Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Eight studies show that resource scarcity can influence consumers' preference for counterhedonic consumption and that the sense of control is an underlying driver of this effect. Using a large-scale field dataset covering 82 countries over a 10-year period, study 1 showed that individuals from countries with greater resources consumed horror movies to a greater extent, but this pattern was not found for other movie genres such as romance or documentary. The remaining studies used diverse experimental approaches and counterhedonic consumption contexts (e.g., movie, novel, haunted house attraction, game) to provide causal and process evidence. Specifically, inducing perceived resource scarcity lowered participants' preference for counterhedonic consumption (studies 2A–2C). Consistent with the sense-of-control-based mechanism, experimentally lowering participants' sense of control or boosting it moderated the effect of perceived resource scarcity on their preference for counterhedonic consumption (studies 3A and 3B). The degradation of the sense of control due to perceived resource scarcity mediated the effect (studies 4 and 5). These results add to the literature on conterhedonic consumption as well as resource scarcity and have important managerial implications.

Abstract
Size cues are increasingly common in brand names (e.g., Xiaomi and Mini Cooper), but scant research has investigated whether and how brand name size cues influence consumers' perceptions. This research shows that a brand name size cue can evoke gender associations, which subsequently affect consumers' perceived warmth and competence of the target brand. A series of seven studies provide converging evidence that brands with a size cue of smallness in the name are perceived to be warmer but less competent, while those with a size cue of bigness are perceived to be less warm but more competent. A combination of measurement-of-mediation and moderation-of-process approaches provide support for the role of gender associations underlying the effect of brand name size cues on consumers' brand perceptions. This research also shows that brand name size cues can have diverging effects on the perceived warmth of the brand versus of the product. Finally, this research rules out alternative accounts based on perceived market power and firm size.