Past research has shown that concrete ad copies perform better than abstract ad copies in enhancing consumers’ attitudes toward and purchase intentions of the product. These studies have defined the abstractness-concreteness of an ad copy as the extent to which the ad copy activates visual imagery of the product information in consumers’ minds. However, other researchers have proposed another definition of the abstractness-concreteness of an ad copy: generality vs. specificity. That is, the more general (specific), the more (fewer) particular incidents an ad copy includes. Employing the alternative definition, this study re-examined the concreteness effect that has been reported. Specifically, based on regulatory focus theory and past studies on hedonic/utilitarian consumption, this study proposed that the impact of the abstractness-concreteness of an ad copy on consumers’ attitudes toward or purchase intentions of the product would be moderated by their regulatory foci and types of product attributes. Also, several propositions were set forth regarding the underlying process of the moderation effect. However, the online experiment this study conducted failed to support the propositions. Instead, the concreteness effect was observed. Based on the finding, this study discusses several issues that may advance our knowledge about the concreteness effect as well as about regulatory focus theory and consumers’ hedonic/utilitarian consumption. Also, several suggestions are made for future studies in this regard. / text

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The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the influence of a component of the service environment, namely music, on consumers' judgments and behaviors. More specifically, we were interested in the underlying mechanisms of pleasure effects. We proposed, based on theories from psychological environment and scene perception, that the pleasure induced by background music first influences the overall attractiveness of the service atmosphere, which in turn, has the ability to influence the attractiveness of the persons found in this environment, specifically the service personnel. Finally, these two dimensions of the service environment (i.e., the atmosphere and the personnel) are antecedents of consumers' judgments and behaviors. / The first study was designed to recreate, in a three-minute video-based scenario, a segment of a banking service experience. The video was filmed so to mimic the viewpoint of an actual customer waiting to be served. Three pre-tested background music selections were added as part of the ambient soundtrack. One hundred and fifty-three participants were thus exposed to music high to low in liking and were subsequently asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to assess participants' perception of the service environment, of the personnel, and of the overall service quality. Results showed that music-induced pleasure has a positive influence on the perception of the atmosphere, which was found to impact the perception of the personnel and together these two perceptual dimensions (atmosphere and personnel) were both found to impact overall quality perceptions. / The second study was designed to recreate as faithfully as possible an actual service experience in the controlled environment of the laboratory. One hundred and seventy-three participants were asked to browse an Internet catalog of house and kitchen gadgets and were asked to find a product that they would want to give to their best friend. After making a preliminary choice, they were guided to participate in an online chat session with a consultant. On a between-subject basis, participants were exposed during the browsing and chatting portions to two different lounge music selections that were pre-tested to provide two levels of pleasure---high and moderate. A control condition with no ambient music was also used. To assess the impact of different modes of perceptions, the music was delivered either through speakers hidden in the room or through speakers connected to the computer. This second study confirmed the positive impact of music-induced pleasure on the perception of the environment and of the personnel and their mediating role on the perception of the company and on future behavior. This study also revealed some of the negative consequences of lesser-liked ambient music, especially in consumption contexts where it can be the focus of customers' attention. / The results point to the complexity of music as an atmospheric stimulus and the difficulty of manipulating it for commercial purposes. The results should be useful to managers and designers who must engineer the various elements of the service environment.

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This dissertation examines how consumers cope with stress and, specifically, the role of magical thinking in consumer coping. Magical thinking is defined here as creating or invoking ‘extraordinary’ connections – symbolic relationships founded on a belief or intuition in the presence of mystical forces in the world – in order to understand, predict, or influence events. Previous research in the field of psychology has largely depicted magical thinking as a cognitive distortion or fallacious reasoning that emerges in stressful situations due to limited information-processing capacity or to provide an illusory sense of control (e.g., Zusne and Jones 1989). In contrast, I draw from research in sociology, anthropology, and religious studies to explore the cultural dimension of magical thinking. Building on Stivers’ (1999) culturally-based theory of magic, I seek to develop an understanding of magical thinking as a process of meaning negotiation whereby consumers invoke mystical forces to cope with stressful events. These themes are explored through a phenomenological investigation of consumers’ weight loss activities. Findings provide insight on the nature and conceptual domain of magical thinking in the marketplace; magical thinking emerges as a set of practices that involves imparting moral meaning to a situation, reifying and externalizing one’s control over the situation, attempting to symbolically influence this powerful, mystical entity that is vested with control, and interpreting scientific symbols as objective signs from this entity. This research also advances our understanding of consumer coping by illuminating the role of magical thinking as a resource that expands the realm of the possible to help consumers cope with the moral responsibility for a domain over which they experience limited agency. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-19 07:33:13.701

The present dissertation examines the impact of advertising message involvement (AMI) and the type of ad (ADTYPE) on the nature (cognitive versus affective) and level of abstraction of the information that is encoded during ad exposure. In addition, it examines the impact of brand response involvement (BRI) and the type of purchase motives (TPM) on the nature and level of abstraction of the information that is used for making a judgment or choice. / An experiment using 372 subjects was conducted. A 2x2x2x2 between subjects design manipulated AMI (low versus high), ADTYPE (rational versus emotional), BRI (low versus high), and TPM (cognitive versus affective). Results indicated that ADTYPE determines the nature of the information that is encoded during ad exposure, whereas AMI determines the level of abstraction of cognitive (but not affective) information encoded. Results regarding the impact of BRI and TPM were not conclusive.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateinBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2000

Thesis (MBus)--University of South Australia, 2000