Academic Research
Racial Inequity in Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms: The Role of Facial Emotional Expressiveness
Journal of Marketing, Ahead of Print. Donation-based crowdfunding platforms often claim to pursue equitable outcomes for all beneficiaries, yet many face criticism for failing to do so across different demographic profiles. In response, platform managers are eager to understand how these inequities emerge and explore solutions to address them. In this research, the authors show that the degree of facial emotional expressiveness of beneficiaries in uploaded images can differentially impact donation amounts for White versus Black beneficiaries. Drawing on social vision theory, the authors propose that facial emotional expressiveness in images, combined with the beneficiary’s race, activates racial stereotypes of emotion expression that result in differential donation amounts to Black and White individuals. Analyzing a sample of 4,153 campaigns from GoFundMe between June 2021 and September 2022, along with a follow-up experiment, the authors find that higher facial emotional expressiveness is associated with significantly lower donation amounts for Black compared with White beneficiaries. Further exploring our moderating constructs reveals that the use of call-to-action cues, affective messaging, and race-gender homophily cues can attenuate the activation of stereotypes and therefore reduce differences in donation amounts between racial groups. Based on these findings, the authors offer targeted recommendations for platform managers to reduce racial inequities in crowdfunding outcomes.
Paper Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00222429241300320?ai=2b4&mi=ehikzz&af=R
Authors: Elham Yazdani, Anindita Chakravarty, Jeffrey Inman
ABSTRACT
Journal of Marketing, Ahead of Print. Donation-based crowdfunding platforms often claim to pursue equitable outcomes for all beneficiaries, yet many face criticism for failing to do so across different demographic profiles. In response, platform managers are eager to understand how these inequities emerge and explore solutions to address them. In this research, the authors show that the degree of facial emotional expressiveness of beneficiaries in uploaded images can differentially impact donation amounts for White versus Black beneficiaries. Drawing on social vision theory, the authors propose that facial emotional expressiveness in images, combined with the beneficiary’s race, activates racial stereotypes of emotion expression that result in differential donation amounts to Black and White individuals. Analyzing a sample of 4,153 campaigns from GoFundMe between June 2021 and September 2022, along with a follow-up experiment, the authors find that higher facial emotional expressiveness is associated with significantly lower donation amounts for Black compared with White beneficiaries. Further exploring our moderating constructs reveals that the use of call-to-action cues, affective messaging, and race-gender homophily cues can attenuate the activation of stereotypes and therefore reduce differences in donation amounts between racial groups. Based on these findings, the authors offer targeted recommendations for platform managers to reduce racial inequities in crowdfunding outcomes.
Awe, Innovation, and Choice: A Conceptual Analysis
Markets are shaped by innovation and choice. Drawing upon advances in the scientific study of awe, in this article I present a model that details how experiences of this emotion shape innovation and choice. I first detail the latest science on awe, which finds it to be distinct from closely related states, like beauty, interest, admiration, and fear, and that orients individuals to rigorous, systems-based, meaning-making thought, and actions that enhance social integration. I then summarize how awe leads to a mental state of wonder and curiosity, a fertile ground for the creation of cultural forms through acts of innovation. As illustrations, I consider how awe leads to creative representation, symbolic expression, ritualization, and object design. To the extent that these cultural creations are touched by awe, I then reason, they will fare well in terms of choice, a process whose discussion is the concern in the last section of this article.
Paper Link: https://myscp.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcpy.1449?af=R
Authors: Dacher Keltner
ABSTRACT
Markets are shaped by innovation and choice. Drawing upon advances in the scientific study of awe, in this article I present a model that details how experiences of this emotion shape innovation and choice. I first detail the latest science on awe, which finds it to be distinct from closely related states, like beauty, interest, admiration, and fear, and that orients individuals to rigorous, systems-based, meaning-making thought, and actions that enhance social integration. I then summarize how awe leads to a mental state of wonder and curiosity, a fertile ground for the creation of cultural forms through acts of innovation. As illustrations, I consider how awe leads to creative representation, symbolic expression, ritualization, and object design. To the extent that these cultural creations are touched by awe, I then reason, they will fare well in terms of choice, a process whose discussion is the concern in the last section of this article.
The False Dichotomy of Merit and Inclusion
To fairly reward talent in all its forms, companies need to remove barriers that prevent people’s potential and contributions from being recognized.
Paper Link: https://hbr.org/2025/02/the-false-dichotomy-of-merit-and-inclusion
Authors: Ludmila N. Praslova
ABSTRACT
To fairly reward talent in all its forms, companies need to remove barriers that prevent people’s potential and contributions from being recognized.
How to Present Food Images on Packaging? The Influence of Aesthetics Design on Consumers’ Perceived Healthiness
Product images on packaging are widespread and essential marketing tools in retailing. Consumers increasingly rely on packaging designs to infer healthiness of food. However, it remains unclear whether the presentation style of food images on packaging influences the perceived healthiness. This study delves into the impact of classical aesthetics design in presenting food images on healthiness judgments, as well as its mechanism and boundary, through five experiments. The results indicate that high classical aesthetic presentation of food images enhances consumers' healthiness perception and purchase intention, with perceived naturalness playing a mediating role. Moreover, including organic label on packaging moderates this aesthetics effect. Specifically, when an organic label is present, perceived naturalness fails to mediate the effect of aesthetics on perceived healthiness. These findings enrich the literature about effects of product images and expand aesthetics research in packaging field, while also offer insights for optimizing packaging marketing strategies and promoting consumers' healthy decision-making.
Paper Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698925000438?dgcid=rss_sd_all
Authors: Linfeng Hu, Sainan Wang, Jiehui Zheng, Qianwen Xu
ABSTRACT
Product images on packaging are widespread and essential marketing tools in retailing. Consumers increasingly rely on packaging designs to infer healthiness of food. However, it remains unclear whether the presentation style of food images on packaging influences the perceived healthiness. This study delves into the impact of classical aesthetics design in presenting food images on healthiness judgments, as well as its mechanism and boundary, through five experiments. The results indicate that high classical aesthetic presentation of food images enhances consumers' healthiness perception and purchase intention, with perceived naturalness playing a mediating role. Moreover, including organic label on packaging moderates this aesthetics effect. Specifically, when an organic label is present, perceived naturalness fails to mediate the effect of aesthetics on perceived healthiness. These findings enrich the literature about effects of product images and expand aesthetics research in packaging field, while also offer insights for optimizing packaging marketing strategies and promoting consumers' healthy decision-making.
The Impact of Regulatory Focus on the Inaction Inertia Effect
Inaction inertia reduces the likelihood of consumers accepting an opportunity after previously missing a more favorable one. This study explores how consumers' regulatory focus influences the inaction inertia effect. The authors propose that because promotion- (vs. prevention-) focused individuals tend to process information at a high construal level, they are more likely to decouple the previous and current opportunities due to distal psychological distance, reducing perceived regret, and inaction inertia. Promotion- (vs. prevention-) focused individuals are more likely to experience higher processing fluency when encountering the current opportunity due to regulatory fit, which forms more positive overall feelings and reduces the inaction inertia effect. Results from one pilot study and three formal experiments show that people with a promotion (vs. prevention) focus are subject to lower inaction inertia. Moreover, perceived fluency and overall feelings play a more important and robust sequential mediating role than perceived coupling and regret. The current research findings address important gaps in the literature on inaction inertia and regulatory focus, providing valuable insights for practitioners in designing advertising and marketing strategies to mitigate the inaction inertia effect.
Paper Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.22203?af=R
Authors: Hsin-Hsien Liu, Hsuan-Yi Chou
ABSTRACT
Inaction inertia reduces the likelihood of consumers accepting an opportunity after previously missing a more favorable one. This study explores how consumers' regulatory focus influences the inaction inertia effect. The authors propose that because promotion- (vs. prevention-) focused individuals tend to process information at a high construal level, they are more likely to decouple the previous and current opportunities due to distal psychological distance, reducing perceived regret, and inaction inertia. Promotion- (vs. prevention-) focused individuals are more likely to experience higher processing fluency when encountering the current opportunity due to regulatory fit, which forms more positive overall feelings and reduces the inaction inertia effect. Results from one pilot study and three formal experiments show that people with a promotion (vs. prevention) focus are subject to lower inaction inertia. Moreover, perceived fluency and overall feelings play a more important and robust sequential mediating role than perceived coupling and regret. The current research findings address important gaps in the literature on inaction inertia and regulatory focus, providing valuable insights for practitioners in designing advertising and marketing strategies to mitigate the inaction inertia effect.
The Impact of Multiple Similar Online Certifications on Seller Performance in E-commerce Platforms
Many e-commerce platforms have adopted certification programs for sellers and even introduced a multi-certification strategy, enabling consumers to more easily identify high-quality sellers. Using signaling theory, we explore the effectiveness of such multi-certification strategy; that is, whether subsequent additional platform certifications can strengthen the signaling effect of high-quality sellers and thus improve their performance. This study also examines the moderating effect of quality signals from other sources. We obtain a seller dataset from China’s largest e-commerce platform (Taobao.com), and, leveraging a quasi-natural experiment based on changes in platform certification status, combine difference-in-differences models and propensity score matching to test our hypotheses. We find that the signaling effects of platform certification are complicated and negatively moderated by seller reputation and shop tenure. In particular, additional certifications enhance performance only if sellers have low reputation or short shop tenure. The results enrich the signaling theory and suggest practical implications for platform governance.
Paper Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0148296325000980?dgcid=rss_sd_all
Authors: Yunxiao Lu, Shaohan Cai, Qinghong Xie, Jiaxin Wang
ABSTRACT
Many e-commerce platforms have adopted certification programs for sellers and even introduced a multi-certification strategy, enabling consumers to more easily identify high-quality sellers. Using signaling theory, we explore the effectiveness of such multi-certification strategy; that is, whether subsequent additional platform certifications can strengthen the signaling effect of high-quality sellers and thus improve their performance. This study also examines the moderating effect of quality signals from other sources. We obtain a seller dataset from China’s largest e-commerce platform (Taobao.com), and, leveraging a quasi-natural experiment based on changes in platform certification status, combine difference-in-differences models and propensity score matching to test our hypotheses. We find that the signaling effects of platform certification are complicated and negatively moderated by seller reputation and shop tenure. In particular, additional certifications enhance performance only if sellers have low reputation or short shop tenure. The results enrich the signaling theory and suggest practical implications for platform governance.
Operationalizing Ad Creativity and Its Effects in B2B Advertising
While creative advertising is considered to be the key to breaking through media clutter, academics have been slow to research ad creativity, particularly in B2B settings. Ad creativity's conceptualization has been nebulous and its measurement inconsistent. Nevertheless, business managers realize its potential to influence consumers and organizational buyers, and ultimately affect brand outcomes. The current research focuses on ad creativity by presenting a concise conceptualization of the ad creativity construct. Further, it details the development of an ad creativity measure set in a business market setting. The ad creativity measure is employed in an empirical study where it was found that the combination of novelty and relevance in ad creativity executions influence attitude towards the brand, information-seeking intentions and likelihood to recommend behaviors. An eye tracking experiment found that B2B buyers fixated on the novel elements of an ad and subsequently had greater recall. The ad creativity measure appears to be a comprehensive tool for operationalizing ad creativity. Importantly, it is also a simple and useful tool for advertising practitioners and managers who seek to design and test the appropriate level of ad creativity in their advertising campaigns.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.02.011
Authors: Jodie L. Ferguson, Brian P. Brown, Kunal Swani, Naveen Donthu
ABSTRACT
While creative advertising is considered to be the key to breaking through media clutter, academics have been slow to research ad creativity, particularly in B2B settings. Ad creativity's conceptualization has been nebulous and its measurement inconsistent. Nevertheless, business managers realize its potential to influence consumers and organizational buyers, and ultimately affect brand outcomes. The current research focuses on ad creativity by presenting a concise conceptualization of the ad creativity construct. Further, it details the development of an ad creativity measure set in a business market setting. The ad creativity measure is employed in an empirical study where it was found that the combination of novelty and relevance in ad creativity executions influence attitude towards the brand, information-seeking intentions and likelihood to recommend behaviors. An eye tracking experiment found that B2B buyers fixated on the novel elements of an ad and subsequently had greater recall. The ad creativity measure appears to be a comprehensive tool for operationalizing ad creativity. Importantly, it is also a simple and useful tool for advertising practitioners and managers who seek to design and test the appropriate level of ad creativity in their advertising campaigns.
Research: What Consumers Find Persuasive in Online Reviews
Most people report that online reviews are one of the main factors they consider before making a purchase. Unsurprisingly, many companies have attempted to harness reviews’ persuasive power by highlighting those they believe will be most compelling to customers. But what do customers find persuasive in a review? Researchers analyzed 111,728 purchase reviews and conducted experiments with over 2,000 participants to answer that question. Their findings indicate that persuasiveness is dictated by how frequently an item is purchased. For items that are purchased only rarely, recommendations seem to be the most persuasive. But when items are likely to be bought frequently — for example, cosmetics or bottles of wine — it’s most persuasive when reviewers indicate they would buy that item again. This is because recommendations are viewed as more credible than repurchase intentions for infrequently bought items, while the opposite is true for frequently purchased goods or services.
Paper Link: https://hbr.org/2025/02/research-what-consumers-find-persuasive-in-online-reviews
Authors: Subhash Jha, Abhijit Biswas, Prashanth Ravula
ABSTRACT
Most people report that online reviews are one of the main factors they consider before making a purchase. Unsurprisingly, many companies have attempted to harness reviews’ persuasive power by highlighting those they believe will be most compelling to customers. But what do customers find persuasive in a review? Researchers analyzed 111,728 purchase reviews and conducted experiments with over 2,000 participants to answer that question. Their findings indicate that persuasiveness is dictated by how frequently an item is purchased. For items that are purchased only rarely, recommendations seem to be the most persuasive. But when items are likely to be bought frequently — for example, cosmetics or bottles of wine — it’s most persuasive when reviewers indicate they would buy that item again. This is because recommendations are viewed as more credible than repurchase intentions for infrequently bought items, while the opposite is true for frequently purchased goods or services.
Is It Inclusive Enough? An Investigation of Consumer Responses to Inclusive Product Lines
Brands are increasingly committing to improving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within their marketing practices. One way that brands can show their commitment to DEI is by offering inclusive product lines. This paper aims to examine the strategic implications of offering inclusive product lines by investigating consumer perceptions of product lines with more (versus fewer) options as well as product lines that cater primarily to minority (versus majority) consumers. This research uses three online experiments and one secondary data set to test the hypotheses across two consumption contexts (makeup and clothing). Consumers perceive product lines with more options and a distribution of options that skews toward minority (versus majority) consumers to be more inclusive and moral, which leads to more favorable attitudes toward the brand. In addition, consumers perceive product lines with balanced options to be as inclusive and moral as those with minority-skewed options. This research provides practitioners with valuable insights on how to increase favorable consumer perceptions of their brands’ DEI strategies.This paper contributes to the emerging literature on brand inclusivity in the marketplace. Specifically, it sheds light on why brands have been criticized for launching product lines that, ostensibly, include many options but may not go far enough to address marketplace inequalities that disadvantage underrepresented consumers.
Brands are increasingly committing to improving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within their marketing practices. One way that brands can show their commitment to DEI is by offering inclusive product lines. This paper aims to examine the strategic implications of offering inclusive product lines by investigating consumer perceptions of product lines with more (versus fewer) options as well as product lines that cater primarily to minority (versus majority) consumers. This research uses three online experiments and one secondary data set to test the hypotheses across two consumption contexts (makeup and clothing). Consumers perceive product lines with more options and a distribution of options that skews toward minority (versus majority) consumers to be more inclusive and moral, which leads to more favorable attitudes toward the brand. In addition, consumers perceive product lines with balanced options to be as inclusive and moral as those with minority-skewed options. This research provides practitioners with valuable insights on how to increase favorable consumer perceptions of their brands’ DEI strategies.This paper contributes to the emerging literature on brand inclusivity in the marketplace. Specifically, it sheds light on why brands have been criticized for launching product lines that, ostensibly, include many options but may not go far enough to address marketplace inequalities that disadvantage underrepresented consumers.
Young Consumers’ Brand Distrust Model: Understanding The Antecedents Of Young Consumers’ Distrust Of Brands
Consumer research has shown that brands benefit from consumers’ trust in them. However, although consumers’ distrust of brands can accordingly have harmful effects on brands, the antecedents of young consumers’ brand distrust are not entirely clear. This study proposes a model for young consumer’s brand distrust antecedents based on the integration of our findings and prior research. Manual coding and latent Dirichlet allocation were utilized to analyze online research panel participants’ open-ended responses on what makes them distrust brands on social media. Our examination revealed several antecedents of young consumers’ brand distrust in the context of social media, such as reputation issues, advertising issues, impression management, and commercial collaboration. This study significantly contributes to consumer research by addressing the understudied topic of what makes young consumers distrust brands within the social media context.
Consumer research has shown that brands benefit from consumers’ trust in them. However, although consumers’ distrust of brands can accordingly have harmful effects on brands, the antecedents of young consumers’ brand distrust are not entirely clear. This study proposes a model for young consumer’s brand distrust antecedents based on the integration of our findings and prior research. Manual coding and latent Dirichlet allocation were utilized to analyze online research panel participants’ open-ended responses on what makes them distrust brands on social media. Our examination revealed several antecedents of young consumers’ brand distrust in the context of social media, such as reputation issues, advertising issues, impression management, and commercial collaboration. This study significantly contributes to consumer research by addressing the understudied topic of what makes young consumers distrust brands within the social media context.
Shopper Search in Response to Conditional Promotions: A Function of Basket Sizes and Incentive Types
Conditional promotions are designed to entice consumers to increase their basket sizes to meet a preset promotional threshold. In this research, we examine consumers' basket sizes, promotional thresholds, incentive framing and seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment as the factors that may jointly influence the effectiveness of a conditional promotion in inducing shoppers to increase their basket sizes. Our findings from five studies demonstrate that (i) the difference between basket sizes and promotional thresholds or seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment may induce an experience of psychological distance, (ii) the experience of psychological distance may interact with incentive framing to influence consumers' search likelihood in response to a conditional promotion such that psychological proximity (remoteness) leads to higher search likelihood in response to negatively (positively) framed incentives. We found that this effect is consistent across studies with different values of basket sizes and promotional thresholds and across behavioral and self-reported measures representing search likelihood.
Conditional promotions are designed to entice consumers to increase their basket sizes to meet a preset promotional threshold. In this research, we examine consumers' basket sizes, promotional thresholds, incentive framing and seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment as the factors that may jointly influence the effectiveness of a conditional promotion in inducing shoppers to increase their basket sizes. Our findings from five studies demonstrate that (i) the difference between basket sizes and promotional thresholds or seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment may induce an experience of psychological distance, (ii) the experience of psychological distance may interact with incentive framing to influence consumers' search likelihood in response to a conditional promotion such that psychological proximity (remoteness) leads to higher search likelihood in response to negatively (positively) framed incentives. We found that this effect is consistent across studies with different values of basket sizes and promotional thresholds and across behavioral and self-reported measures representing search likelihood.
Dynamics Of Pre-release Consumer Buzz: Driving Communication, Search, And Participation For Market Performance
While pre-release consumer buzz may drive new product market performance, little is known about the importance of its distinct behavioral manifestations: communication, search, and participation. This paper not only studies how these three pre-release buzz behaviors affect market performance but also their dynamic interplay and how firms can drive pre-release buzz. Using movie data, we find self-enhancing and spillover effects of buzz throughout the pre-release period. For driving communication and search behaviors, firm social media posts are most effective, while movie trailers are most effective in evoking participatory behaviors. Furthermore, box office sales benefit the most from pre-release communication, followed by participation and search. These findings extend current knowledge by showing that while all buzz behaviors matter for driving market performance, communication plays a central role due to its powerful spillover effects on search and participation, and firms can effectively stimulate it through social media posts about the new product.
Paper Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-024-01077-y
Authors: Thomas F. Schreiner, Timo Mandler, Harald J. van Heerde, Carolin Haiduk
ABSTRACT
While pre-release consumer buzz may drive new product market performance, little is known about the importance of its distinct behavioral manifestations: communication, search, and participation. This paper not only studies how these three pre-release buzz behaviors affect market performance but also their dynamic interplay and how firms can drive pre-release buzz. Using movie data, we find self-enhancing and spillover effects of buzz throughout the pre-release period. For driving communication and search behaviors, firm social media posts are most effective, while movie trailers are most effective in evoking participatory behaviors. Furthermore, box office sales benefit the most from pre-release communication, followed by participation and search. These findings extend current knowledge by showing that while all buzz behaviors matter for driving market performance, communication plays a central role due to its powerful spillover effects on search and participation, and firms can effectively stimulate it through social media posts about the new product.
Not All AI Is Created Equal: A Meta-analysis Revealing Drivers of Ai Resistance Across Markets, Methods, and Time
While artificial intelligence (AI) is used by billions of consumers daily through tools like ChatGPT, prior research often documents that consumers are resistant to it. The current research proposes that such resistance is strongly context-dependent, rapidly evolving, and often an artifact of how researchers study it. We provide a comprehensive synthesis of consumer responses to AI by analyzing 440 effect sizes from 76,142 unique participants across two decades of experimental research. Our meta-analysis reveals three key insights about consumer aversion towards AI (average Cohen’s d = −0.21). First, consumer responses vary systematically by AI label and domain, with the most negative responses to embodied forms of AI (e.g., robots) compared to AI assistants or mere algorithms. We also identify substantial domain differences in areas such as transportation and public safety, which trigger more negative responses compared to areas where AI improves productivity and performance, such as in business and management. Second, we document a temporal evolution towards increasingly less negative responses, particularly for cognitive consumer responses (e.g., performance or competence judgements), with aversion approaching a null-effect in most recent years. Third, we demonstrate overall shrinking effect sizes with greater ecological validity. This work advances our understanding of when and why consumers resist AI and provides directions for future research on consumer-AI interactions.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.02.005
Authors: Meike Zehnle, Christian Hildebrand, Ana Valenzuela
ABSTRACT
While artificial intelligence (AI) is used by billions of consumers daily through tools like ChatGPT, prior research often documents that consumers are resistant to it. The current research proposes that such resistance is strongly context-dependent, rapidly evolving, and often an artifact of how researchers study it. We provide a comprehensive synthesis of consumer responses to AI by analyzing 440 effect sizes from 76,142 unique participants across two decades of experimental research. Our meta-analysis reveals three key insights about consumer aversion towards AI (average Cohen’s d = −0.21). First, consumer responses vary systematically by AI label and domain, with the most negative responses to embodied forms of AI (e.g., robots) compared to AI assistants or mere algorithms. We also identify substantial domain differences in areas such as transportation and public safety, which trigger more negative responses compared to areas where AI improves productivity and performance, such as in business and management. Second, we document a temporal evolution towards increasingly less negative responses, particularly for cognitive consumer responses (e.g., performance or competence judgements), with aversion approaching a null-effect in most recent years. Third, we demonstrate overall shrinking effect sizes with greater ecological validity. This work advances our understanding of when and why consumers resist AI and provides directions for future research on consumer-AI interactions.
Comparing Transparent and Covert Nudges: A Meta-Analysis Calling for More Diversity in Nudge Transparency Research
Do transparent and non-transparent nudges have similar effects? The question is central in recent research on behavioural public policy, as it leads to ethical and practical implications regarding policy-maker responsibility, citizen agency, and nudge design. We meta-analysed results from 23 publications designed to compare transparent to covert nudges including 117 effect sizes and found a positive effect of transparency on behavioural outcomes, but no effect on non-behavioural outcomes. The moderator analyses revealed that studies conducted online, manipulating the decision structure, and conducted in the domain ‘other’ tended to exhibit significantly positive transparency effects for behavioural outcomes. We note that all but two studies were conducted online or in the lab, and that there is an over-representation of research on default nudges (88% of total effects), severely limiting the generalizability of the findings. Thus, we call for an improvement of research conducted on transparent nudges and the inclusion of more nudge types, preferably in a field setting. We also stress the importance of defining the form of transparency that societies require for respecting their citizen's autonomy.
Do transparent and non-transparent nudges have similar effects? The question is central in recent research on behavioural public policy, as it leads to ethical and practical implications regarding policy-maker responsibility, citizen agency, and nudge design. We meta-analysed results from 23 publications designed to compare transparent to covert nudges including 117 effect sizes and found a positive effect of transparency on behavioural outcomes, but no effect on non-behavioural outcomes. The moderator analyses revealed that studies conducted online, manipulating the decision structure, and conducted in the domain ‘other’ tended to exhibit significantly positive transparency effects for behavioural outcomes. We note that all but two studies were conducted online or in the lab, and that there is an over-representation of research on default nudges (88% of total effects), severely limiting the generalizability of the findings. Thus, we call for an improvement of research conducted on transparent nudges and the inclusion of more nudge types, preferably in a field setting. We also stress the importance of defining the form of transparency that societies require for respecting their citizen's autonomy.
The Power of Voice: Investigating the Effects of Streamer Voice Characteristics on Sales Performance in Live Streaming E-Commerce
Live streaming e-commerce has transformed online shopping by combining real-time interaction with visual demonstrations, making streamers' performances crucial to sales outcomes. However, the consequences of streamers' interactive voice on consumers' decision remain underexplored. Grounded in dual process theory, this study investigates how emotional vocal cues (pitch and intensity) and informational vocal cues (speech rate) in streamers' voices influence sales performance, and how these effects vary across different product types. We collected real-time data from Douyin, a popular live streaming platform in China, and developed a fixed effects model for analysis. The results indicate that streamers’ voice characteristics are highly persuasive, with pitch and speech rate positively impacting sales performance, while intensity has a negative effect. Additionally, emotional vocal cues are more effective in strengthening purchases for experience products, while informational vocal cues are more effective for search products. This research enhances the understanding of voice characteristics in live streaming e-commerce, offering actionable insights for streamers and platform managers to optimize sales strategies.
Live streaming e-commerce has transformed online shopping by combining real-time interaction with visual demonstrations, making streamers' performances crucial to sales outcomes. However, the consequences of streamers' interactive voice on consumers' decision remain underexplored. Grounded in dual process theory, this study investigates how emotional vocal cues (pitch and intensity) and informational vocal cues (speech rate) in streamers' voices influence sales performance, and how these effects vary across different product types. We collected real-time data from Douyin, a popular live streaming platform in China, and developed a fixed effects model for analysis. The results indicate that streamers’ voice characteristics are highly persuasive, with pitch and speech rate positively impacting sales performance, while intensity has a negative effect. Additionally, emotional vocal cues are more effective in strengthening purchases for experience products, while informational vocal cues are more effective for search products. This research enhances the understanding of voice characteristics in live streaming e-commerce, offering actionable insights for streamers and platform managers to optimize sales strategies.
Balancing Generosity with Profitability: The Role of Relative Market Price and Value Perceptions in Crypto Philanthropy
Considering the exponential increases in donations made in cryptocurrencies in recent years, the decision-making process that underlies crypto philanthropy demands deeper insights. Given that both individual donors and recipients are motivated to own multiple types of cryptocurrencies to strategically diversify their investment, our research examines the influence of different cryptocurrencies’ relative market price on the donation amount. The results derived from on-chain data and five experiments indicate that donors tend to set a lower donation amount for higher-priced cryptocurrency than for lower-priced cryptocurrency to protect the profitability of their crypto portfolios. To alleviate the profitability concerns and encourage larger donations in higher-priced cryptocurrencies, potential recipients could intensify donation campaigns at times when analysts predict lower future values, or emphasize the number of cryptocurrency coins that would remain in the donor’s wallet after donation. By uncovering new insights into the effects of relative market prices, future value predictions, and crypto-wallet designs, our findings provide guidance for marketers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in crypto philanthropy.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.02.001
Authors: Hyunjung Crystal Lee, Eline L.E. De Vries, Rahil Hosseini
ABSTRACT
Considering the exponential increases in donations made in cryptocurrencies in recent years, the decision-making process that underlies crypto philanthropy demands deeper insights. Given that both individual donors and recipients are motivated to own multiple types of cryptocurrencies to strategically diversify their investment, our research examines the influence of different cryptocurrencies’ relative market price on the donation amount. The results derived from on-chain data and five experiments indicate that donors tend to set a lower donation amount for higher-priced cryptocurrency than for lower-priced cryptocurrency to protect the profitability of their crypto portfolios. To alleviate the profitability concerns and encourage larger donations in higher-priced cryptocurrencies, potential recipients could intensify donation campaigns at times when analysts predict lower future values, or emphasize the number of cryptocurrency coins that would remain in the donor’s wallet after donation. By uncovering new insights into the effects of relative market prices, future value predictions, and crypto-wallet designs, our findings provide guidance for marketers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in crypto philanthropy.
Understanding Social Comparison Dynamics on Social Media: A Qualitative Examination of Individual and Platform Characteristics
As social media platforms continue to expand and attract more users, there is growing interest among scholars and policymakers to understand their impact on individuals. Drawing on self-presentation and social comparison theories, this study explores the complex dynamics of social comparison within the context of social media, aiming to identify key individual and platform characteristics that influence this phenomenon. The methodology uses two waves of qualitative studies with diverse respondent profiles to understand the complexities of social comparison across various demographic groups. Study 1 consists of 39 individual semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis while study 2 is made of eight case studies. The findings highlight the complex interplay of factors such as gender, age, self-esteem, media literacy, and the type of content consumed in shaping user experiences of social comparison. Additionally, an integrative framework of the antecedents and consequences of social comparison is proposed. By providing a nuanced comprehension of these mechanisms, this research contributes to theoretical advancements and managerial implications of navigating the complexities of online social dynamics.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22194
Authors: Maud Derbaix, Alexandra Masciantonio, Laurie Balbo, Aurély Lao, Sandra Camus, Salma Idrissi Tafraouti, David Bourguignon
ABSTRACT
As social media platforms continue to expand and attract more users, there is growing interest among scholars and policymakers to understand their impact on individuals. Drawing on self-presentation and social comparison theories, this study explores the complex dynamics of social comparison within the context of social media, aiming to identify key individual and platform characteristics that influence this phenomenon. The methodology uses two waves of qualitative studies with diverse respondent profiles to understand the complexities of social comparison across various demographic groups. Study 1 consists of 39 individual semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis while study 2 is made of eight case studies. The findings highlight the complex interplay of factors such as gender, age, self-esteem, media literacy, and the type of content consumed in shaping user experiences of social comparison. Additionally, an integrative framework of the antecedents and consequences of social comparison is proposed. By providing a nuanced comprehension of these mechanisms, this research contributes to theoretical advancements and managerial implications of navigating the complexities of online social dynamics.
Gendered Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: Behavioral and Neural Insights Into Product Recommendations
Marketing research consistently demonstrates that gender stereotypes influence the effectiveness of product recommendations. When artificial intelligence (AI) agents are designed with gendered features to enhance anthropomorphism, a follow-up question is whether these agents' recommendations are also shaped by gender stereotypes. To investigate this, the current study employed a shopping task featuring product recommendations (utilitarian vs. hedonic), using both behavioral measures (purchase likelihood, personal interest, and tip amount) and event-related potential components (P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, and late positive potential) to capture explicit and implicit responses to products recommended by male and female humans, virtual assistants, or robots. The findings revealed that gender stereotypes influenced responses at both levels but in distinct ways. Behaviorally, participants consistently favored female recommenders across all conditions. Additionally, female recommenders received more tips than males for hedonic products in the virtual assistant condition and utilitarian products in the robot condition. Implicitly, the N1 and N2 components reflected a classic gender stereotype from prior research: utilitarian products recommended by male humans elicited greater attention and received more inhibition control. We propose that task design and cultural factors may have contributed to the observed discrepancies between explicit (consumer behaviors) and implicit responses. These findings provide insights for mitigating the impact of gender difference when designing the anthropomorphic appearance of AI agents, which would help the development of more effective marketing strategies.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22186
Authors: Jiayue Huang, Ruolei Gu, Yi Feng, Wenbo Luo
ABSTRACT
Marketing research consistently demonstrates that gender stereotypes influence the effectiveness of product recommendations. When artificial intelligence (AI) agents are designed with gendered features to enhance anthropomorphism, a follow-up question is whether these agents' recommendations are also shaped by gender stereotypes. To investigate this, the current study employed a shopping task featuring product recommendations (utilitarian vs. hedonic), using both behavioral measures (purchase likelihood, personal interest, and tip amount) and event-related potential components (P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, and late positive potential) to capture explicit and implicit responses to products recommended by male and female humans, virtual assistants, or robots. The findings revealed that gender stereotypes influenced responses at both levels but in distinct ways. Behaviorally, participants consistently favored female recommenders across all conditions. Additionally, female recommenders received more tips than males for hedonic products in the virtual assistant condition and utilitarian products in the robot condition. Implicitly, the N1 and N2 components reflected a classic gender stereotype from prior research: utilitarian products recommended by male humans elicited greater attention and received more inhibition control. We propose that task design and cultural factors may have contributed to the observed discrepancies between explicit (consumer behaviors) and implicit responses. These findings provide insights for mitigating the impact of gender difference when designing the anthropomorphic appearance of AI agents, which would help the development of more effective marketing strategies.
The Motivating Power of Streaks: Increasing Persistence Is as Easy as 1, 2, 3
Organizations often use financial incentives to boost employees’ commitment to work-relevant goals in an effort to increase persistence and goal achievement (e.g., to improve organizational efficiency or sales). We introduce and test a novel incentive scheme designed to enhance persistence by increasing commitment to the goal of maximizing earnings. Specifically, we test “streak incentives,” or rewards that offer people increasing payouts for completing multiple consecutive work tasks. Across six pre-registered studies (total N = 4,504), we show that, contrary to standard economic models suggesting people will complete more piece-rate work for larger rewards, people actually complete more work when compensated with streak incentives than with larger, stable incentives. We theorize that this occurs because, by encouraging consecutive task completion, streak incentives increase commitment to a goal of maximizing earnings, which in turn increases persistence. We also show that this effect is not driven by providing increasing rewards; rather, people’s goal commitment and motivation are boosted by the requirement that they complete work tasks consecutively to earn escalating payments. Taken together, our results suggest that designing incentives to encourage streaks of work is a low-cost way to increase goal commitment and therefore persistence in organizations and other contexts.
Organizations often use financial incentives to boost employees’ commitment to work-relevant goals in an effort to increase persistence and goal achievement (e.g., to improve organizational efficiency or sales). We introduce and test a novel incentive scheme designed to enhance persistence by increasing commitment to the goal of maximizing earnings. Specifically, we test “streak incentives,” or rewards that offer people increasing payouts for completing multiple consecutive work tasks. Across six pre-registered studies (total N = 4,504), we show that, contrary to standard economic models suggesting people will complete more piece-rate work for larger rewards, people actually complete more work when compensated with streak incentives than with larger, stable incentives. We theorize that this occurs because, by encouraging consecutive task completion, streak incentives increase commitment to a goal of maximizing earnings, which in turn increases persistence. We also show that this effect is not driven by providing increasing rewards; rather, people’s goal commitment and motivation are boosted by the requirement that they complete work tasks consecutively to earn escalating payments. Taken together, our results suggest that designing incentives to encourage streaks of work is a low-cost way to increase goal commitment and therefore persistence in organizations and other contexts.
Non-fungible Tokens (Nfts) as Digital Brand Extensions: Evidence on Financial Performance and Parent-brand Spillovers
Fueled by new technologies, such as blockchain and Web3, brands are increasingly extending into the digital space. One such novel extension is the non-fungible token (NFT). Numerous examples indicate that brands’ market performance with NFTs varies widely in terms of short-term revenues and spillovers to the parent brand. However, little is known about the factors that are associated with a successful performance. The goal of our research was to identify those factors. Regarding short-term revenues, we empirically tested the value of several possible success drivers; these drivers reflected a combination of the most important success factors for physical brand extensions (e.g., extension fit, brand equity) and value drivers for NFTs (e.g., added NFT utility, number of NFTs in the campaign). Using a novel dataset of 450 NFT campaigns, we document that both types of variables help to predict financial revenues from brand-related NFTs. Going beyond the short-term financial results of NFT campaigns, we also report experimental evidence that shows such campaigns may create negative spillovers for the parent brand. Overall, this research demonstrates (i) which value drivers correlate with a brand’s NFTs success, (ii) which brands are the best fit for NFTs, (iii) in what ways brand managers need to adapt their brand-extension strategies from the physical to the digital environment if they want to succeed with NFTs, and (iv) the risk that brand extensions with NFTs may hurt customers’ attitude towards the parent brand.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.01.001
Authors: Leif Brandes, Katharina Dölp
ABSTRACT
Fueled by new technologies, such as blockchain and Web3, brands are increasingly extending into the digital space. One such novel extension is the non-fungible token (NFT). Numerous examples indicate that brands’ market performance with NFTs varies widely in terms of short-term revenues and spillovers to the parent brand. However, little is known about the factors that are associated with a successful performance. The goal of our research was to identify those factors. Regarding short-term revenues, we empirically tested the value of several possible success drivers; these drivers reflected a combination of the most important success factors for physical brand extensions (e.g., extension fit, brand equity) and value drivers for NFTs (e.g., added NFT utility, number of NFTs in the campaign). Using a novel dataset of 450 NFT campaigns, we document that both types of variables help to predict financial revenues from brand-related NFTs. Going beyond the short-term financial results of NFT campaigns, we also report experimental evidence that shows such campaigns may create negative spillovers for the parent brand. Overall, this research demonstrates (i) which value drivers correlate with a brand’s NFTs success, (ii) which brands are the best fit for NFTs, (iii) in what ways brand managers need to adapt their brand-extension strategies from the physical to the digital environment if they want to succeed with NFTs, and (iv) the risk that brand extensions with NFTs may hurt customers’ attitude towards the parent brand.