University of Maryland: Ali Faraji-Rad

 

Prolonging Happiness by Consuming Something That Is Not Mine: The Effect of Ownership Status on Hedonic Adaptation

The modern marketplace has provided consumers with numerous ways of consuming a product without actual ownership of the product. This research demonstrates that consumers adapt to a product slower when they do not own (vs. own) the product. We argue that this occurs because consumers experience a heightened state of arousal when consuming an unowned versus owned product, which consequently sustains the intensity of their affective responses towards the product, and therefore slows hedonic adaptation. The current research contributes to several important research domains, including ownership and hedonic adaptation, and yields practical implications for both consumers and marketers.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Yuechen Wu

University of Iowa: Bowen Ruan

 

The Role of Supply-Abundance Salience in Consumers’ Assortment-Size Preferences

Consumers, in general, are attracted to retailers or service providers that carry large assortments. The present paper aims to provide an alternative approach to enhance the attractiveness of small assortments without expanding the assortment variety. We propose that highlighting supply abundance compensates for the lowered sense of personal control consumers experience from reviewing a smaller assortment. Consequently, it enhances consumers’ evaluation of the small assortment. However, the positive effect of supply abundance is mitigated when consumers review a large assortment, as their sense of personal control has likely been satisfied by the greater number of choices.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Yuechen Wu

HEC Paris: Yangjie Gu

 

The Influential Solo Consumer: When Engaging in Activities Alone Increases Impact of Recommendations

Information about the social context in which a consumption experience is engaged is often seen by other consumers. Will engaging in activities alone versus with companions impact how influential the person is? This research shows that individuals who engage in consumption activities alone are perceived to be a more influential source of recommendations than people who engage in these same activities with others. We propose and find that people make stronger inferences that intrinsic interest underlies solo (vs. accompanied) consumption activity, which leads this person to be particularly influential and have greater expertise.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Yuechen Wu

University of Maryland: Rebecca Ratner