Spring 2023 Marketing Research Guest Seminars

Erick Mas

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Kelley School of Business-Indiana University 

Status or Status Quo: How Political Ideology Affects the Appeal of Really New Products

Synopsis: Really new products (RNPs), novel products that have never been seen before have an interesting duality. The newness makes RNPs a potential signal of consumer status, albeit a risky status symbol because of the potential uncertainty regarding product performance. Politically conservative consumers characteristically seek to avoid the risk of uncertainty, yet they also value social hierarchy and products that signal status. To address these conflicting accounts, we propose two models to explain the relationship between political ideology and RNP adoption: the status quo versus the social hierarchy model. Across five studies, we find the baseline preference for RNPs is higher for conservatives than liberals, supporting our social hierarchy model. RNPs inherently signal status because consumers can display access to exclusive products not yet available for mass consumption, and we confirm that conservatives’ desire to signal status supersedes their aversion to uncertainty. Furthermore, we demonstrate key moderators that are important to advance theory and marketers’ ability to better position RNP for conservative and liberal consumer segments.

Aaron Barnes 

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville-College of Business 

Top Rated or Best Seller? Culture Influences Responses to Attitudinal versus Behavioral Consensus Cues

Synopsis: Marketers tend to use consensus cues about others’ behavioral choices (“Best Seller”) as opposed to their attitudes (“Top Rated”) when labeling products in e-commerce settings. This paper suggests that the effectiveness of these two types of cues may differ in ways that depart from common marketing practice. We suggest that cultural factors influence consumer responses to attitudinal and behavioral consensus cues. Prior research shows that in non-Western or interdependent contexts, choices are often responsive to social expectations rather than personal preferences. This paper proposes that, because interdependence expects such behavioral conformity, cues that convey consensus about others’ choices may be less diagnostic and, thus, less persuasive than cues that convey consensus about others’ attitudes. Two cross-national industry datasets, along with four experiments examining cultural differences in multiple ways offer evidence consistent with this reasoning, suggesting that among interdependent, behavioral consensus cues can actually be less effective than attitudinal ones.

Linda Hagen 

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business 

Differential Effects of Minimalist Marketing Aesthetics on Utilitarian and Hedonic Inferences: When and Why Less Really is Less

Synopsis: Minimalist marketing aesthetics (e.g., stylized brand logos; reductive packaging design) are popular—but are they universally beneficial? This research shows that equally attractive aesthetically minimalist (vs. complex) packaging design leads consumers to expect products to be superior on utilitarian dimensions (as perhaps intended by the marketer), but inferior on hedonic dimensions (as perhaps unintended by the marketer). This pattern is driven by minimalist aesthetics communicating that the product is more focused on fewer purposes (thereby boosting expected performance) but concurrently appearing less stimulating due to its limited sensory features (thereby hampering expected pleasure). Accordingly, when marketers emphasize utilitarian (vs. hedonic) product benefits, displaying a product featuring minimalist (vs. complex) packaging design enhances ad liking. Likewise, when consumers hold utilitarian (vs. hedonic) purchase goals, minimalist (vs. complex) packaging design boosts choice. The insights from this research help expand existing theoretical understandings of minimalist aesthetics as well as consumers’ intuitions about antecedents of product efficacy, and they caution marketers to think carefully about when to use minimalist aesthetics for their brands and products. Sometimes, less really is less.