Tag Archives: Keaveney

Marketing

The Eyes Have It: How a Car’s Face Influences Consumer Categorization and Evaluation of Product Line Extensions

Susan M. Keaveney, Andreas Herrmann,
Rene Befurt, and Jan R. Landwehr
Psychology and Marketing Vol. 29, Issue 1, pages 36–51

This research focuses on a previously unexamined risk associated with the widely used new product development strategy of line extensions. Specifically, it explores consumer reactions when line extensions become too visually similar and examines both short-term and longer term strategies for solving the problem. Examined in the context of consumer durables, specifically, automobiles, the results show that consumers who make categorization mistakes when trying to distinguish between two visually similar product lines have more negative attitudes not only toward the product but also toward the parent brand. The results of Study 1 confirm that providing a design vocabulary that articulates the car’s design features is effective in reducing consumer’s categorization mistakes. In addition, results of Study 2 indicate that changes to the car’s “eyes” (headlights) are more effective than changes to the car’s “mouth” (grille) in helping consumers to differentiate among cars in the line.

Marketing

The blame game: An attribution theory approach to marketer–engineer conflict in high-technology companies

Keaveney, Susan M.
Industrial Marketing Management; Vol. 37 Issue 6, p. 653-663

Marketer–engineer conflict is a pervasive and as-yet unresolved problem of critical importance to high-technology companies. This study updates and extends marketing literature by applying qualitative research methods including the critical incident technique to examine the causes of conflict between marketers and engineers in high-technology companies. Narratives from both marketers and engineers are interpreted from an attribution theory perspective as well as in the context of recent management research on interfunctional conflict. Results draw attention to a high proportion of personal attributions, indicating high levels of relationship-conflict; these results are in contrast to the task-conflict typically addressed by the marketing literature. Discussion highlights the changes in high-technology organizational culture since first by described by Workman 15 years ago [Workman, J. (1993). Marketing’s limited role in new product development in one computer systems firm. Journal of Marketing Research, 30 (4), 405-421.], and recommendations for managers are offered.

Entrepreneurship, Marketing

Managerial risk perceptions of international entry-mode strategies: The interaction effect of control and capability

David Forlani, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Susan M. Keaveney
International Marketing Review Vol. 25 Issue 3, p. 292-311

Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate how opportunity for control and firm capability interact to moderate the amount of risk that managers associate with various international entry-mode strategies. A secondary goal is to investigate how managers perceive the need to retain control over three core functional areas (marketing, production, and R&D) when making entry-mode decisions.
Design/methodology/approach – A field experiment design was implemented in a sample of US business owner/executives. Using an online data collection method, the study asked a sample of small-business owners and managers to assess the amount of risk they associated with three modes of entering the Japanese market: non-ownership (export), equal partnership (50/50 joint-venture), and sole-ownership. They were also asked how much control they needed to retain over R&D, production, and marketing for the venture to be successful.
Findings – Ownership-provided control interacts with capability to influence managerial risk perceptions. Managers in lower-capability firms see the least risk in the non-ownership entry mode while those in higher-capability firms see the least risk in the equal-partnership entry mode. Managers believe that for a new venture in a foreign market to be successful, control should be retained over the R&D function, regardless of entry mode.
Research limitations/implications – The findings appear to reconcile some of the conflicting predictions of the transaction cost and resource-based theoretical perspectives, because it appears that international managers consider both control (internationalization theory) and capability (resource-based theory) when judging the perceived risk of an entry strategy.
Practical implications – For firms that are incapable of managing in an international context, a low-control no-ownership entry mode is perceived as the least risky approach; for firms that have some capability for international management, then a partial-ownership mode such as a 50/50 joint-venture is perceived as having lower risk than no-ownership. In non-ownership and joint-venture type entry modes, managers are more apt to outsource the marketing function to an agent/partner, but not R&D. In contrast, managers believe that marketing needs to be maintained in-house when utilizing a sole-ownership entry mode.
Originality/value – By illustrating the role of perceived risk in foreign-market entry-mode decisions and demonstrating how capabilities interact with ownership-provided control to moderate these perceptions, the paper’s findings suggest that managers’ risk perceptions may mediate the effects of firm-specific factors, and thus contributes significantly to both theory and practice.

Marketing

Equines and their human companions

Keaveney, Susan M.
Journal of Business Research Vol 61, Issue 5, Pages 444-454

Previous research related to marketing describes deep emotional bonds that develop between humans and their pets (primarily cats and dogs). Another multi-billion-dollar international market that needs exploration flows from the highly-involving bonds between humans and their horses. Horses are not pets, but the study of equine relationships with humans generates insights into animal-companion interactions. This article reports results of an interpretive phenomenological investigation of the relationship between humans and their horses, using participant observations, in-depth interviews, and written open-ended questions including the critical-incident technique. Analysis of the data first addresses a priori themes from the animal-companionship literature and identifies themes found, themes with a twist, and themes not found. The article then discusses seven emergent themes unique to human–horse relationships — including physicality, partnership, bonding through adversity, flow experience, communitas, spirituality, and life lessons.

Marketing

A model of buyer regret: Selected prepurchase and postpurchase antecedents with consequences for the brand and the channel

Keaveney, Susan M., Huber, Frank and Herrmann, Andreas
Journal of Business Research Vol. 60, Issue 10, p. 1207-1215

This research examines how two prepurchase stages of the buyer decision process-information search and alternative evaluation–and two postpurchase stages-evaluation of product and service attributes-influence buyer regret. The study extends prior consequences of regret to include purchase intentions toward both brand and the channel. Tested in a field sample of luxury automobile purchasers, results show that higher information search and alternative evaluation lead to more buyer regret; lower evaluations of service (but not product) attributes lead to more regret; and regrets’ consequences include reduced intentions to repurchase either the brand or from the dealership. Buyers who switch brands experience more regret than buyers who did not switch brands.

Marketing

The negative effects of expecting to evaluate: Reexamination and extension in the context of service failure

Lane, Vicki R. and Keaveney, Susan M.
Psychology & Marketing Vol. 22 Issue 11, pp. 857-885

Service managers implement customer satisfaction evaluation cards (CSECs) to help them better understand and serve their customers. Yet a robust finding from recent research is that consumers who expect to evaluate provide lower satisfaction ratings than customers who are asked to evaluate without prior notice. This article reports results of two experiments that examine the effects of expecting to evaluate (here, the CSEC effect) in the negative context of service failure. The experiments utilize thought-listing protocols to differentiate between vigilant processing (VPT) and negativity bias (NBT) theories and reinforce the internal validity of the CSEC effect. The studies also extend prior research by separating CSEC effects on evaluations of the service employee from CSEC effects on the service firm overall. Study 2 examines consequences of the CSEC effect not previously studied (switching, complaining, and negative word-of-mouth intentions) and extends external validity through an international replication.