Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition)

This experimental research investigates the impact of age (younger vs. older adults) and program context (sad vs. neutral) on affective reactions elicited by the program, on attitude towards the ads inserted in the program and on attitude towards the brands in the ads. The results show differential effects on younger and older adults: the level of sadness reported after exposure to a sad program is less strong among older adults than among younger adults; a sad program does not influence the attitude toward the ads (Aad) when it concerns older adults, while its influence is negative when it concerns younger adults; the effect of sadness on attitude toward brands (Ab), mediated by Aad, is not significant among older adults, while it is significant and negative among younger adults. This research confirms that older adults have better emotion regulation than younger adults in a situation of negative emotion induction.

While the marketing literature typically explains commitment through attitudinal constructs such as trust and commitment, we develop an alternative behavioral approach in which commitment results from the accumulation of acts of purchase and consumption (Kiesler, 1971). We show that (1) the predictive power of a behavioral model, tested on a sample of 432 magazine readers, is equivalent to a conventional attitudinal model (explained variance: 0.529 vs. 0.527), and (2) the cumulative nature of acts does not strengthen the influence of attitudes on commitment (explained variance of integrative attitudes–behaviors model: 0.546). These findings suggest that it is better to use behavioral data to predict commitment, because it is easier to collect.

The objective of this article is to show how co-clients – clients interacting with the customer during the service experience but unknown before it– impact customer satisfaction with service delivery. This exploratory research is based on a mix of qualitative methods in the context of rail transport and fitness classes. It identifies six roles that have an impact on satisfaction and four mechanisms by which these roles influence satisfaction. Co-clients give information about the forthcoming service, set the standards for social rules, provide a standard for comparison, distract, perturb and help to participate. Through these roles, other customers impact satisfaction by modifying customer expectations and perceived service performance, as well as perceived service equity. The authors propose situational variables that moderate this relationship.

This article aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying the influence of the interaction between temporal distance and mental simulation on consumer reactions towards technological innovations, and to determine whether the benefits of this interaction, which have been demonstrated previously with semi-continuous innovation, also occur with discontinuous innovation. Due to the high rate of failure at the launching of discontinuous innovations and the issues this poses for companies operating in the high technology sector, it remains important to identify effective actions to foster adoption by consumers. Our results show that when the purchase is considered in the short term, process-focused simulation reduces learning cost uncertainty and anxiety, and increases use and purchase intent. In the long term, outcome-focused simulation decreases benefit uncertainty and increases optimism as well as both use and purchase intent.

The marketing literature on the graphical representation of the online consumer and its effects on consumption and exchanges is still in its infancy. This article contributes by carrying out a multidisciplinary synthesis on this theme. The proposed integrative model focuses on the identification with the avatar, its antecedents and consequences in a commercial context. Based on this framework, the article concludes with specific propositions for future research in this domain.