Quantity Distortion Effect in Consumers' Perception of Different Volumes and Weights of Money: A Pilot Study.

Consumers tend to misunderstand the physical value of cash money by adopting improper anchors for their judgments (e.g., banknote size and shape, currency denominations, etc.). In a pilot study carried out on a sample of 242 participants (n = 116 men; M age = 29.6 year, SD = 10.8), a quantity distortion effect was demonstrated by evaluating consumers' misperceptions of different monetary quantities, either in terms of volume or weight, using banknotes of the same denomination (€50). A threshold value was found, for both volume (€876,324) and weight (€371,779), above (below) which consumers tend to overrate (underrate) monetary amounts. The theoretical and operative implications are discussed.

Consumer hypnotic-like suggestibility: possible mechanism in compulsive purchasing.

The authors hypothesize a concept, Consumer Hypnotic-Like Suggestibility (CHLS), defined as an altered state of consciousness, as a state causing a tendency to respond positively to messages aimed at inducing consumers to make unplanned purchases. This study aims to investigate the associations of CHLS with interpersonal variables and compulsive purchasing--a frequent and uncontrollable preoccupation with buying or impulses to buy. A study was conducted on a sample of 232 subjects (n = 111 men; M age = 41 yr.), through the administration of a questionnaire, which measured: CHLS, compulsive purchasing, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (the necessity to enhance one's image in the opinion of others through the consumption of products), and consumer atmospherics, i.e., environmental stimuli known to influence purchasing decisions. Modeling and mediation analyses suggested that internal and external drivers--Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence and atmospherics--are positively related to CHLS which affects compulsive purchasing.

Brand emotional credibility: effects of mixed emotions about branded products with varying credibility.

This research investigates the effects of mixed emotions on the positioning and on the intention to purchase different categories of branded products (i.e., Attractiveness-products, Expertise-products, and Trustworthiness-products), in relation to their main component of credibility (Ohanian, 1990). On the basis of a focus group (n = 12) aimed to identify the three branded products used as stimuli and a pre-test (n = 240) directed to discover emotions elicited by them, two studies (n = 630; n = 240) were carried out. Positioning and multiple regression analyses showed that positive and negative emotions are positively related with the positioning and the purchase intention of Attractiveness-products, and, respectively, positively and negatively related with those of Trustworthiness-products; whereas negative emotions are negatively associated with those of Expertise-products. Brand Emotional Credibility--i.e., the emotional believability of the brand positioning signals--may help to identify unconscious elements and the simultaneous importance of mixed emotions associated with different products to match consumers' desires and expectations.