Crossing the efficiency frontier : understanding consumers' responses to opportunities
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Although consumers face many options that can potentially be construed as opportunities, they are usually quite selective in pursuing them and often form subjective perceptions of the offer's true value. How, then, do consumers evaluate the attractiveness of marketing offers? In this dissertation, I propose a framework for understanding consumers' responses to offers and the cues they use as indicators of above-normal value. I hypothesize that consumers are often enticed by options that they perceive as particularly valuable to them due to a combination of personal circumstances "unforeseen" by the marketer. Contrary to a common assumption, I propose that under certain conditions, customized marketing offers that are presented as tailored to the consumer's individual preferences may be perceived as less attractive than self-discovered opportunities that are believed to match the consumer's preferences by coincidence. The findings also suggest that when the offer appears valuable to the consumer in a less obvious or more difficult to process manner, its attractiveness increases. Examination of the process underlying these results suggests that these effects are mediated by the extent to which the offer is perceived as providing consumers with a relative advantage or above-normal value, compared to normal circumstances. This effect does not appear to interact with the chronic tendency to experience psychological reactance. Moreover, the effects tends to be particularly pronounced when concepts and norms related to competition and self-interestedness are more accessible, highlighting the role of lay beliefs about the competitive and efficient nature of the market in these effects. The findings suggest that consumers try to "beat the market" by taking advantage of offers they believe were designed to appeal to people who would find them less attractive than they would. The findings have theoretical implications for understanding consumers' perceptions of opportunities and marketing offers, as well as important practical implications for designing customized offers and targeted promotions.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Sela, Aner |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Business Administration. |
| Primary advisor | Simonson, Itamar |
| Thesis advisor | Simonson, Itamar |
| Thesis advisor | Kivetz, Ran |
| Thesis advisor | Shiv, Baba, 1960- |
| Advisor | Kivetz, Ran |
| Advisor | Shiv, Baba, 1960- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Aner Sela. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the School of Business Administration. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Aner Sela
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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