The Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) reached forty years old in 2015. To help the celebrations we conducted an analysis of the topics featured in the journal over the years. For many journals, you can use the keywords supplied by the authors. The downside of this is that authors may use fashionable words wanting to…
Category: Understanding Marketing
Who Do Consumer Researchers Study?
To celebrate its 40th anniversary the Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) is publishing a couple of articles that look at what consumer behavior researchers study. The first is by Justine Rapp and Ronald Paul Hill which considers who do consumer researchers study? The second is by a team I was part of. More of which…
Price Discrimination And Seniors
Peter Shawn Taylor discusses price discrimination and seniors. He argues for the abolition of seniors’ discounts. There is probably a discussion worth having over where to target government benefits. Do rich seniors get benefits that might be better targeted at younger people? I think this can be the case (although senior poverty remains a major…
Mapping Social Networks With NodeXL
Today I’m taking a slightly different tack. I’m recommending software. This allows researchers and managers to go about mapping social networks with NodeXL. The good news is that this is software that is an add-on to Excel. (Sadly it only works with the Windows version). It is easy to use, and if you already know…
Who Are The Vital Links In A Network?
When studying a social network one interesting question concerns: Who are the vital links in a network? Who connects everyone together compared to who could you remove without much difference to the network? Vital go-betweens may not be the most important in terms of their own characteristics or achievements. Yet, they take on greater importance…
The Denseness of Social Networks
What can we find out from the denseness of social networks? Individual Versus Network Characteristics Researchers often study questions focused upon the individual. For example, we might want to know if a consumer has been influenced by an advertisement. Alternatively, we might assess what sort of skills are useful for a salesperson to possess? There…
Sales And Consumer Protection
Peter Shawn Taylor discusses sales and consumer protection. He criticizes the Canadian Competition Bureau “for going after retailers for discounting too often” (Taylor, 2015). The piece was interesting. Sadly, Taylor’s arguments were unconvincing. Sales And Consumer Protection I’ll focus upon the general arguments rather than the specific cases. I cannot comment on the specific details…
Is Reliability A Good Thing?
Reliability in analysis is widely valued. Reliability is returning the same result whenever we test the same thing. I’m not against reliability. Still, it can be overrated as Scott Armstrong explains. We need to ask occasionally: Is Reliability A Good Thing? Or more accurately, how much are we willing to sacrifice at the altar of…
Framing And Product Experience
Framing is an important topic in marketing. At its simplest, research in framing and product experience investigates the impact of information packaging. The same information can have different effects depending upon presentation choices. Of course, as with any important idea, each researcher has their own precise definition. Framing As Description Levin and Gaeth (1988) use…
Consumer Reactions To Shipping Charges
Shipping charges are a vital consideration for online marketers. They are most interested in understanding consumer reactions to shipping charges. Consumer Reactions To Shipping Charges Academic marketers haven’t done as much work on the topic as one might expect. As Lewis, Singh, and Fay note, “Shipping charges are an important but under-researched element of the…
