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¶ … consumer choice seem 'obvious' to a naive observer, namely that consumers will inevitably prefer cheaper products over more expensive ones, and more products rather than fewer items. However, psychological research suggests that 'common sense' does not always hold true when it comes to market research, hence the need for companies to spend money on obtaining such findings to improve the use of scarce money and time when seeking to reach the public. This paper will present a review of three peer-reviewed articles in the field of consumer research on human subjects which provide further nuance to the study of consumption habits.
According to Dai & Fishbach (2014), although the presence of products can stimulate the desire to consume, so can the absence of such products. If 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' in the case of romance, the same can be said to be true of buying consumer goods. One of the central questions asked in their research was: "When a product becomes temporarily unavailable, does desire for it increase or decrease over time?" (Xianchi & Fishbach 2014: 938). A survey of one hundred and five undergraduate students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong studying abroad who completed an online study on food consumption yielded the finding that the length of time spent away from favorite foods coupled with a lack of acceptable substitutes increased the saliency...
A study of Jewish people keeping kosher over Passover yielded the finding that the desire for substitutes increased markedly with the duration of the absence of the forbidden food and the presence of salient substitutes decreased the desire for forbidden foods overall (Xianchi & Fishbach 2014: 941).
However, another study which required participants to abstain from Facebook for its duration determined that desire increased in the face of the absence of acceptable substitutes. Ultimately, the researchers concluded that duration of nonconsumption and the presence of substitutes were the critical factors in influencing desire: "In the absence of substitutes, longer nonconsumption increases desire (including, missing, liking, and consumption intention), whereas in the presence of salient substitutes, longer nonconsumption decreases desire" (Xianchi & Fishbach 2014: 948). These findings have critical implications for marketers. For products without substitutes of comparable value, artificially induced scarcity could boost consumption (such as seasonal 'rationing' of products). For products with many substitutes, however, a shortage could result in permanently decreased demand, due to a shift to substitute goods.
In another study involving human subjects, Mittleman (et al. 2014) found that the presentation of goods in…
References
Middleman, M., Andrade, E.B., Chattopadhyay, A. & Brendl, C.M. (2014). The offer framing effect: Choosing single vs. bundled offerings affects variety seeking. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(4), 953-964. doi:10.1086/678193
Ward, M.K., & Dahl, D.W. (2014). Should the devil Sell Prada? Retail rejection increases aspiring consumers' desire for the brand. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(3), 590-609.
Xianchi, D. & Fishbach, A. (2014). How nonconsumption shapes desire. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(4), 936-952. doi:10.1086/678302
Unethical/Criminal Conduct following the Equities Market Crash 2000 to 2002 This paper is a discussion of the identification and analysis of unethical and criminal conduct following the equities market crash from 2000 to 2002. The paper begins with an Introduction to the problem in Chapter One that also contains the hypothesis for the paper, the definition of terms section, and other valuable information. This information sets up the rest of
Downside of Nuclear Energy: Energy production has been a major issue that has attracted huge concerns in the recent past because of the negative environmental impacts associated with generating energy through burning of fossil fuels. A growing interest in nuclear power has significantly increases during this period as it is considered as a real solution to energy security and means of dealing with climate change. Actually, there have been concerns
Steps were also taken to organize a stock market in Lahore (Burki, 1999, pp.127-128). Also organized during this period were the Pakistan Industrial and Credit Investment Corporation (PICIC) and the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP), both of which were important to industrial development, obtaining "large amounts of capital from the World Bank, the former for investment in large industries, the latter in relatively smaller enterprises" (Burki, 1999, p. 128). This
David Foster Wallace In his Kenyon College commencement speech, David Foster Wallace makes the claim that the "real value of a real education…has almost nothing to do with knowledge" (Wallace, 2008). Instead, Wallace believes that college education is about training the mind to think, giving students "not the capacity to think, but rather the choice of what to think about" -- or, as he phrases it later in the speech, "learning
Action The importance of creativity and innovation in the workplace is well documented, but the debate over nature vs. nurture continues with some authorities maintaining that people are born with attributes such as creativity and innovation while others argue that such attributes can be inculcated over time (Furnham & Heaven 1999). To determine the facts in these matters, this case study examines the relevant literature to gain some fresh insights
Distance learning, sometimes called "distance education" is, according to Kerka (1996), a method of education in which the learner is physically separated from the professor and the institution sponsoring the instruction. Distance education may be used on its own, or in conjunction with other forms of education, including face-to-face instruction. The advent of television and, indeed, the whole complex of newer communications media (from video to satellites) has given American citizens