Post on 01-Nov-2019
RUPERT’S LAND 2014 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR SYMPOSIUM
REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN MAY 23 - 24, 2014
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 1
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
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 2
Walk around Wascana Lake (Approximately 6 km roundtrip)
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 3
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:
11) Rooftop Bar and Grill
12) Siam Kitchen (Thai)
1
7
8
3
9
11
10
12
2
4
6
5
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 4
Time Friday, May 23. Venue: Oak Room, Hotel Saskatchewan
Breakfast on your own (hotel or nearby restaurants – see Page 5)
9:00 - 9:15 Coffee, Welcome and Announcements
9:15 - 9:45 1
Standard: The Impact of Perceived Bank Service Quality on Young Adults’
Perceptions of Social Inequality and Evaluations of Credit Unions.
By Zeyu Song* and Namita Bhatnagar
9:45 -10:15 2 Standard: Revising Loyalty in Regards to its Components and Antecedents.
By Mehdi Akhgari* and Ed Bruning
10:15 - 10:30 3 Update: Arousal and the Schema Congruity Effect. By Theodore Noseworthy,
Fabrizio Di Muro* and Kyle B. Murray
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 - 11:15 4 Update: Message Content in Canadian Automotive Advertising: A
Longitudinal Comparison of Safety Messaging. By Anne M. Lavack* and
Lisa Watson
11:15 - 11:45 5 Workshop: Encountering Brand Rejection, What Makes Consumers Persist?
By Jun Yan* and Fang Wan
11:45 - 12:15 6
Workshop: The Impact of Source and the Directness of a Compliment on
Consumers.
By Donya Shabgard* and Kelley Main
12:15-1:15 Lunch
1:15 - 1:45 7 Workshop: Crowdsourcing A Better Future: The Warm Glow of Creativity.
By Anthony Paul*, Monica Popa and Lee Swanson
1:45 - 2:15 8
Standard: Accuracy vs Defense Motivations Depend on Who Am I Right
Now: Identity Salience Effects in Response to Persuasion Attempts.
By Kelley Main*, Wenxia Guo and Katherine White
2:15 - 2:45 9 Workshop: Grief and Philanthropy: Making the Connection.
By Sara Penner
2:45 - 3:15 Coffee Break
3:15 - 3:45 10
Workshop: Compliment Early but Tip Late: Economic versus Social
Consumer Influence Tactics.
By Raymond Lavoie*, Kelley Main and Wenxia Guo
3:45 - 4:15 11 Standard: The Scrapbook as an Autobiographical Memory Tool.
By Barbara Phillips
4:15 - 4:30 Announcements
4:30 - 6:15 Free Time
(For a nice walk suggestion see page 4: Wascana Lake)
6:15 - Dinner at Crave (1925 Victoria Ave) coctails: 6:15 dinner 6:30
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 5
Time Saturday, May 24. Venue: Oak Room, Hotel Saskatchewan
Breakfast on your own (hotel or nearby restaurants – See Page 5)
8:45 - 9:00 Coffee and Announcements
9:00 - 9:30
12 Standard: An Exploratory Research on Weight Loss Products Using Before
and After Appeals.
By Hamed Aghakhani*, Fang Wan and Kelley Main
9:30 – 10:00
13 Workshop: Consumer Choice Modeling: Comparing and Contrasting the
MAAM, AHP, TOPSIS and AHP-TOPSIS Methodologies.
By Yan Zhang (Crystal)
10:00 - 10:30
14 Workshop: Jealousy and the Jilted Lover: The Effect of Brand Elimination on
Consumer Attitudes Toward Brand Portfolios.
By Kendra Hart
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 - 11:30
15 Workshop: Applying Transtheoretical Model of Change to Anti-Depression
Campaigns
By Tatiana Levit, Magdalena Cismaru and Alexis Zederayko*
11:30 – 12:00
16 Workshop: The Consumption, Collecting and Sharing of Images by Males on
Pinterest.
By David Williams
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 - 1:30
17 (Tentative) Standard: Memorable Mishaps: Negative Events and Positive
Perceptions of Organized Tours.
By Monica Popa and Ana-Pietje Du Plessis
1:30 – 2:00
Planning for next year
Thanks and Wrap-up
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 6
The Impact of Perceived Bank Service Quality on Young Adults’ Perceptions of Social
Inequality and Evaluations of Credit Unions. (Standard Stream) By Zeyu Song* and Namita Bhatnagar
Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of perceived service quality provided by
banks on young adults’ perceptions of general societal and context-specific inequality, and
negative emotions. Specifically, we hypothesize that young adults that receive poor quality of
service from banks: (a) perceive greater levels of inequality (both at the societal level and
context-specific); and (b) experience more intense negative affect (i.e., feeling embarrassed,
angry, upset). We also explore whether: (a) perceptions of inequality, and (b) the information
source (i.e., from a friend versus ad) result in more favorable evaluations of credit unions. Three
lab experiments test these relationships. Results show increased context-specific inequality
perceptions and negative affect on receiving lower quality service. Societal income inequality
perceptions influenced preferences and recommendation likelihood of credit unions through
attitudes towards them. A key role of knowledge about credit unions was found—whereby
individuals with greater awareness provided more favorable evaluations for credit unions.
Information received from friends was also trusted more than through ads. This research has
implications for both theory and practice. From a theoretical standpoint, this research draws
connections between literatures on service quality, social inequality, and information processing.
Results found here have practical implications for the functioning both of banks as well as credit
unions. Banks need to remain cognizant of the quality of service they provide to customers
(young adults in this context) due to inferences drawn about disparities in treatment meted out to
customers and subsequent negative emotions engendered. Further, credit unions can market
themselves by: (1) providing more information to young adults, (2) using word-of-mouth
communications as information sources rather than ads, and (3) making people aware that
income disparities exist in society. Interestingly, non-Canadian nationals displayed greater
intentions to engage with credit unions via social media than did the Canadian nationals—an
important consideration as credit unions search for non-traditional target audiences while also
relying heavily on promotions that occur online and via social media.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 7
Revising Loyalty in Regards to its Components and Antecedents. (Standard Stream) By Mehdi Akhgari* & Ed Bruning
Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
Consumer loyalty is generally considered the ultimate goal of relational marketing. On the other
hand, hedonic and utilitarian attitudes are important antecedents of consumer behaviour.
However, little is known about the relationship between hedonic and utilitarian attitudes and
different loyalty dimensions. This theoretical gap is the main focus of this research. For example,
the economic view argues that a price reduction leads to increased product demand based on
utilitarian attitudes, which in turn lead to behavioural loyalty (e.g. re-purchase). However, we
propose that creating hedonic attitudes (e.g. by means of signalling identity) affects attitudinal
loyalty by way of a separate channel and, consequently, impacts behavioural loyalty. Early
theorists viewed loyalty as simply behavioural (i.e., repurchase actions), while others have
suggested that a complete evaluation of loyalty should include assessment of consumer beliefs,
affects, and attitudes (Oliver, 1999). Accepted definitions of loyalty include both behavioural
and attitudinal aspects (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001). For example, while repurchasing is one of
the behavioural aspects, sensitivity to some unique value is one of the attitudinal aspects (Aaker,
1991; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001; Oliver, 1999). Although it has been empirically shown that
attitudinal loyalty influences behavioural loyalty (Bandyopadhyay & Martell, 2007), the fact is
that little is known about the relationship. To investigating this theoretical gap, we will identify
and test several dimensions of attitudinal and behavioural loyalty in a comprehensive model to
investigate not only the relation to each other but also the effect of various hedonic and utilitarian
attitudes, and trust on each component of attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. In the proposed
study, attitudinal loyalty components include (1) relationship satisfaction, (2) continuance
commitment, (3) emotional attachment/ affective commitment to the product/service/or brand,
and (4) identification. Behavioural loyalty components include (1) repurchase intention, (2)
word-of-mouth (advocacy), and (3) co-operation. Thus, our theoretical model proposes to
explain in detail how specific hedonic and utilitarian attitudes impact several dimensions of
attitudinal and behavioural loyalty through the mediation of trust. Our research propositions will
focus on the specific logical linkages between hedonic and utilitarian attitudes, and attitudinal
and behavioural loyalty, mediated by trust.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 8
Arousal and the Schema Congruity Effect. (Update Stream) By Theodore Noseworthy, York University
Fabrizio Di Muro*, University of Winnipeg
and Kyle B. Murray, University of Alberta
The schema congruity effect – commonly referred to as the Mandler hypothesis or the moderate
incongruity effect, suggests that an individual achieves an optimal level of arousal when an
object is slightly incongruent (moderate incongruity), thus allowing the individual to successfully
assimilate the object into their existing schema. However, when incongruity levels rise past a
certain point (extreme incongruity), a person’s ability to make sense of the object diminishes
quickly (Meyers-Levy and Tybout 1989), which often leads to negative evaluations. In this
research, we examine the interplay between level of arousal (i.e., the intensity of a particular
mood state) and the schema congruity effect. The results of this research illustrate that
consumers’ state of arousal when examining incongruity will influence whether or not the
schema congruity effect will manifest.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 9
Message Content in Canadian Automotive Advertising: A Longitudinal Comparison of
Safety Messaging (Update Stream) By Anne M. Lavack*, Thompson Rivers University
and Lisa Watson, University of Regina
To avoid government regulation, it is often in an industry’s best interest to make voluntary
changes to its advertising. The Canadian automotive industry recently chose to implement a
Voluntary Agreement that eliminates the portrayal of unsafe driving in automotive advertising.
The present study examines portrayals of speed and unsafe driving in Canadian automotive
advertising at two separate points in time, before and after the implementation of the Voluntary
Agreement (2006-07 vs. 2011-12). Automotive ads in TV, newspapers, and magazines were
analyzed to determine the extent to which messages focus on unsafe and aggressive driving
versus safety. Results were compared across television and print media. The implications for
advertising regulation, consumer behaviour, and public policy will be discussed.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 10
Encountering Brand Rejection, What Makes Consumers Persist? (Workshop Stream) By Jun Yan* and Fang Wan
Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
This research aims to find out consumers' brand engagement (approach or avoidance) when they
encounter rejection (blatant rejection or subtle rejection) from a brand that is product-focused or
identity-focused for them. We firstly categorize and define brand rejection in blatant mode and
subtle mode, which could trigger different goals for different consumers – ego defense for the
identity-focused consumers who have received blatant rejection, unfulfilled goal realization for
products-focused consumers, and self-achievement for self-focused consumers who have
received subtle rejection. With different goals and focuses, consumers would choose their
engagement towards the rejecting brand, persist or not.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 11
The Impact of Source and the Directness of a Compliment on Consumers. (Workshop Stream) By Donya Shabgard* Faculty of Arts, Psychology, University of Manitoba
and Kelley Main, Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
The purpose of our study is to extend prior research, which demonstrated that participants
preferred a direct (face-to-face) instead of an indirect (overheard) compliment from a sales clerk.
Participants watch a video in which they are asked to imagine shopping for a pair of pants and
are complimented either directly (face-to-face) or indirectly (overheard) by either a sales clerk or
another consumer. The participants’ perceptions of the source did not significantly differ across
conditions and responses to the flattery (i.e. ratings of the pants and store) were not positive in
any particular condition. Finally, participants did not differ in their perceptions of which
compliment was more expected/usual. However, gender differences and cross-cultural
differences were found with response to flattery on perceptions of the source and the product.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 12
Crowdsourcing A Better Future: The Warm Glow of Creativity. (Workshop Stream) By Anthony Paul* (with Dr. Monica Popa and Dr. Lee Swanson)
Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan
Crowdsourcing refers to garnering ideas or services from masses of individuals, often via the
internet, for the advancement of social causes. For example, Cancer Research UK employs a
smartphone app called Play to Cure: Genes in Space to crowdsource cancer research to gamers.
Players who navigate a virtual obstacle course in a spaceship are essentially finding the best way
to navigate through actual DNA data related to tumors. The novelty of the crowdsourcing
domain offers intriguing avenues for scholarly work, as theory-building in this area is
challenging and sorely needed. Our paper identifies and tests factors that can facilitate the
success of crowdsourcing efforts. From the charitable donations literature we draw the idea that
individuals' contributions to causes are enhanced when a self-benefit is present, even if it's
merely in the form of "warm glow"—the positive feeling people get from helping others. In the
context of crowdsourcing, the potential for personal benefits can be much more concrete. For
example, women involved in a crowdsourcing effort to find the cure for a disease that commonly
affects females may experience direct benefits later in life, in effect contributing to their own
future. The primary aspect we are examining is whether individuals are more(less) likely to
create innovative solutions to the problem if the potential for experiencing direct benefits is high
versus low. Furthermore, we explore whether the potential for direct benefits impacts the
individual's interest in the social cause, and likelihood to donate money to the cause. The
relationship between crowdsourcing creativity and subsequent monetary donations to the cause is
interesting considering that competing predictions can be made: the relationship can be assumed
positive (i.e., the more creative individuals are in their attempts to find solutions for the social
problem, the higher their involvement and likelihood to donate to the cause) or negative (based
on the licensing effect: someone who has already helped the cause through the creative
crowdsourcing effort may consider that s/he has done enough and it is not necessary to make
monetary contributions). Using an experimental study that involves tasks related to social
innovation for the benefit of Alzheimer/memory loss patients, we investigate the above-
mentioned aspects of crowdsourcing along with a range of additional factors and individual
differences.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 13
Accuracy vs Defense Motivations Depend on Who Am I Right Now: Identity Salience
Effects in Response to Persuasion Attempts. (Standard Stream) By Kelley Main, Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
Wenxia Guo, City University of Hong Kong
and Katherine White, University of British Columbia.
The current research examines how an individual’s role influences their responses to persuasion
attempts. In particular, we focus on how agents and consumers differentially respond to
persuasion attempts. Overall, we find that agent responses to persuasion attempts are more
consistent with accuracy motivated processing and trust judgments of the agent involved in a
persuasion attempt are more responsive to information concerning ulterior motives. 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. We also demonstrate the underlying mechanism for these responses and in the final
study show a moderating variable that lessens the defensive reaction of consumers.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 14
Grief and Philanthropy: Making the Connection (Workshop Stream) By Sara Penner
Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
Have you ever made a donation in lieu of flowers when someone has passed away? Have you
ever noticed a plaque somewhere, on a rock, building, or walkway, inscribed with a message in
someone’s memory? In Canada, 6 million of these gifts are made every year totaling $6,000,000
(CSGVP, 2010 and Turcotte, 2012). Why is grief motivating people to be philanthropic?
Academic literature, exploring donor motivations, shows negative-state relief and altruism as
two major internal motivators. The desires to help others or relieve one’s own feelings of anger,
sadness, fear and nostalgia have been shown to drive giving behavior. But grief is a complex
multifaceted emotion and the current literature does not fully explain why people choose to make
charitable donations while they are going through their own grieving process. Through my
exploratory research I found there are 3 mechanisms that explain this behavior and the
mechanisms are related to how close or far the donor’s relationship with the deceased was.
Through qualitative and quantitative research I will explore memorialization, self-induced
negative state relief and other-induced negative state relief for close, moderate and far
relationships. Study one will be qualitative in-depth interviews with people who have made these
gifts. Study two will be a survey of a larger group of people who have made these types of gifts.
Study three will broaden the participant group to those who may or may not have made an in
memorial gift. This research will fill a gap in the academic literature on donor motivations and
help us more fully understand this commonly experienced human behavior. Filling this gap will
build a more fulsome foundation and allow future research to successfully build on the findings.
Understanding the motivations behind this type of giving will also allow nonprofit organizations
to more appropriately and effectively work with these donors at a very difficult time in their life,
ultimately harnessing the power of philanthropy in the grieving process and positively affecting
philanthropy as a whole.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 15
Compliment Early but Tip Late: Economic versus Social Consumer Influence Tactics. (Workshop Stream)
By Raymond Lavoie, Kelley Main
Department of Marketing, Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
and Wenxia Guo
Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong
This research explores how consumers can successfully influence service agents by juxtaposing
the effectiveness of tipping with social influence tactics. The results from a field study suggest
that consumers can manage the level of service they receive and their relationship with a server.
Preliminary findings suggest that social influence tactics may work better than tipping early in
the interaction in regards to achieving better service and relationship development. The
discrepancy between the tactics is attenuated towards the end of the interaction. Future research
will explore the potential moderating role of denomination to mitigate the negative effect of
economic influence. The implications of influence tactics for the server, the customer and the
organization are discussed.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 16
The Scrapbook as an Autobiographical Memory Tool. (Standard Stream) By Barbara Phillips
Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan
This study explores how consumers collect, preserve, and then reconstruct autobiographical
memories through material possessions. The context for this study is the popular hobby of
scrapbooking, the practice of preserving photographs and other mementos in an album decorated
with narrative and ornamentation. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty women who
scrapbook as a hobby. Through these interviews and an examination of their albums, the
Possession Memory Framework was constructed to describe three activities: collection of
memory, preservation of memory, and reconstruction of memory, and one outcome: nostalgia.
The framework adds richness to the understanding of possessions and autobiographical memory,
and has implications for the study of product disposal, cherished possessions, and digital
memory aids.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 17
An Exploratory Research on Weight Loss Products Using Before and After Appeals. (Standard Stream)
By Hamed Aghakhani*, Fang Wan and Kelley Main
Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
Marketers often employ highly attractive models or product endorsers in their advertisements
with the expectation that an attractive person in an advertisement will have a positive effect on
both ad and product evaluations (Belch, Belch, & Vilareal, 1987). Advertisements with their
overwhelming reliance on female idealized images can act as an important cultural or social
agent that may exacerbate, or possibly contribute to a constant wrestling with body image among
women. Media researchers provided converging evidence from content analysis of a variety of
media outlets that the thin ideal is prevalent and spotlights unrealistically thin models (e.g.,
Davis, Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanganan,1993; Van Zoonen , 1994;). This conclusion
of thin female ideal has sparked much research on how young women were victimized by this
norm and engage in problematic eating behaviors (e.g., Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, &
Thompson, 1980). However in this paper, we investigate how this implicit endorsement of thin
female ideal norm can affect how consumers evaluate weight loss products targeted at both men
and women. Our focal proposition is that weight loss products targeted at women compared to
those targeted at men will be evaluated more positively. We argue that consumers’ endorsement
of thin female ideal will make them less likely to activate persuasion knowledge (whether the
product is safe) when they evaluate weight loss products for female consumers than by male
consumers.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 18
Consumer Choice Modeling: Comparing and Contrasting the MAAM, AHP, TOPSIS and
AHP-TOPSIS Methodologies. (Workshop Stream) By Yan Zhang (Crystal)
Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
While making decisions, consumers are often confronted with choosing between multiple
product and brand alternatives that may be viewed as specific bundles of attributes/criteria.
Researchers, attempting to understand this decision-making process, employ multi-criteria
decision making (MCDM) models in a variety of ways for predicting ultimate brand choice. This
thesis compares and contrasts four types of MCDM models within a laptop brand choice
context—specifically, the Multi Attribute Attitude Model (MAAM; Fishbein 1967), Analytical
Hierarchy Process (AHP; Saaty 1980), Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal
Solution (TOPSIS; Hwang & Yoon 1981), and a mixed AHP-TOPSIS model (Ghosh 2011;
Bhutia & Phipon 2012). While Fishbein’s MAAM model evaluates brand choice by multiplying
attribute belief ratings with their importance weights, the AHP does a pair-wise comparison to
elicit relative weights of brand attributes and alternatives. The TOPSIS method, on the other
hand, proposes that consumers choose brands that are nearest to (i.e., the shortest distance from)
their ideal brand solution as well as the farthest from (i.e., the greatest distance from) their worst
solution. Advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods are reviewed, and a mixed
AHP-TOPSIS method that addresses some of the drawbacks is proposed here.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 19
Jealousy and the Jilted Lover: The Effect of Brand Elimination on Consumer Attitudes
Toward Brand Portfolios. (Workshop Stream) By Kendra Hart
Bissett School of Business, Mount Royal University
Many companies use their corporate brand to endorse differentiated product brands in their
multi-brand portfolio, establishing a sense of brand relatedness (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2000;
Jing, Dawar, & Lemmink, 2008). However, despite the benefits offered by such relatedness, little
research examines what happens when these linkages are removed. For example, management-
focused scholars suggest that brand elimination is an important part of brand portfolio strategy
(Varadarajan, DeFanti, & Busch, 2006), arguing that only a small number of brands account for
the bulk of a firm’s profits. Thus, managers must prune brand portfolios of under-performing
brands and free up financial resources to reinvest in stronger brands. However, despite scholarly
interest in the creation and growth of brands, scant research follows through to the end of the life
cycle to investigate consumer reactions to brand elimination. Given many brands’ focus on
encouraging consumers to emotionally invest in brand relationships, it follows that studying
consumer reactions to brand elimination could be valuable for decision makers. I begin with an
investigation into consumer reactions to brand elimination by drawing upon consumer
commentary from the GM-Saturn brand community after the company’s decision to eliminate
the Saturn brand. Analysis of consumer conversations revealed an expected demonstration of
disappointment and sadness, as well as anger towards the company for making the decision.
However, of particular interest was a recurring theme through which consumers articulated a
sense of personal rejection and subsequent animosity towards other brands that remained in the
GM portfolio. Such anger at the company’s decision to eliminate their preferred brand was
redirected towards brands like Chevrolet and Buick, in an attempt to denigrate them by
questioning the legitimacy of their survival and discredit their worth. Such observation served as
the inspiration for a theoretical model wherein I synthesize literature on self-brand overlap, self-
protection, attitude functions and brand portfolios as cognitive structures to suggest how certain
consumers might interpret a favoured brand’s elimination as a form of personal rejection and
subsequently engage in a self-protection motivated backlash towards surviving brands within the
corporate portfolio. Two experiments have been conducted in an effort to find experimental
evidence for these claims. Experiment 1 was an exploratory study designed to assess the degree
to which consumers high (vs. low) in self-brand overlap perceive the company’s decision to
eliminate a preferred brand as a form of personal rejection and ostracism. Results showed the
high overlap consumers perceive the company’s decision as a personal rejection of them, while
those low in self-brand overlap do not have this perception. Experiment 2 used a different
manipulation in an attempt to replicate the rejection finding and establish it as a mediator for
subsequent devaluation of alternative brands in the brand portfolio. Only partial support for the
rejection perception was found. Future directions are discussed.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 20
Applying Transtheoretical Model of Change to Anti-Depression Campaigns. (Workshop Stream) By Tatiana Levit, Magdalena Cismaru
Paul J.Hill School of Business, University of Regina
and Alexis Zederayko*
Experimental and Applied Psychology, University of Regina
We propose the TTM: Transtheoretical Model of Change (Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross,
1992) as a theoretical framework for creating successful anti-depression initiatives. We test the
theory by conducting content analysis of national campaigns that call for behavioural changes in
depressed people. We find that TTM allows construction of stage-relevant messages that target
people at different stages of readiness of change. Such targeting makes anti-depression
campaigns more effective and persuasive.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 21
The Consumption, Collecting and Sharing of Images by Males on Pinterest. (Workshop Stream) By David Williams
Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan
Pinterest is a very new social media platform and overall there is scant research specifically
dedicated to the phenomenon. While research is emerging on issues involving to the usage of
Pinterest by women, research into the male usage of Pinterest is virtually non-existent.
Therefore, using a grounded theory approach based on twenty semi-structured interviews with
active male Pinterest users, this study seeks to explore and substantiate a number of issues
concerning the male usage of Pinterest: It will assess if the gender role expectations and norms of
males in face-to-face, on-line communications, and communications on social networking sites
apply to Pinterest. It will seek to unearth the motives of males for pinning, collecting, and
sharing images, commenting on them and naming, assembling and organizing boards. Pinterest
users are overwhelmingly female and the media have quickly seized upon the gendered use of
Pinterest and a number of Pinterest clones specifically targeting males have emerged. Therefore,
is there a stigma regarding males using Pinterest and why does this ‘gender gap’ exist? Pinterest
appears to have low degree of sociality compared to other social media platforms, such as
Facebook and Twitter. The images pinned are the focal point and users’ profiles seem less
informative and more peripheral. Therefore, is male usage of Pinterest largely a solitary activity
and a form of self-expression of the digital self? Is it ‘networked individualism’ among an arms-
length community of relatively anonymous strangers? Pinterest has recently launched a number
of brand friendly monetizing initiatives to encourage e-commerce. These include promoted pins,
rich pins that automatically attach pricing and availability to pinned content, price drop-
notification and guided search. It is presumed that these will make Pinterest, which has been
described as a digital shop window an even more alluring communications and marketing
channel for brands and e-tailers within social commerce. Therefore, Pinterest’s role and
influence on males’ buying decisions will be examined. Finally, other relevant theoretical
constructs will be unearthed as the data is collected and interpreted.
Notes:
Rupert’s Land Consumer Behaviour Symposium Page 22
Memorable Mishaps: Negative Events and Positive Perceptions of Organized Tours. (Standard Stream; Tentative)
By Monica Popa and Ana-Pietje Du Plessis
Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan
Do you have one those travel stories? The one where the tour van got stuck, your group got lost,
the AC broke when you most needed it, or you ended up in a Taiwanese hospital... You had the
time of your life anyway and it’s become one of your favourite memories. The present research
explores whether and how objectively negative events / mishaps can contribute to the emergence
of positive impressions of organized trips. Prior literature has focused on either positive factors
contributing to positive evaluations, or negative aspects leading to negative impressions of travel
experiences. We highlight that there might be a fruitful middle ground of inquiry, whereby
mishaps and facing adversities can actually lead to extremely positive and memorable travel
experiences. Furthermore, the bright side of negative travel aspects calls into question
mainstream models of satisfaction, suggesting that 1) these models may not hold in certain
tourism domains and 2) customized frameworks of satisfaction need to be developed for the
travel context, drawing and building on a variety of research streams (e.g., attribution theories,
self concept, social bonding). Toward the development of a new theoretical framework, we
conducted three exploratory studies consisting of interviews with professionals in the tourism
industry and customer feedback from clients of those organizations, interviews with individuals
who took part in organized tours, and short stories from consumers who shared insights about
their memorable travel experiences. Our findings indicate that the existing efforts of travel
companies to strictly control all aspects of the trip and prevent the emergence of mishaps is
highly misguided, as in fact negative events have the power to turn the experience into "the best
trip". Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Notes: