The skincare sector is among the fastest growing consumer branded products, boasting unprecedented growth rates in emerging markets, as well as steady growth in developed and post-developed markets. Yet, a more relevant question to marketers of branded skincare products is what factors influence consumers’ decisions about where to buy such products, and whether or not to spread positive word-of-mouth (WOM) about products and store preferences. Sirgy’s (1982, 1985) self-congruence theory postulates that the greater the match between a consumer’s self-image and the image of a retailer’s typical patron, the greater the likelihood that the consumer will prefer and patronize that retailer. However, a review of the literature on self-image congruence shows a lack of consensus with respect to: 1) the effect of self-image congruence on retail patronage, and 2) the relative strength of the four dimensions (i.e., actual/ideal self- and social/ideal social self-image) of self-image congruence on consumer preferences and choices (e.g., Ibrahim & Najjar, 2008; Kang, Tang, Lee, & Bosselma, 2012). Further, Sirgy, Grewal, and Mangleburg (2000) suggested that the more a consumer matches a retailer’s store attributes with those of an ideal store, the more likely the consumer will prefer and patronize the retailer. Thus, an integrative model (Sirgy et al., 2000) that captures the effects of retail environment and self-image congruence on retail patronage served as the theoretical foundation of this study. The purpose of this study was to examine interactively the effects of retail environment and self-image congruence on retail shopping experience and patronage behavior of Generation Y-aged (Gen Y) consumers with respect to skincare products (i.e., a sub-sector of cosmetics). Primary data were collected through online surveys from 336 American and 325 Chinese Gen Y consumers. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships between self-image congruence, functional congruence, retail shopping experience, and retail patronage behavior. The findings indicate that, across the two sample groups examined, both self-image and functional congruence are related positively to Gen Y consumers’ intentions to spread positive WOM about products and store preferences. In addition, functional, but not self-image congruence, is related positively to purchase intentions across the two groups. Importantly, shopping experience, including satisfaction and pleasure, mediates the relationships between self-image, functional congruence, and retail patronage. Finally, the results of multi-group comparisons show that culture moderates the relative strength of the effect of different dimensions of self-image congruence on Gen Y consumers’ evaluations of retail store attributes and their likelihood to disseminate positive WOM. Specifically, the social-domain of image congruence (e.g., how others see me) had a greater influence on WOM for consumers from a collectivistic culture than it did for those from an individualistic culture. In contrast, the self-domain of image congruence (e.g., how I see myself) had a greater effect on Gen Y consumers’ evaluations of store attributes among those from an individualistic culture than it did for those from a collectivistic culture. This study makes three major contributions to the literature. First, the findings confirm the role of self-image and functional congruence on retail shopping experience and patronage behavior. Second, by using two sample groups from vastly different cultures, the study cross-validates the integrative conceptual model that explains consumers’ retail patronage. Finally, the findings add depth to the original self-image congruence theory by identifying conditions in which the relative strength of the relationships differ.

Previous research has suggested that the country of origin cue is important to consumers during their purchase decision making process; the cue is utilised as an indicator of product quality and thus has an effect on purchase decisions. However, country of origin research has been heavily criticised in terms of methodology and has tended to focus on durable, manufactured products such as automobiles, electronics and apparel. This research investigates whether consumers do utilise the country of origin cue during actual wine purchase decisions and whether consumer perceptions of wine will vary based upon the country from which it originates. In addition, this study also seeks to identify all of the product attributes which are utilised by wine purchasers, and the degree to which these attributes are important to them during the purchase decision process. Finally, the research seeks to understand the influence that individual consumer characteristics (i.e. demographic variables, product knowledge and product involvement) and usage situations will have upon attribute utilisation and importance. In order to examine these broad research questions, a structured survey was developed and administered to respondents in four countries immediately following an actual wine purchase. Analysis of the collected survey data revealed that consumers typically utilised only a small number of attributes during their purchase decisions, and that the attributes which were most frequently utilised were not necessarily the most important to wine consumers. The country of origin cue was the eighth most frequently utilised attribute and the fourth in terms of importance. The majority of consumers could accurately identify the country of origin of the wine they had just purchased and their perceptions of wines were found to vary based upon the country of origin. Individual consumer characteristics were found to have varying effects upon attribute utilisation and importance ratings. Three-quarters of all wine purchases were made to resolve just four usage situations, and these situations were found to moderate the origin of the wine that the consumer selected during their purchase decision. From a theoretical standpoint, this study supports the idea that consumers utilise only a small number of attributes during their decision making process, and that this number will increase as product knowledge and product involvement levels increase. The most important attributes for consumers were found to be intrinsic in nature. Country of origin theory has also been advanced by this study; consumers were found to hold stereotyped perceptions of wine based upon its national origin, and both the nationality and education level of the consumer were found to moderate the utilisation of the country of origin cue. Whilst earlier researchers had suggested that any home country bias may be product specific, this study suggests that it may actually be a product dimension specific phenomenon. The high reliability of the product involvement and subjective knowledge scales should also be of value to future consumer behaviour researchers. Similarly, the idea that the usage situation influenced which product was purchased, but not how it was selected, expands current knowledge. Practical implications arising from this study include the identification of the importance of having previously tried a wine; marketers could increase sales through the provision of wine tasting opportunities for consumers. The significant correlation between involvement and the frequency of wine consumption also provides wine producers with an opportunity to increase sales through initiatives which will increase consumer involvement with wine. The results indicate that the wine industry should focus on the production and marketing of wines which are suitable for consumption in the identified four dominant usage situations and should seek to increase consumption in dining situations in the US. Finally, promotional strategies linking New Zealand wines with high quality appear to have been successful, but these messages will need to be repeated in order to reinforce the positive consumer perceptions.

Brands are well recognized to create trust and develop both cognitive and emotional ties with customers, but primarily in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Recent research acknowledges the fact that brands, despite the differences between B2C and business-to-business (B2B) contexts, may carry valuable features in B2B contexts as well. B2B purchasing is a combination of decisions made by individuals and their decision could many times be influenced by personal- as well as affective- and cognitive factors, although in an organizational setting. This study intended to examine the influence of brands in a B2B purchasing context and is delimitated to the definitions made by the European Union (2013) for micro and small-sized enterprises (MSEs). The study was restricted to investigate products that were used for certain organizational purposes, e.g. products that are consumed in the daily activities of organizational functions. A distinction was made between highand low involvement purchases. For this study, a research model was based on recognized brand concepts and organizational buying behavior models. The model illustrates the underlying hypothesis that organizational buying behavior is differently affected by brands depending on product involvement. This research used a qualitative approach, using in-depth interviews to retrieve a deeper understanding of human behavior and the underlying reasons behind such behavior. The result implies that substantial organizational buying behavior had ties to purchasers’ individual buying behavior and further implies emotions being a strong factor when the buyer lacks knowledge, motivation or interest in the product. Brand was initially stated to have limited influence on organizational decisions, which at further elaboration turned out to contradict the actual purchasing behavior.

Cette thèse de doctorat étudie la réponse des consommateurs à la longévité brandée de la marque. En particulier, on explore l'effet de la longévité brandée de la marque sur la fluidité du traitement et la familiarité de la marque dans diverses conditions. Comment réagissent les consommateurs lorsqu'une marque indique sa date de création sur un emballage ou une publicité ? Comment leurs réactions diffèrent­elles en fonction de leur niveau d’implication avec le produit ou de la congruence entre la catégorie de produit et la longévité de la marque? Cette thèse identifie les processus psychologiques qui se produisent lors de l'exposition à la longévité brandée de la marque afin d'expliquer l'effet de la longévité de la marque sur le consommateur. La longévité brandée de la marque est censée susciter une réaction positive chez le consommateur, telle que la confiance dans la marque et la crédibilité de la marque. Cette thèse examine les mécanismes psychologiques qui expliquent ces effets. La fluidité du traitement est considérée comme le cadre théorique pouvant expliquer ces effets. Un modèle démontre que celle­ci est le médiateur entre l’effet de la longévité brandée de la marque et la familiarité de la marque. Ce modèle prend en compte des effets modérateurs tels que l’implication envers le produit et la congruence. / This doctoral dissertation examines consumer response to branded longevity. In particular, it explores the effect of branded longevity on processing fluency and brand familiarity under various conditions. How do consumers react when a brand indicates its founding date on a package or advertisement? How do their reactions differ according to their level of involvement with the product or the congruence between the product category and branded longevity? This thesis identifies the psychological processes that occur during exposure to branded longevity in order to explain the effect of the longevity of the brand on the consumer. Branded longevity is argued to positively influence marketing variables, such as brand confidence and brand credibility. This thesis examines the psychological mechanisms that explain these effects. Processing fluency is considered as the theoretical framework that can explain these effects. Our model shows that processing fluency mediates the effect of branded longevity on brand familiarity. This model takes into account moderating effects such as product involvement and congruence.

Title:  The effects of online third-party opinions toward Consumer Purchasing Decision on cosmetics products in Thai market Seminar date: June 4th , 2012 Course: Master thesis in International marketing, 15 credits Purpose: The overall purpose of this research is to explain the understanding of the effects of online third-party opinions toward consumer purchasing decision process on cosmetics products in Thai market. This includes the investigation of effective used of online third-party opinions with regards to source credibility and product involvement, specifically toward cosmetics products. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework of this research is based on literature concerning online third party opinion, consumer decision journey (CDJ), product involvement and source credibility. Methodology: Both quantitative and qualitative method was applied. And thus a questionnaire with 147 respondents on Thai market and two interviews of expert marketers were conducted. The respondents for questionnaire are Thai women with specific age range and criteria. Conclusion: The online third-party opinion plays the important role in nowadays in the marketing perspective. And it does affect the consumer purchasing decision process both pre-purchase and post-purchase stage. However, it mostly affects in Consider and Evaluation Stage. With regards to the product involvement and source credibility applying to cosmetics products, these two variables affect to the use of online third-party opinion. Online third-party opinion works best with high involvement product. However, low involvement product also be considered as suitable to use with online third-party opinion. For source credibility, both online expert and consumer reviews perform better when using with high involvement product comparing with low involvement one.

2015年的今日是一個充斥著各種媒體的社會，我們每天都會接觸到形形色色的廣告標語。根據前人之研究，廣告標語是一項普遍且相當有效的行銷技術。企業打廣告的最終目的無非是提高銷售量，而之前的研究探討廣告標語對購買意願影響者較少，也較少針對廣告標語進行分類後來探討其效果。故本研究使用理性與感性兩大類、共16種不同策略訴求之廣告 標語作為探討主題，以問卷調查方式來研究其對產品態度及購買意願二種廣告效果之影響，並以產品涉入程度(高/低)作為調節變數。 本研究使用「汽車」作為高涉入產品，「罐裝咖啡」作為低涉入產品來進行平面廣告的實驗，實驗對象為政治大學的大學生、研究生，以及PTT論壇上e-Shopping版的版友，共回收1,002份有效問卷，根據本研究之分析結果，可以得到以下發現： 一、 使用廣告標語的廣告文案可以增加消費者的購買意願。 二、 廣告標語的理性程度越高，消費者會形成更佳的產品態度及購買意願。 三、 產品態度與購買意願兩變數間存在顯著正向關係。 四、 產品態度在廣告標語理性程度與購買意願間具有部分中介效果。 五、 產品涉入程度在廣告標語理性程度與產品態度及購買意願間不具調節效果。 六、 在高涉入產品中，使用「類別訴求標語」、「理念形象訴求標語」、「功效訴求標語」能使消費者有較佳的產品態度及購買意願。 七、 在低涉入產品中，使用「理念形象訴求標語」、「類別訴求標語」能使消費者有較佳的產品態度及購買意願。 根據本研究之結果，廣告標語在行銷上擔任了非常重要的地位，且廣告標語越為理性消費者的反應也越好。因此建議行銷或廣告從業人員在設計廣告標語時，可以先往理性這個大方向著手，再搭配適當訴求策略的廣告標語，以達到最佳的廣告效果。 / It is now a society with plenty of medias, and everyday there are many kinds of advertising slogans showing up in front of our eyes. According to previous studies, advertising slogan itself is one of very common and effective marketing techniques. The most important purpose for companies to launch an advertisement is to increase the sales of their products or services. However, few studies have discussed the relation between advertising slogan and purchase intention or sorting advertising slogans by different appeals. Therefore, this study used rational and emotional advertising slogans (with 16 different types of appeals in total), and add product involvement as moderator, to discuss their influence on attitude toward product and purchase intention. This study used car as high-involvement product and canned coffee as low-involvement product to conduct an advertisement experiment. 1,002 people from the students of NCCU and the users of “e-Shopping” online fourm on PTT participated in the experiment. The several findings include: 1. Using advertising slogans in an advertising copy can increase purchase intention. 2. Rational advertising slogans led to better attitude toward product and purchase intention. 3. There is a positive relation between attitude toward product and purchase intention. 4. Attitude toward product has a partial mediator effect between the rational level of slogan and purchase intention. 5. Product involvement does not have moderator effect between the rational level of slogan and attitude toward product (purchase intention). 6. In high-involvement product, the “category appeal slogans”, “ideal and image slogans” and “function slogans” led to a better attitude toward product and purchase intention. 7. In low-involvement product, the “category appeal slogans” and “ideal and image slogans” led to a better attitude toward product and purchase intention. According to the findings, slogan is an important marketing technique. The more rational a slogan is, the better reaction a consumer has. People who work as marketing or advertising staffs can take this result into consideration when they are designing the slogans of their products or services to get the better advertising effectiveness.

電視新聞置入性行銷雖是新興現象，但在新聞界蔓延已成為普遍現象，成為影響新聞產製的重要力量。電視新聞置入性行銷，以較為迂迴、精心設計，與新聞內容融合一體，使消費者難以區辨到底是新聞，還是為商品廣告的行銷訊息。國內目前研究，多是探討此種行銷方式，對新聞專業與新聞工作者的影響，尚未見對閱聽人接收與影響面向的研究。是故，本研究欲探究閱聽人對於產品置入性新聞之接收評價，在溝通效果中扮演的角色。 本研究以實驗法進行，採取三因子實驗設計，為2(置入型態：顯性/隱性)*2(論點品質：強論點/弱論點)*2(產品涉入度：高涉入/低涉入)*2=8個產品置入策略組合，為避免受試者觀看不同產品的效果差異，故讓每位受試者觀看分別看高低二種產品涉入度的實驗影片，形成4個實驗組別，共邀集185位受測者參與，回收有效問卷164份，有效回收率為88.65%。　 研究結果發現，「產品置入型態」對置入性新聞溝通效果未有顯著影響。「訊息論點品質」是影響產品置入性新聞的關鍵因素，對產品置入性新聞之溝通效果影響最為顯著；採取強論點訊息，能引發閱聽人較正向的接收評價，不論是訊息接受度、可信度與資訊性皆有較佳的評價，進而影響消費者對品牌的態度，對訊息的記憶程度亦有相對較佳的表現。閱聽人對「置入性行銷的既存態度」影響閱聽人接收不同論點品質的溝通效果：即置入性行銷持以高既存態度者，暴露於強論點品質之產品置入性新聞，比暴露於弱論點品質時產生更多支持性的想法、較高的記憶效果與較佳的訊息態度。 / Although being an emerging phenomenon, the product placement on TV News has spread into an universal phenomenon in the News circles, and become an important force influencing News production. With relatively roundabout and meticulous design, the Product Placement on TV News is well integrated with the News content, making consumers difficult to distinguish it from News and Marketing message of product. Present domestic researches are mainly investigating the impact of such marketing method on journalism and the News workers, but still haven’t focused on the reception and the influence of the audience. Therefore, this study is to investigate the audience’s reception comments on the Product Placemen on TV News and their roles in communication effect. This study adopts the experimentation of three-factor experimental design, which are 2 Placement Types (prominent/subtle) *2 Argument Qualities (strong /weak) *2 Product involvements (High /Low). A total of 185 participants were invited and all of them were randomized to watch the experimental films, and required to fill out the questionnaires after watching. A total of 164 effective questionnaires were returned, with a valid return rate of 88.65%. The results of this study show that the “Type of PPL” has no significant impact on the communication effect of the Product Placement on TV News. The “Message Argument Quality” is the key factor influencing the Product Placement on TV News. Using strong argument messages can trigger the audience’s relatively positive reception comments in message acceptability, News credibility and message informativeness and then impact the consumers’ attitudes towards brands. Also, it has relatively better performance on the recall degree towards messages.The audience’s existing attitudes towards the Placement Marketing impact their communication effects in receiving different argument qualities. The Placement Marketing with high existing attitudes will produce more supportive thoughts, higher recall effect and better message attitude when exposed in Product Placement on TV News of strong argument quality than that exposed in product placement news of weak argument quality.

本研究目的在探討代言人的選用策略、代言人代言數量、產品涉入程度與廣告效果之間的意涵；分析人口統計變數對廣告效果的差異性；檢定產品涉入程度、代言人代言數量多寡之間對廣告效果的關係。根據量化分析及質化訪談的研究分析，對代言人的選用策略提出整合研究建議。 研究方法採取量化的實驗法及質化的深度訪談進行，以實驗法進行的過程，先針對代言人代言數量多寡進行人選的前測，再與涉入程度高低不同程度的商品搭配，設計出一組3*2的實驗組合。透過統計檢定導出結論，再輔以實際廣告業界當中，從廣告主及廣告代理商的深度訪談佐證，最終再提出名人代言的選用策略建議。 根據實驗的結果統計歸納，摘要四點結論如下： 一、名人多品牌大量代言等於高知名度，廣告效果仍佳。 二、代言人代言數量過多導致推荐疲乏雖然存在，但對廣告效果影響有限。 三、在商品涉入程度的關係中，名人代言策略建議用在低涉入產品中，高涉入產品效果較差。 四、代言人的選擇應考慮目標對象的性別及教育程度進行遴選標準。 根據廣告主及廣告公司等業者的訪談，提出八項建議如下： 一、依據代言人性格及品牌關聯，為名人量身打造廣告，破解可能的推薦疲乏。二、經由代言人成為「品牌大使」的角色，發揮品牌精神。 三、為避免折損名人價值，名人應嚴選合作品牌，與品牌適配結合。 四、創造虛擬偶像或素人明星為操作代言人的奇兵策略。 五、整合性名人代言的傳播決策路徑 六、避免喧賓奪主效應，發展名人與品牌之間的雙贏及共生關係。 七、用名人自己平常慣用的語言及消費者認同的語言來溝通。 八、理性與感性建立品牌人格化模式。 / The purpose of this study is to explore the strategy of choosing advertising spokesperson, the number of endorsements, the meaning between product involvement and advertising effectiveness. Analyze the demographic variables toward advertising effectiveness. Test product involvement level and relationship between the number of endorsements of advertising spokesperson and the advertising effectiveness. The conclusion is based on the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative research to provide the integrated suggestion for choosing advertising spokesperson. Methodology is based on the quantitative and qualitative (in-depth interview) research. In the course of an experimental method, conduct the pre-test of the candidates for the number of endorsements by advertising spokesperson, the next step is to design a set of 3 * 2 experimental combinations with varying degrees of product involvement. The conclusions derived through a statistical test, and then supplemented with the actual advertising industry which, from the advertisers and advertising agencies in support of in-depth interviews and eventually made the choice of celebrity endorsement strategy proposals. According to the experimental results of statistical induction, four-point summary of the conclusions are as follows: 1. Celebrity endorsement for a large number of brands increases the total brand awareness which means the advertising effect is still good. 2. Lead to an excessive number of spokesmen for endorsement recommendation fatigue exist, but a limited impact on advertising effectiveness. 3. The relationship between the degree of product involvement, the celebrity endorsement strategy proposes to use in low-involvement products, high-involvement products seems less effective. 4. Choosing the advertising spokesperson should take into account gender and educational level of the Target audience as the selection criteria. According to the in-depth interview with advertisers and advertising agencies. The eight suggestions are as follows: 1. Based on the spokesperson personality and association with the brand, it is recommended that the advertising should be tailored to reduce the recommendation fatigue. 2. Through the advertising spokesperson become a "brand ambassador" role, to play the brand spirit. 3. In order to avoid impairment value of celebrity, celebrities should be carefully selected co-brand fit and brand integration. 4. The creation of a virtual idol or a prime people as the advertising spokesperson is an innovative strategy. 5. Integrated decision-making path to celebrity endorsement. 6. To avoid overwhelming and reduce the advertising effect, it is necessary to build the symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the brand to create the win-win situation. 7. Using its own language of the celebrities to communicate with the target audience. 8. Sense and Sensibility patterns to build brand personification.

近年來，全球女性保養品市場呈現穩定成長，雖然保養品以往都被視為屬於「女性領地」的產品，但全球男性保養市場不僅從2012年起就持續成長，未來前景也是相當看好。 有別於以往以性別（sex）做為市場區隔，消費者的性別認同及性傾向，已逐漸被用於區隔目標消費者，且同性戀消費者更因為其相較於一般異性戀男性的消費能力較強，而被視為「夢幻市場 （Dream Market）」。然而，現今台灣在該領域相關的研究文獻，卻往往只探討生理性別，忽略生理性別和性別認同之間的落差，如此將導致與性別相關的行銷研究有扭曲或偏頗的現象。 因此本研究希望能將性別認同與性傾向等因素，納入研究消費者購買保養品行為之考量因素，彌補理論和實際狀況的落差，期能研究出不同性別認同、性傾向的消費者，對不同定位保養品購買意願的差異，並根據該研究結果，給予保養品廠商一些行銷上的建議，讓其在釐清品牌定位時更有方向，並以更有效率、更適切的方式與顧客溝通。 本研究將影響保養品的購買意願從「性別認同」、「性傾向」、「獨特性需求」、「從眾行為」、「產品涉入」、「在意社會觀感程度」、「品牌知覺」、「品牌性別」、「品牌態度」等九大方面著手。 本研究以問卷方式獲取初級資料，收獲有效問卷共 375份，經過統計迴歸分析後發現，「性別認同」、「在意社會觀感程度」、「品牌知覺」和「品牌態度」此四項，最顯著影響消費者購買保養品意願。另外，雖然「性傾向」並沒有對購買意願產生影響，但卻有可能透過「在意社會觀感程度」干擾購買意願。而還有其他顯著影響因素待於研究中一一闡述。 / Recently, the global market of female skin care products has grown a steady pace. Although, the skin care products are usually regarded as female products, the global market of male skin care products has grown fastly since 2012 and market analysts are optimistic about its future. In the past, we usually only use “sex” to segment a market, but gender identity and sexual orientation are gradually used to target customers now. Moreover, gay customers are regarded as a “Dream Market” because they have greater purchasing power than heterosexual men do. However, existing studies still tend to probe into sex and neglect the differences between sex and gender identity. Therefore, this research takes gender Identity and sexual orientation into consideration when conducting the behavior of purchasing skin care products, and the dependent variable” purchase intention” is leveraged by “Gender Identity”, “Sexual Orientation“, “Product Involvement”, “Need for Uniqueness”, “Conformity Behavior”, “the Degree of Concerning with Social Perception”, “Brand Attitude”, “Brand Gender”, “Brand Perception”. Among influential factors, “Gender Identity”, “the Degree of Concerning with Social Perception”, “Brand Attitude”, and “Brand Perception” contribute significantly to purchase intention. Although sexual orientation does not lead to purchase intention, it may affect purchase intention through influencing the factor of “the degree of concerning with social perception”. Other factors affecting the behavior of purchasing skin care products will be further discussed in this research.