Online platforms often provide rating information to customers to relieve the uncertainty they encounter when purchasing experience goods. Prior research has focused mostly on the roles of rating volume and the valence of an average rating among the various possibilities. However, less frequently investigated is the effect of rating dispersion, which may be associated with uncertainty regarding how well a product fits a customer’s personal preference, on new trials of experience goods. In this study, we examine the effect of rating dispersion on new trials of experience goods and identify the conditions which intensify or reduce the effect. Empirical analyses of movie box office sales data and online rating data reveal three interesting findings. First, movie sales decrease as movie ratings become increasingly dispersed. Second, the negative effect of rating dispersion on movie sales is more pronounced with more rating volume. Third, this negative effect weakens when additional information about a movie is available (i.e., higher average rating, greater star power, and time since its release). We discuss the academic and practical implications of our findings.

A great deal of research has explored individuals’ attempts to simplify choices by constructing a consideration set. This research aims to investigate which construction strategy, either inclusion or exclusion, is more likely to be adopted and how the adoption of a particular construction strategy can affect consideration set size while identifying the moderating role of chronic indecisiveness in the construction process. The findings of Study 1 indicate that individuals are more likely to adopt an inclusion strategy to reduce a consideration set to a more manageable size, and that an exclusion strategy results in a larger consideration set. In Study 2, the findings reveal that high-indecisiveness individuals are less likely than low-indecisiveness individuals to select an inclusion strategy, but that high-indecisiveness individuals adopting an inclusion strategy are able to reduce the number of alternatives in a consideration set to a manageable size on par with the size of a consideration set formed by low-indecisiveness individuals without elevating the level of perceived difficulty. The current research contributes to the stream of research on consideration set construction and indecisiveness, and offers useful practical implications for overcoming indecisiveness. Limitations and avenues for further research are also discussed.

In this research, two studies show that the bodily experience of holding objects in the hand is tied to the mental concept of acquiring material wealth. Holding objects in the hand (a) increased people’s desires for possessing fairly luxurious goods (Study 1) and (b) made people judge a controversial issue (e.g., “sweatshops” run by global companies) more favorably based on wanting to generate more wealth for individuals and society rather than on humanitarian concerns (Study 2). These results provide evidence that the bodily experience not only helps to represent an abstract concept but also can shape attitude and judgment congruent with the metaphor represented in the bodily experience.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of customer-contact employees support on service recovery efforts. Service companies should try to prevent the service failure situation from occurring, but it is realistic that the service failure occurs due to the characteristics of the service. Service recovery efforts of service providers are important because effective responses to service failures can enhance customer satisfaction despite service failures. Social support for customer-contact employees needs to improve service recovery efforts. Specifically, this study focuses on the mediation roles of job burnout and customer orientation in relationship between social support for customer-contact employees and service recovery efforts. Social exchange theory was used as the theoretical underpinning of the research model. Based on reciprocity principle, this paper suppose that support for customer-contact employees and service recovery effort are a kind of social exchange relationship. Social supports for customer-contact employees are categorized into internal and external organization. Internal organization is POS(perceived organizational support) and external organization is customer support. The research model was tested with the data gathered from the flight attendants whose emotional labor intensity was relatively high and the service failure frequently occurred. As a result of analysis, social supports for customer-contact employees classified into organizational support, supervisor support, and customer support are found to have differential impacts on job burnout and customer orientation. It has been found that job burnout of service providers is negatively affecting service recovery efforts. On the other hand, customer orientation of service providers has a positive influence on service recovery efforts. Based on the results of the analysis, we provide practical implications for effective service recovery efforts in service failure situations, and suggest the theoretical implications to explain the process of service recovery effort. Finally, limitations of the study and directions for future research are suggested.

Korea Ginseng Corporation is a global ginseng company, owning one of the most leading brands in Korea, CheongKwanJang. Although Korea Ginseng Corporation was an undoubted market leader in the red ginseng market, it faced a new challenge in 2012 due to the changes in market environment. In order to keep its market leadership in a saturated and competitive market, the company decided to extend its product lines alongside the launches of new brands. In this article, the authors demonstrate the development process of the company’s brand portfolio strategy to reveal how the company turned CheongKwanJang into a mega-brand. Also, this paper explores the impact of CheongKwanJang’s reputation on new brands, thereby illustrating how the company successfully managed to introduce new products outside of the red ginseng category, ranging from organic food to a pet food market.

Korea Ginseng Corporation is a global ginseng company, owning one of the most leading brands in Korea, CheongKwanJang. Although Korea Ginseng Corporation was an undoubted market leader in the red ginseng market, it faced a new challenge in 2012 due to the changes in market environment. In order to keep its market leadership in a saturated and competitive market, the company decided to extend its product lines alongside the launches of new brands. In this article, the authors demonstrate the development process of the company’s brand portfolio strategy to reveal how the company turned CheongKwanJang into a mega-brand. Also, this paper explores the impact of CheongKwanJang’s reputation on new brands, thereby illustrating how the company successfully managed to introduce new products outside of the red ginseng category, ranging from organic food to a pet food market.

This study examines the linkage between Korean wave, corporate image and country image, perceived quality of products made in the country. To close a gap lacking empirical studies on impacts of corporate image to country image and to further understand impacts of Korean wave, this study conducts survey over Chinese consumers to test the effects of corporate image, Korean wave to the country image, and verify on its effects to perceived quality of the products made in the country. The results show that both corporate image and Korean wave influences to form positive country image of Korea, and perceived quality of Korean made products. The size of effects varies upon products type and stimuli. This study could provide policy makers insights how to promote country image as well as support SMEs for developing overseas markets. Also, it could give marketers valuable implications to develop effective global marketing strategies using cultural assets, country image and salient corporate image.

Vietnamese luxury market is rapidly growing, however, there is a few researches on Vietnamese consumers’ perceptions of luxury products and influential factors in purchasing intention. The purpose of this study is to explore Vietnamese consumers’ value dimensions and mediating effect of social media information for their decision making for luxury product. Data were collected using self-administered mail survey. This study examines the influences of consumers’ perceptions of quality and value, and social media word-of-mouth on Vietnamese consumers’ luxury purchase intention.

The objective of this study is to find the effects of consumer values on eco-friendly buying behavior. This study examines environmental attitudes and involvement as moderating variables to explain eco-friendly buying behavior of consumers. Hypotheses were developed based on Focus Group Interviews, Depth Interviews, and literature reviews. To test such hypotheses, questionnaires were distributed and collected among female adults aged 18 or above, and who are either office workers or housewives. The analysis results show that personal values, sociocultural values, and values related to ecofriendly products affect consumers in their eco-friendly buying behavior. Among those values, concern about safety and health, eco-friendly culture and trend, willingness to pay price premiums and functional effects of eco-friendly products have significant effects on eco-friendly buying behavior. Reflecting these results, business marketers must appeal to consumers with more focus on safety and health, perceived consumer effectiveness, self-monitoring, eco-friendly culture and trend, media exposure, willingness to pay price premiums, design excellence and functional effects, to implement marketing communication strategies accordingly.

This study investigates the effects of the distribution channel structure on quality decisions under duopoly competition. I considers a set-up in which two retailers compete on product quality and retail price. In the set-up, the integrated retailer has the power to determine the quality of its exclusive product, while the decentralized retailer does not. For the decentralized retailer, the supplier determines product quality. I find that asymmetric pairs of a decentralized channel by one retailer and an integrated channel by the other retailer can be a Nash equilibrium in a simultaneous-channel- choice model. The two retailers select different levels of quality, and this quality competition benefits retailers by softening price competition. In a sequential-channel-choice model, I find that the leader can obtain a first-mover advantage. From the perspective of the supplier, which can decide the distribution channel structure and level of quality, both suppliers choose the decentralized channel in equilibrium.