rupert s land 2011 - university of manitoba

RUPERT’S LAND 2011 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR SYMPOSIUM

REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN MAY 13 - 14, 2011

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Table of Contents Schedule of Events ........................................................................................................................ 1

Maps ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Presentation Abstracts.................................................................................................................. 6

Made in Saskatchewan: A marketing perspective on the sustainability and competitive advantage of branding food and bioproducts produced in Saskatchewan ....................................................... 6

The Manitoba Consumer Monitor Food Panel (MCMFP) First Results ........................................ 7

How Group Need Primes Regulatory Orientation: the Case of Volunteerism and Charitable Giving ............................................................................................................................................. 8

You’re Shady: The Effect of Pupil Obscuration on Consumers’ Perceived Trust ......................... 9

The Effect of Unfamiliarity with the Threat on Self-Positivity Bias Related to Perceptions of Risk ............................................................................................................................................... 11

When Satisfaction Blooms or Wilts: How Multiple Source Characteristics Impact Consumer Responses to a Persuasion Attempt .............................................................................................. 12

Seeing Things in a Different Light: Agent vs. Consumer Responses to Persuasion Attempts .... 14

Prescription Drug Advertising Compliance and Appeals in the United States and Canada: A Content Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 15

Cultural Capitalists on the Digital Frontier: The Paradoxical Heterodoxy of Fashion Blogging . 16

Green Consumers and the Decision Making Process: A Qualitative Study of Motivations, Decisional factors, and Consumer Characteristics........................................................................ 17

David Suzuki or Facebook, Whom do you Trust? Consumer Trust in Relation to Green Product Third-Party Endorsement .............................................................................................................. 18

Household Energy Consumption and Social Marketing Campaigns ............................................ 19

“Act on Climate Change”: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory ............................. 20

Integrated Model for Social Marketers: Examining Domestic Violence Campaigns ................... 21

Antecedents to Consumer Adoption of eHealth: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Adoption Intent .............................................................................................................. 22

Exploring Connections between Consumer Entitlement and Affective Misforecasting: Avenues for Potential Future Collaboration ................................................................................................ 23

What about My People? The Effect of Targeting Advertisements towards a Specific Ethnic Minority Group on Non-Targeted Ethnic Minority Groups ......................................................... 24

Engaging with the Enemy: Understanding Adversarial Stakeholder Processes and Outcomes ... 25

Social Treatment and Its Impact on Consumer Behavior ............................................................. 26

Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 1

Schedule of Events Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium 2011

Friday, May 13, 2011 Venue: Oak Room, Hotel Saskatchewan

10:00 - 10:30 Introductions and coffee/tea 10:30 - 11:00 Made in Saskatchewan: A marketing perspective on the

sustainability and competitive advantage of branding food and bioproducts produced in Saskatchewan David Di Zhang

David Zhang

11:00 - 11:30 The Manitoba Consumer Monitor Food Panel (MCMFP) First Results Tammi Feltham

Tammi Feltham

11:30 - 12:00 How Group Need Primes Regulatory Orientation: the case of Volunteerism and Charitable Giving Olya Bullard and Raj Manchanda

Olya Bullard

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch 1:00 - 1:30 You’re Shady: The Effect of Pupil Obscuration on

Consumers’ Perceived Trust Hamed Aghakhani, Kelley Main and Nick Turner

Hamed Aghakhani

1:30 - 2:00 The Effect of Unfamiliarity with the Threat on Self-Positivity Bias Related to Perceptions of Risk Sergio W. Carvalho, Priya Raghubir and Subramanian Sivaramakrishnan

Sergio Carvalho

2:00 - 2:30 When Satisfaction Blooms or Wilts: How Multiple Source Characteristics Impact Consumer Responses to a Persuasion Attempt Kelley J. Main, Sutapa Aditya and Darren W. Dahl

Kelley Main

2:30 - 3:00 Coffee Break 3:00 - 3:30 Seeing Things in a Different Light: Agent vs. Consumer

Responses to Persuasion Attempts Wenxia Guo and Kelley J. Main

Wenxia Guo

3:30 - 4:00 Prescription Drug Advertising Compliance and Appeals in the United States and Canada: A Content Analysis Grant Wilson and Barbara J. Phillips

Grant Wilson

4:00 - 4:30 Cultural Capitalists on the Digital Frontier: The Paradoxical Heterodoxy of Fashion Blogging Barbara J. Phillips, Jessica Miller and Edward F. McQuarrie

Barb Phillips

4:30 - 6:00 Free time 6:00 - 9:00 Dinner at Crave (1925 Victoria Ave)

Cocktails: 6:00 Dinner 6:30


Saturday, May 14, 2011 Venue: Oak Room, Hotel Saskatchewan

8:00 - 8:30 Arrivals and coffee/tea Session on Sustainability

Sponsored by Saskatchewan Energy Transitions Strategic SHHRC Grant 8:30 - 9:00 Green Consumers and the Decision Making Process: A

Qualitative Study of Motivations, Decisional factors, and Consumer Characteristics Rayme Schultz and John Rigby

John Rigby

9:00 - 9:30 David Suzuki or Facebook, Whom do you Trust? Consumer Trust in Relation to Green Product Third-Party Endorsement Elise Calvert and David Di Zhang

David Zhang

9:30 - 10:00 Energy Provider Website Conservation Campaigns in Canada: A Content Analysis of their Fit with Behaviour Change Theory Lisa Watson

Lisa Watson

10:00 - 10:30 “Act on Climate Change”: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory Magdalena Cismaru, Romulus Cismaru, Takaya Ono and Kristina Nelson

Takaya Ono and Kristina Nelson

10:30 - 11:00 High Tea 11:00 - 11:30 Integrated Model for Social Marketers: Examining

Domestic Violence Campaigns Magdalena Cismaru and Anne M. Lavack

Anne Lavack

11:30- 12:00 Antecedents to consumer adoption of eHealth: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine adoption intent Brian Hillier and Lisa Watson

Brian Hillier

12:00 - 12:30 Exploring Connections between Consumer Entitlement and Affective Misforecasting: Avenues for Potential Future Collaboration Tatiana Levit and Lisa Watson

Tatiana Levit & Lisa Watson

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch 1:30 - 2:00 What about My People? The Effect of Targeting

Advertisements towards a Specific Ethnic Minority Group on Non-Targeted Ethnic Minority Groups Mohammed El Hazzouri

Mohammed El Hazzouri

2:00 - 2:30 Engaging with the Enemy: Understanding Adversarial Stakeholder Processes and Outcomes Maureen Bourassa

Maureen Bourassa

2:30 - 3:00 Social Treatment and Its Impact on Consumer Behavior Monica Popa and Jennifer Argo

Monica Popa

3:00 - 3:30 Closing Remarks and pre-departure refreshments


Maps Main Floor Hotel Saskatchewan

Hotel Saskatchewan to Crave

− Exit Hotel Saskatchewan through the main entrance

− Turn right onto Victoria Avenue − Cross Scarth Street and continue down Victoria − (that is the SaskPower building on your right) − Cross Hamilton Street and continue down

Victoria − Pass Golf’s Steakhouse on your right (the one

with the flame outside) − Crave is the next building on your right − Distance and time to destination:

About 200 m and a 2 minute walk depending on the traffic lights


Walk around Wascana Lake (Approximately 6 km roundtrip)


Downtown Regina 1) Hotel Sakatchewan 2) Crave 3) Atlantis Coffeehouse (open F 6:30 am, S 7:30 am ‘til midnight) 4) Tim Horton’s (open 24 hrs) 5) Aegean Coast Coffee & Tea (open F 6:30 am, S 9 am ‘til 9 pm) 6) Greenspot Café 7) Cornwall Centre (shopping, Tim Horton’s, Second Cup, food court

- open 9:30 am ‘til F 9 pm, S 6 pm) 8) Casino Regina 9) Copper Kettle (greek), O’Hanlon’s (pub), and Michi (sushi) 10) Beer Brothers (resto pub) and Globe Theatre:

- Jake and the Kid - Main stage, 8 pm, $25-50 - Blink Blink Blink - Sandbox series, 8pm, $20

11) Rooftop Bar and Grill 12) Siam Kitchen (Thai)

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Presentation Abstracts

Made in Saskatchewan: A marketing perspective on the sustainability and competitive advantage of branding food and bioproducts produced in Saskatchewan

David Di Zhang Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan

This project intends to investigate the viability of branding food and bioproducts produced in Saskatchewan, such as Saskatchewan Wheat vis-à-vis Alberta Beef. Specifically, this project seeks to find the answers to the following questions: a) What does Made in Saskatchewan mean? (Current practices and intentions); b) What do consumers think about Made in Saskatchewan? (Market/stakeholder perceptions); and c) What are the benefits of branding Made in Saskatchewan? (Industry and policy implications). Notes:


The Manitoba Consumer Monitor Food Panel (MCMFP) First Results

Dr. Tammi S. Feltham Faculty of Human Ecology, University of Manitoba

At the May 2008 Rupert’s Land Symposium, the MCMFP was introduced (http://www.mcmfoodpanel.ca/). Our aim was to establish a 4000 member longitudinal consumer panel focused on consumer attitudes and perceptions towards food and health and to provide stakeholders with timely and useful information regarding changing attitudes and perceptions. Such information will be of benefit to researchers, policy-makers, agri-food businesses and society. By surveying the panel over time, a detailed profile will be built of the panel members, with analysis undertaken to identify regional differences (i.e., consumers in the North) and consumer sub-groupings (i.e., urban vs. rural). Having established a baseline, attitudes and self-reported behaviour will be monitored over time. The panel is a collaboration between the University of Manitoba and Manitoba Agriculture Foods and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI). Funding for this project is provided by the Canada and Manitoba governments through Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Winnipeg panellists have been recruited (2000) and the first survey is slated for February. Rural recruitment (2000) and their first survey should be completed in March. I would like to present the latest information on the progress of the panel, including initial survey results. Notes:

http://www.mcmfoodpanel.ca/�

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/growingforward/�

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/growingforward/�


How Group Need Primes Regulatory Orientation: the Case of Volunteerism and Charitable Giving

Olya Bullard and Raj Manchanda Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

When recruiting volunteers or charitable donors individuals may perceive the need of the organization as high or low. High group need would be perceived when the organization is still far from its target and individual sees his/her contribution as one of many needed to reach the goal. Low group need would be perceived when the organization is close to reaching its target and the individual sees his/her contribution as one of few needed to reach the goal. I propose that high group need primes promotion focus in individuals and low group need primes prevention focus in individuals. Effectiveness of recruitment can be enhanced by creating the regulatory fit effect between the regulatory focus primed by group need and the framing of the message. Notes:


You’re Shady: The Effect of Pupil Obscuration on Consumers’ Perceived Trust Hamed Aghakhani, Kelley Main, and Nick Turner Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

Research on eye contact has revealed that the most important cue in determining whether one is perceived as lying is a lack of eye contact (Sporer and Schwandt 2007). In contrast, more eye contact results in greater perceived intimacy, attraction and trust (eg: Burgoon et al. 1985). While an averted eye gaze is believed to be a strong cue of deception, a prolonged gaze can be seen as threatening (Bayliss and Tipper 2006). While the literature has thus far always examined an averted gaze, the goal of the current research is to understand how the physical obscuration of a person’s eyes (by wearing shaded or darkened glasses) affects others’ perceptions of that person. In particular, we are interested in observing the effects of wearing shaded eyeglasses on other people’s trust judgements of the wearer. Given that eye contact and a sustained gaze are generally associated with greater perceptions of friendliness (e.g: Beebe 1974), we expect that wearing even lightly shaded eyeglasses may reduce the positive effects of eye contact. It is hypothesized that even when recipients are able to see the pupils of the person wearing shaded eyeglasses, some degree of distrust is expected.

To test this hypothesis a 2 (participant gender: male vs. female) x 4 (level of shade: clear, low, medium, full) x 2 (model gender: male vs. female) plus 1(clear indirect eye gaze) between subjects design with a total of 343 participants was conducted. The results revealed that people have less trust in a person wearing shaded eyeglasses even when there is a direct eye contact and the recipients are able to see the pupils of the communicator. The gender of the person wearing the glasses reveals that recipients have less trust in a woman as compared to a man. Participant gender had no effect. Post-hoc tests of the effects of different degrees of shading revealed that people have the highest trust in a person wearing clear eyeglasses and this trust decreases as the darkness of the lenses increases. The findings also show that even indirect eye gazing with clear glasses has higher trust as compared with shaded glasses.

This research makes two major contributions to the field. First, in contradiction to results demonstrating that direct eye contact increases friendliness (Burgoon, Coker, and Coker 1986), this research found a boundary condition under which eye contact has no positive effect, specifically when there is a physical obscuration of the pupil. The second contribution of this research is the extension of the gazing literature above and beyond gaze or contact to demonstrating the importance of no barrier to one’s pupils.

The outcome of this research has a direct implication for the marketing field, especially in the sales context. Many sales agents wear prescription photochromic glasses, and the current research suggests that this will lead to lower perceived trust in the agent, and perhaps may even influence evaluations of the store. There are also implications for this research in an organizational context, where face to face contact is an important element in the development and maintenance of trust at interpersonal level. Consider the situation where an employee is receiving performance feedback from someone wearing photochromic eyeglasses and the pupils are obscured. If the shaded lenses lead to lower perceived trust in the communicator, how is the performance feedback received? This research emphasizes that trust between individuals can be affected by nonverbal behavior like wearing shaded eyeglasses.


References Bayliss, A., S. Tipper (2006), “Predictive Gaze Cues and Personality Judgments,” Psychological Science,

17, 514-520. Beebe, S. A. (1974), “Eye contact: A Nonverbal Determinant of Speaker Credibility,” Speech Teacher, 23,

21-25. Burgoon, J., D. Coker, R. Coker (1986), “Communicative Effects of Gaze Behavior: A Test of Two

Contrasting Explanation,” Human Communication Research, 12, 495-524. Burgoon, J., V. Manusov, P. Mineo, and J. Hale (1985), ‘Effects of Eye Gaze on Hiring, Credibility,

Attraction and Relational Message Interpretation,” Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 9, 133-146. Sporer, S. L., B. Schwandt (2007), “Moderators of Nonverbal Indicators of Deception: A Meta-analytic

Synthesis,” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 13(1), 1-34. Notes:


The Effect of Unfamiliarity with the Threat on Self-Positivity Bias Related to Perceptions of Risk

Sergio W. Carvalho, Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

Priya Raghubir Stern School of Business, New York University

Subramanian Sivaramakrishnan Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

With the number of food-related health crises increasing drastically, how to advertise health warnings such that they lead to an accurate perception of risk and encourage risk-avoidance behavior is a challenge for public policy makers. Research has shown that people rely on subjective cues to assess level of risk, often leading to inaccurate assessments. In the context of a food contamination crisis, this research examines the roles of one such cue—unfamiliarity with the name of the threatening contamination. Notes:


When Satisfaction Blooms or Wilts: How Multiple Source Characteristics Impact Consumer Responses to a Persuasion Attempt

Kelley J. Main Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

Sutapa Aditya Schulich School of Business, York University

Darren W. Dahl Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Flattery is a common method of interpersonal influence applied by agents in the marketplace. Definitions of flattery focus on the communication of positive information and suggest that flattery is often used to make the other person feel good (Harrison, Hochwarter, Perrewe and Ralston 1998; Kumar and Beyerlein 1991; Ralston 1985), to create a favorable impression (Liden and Mitchell 1998), and to influence behavior (Buss et al., 1987). There are two possible outcomes to the same flattering event: a sincerely perceived compliment or insincerely perceived flattery. Both of these outcomes have been demonstrated in the consumer literature, from the primarily negative explicit effects illustrated by Campbell and Kirmani (2000) and Main, Dahl and Darke (2007) to the lingering positive effect discovered by Chen and Sengupta (2010).

However, the literature on flattery in marketing has focused on elements in the situation that drive consumer responses such as the cognitive capacity of consumers (Campbell and Kirmani 2000), the accessibility (Campbell and Kirmani 2000) and plausibility of ulterior motives (Main, Dahl and Darke 2007), but what has remained absent is a broader focus on other factors inherent in the retail sales setting including characteristics of the source of the flattery (i.e. the sales agent). This is one of the goals of the current research. In particular, we are interested in characteristics of the sales agent that are likely to impact consumer responses to flattery in a retail sales setting. We focus our efforts on three primary characteristics of the sales agent: 1) topic knowledge; 2) appearance; and 3) opinion similarity. Further, we are interested in the interactive effect of these cues and how they together influence consumer responses to flattery.

In study 1, our research demonstrates that the sales agent’s topic knowledge has a significant impact on consumer responses to flattery that is moderated by the agent’s appearance. More specifically, for sales agents with high topic knowledge, consumer responses do not differ based on the appearance of the agent. However, when topic knowledge is low, only a highly attractive sales agent is effective in influencing perceptions of expertise and trustworthiness which in turn influence satisfaction. The second study further demonstrates that in the absence of topic knowledge, opinion similarity also has a positive impact.

This research makes a number of contributions to the literature. First, we have delineated how topic knowledge operates in a retail setting. By demonstrating the importance of topic knowledge in influencing consumer judgments, we have contributed to the Persuasion Knowledge Model by expanding its scope beyond the traditional focus on the consumer to the agent involved in the persuasion attempt. Second, we focus not on the individual effects of these source cues, but rather examine their interactive influence. While the literature on persuasion has investigated various source characteristics (e.g. Chaiken, 1980; Pallak, 1983; Petty et at., 1981), little attention has been devoted to the interactive effects of various cues in either psychology (Ziegler, Diehl and Ruther 2002) or marketing.


Notes:


Seeing Things in a Different Light: Agent vs. Consumer Responses to Persuasion Attempts Wenxia Guo and Kelley J. Main

Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba The basic premise of the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM; Friestad and Wright 1994) is that over time consumers accumulate persuasion knowledge about the behaviors and tactics that agents use in a persuasion attempt. The PKM allows for the situation where consumers have experience both as an agent and a consumer (Friestad and Wright 1994), however to date no literature has examined how these dual roles influence response to persuasion attempts.. Utilizing theories of role conflict and salience (e.g. Burke 1980) in addition to the literature on information processing motivations (e.g. Chen and Chaiken 1999), we propose that agents (i.e. those consumers with experience as a sales agent) will respond to persuasion attempts based more on accuracy motivated processing. In contrast, consumers (i.e. those consumers without experience as a sales agent) will respond to a persuasion attempt in a manner more consistent with defense motivated processing. Across several studies, we demonstrate how consumers and agents differentially respond to persuasion attempts. As hypothesized, we find that agent responses to persuasion attempts are more consistent with accuracy motivated processing and trust judgments of a salesclerk involved in a persuasion attempt are more responsive to information concerning ulterior motives as compared to consumers. In contrast, consumer responses to persuasion attempts are more consistent with defense motivated processing and trust judgments are less responsive to information suggesting the role of ulterior motives.

This research contributes to literature by expanding our understanding of how one’s role as agent or consumer in the consumption setting influences responses to persuasion attempts. We illustrate that the impact of one’s role in the consumption setting leads to different processing motivations. In addition, we demonstrate that priming accuracy motivation functions to reduce consumer defensiveness in their responses to persuasion attempts further advancing our knowledge of how to deal with consumer suspicion.

Notes:


Prescription Drug Advertising Compliance and Appeals in the United States and Canada: A Content Analysis

Grant Wilson and Barbara J. Phillips Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan

This study investigates American and Canadian prescription drug advertisements and their compliance with the FDA and Health Canada. Additionally, it examines appeals used in the advertisements, both in words and in the images. A content analysis method was employed for both the evaluation of compliance and appeal methods. Based on readership and demographics, 12 issues of four typical household magazines (two American and two Canadian) were chosen for the content analysis. Although we are in the midst of finishing the content analysis, the study will be completed by May, 2011. Notes:


Cultural Capitalists on the Digital Frontier: The Paradoxical Heterodoxy of Fashion Blogging

Barbara J. Phillips Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan

Jessica Miller University Communications, University of Saskatchewan

Edward F. McQuarrie Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

In consumer research, online behaviors such as blogging have been assimilated to theories of postmodern consumption. Blogging is conceived to be a kind of prosumption, an instance of online community formation in which the quest for authenticity and emancipation from the marketplace is paramount. We challenge and bound this orthodox conception by means of an empirical study of young women’s fashion blogs. In this instance of online consumer behavior, we find something different: the pursuit of distinction by the acquisition of cultural capital. Fashion bloggers do not break out of the marketplace but break into the fashion system, with no intent to break it up. We use social practice theory to describe in detail the specific discursive practices by which bloggers pursue the acquisition of cultural capital. These practices enable the blogger to negotiate a set of paradoxes so as to achieve distinction within the fashion field. Results are interpreted in terms of the prospects for emancipation, or any similar fundamental change in consumers’ relation to the marketplace, under evolving postmodern conditions. Notes:


Green Consumers and the Decision Making Process: A Qualitative Study of Motivations, Decisional factors, and Consumer Characteristics

Rayme Schultz and John Rigby Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan

Since the mid 1970’s there has been increasing interest in the ecologically concerned consumer, more recently the “green” consumer. There has been fairly extensive consideration of the characteristics of green consumers. There is gap though in our understanding of how green consumers actually make purchase decisions including what product attributes they consider and what information sources they consult. This paper presents an overview of the literature exploring green consumers’ attitudes and motivations. It then reports results of semi-structured interviews with 10 self-identified green consumers. Among other issues the interviews explore green consumers’ motives, their dependency (or lack thereof) on brand or company driven information, media use, willingness to make quality tradeoffs for ecologically friendly products, and their use of eco-labels. Notes:


David Suzuki or Facebook, Whom do you Trust? Consumer Trust in Relation to Green Product Third-Party Endorsement

Elise Calvert and David Di Zhang Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan

Green Marketing is a core component of marketing due to enhanced consumer sensitivity to the environment. “Greenwashing” refers to false marketing claims regarding the environmentally friendly level of products. This research will empirically investigate, via survey, the effectiveness of five common endorsers in creating consumer trust; Facebook, governments, celebrities, environmental action groups, and corporations. The results will inform decision makers regarding consumer perceptions for Green Marketing. Notes:


Household Energy Consumption and Social Marketing Campaigns Dr. Lisa Watson, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina

Consumers’ understanding of their own utility consumption tends to be limited to monthly bill payments going up or down, with little to no sense that supply is finite (Lutzenhiser, 1993). Social marketing campaigns are intended to educate consumers and encourage them to change their behavior in some way. Many household energy providers in the electricity and natural gas sectors offer social marketing programs that encourage energy conservation. However, in an environment of deregulation and dwindling supply, it is unclear how prevalent these campaigns continue to be and what form they take in privatized regions. This research considers how Canadian electricity and natural gas providers’ social marketing campaigns are consistent with the Extended Parallel Processing Model of behavior change. Findings indicate that Canadian energy providers’ consumer conservation campaigns do not provide the types of incentives that have been proven to be most effective to promote significant or long term energy reduction. Notes:


“Act on Climate Change”: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory Magdalena Cismaru, Romulus Cismaru

Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina Takaya Ono and Kristina Nelson

Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina Our planet’s climate is changing (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, 2010), and there is now scientific evidence proving that global climate change is induced by humans (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2007). Many agree that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing the planet. Recent literature shows how fear appeals are used to encourage behavioural changes to curb climate change (Nisbet, 2009; Patchen,2006; Pike, Doppelt, and Herr, 2010). This paper proposes Protection Motivation Theory (PMT, Rogers, 1983) as a suitable model for guiding communication campaigns in the area of climate change. It also analyzes the extent to which a series of communication campaigns aimed at persuading individuals to prevent climate change conform to PMT. Recommendations for improving the campaigns are presented. Notes:


Integrated Model for Social Marketers: Examining Domestic Violence Campaigns Magdalena Cismaru and Anne M. Lavack

Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health concern with significant physical, emotional, and economic costs. This research reviews and analyzes IPV campaigns created in the U.S.A., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, including 20 campaigns targeting IPV victims and 16 campaigns targeting IPV perpetrators. The analytical framework for these campaigns is provided by the Integrated Model for Social Marketers, which combines the Transtheoretical (Stages of Change) Model with the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). For each stage of change, the most salient PMT variables are outlined, the people found in that stage are described, and the most effective strategies for persuasion are posited. Evidence suggests that future initiatives targeting victims of domestic violence can be improved by emphasizing the benefits of changing, as well as to convincing victims of domestic violence that they can improve their lives. Evidence also suggests that future campaigns targeting IPV perpetrators should place a stronger emphasis on the benefits of changing behaviour, and place a greater focus on increasing perpetrators’ confidence that they can abstain from violence. This research also evaluates 12 campaigns targeting IPV bystanders, encouraging bystanders to intervene in situations of domestic violence. The analytical framework for the bystander intervention campaigns is Latané and Darley’s (1970) model of the bystander decision making process. The evaluation shows that these campaigns are sometimes contradictory or ambiguous, which may limit their effectiveness. Evidence suggests that future campaigns could benefit from describing in detail the various forms of abuse and signs of abuse; emphasizing that nobody deserves to be abused, that no form of abuse should be tolerated, and that abuse is socially unacceptable; and providing examples and clarifications of what bystanders could do in particular situations. Notes:


Antecedents to Consumer Adoption of eHealth: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Adoption Intent

Brian Hillier and Lisa Watson Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina

Background: EHealth is an expansive and growing term which is used to describe healthcare which is provided, enabled, or enhanced through electronic means. Some examples of eHealth include telemedicine, electronic prescriptions, patient care orders, and support services.

Purpose: Cited as a possible alleviating factor towards the increasing burdens on our healthcare systems, the question then becomes “If we build it will they come?” This presentation seeks to answer this question through understanding some of the key drivers which consumers have regarding the adoption of these technologies. By tailored these programs to best address consumer concerns, program success can then be increased, mitigating associated investment costs.

Results: A two study examination of consumer attitudes towards eHealth was conducted using quantitative survey methods. Ongoing research indicates that consumers may not be as fearful of these technologies as previously thought. Possible reasons for these attitudes may include the growing comfort and everyday exposure to technology in our culture as well as trust and familiarity with the information source.

Conclusions: A growing trust and familiarity with technology is creating an atmosphere where consumers may be more accepting of eHealth programs. Policy makers, healthcare providers and program developers must remain cautious of trust, accuracy and privacy issues.

Notes:


Exploring Connections between Consumer Entitlement and Affective Misforecasting: Avenues for Potential Future Collaboration

Tatiana Levit and Lisa Watson Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina

This collaboration was motivated by common interests in transformative consumer research. We will discuss initial results from brainstorming commonalties between theories of consumer entitlement, cognitive appraisal, and affective misforecasting. The goal of future collaborative research ultimately would be to help explain and thus find ways to reverse misforecasts or misinterpretations that lead to such negative outcomes as obesity and consumer debt. Some potential first steps will also be presented for discussion. Notes:


What about My People? The Effect of Targeting Advertisements towards a Specific Ethnic Minority Group on Non-Targeted Ethnic Minority Groups

Mohammed El Hazzouri Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

Previous research has consistently shown that members of ethnic minorities evaluate advertisements that feature models of their own ethnic group more positively than advertisements that feature members of the dominant group (i.e. Caucasians). This research tries to look at the other side of the story by showing evidence that advertisements that feature models belonging to ethnic minorities are evaluated more negatively by members of other ethnic minorities than advertisements that feature models belonging to the majority group. This research also shows that members of ethnic minorities feel more ostracized by advertisements that feature models belonging to other ethnic minorities than advertisements that feature models belonging to the majority group. Notes:


Engaging with the Enemy: Understanding Adversarial Stakeholder Processes and Outcomes

Maureen Bourassa Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan

Obesity is an issue of growing importance to a network of stakeholders including public health officials who are concerned about obesity-related conditions like heart disease and diabetes, and food marketers who are concerned about their rights to advertise their products, especially to young people. Much of the interaction among stakeholders who are concerned about obesity is adversarial. While there is a significant body of research focusing on positive stakeholder encounters, less attention has been paid to the dark side of stakeholder engagement. Our purpose is to examine this knowledge gap. Using data collected over three years through participant observation and in-depth interviews, we developed a conceptual model of these processes. We grounded our work in literature from various fields including relationship marketing theory, network theory, stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility, and ethics. We found that disrespect and negative emotions drive an assortment of defensive actions and power building activities that prevent the development of collaborative outcomes. Notes:


Social Treatment and Its Impact on Consumer Behavior Monica Popa

University of Saskatchewan Jennifer Argo

University of Alberta Small-talk, ridicule, compliments, or insults are all type of social treatments that consumers commonly experience. In the present research we demonstrate that receiving a social treatment from one individual has implications for how the recipient of the treatment reacts toward other people in subsequent interactions. Furthermore, we find that the outcomes of social treatment are often counterintuitive. For example, we show that ‘pay-it-forward’ (the notion that a person who is treated well by someone should be nice toward others and conversely, a person who is treated badly may treat other people badly in turn) does not always occur; in fact, consumers often behave in the opposite manner. We offer a general theoretical framework that integrates previously fragmented investigations of social treatment (e.g., flattery, Campbell and Kirmani 2000; threat, Heatherton and Vohs 2000; teasing, Keltner et al. 2001) and reformulate context-specific explanations in terms of underlying dimensions.

Two dimensions of social treatment (friendliness and amount of self-diagnostic information conveyed to the recipient) are predicted to interact in influencing consumers’ behavior, and in particular consumers’ socially-elevating behavior (i.e. behavior that requires a personal sacrifice and enhances the welfare of another person by providing material or psychological benefit). Receiving friendly versus unfriendly treatment is hypothesized to increase, through positive affect, consumers’ likelihood to engage in socially-elevating behavior, but only when the treatment has a low amount of self-diagnostic information. When self-diagnosticity is high, social treatment’s friendliness influences both affect and perceived social efficacy. Affect and social efficacy act as opposing forces, because the latter is predicted to have a negative effect, decreasing socially-elevating behavior. Furthermore, this research argues that the role of social efficacy becomes more prominent when the salience of the need for social connectedness is increased. The proposed relationships are tested in three studies.

Study 1 used a scenario-based methodology to examine the impact of receiving a social treatment from one shopper on a consumer’s likelihood of helping another consumer pick up bags of scattered groceries. The social treatment was either compliment (friendly/high self-diagnosticity), small-talk (friendly/low self-diagnosticity), threat (unfriendly/ high self-diagnosticity) or grumble (unfriendly/ low self-diagnosticity). As predicted, in the case of low self-diagnosticity the friendly treatment generated a higher likelihood to help than the unfriendly treatment. However, when social treatment was highly relevant, friendliness did not motivate consumers to be more helpful and in fact the opposite tendency was observed. Two follow-up experiments provided process evidence for affect and perceived social efficacy.

Study 2 used a field experiment to study how many people would pick up the tab for another shopper after receiving a social treatment. In the study each participant was given money to buy and consume products at a mall together with another participant (in actuality a confederate). During the purchase, the real participant received a social treatment from a customer standing behind them in the line-up. A significantly higher percentage of participants picked up the tab for


the confederate after being treated with small-talk versus grumble. However, a significantly lower percentage of participants picked up the tab after being complimented versus threatened.

In study 3, also conducted at a mall, participants first received a task which primed either the need for social connectedness or the need for independence. They then made an individual purchase and were either complimented or threatened by a customer. When receiving cash back from the vendor, participants were overpaid by $1. The dependent variable was participants’ reaction to the seller. As expected, consumers primed with social connectedness were significantly more willing to return the dollar after receiving the unfriendly (versus friendly) treatment. However, this effect was eliminated when the need for independence was primed.

Overall, this research extends the literature regarding social influences on consumer behavior. We show that social treatment (i.e. how the influencer treats the influenced person) is important and can have far-reaching behavioral consequences.

References Campbell, M.C., and Kirmani, A. (2000), “Consumers’ Use of Persuasion Knowledge: The

Effects of Accessibility and Cognitive Capacity on Perceptions of an Influence Agent,” Journal of Consumer Research, 27(1), 69-83.

Heatherton, T.F., and Vohs, K.D. (2000), “Interpersonal Evaluations Following Threats To Self: Role of Self-Esteem,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 725-736.

Keltner, D., Capps, L., Kring, A.M., Young, R.C., and Heerey, E.A. (2001), “Just Teasing: A Conceptual Analysis and Empirical Review,” Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 229-248.

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rupert s land 2011 - university of manitoba

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