Article E - Lalwani, A. K., & Wang, J. J. (2019). Flashcards
(8 cards)
What is this article about?
TITLE: How do Consumers’ Cultural backgrounds and values influence their coupon proneness? A multimethod Investigation
→ Coupons are very effective in increasing sales. However, most people ignore coupons and don’t actually end up redeeming them. From the $321 billion dollars worth of coupon goods, only 2.5% of that amount were actually redeemed.
→ So, marketing departments are trying to find out what type of consumers are more or less likely to use coupons so that they can better target those who are more prone to use them.
→ Cultural backgrounds and values play a role in redeeming probabilities. This study looks at these differences through 5 studies.
→ They find that consumers with interdependent (vs independent) self-construal are more likely to
use coupons
* Interdependent = collective
* Independent = individualistic
→ Self-regulation = controlling, restraining and adjusting one’s actions and goals to achieve desired results. It is your ability to persist in the face of obstacles and accept short term pain for long term rewards.
→ Construal level theory = the idea that people think about things differently depending on how far away they are in time, space or imagination. E.g when something feels far away, we think about it in a big-picture or in an abstract way. When something feels close, we think about it in a detailed or practical way.
* High construal = thinking broadly and long term
* Low construal = focusing on details and the short term
Hypothesis and how are they studied?
H1: Consumers’ degree of interdependence, but not their degree of independence, positively predicts
coupon proneness
H2: The relationship between interdependence and coupon process is driven by self-regulation
Studies 1a-1c aimed to look at the first 1. hypothesis The aim was first to understand the cultural differences in coupon proneness and then really test whether it is the level of interdependence that influences the use of coupons.
STUDY 1a:
- Asians vs Caucasians consumers were compared through data bases to see differences in coupon use.
- From the **7 datasets **used, the researchers were able to come to the conclusion that hypothesis 1 is initially supported.
- It showed that Asians are more likely to use coupons + save money due to coupons no matter the household income, size or age.
STUDY 1b:
- looked deeper into relationships between ethnicity and likeliness to use coupons through a real Subway coupon.
- tests if price sensitivity and other demographics were also influencing factors
- Participants had to do a short survey in exchange for a 4 dollar coupon at a Subway.
- In that survey questions on price sensitivity were asked aswell as their race. From the 422 participants who took the survey and got the coupon, 154 ended up redeeming the cope (32%).
- The results showed that from all the ethnic groups, Asians were the most likely to redeem the coupons.
- Further, people from smaller households were more likely to redeem aswell.
- Price sensitivity was not found to be an influencing factor on coupon redemption.
STUDY 1c:
- interdependence positively predicts coupon proneness (hyp 1)
- Different Asian and Caucasian countries have different levels of interdependence or independence as well as power distance, mass-fem, uncertainty avoidance etc.
- So, this study aims to test more if it is the level interdependence plays a role in coupon usage.
- This was asked through a survey to see levels of collectivism.
FINDINGS:
independence doesnt matter significantly (so hyp 1 supported) and that the level of interdependence is the positive affecting factor to coupon proneness
STUDY 2:
- Indians vs Americans are more likely to redeem coupons. Self-regulation playing a role (hyp 2)
- looking at interdependence but also cultural self regulation playing a role as well.
- Does self regulation play a bigger role than whether someone is more or less interdependence?
Participants: - Instead of Asian and Caucasians, in this study, Indian and American participants were compared. Real purchasing behaviour was monitored and measured on a fake site that the researchers gave to the participants.
The findings: - confirms that Indians are more coupon prone than Americans, and this difference is mediated by self-regulatory tendencies, not by the impression of the brand or the price sensitivity.
- This, like the other studies above shows and supports that self-construal and nationality influence coupon behavior.
STUDY 3: boundary condition based on construal level theory
New theory:
Construal level theory = the idea that people think about things differently depending on how far away they are in time, space or imagination. EX: when something feels far away, we think about it in a big-picture or in an abstract way. When something feels close, we think about it in a detailed or practical way.
High construal = thinking broadly and long term
Low construal= focusing on details and the short term
New Question:
Does the level of construal thinking affect whether we make use of coupons?
New hypotheses:
H3a: When temporal construal is manipulated to be high, the coupon proneness of independents is enhanced, whereas that of interdependence is unchanged, compared to those in control condition.
H3b: When temporal construal is manipulated to be low, the coupon proneness of interdependence is reduced, whereas that of independents is unchanged, compared to those in a control condition.
- For this study, 400 participants were used to think about either distant futures (high construal) or near futures (low construal).
- They were also checked on independence and interdependence, aswell as coupon proness and the likelihood of consistently using a restaurant coupon for a month.
RESULTS:
* ppl with high construal conditions were more coupon prone than those in the control or low construal conditions.
* interdependent ppl were also more coupon prone than independent people.
* temporal construal moderates the effect of self construal coupon proneness: -> High construal boosts coupon use in independents
-> Low construal lowers coupon use in interdependence.
CONCLUSIONS: hypothesis 3a&b are supported. Meaning that self-regulation is the key mechanism in coupon use.
Implications
→ The main implications are:
* Coupons need to be targeted towards high interdependent segments such as in Asian countries
* Marketing experts in the US should target the most collectivist states for coupon campaigns
* For coupon advertisements, try to cater tot he culture: if its a individualistic culture, show videos of people alone, if collectivist, show videos or ads of people together.
* Same goes for the wording of the advertisements.
* For independent consumers, coupons that do not expire fast work better
