Reactance to Recommendations: When Unsolicited Advice Yields Contrary Responses

Fitzsimons, Gavan J.; Lehmann, Donald R.

doi:10.1287/mksc.1030.0033

Cited by 463 publications

(359 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Consumers-at least in developed countries-are accustomed to having the freedom to choose among alternatives in most facets of life. Given these freedoms, consumers tend to be sensitive to threats to loss of freedom, whether in terms of promotional influence (Edwards, Li, & Lee, 2002;Fitzsimons & Lehmann, 2004;White, Zahay, Thorbjørnsen, & Shavitt, 2008;Wicklund, Slattum, & Solomon, 1970), product unavailability (Brehm, Stires, Sensenig, & Shaban, 1966;Fitzsimons, 2000;Gierl & Huettl, 2010;West, 1975), or pricing (Clee & Wicklund, 1980;Wicklund et al, 1970). The theory of psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966) assumes that humans have a pre-disposition to preserve and restore their personal freedoms.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Customer Reactions to Acquirer-Dominant Mergers and Acquisitions

Thorbjørnsen

2011

SSRN Journal

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This article investigates consumer reactions to acquirer-dominant mergers and acquisitions (M&As) from the perspective of the (smaller) target brand and explores how marketing actions can mitigate negative effects. The findings from five studies show that consumers tend to react negatively to M&As by devaluing the acquirer brand, increasing their intention to switch, and adjusting their attitudes toward the target brand upward. We suggest that psychological reactance is a mediator for the negative effects of merger information on customers' attitudes and switching intentions. We also demonstrate that brand managers can attenuate reactance by involving consumers in merger decisions, thus providing important managerial implications for M&A decisions and processes.

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Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Customer Reactions to Acquirer-Dominant Mergers and Acquisitions

Thorbjørnsen

2011

SSRN Journal

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“…Any (short or long contract) price is thus likely to be rejected (Brehm 1966) by some potential users whose preferences for free content have been formed. Fitzsimons and Lehmann (2004) note that encountering unexpected paid content tends to decrease the attractiveness of free content and reduce satisfaction with the choice options. On the other hand, a move from free to fee may expand the market for fee content due to price signaling; i.e.…”

Section: Research Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving from Free to Fee: How Online Firms Market to Change Their Business Model Successfully

Pauwels

Weiss

2008

Journal of Marketing

124

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Moving from free to 'free & fee' for any product or service represents a challenge to managers, especially when consumers have plenty of free alternatives. For one online content provider, this paper examines (1) the sources of long-run revenue loss (through attracting fewer free subscribers) and (2) how the firm's marketing actions affect its revenue gains (through attracting paid subscribers). The authors quantify revenue loss from several sources, including the direct effects of charging for part of the online content and the reduced effectiveness of search engine referrals and emails. Their analysis suggests several managerial implications. First, managers should focus their price promotions towards stimulating new monthly subscriptions, instead of the current promotional focus on stimulating new yearly contracts. In contrast, email and search engine referrals appear very effective at generating yearly subscriptions. Meanwhile, 'free to fee' conversion email blasts are a double-edged sword: they increase subscription revenue at the expense of advertising revenue. Finally, further analysis shows the move was preceded by the build-up of momentum in new free subscriptions, which appears beneficial for the move's success. The decomposition and comparison of the sources of revenue loss versus gains reveals several tradeoffs facing companies moving from free to 'free & fee'.Keywords: from free to fee, online content, price, marketing communication, searchengine referrals, time series analysis, vector-autoregressive models. IntroductionA decade ago, Peterson, Balasubramanian, and Bronnenberg (1997) A prominent fear among content providers is the likely loss of customers to the many still free competitors. Moreover, the impact of marketing actions to stimulate paid subscriptions is uncertain given the general consensus among web surfers that "content is free" (Dyson 1995). Empirical findings on these issues are scarce, as firms feel uneasy sharing data with academic researchers for confidentiality and competitive reasons. When The NY Times moved to a paid version of its editorial pages, one reader commented, "The only thing the NYTimes will achieve is a reduced readership for its writers. No one will, nor should we, pay for online content. It's a big, free web out there."The ultimate abandonment of the payment system (on September 19, 2007) appears to vindicate these arguments, and illustrates the challenge content providers face online.In sum, despite high managerial importance, little empirical research has addressed the following questions facing companies moving from free to 'free & fee': 1) What are the long-run performance effects of such a move?In particular, what are the sources of revenue loss that may offset the revenue gains from user fees?2) What role do marketing actions play in the free-and fee-user response? In particular, which actions are especially successful in increasing free and fee subscriptions, for both short-term and long-term contracts?This research aims to shed light on these issues by fo...

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“…심리적 반발심이 구매상황에서의 소비자 행동을 설명하는 이 론적 근거로 사용된 연구도 다수 존재한다 (Fitzsimons & Lehmann, 2004;Kim, 2010;Schwarz, 1990). 특히 구매상황 에서의 제품의 희소성을 다룬 연구가 대표적이며 (Kim, 2010) 품절 상황이나, 제품이 한정된 상태에서 소비자가 경험하는 부 772 한국의류산업학회지 제17권 제5호, 2015년…”

Section: 따라서 기업입장에서는 제품 부재는 이익과 직접적으로 연결될unclassified

Consumer Responses to Stockouts in Online Fashion Stores: Indicating Effects of Psychological Reactance and Emotion

Shin¹,

Hur²,

Choo³

2015

Fashion & Textile Research Journal

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: This study intended to explore fundamental causes affecting consumers' response actions from psychological factors in the situation of sellout occurring during shopping in online fashion stores. In addition, this study devised a virtual online shop in order to measure consumers' cognitive and emotional psychological responses they experienced when goods were sold out. The subjects involved women in 20s~30s, major customers of online shopping, and the subjects were randomly allocated to one of eight questionnaire forms (2(stockout size: high vs low)×2(product assortment similarity: similar vs. dissimilar)×2(restocking cue: included vs excluded)). The number of final data used for the analysis was 336 and through SPSS 21.0 program, two-way ANOVA and bootstrap were utilized. The analysis result was that consumers' psychological responses (emotions, psychological reactance) of online shops differed by means of varying stockout situations. The stockout size had positive effect on psychological reactance and negative emotions. On the other hand, there was no difference in positive emotions (arousal) according to stockout size. In stockout situation of online fashion store, the moderating effect of product assortment similarity and restocking cues were verified. According to the analysis result, interaction effects between stockout size and restocking cues, product stockout size and product assortment for psychological reactance were significant. Lastly, the mediation effect of psychological reactance and emotion between stockout size and behavioral response was tested. As a result, the moderated mediation effects of psychological reactance for substitute were significant when product assortment was dissimilar and restocking cue was exclude.

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Reactance to Recommendations: When Unsolicited Advice Yields Contrary Responses

Cited by 463 publications

References 26 publications

Customer Reactions to Acquirer-Dominant Mergers and Acquisitions

Customer Reactions to Acquirer-Dominant Mergers and Acquisitions

Moving from Free to Fee: How Online Firms Market to Change Their Business Model Successfully

Consumer Responses to Stockouts in Online Fashion Stores: Indicating Effects of Psychological Reactance and Emotion

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