The measurement of meaning

This article reports the development and validation of a parsimonious, generalizable scale that measures the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of consumer attitudes toward product categories and different brands within categories. The hedonic/utilitarian (HED/UT) scale includes ten semantic differential response items, five of which refer to the hedonic dimension and five of which refer to the utilitarian dimension of consumer attitudes. The authors conducted six studies to establish the unidimensionality, reliability, and validity of the two HED/UT subscales. In reaching the final scale, the authors also develop and implement a unique process of paring down a psychometrically sound but otherwise too large set of items. Nomological validity is established by replacing a typical, one-dimensional attitude toward the brand measure with the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions in a central route processing model. Results suggest that the hedonic and utilitarian constructs are two distinct dimensions o...

Measuring the Hedonic and Utilitarian Dimensions of Consumer Attitude

This paper reviews the empirical evidence of the effect of credibility of the message source on persuasion over a span of 5 decades, primarily to come up with recommendations for practitioners as to when to use a high- or a low-credibility source and secondarily to identify areas for future research. The main effect studies of source credibility on persuasion seem to indicate the superiority of a high-credibility source over a low-credibility one. Interaction effect studies, however, show source credibility to be a liability under certain conditions. The variables found to interact with source credibility are categorized into 5 categories: source, message, channel, receiver, and destination variables. The most heavily researched variables have been the message and receiver variables. Implications for marketers/advertisers and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades' Evidence

Use of celebrities as part of marketing communications strategy is a fairly common practice for major firms in supporting corporate or brand imagery. Firms invest significant monies in juxtaposing brands and organisations with endorser qualities such as attractiveness, likeability, and trustworthiness. They trust that these qualities operate in a transferable way, and, will generate desirable campaign outcomes. But, at times, celebrity qualities may be inappropriate, irrelevant, and undesirable. Thus, a major question is: how can companies select and retain the 'right' celebrity among many competing alternatives, and, simultaneously manage this resource, while avoiding potential pitfalls? This paper seeks to explore variables, which may be considered in any celebrity selection process by drawing together strands from various literature.

Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review

Across four experiments, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, (1) the better is its inferred taste, (2) the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and (3) the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. The authors obtain these effects both among consumers who report that they believe that healthiness and tastiness are negatively correlated and, to a lesser degree, among those who do not report such a belief. The authors also provide evidence that the association between the concepts of “unhealthy” and “tasty” operates at an implicit level. The authors discuss possibilities for controlling the effect of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (and its potential for causing negative health consequences), including controlling the volume of unhealthy but tasty food eaten, changing unhealthy foods to make them less unhealthy...

The Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition and Its Effects on Taste Inferences, Enjoyment, and Choice of Food Products

Advertisers frequently use endorsers or spokespersons as credible sources to influence consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions. Corporate credibility-the reputation of a company for honesty and expertise-is another type of source credibility that can influence consumer reactions to ads and shape brand attitudes. The present study assessed the impact of endorser and corporate credibility on attitude-toward-the-ad, attitudetoward-the-brand, and purchase intentions. We surveyed 152 adult consumers who viewed a fictitious ad for Mobil Oil company. They rated the credibility of the ad's endorser, the credibility of the company, and attitude-toward-the-ad, attitude-toward-the-brand, and purchase intentions. Path analysis confirmed that endorser credibility had its strongest impact on Aad while corporate credibility had its strongest impact on AB. The findings suggest that corporate credibility plays an important role in consumers' reactions to advertisements and brands, independent of the equally ...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4189151.pdf

The Impact of Corporate Credibility and Celebrity Credibility on Consumer Reaction to Advertisements and Brands

This study proposes a theory of the combined influence of corporate and endorser credibility. Participants assessed the credibility of the companies and spokespersons as well as their attitudes toward the ads and brands, and their intent to purchase the advertised product. The covariance matrix was subjected to a path analysis. The model fit the data, and the findings corroborated prior research indicating that both types of source credibility have an impact on attitudes and purchase intentions albeit a differential one. The results suggest that the Dual Credibility Model partially predicts and explains advertising effectiveness for these dual sources of credibility.

The Dual Credibility Model: The Influence of Corporate and Endorser Credibility on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

Partnering charitable causes with brands has become a common practice for many marketing programs; it is referred to strategically as cause-related marketing. Although there is the perception that both partners benefit from the alliance, research has focused primarily on the benefits to the brand. Using Attitude Accessibility, Congruity, and Information Integration Theories, this study empirically tests a model to evaluate the impact of cause–brand alliances on subsequent attitudes toward both partners. The results of the study (n = 463) support the assumption that attitudes toward both the cause and the brand can be enhanced as a consequence of an alliance if perceptions of the alliance are favorable. Furthermore, the cause appears to benefit from the alliance to a greater extent than the brand. The study supports the notions that the fit between partners plays a pivotal role in consumer acceptance of the alliance as plausible and that familiarity with the cause moderates the effectiveness of the alliance. These results represent a necessary step in developing a theoretical model to explain the effects of a cause–brand alliance on both partners. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Barbara A. Lafferty

Papers

The Impact of Corporate Credibility and Celebrity Credibility on Consumer Reaction to Advertisements and Brands

The Dual Credibility Model: The Influence of Corporate and Endorser Credibility on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

The impact of the alliance on the partners: A look at cause–brand alliances

Cause-brand alliances: does the cause help the brand or does the brand help the cause?

The relevance of fit in a cause–brand alliance when consumers evaluate corporate credibility