Capturing Context-Sensitive Information Usage in Choice Models via Mixtures of Information Archetypes
– Joffre Swait, Monica Popa, and Luming Wang
Investigating if consumers use all product information available to them when making a choice, we find that sometimes individuals do behave rationally (according to economic theory) as full-information users, while in other contexts they use very little data, acting instead as selective information managers.
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The Space-to-Product Ratio Effect: How Interstitial Space Influences Product Aesthetic Appeal, Store Perceptions, and Product Preference
– Julio Sevilla and Claudia Townsend
We study how the amount of space that surrounds an item in the retail place affects product valuation and preference. We show that more space surrounding an item increases valuation and preference through a rational inferential mechanism and a more automatic, aesthetically related effect.
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A “Wide” Variety: Effects of Horizontal Versus Vertical Display on Assortment Processing, Perceived Variety, and Choice
– Xiaoyan Deng, Barbara E. Kahn, H. Rao Unnava, and Hyojin Lee
Horizontal display of assortment options leads to a higher level of variety perception and variety seeking compared with vertical display of the same options.
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The Cue-of-the-Cloud Effect: When Reminders of Online Information Availability Increase Purchase Intentions and Choice
– Rajesh Bhargave, Antonia Mantonakis, and Katherine White
An in-store reminder of online product information, which we term a “cue-of-the-cloud,” leads consumers to feel more confident in what they know about the product and increases their purchase intentions.
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Sharing with Friends Versus Strangers: How Interpersonal Closeness Influences Word-of-Mouth Valence
– David Dubois, Andrea Bonezzi, and Matteo De Angelis
We investigate when and why people share positive versus negative word of mouth (WOM). We find that people tend to share more negative information with close others because they aim to protect them but more positive information with distant others because they aim to self-enhance.
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Customer Acquisition and Retention Spending: An Analytical Model and Empirical Investigation in Wireless Telecommunications Markets
– Sungwook Min, Xubing Zhang, Namwoon Kim, and Rajendra K. Srivastava
This study explores how customer acquisition and retention spending patterns are influenced by competitive market dynamics. It uses analytical modeling as well as empirical investigation of firm-level operating data on wireless telecommunications markets from 41 countries during the 1999–2007 period.
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Computer Interfaces and the “Direct-Touch” Effect: Can iPads Increase the Choice of Hedonic Food?
– Hao Shen, Meng Zhang, and Aradhna Krishna
We find that people are more likely to choose tempting but high-calorie food options (e.g., a slice of cheesecake) over more healthy options (e.g., a fruit salad) when they make their food choices online using their fingers (e.g., on an iPad) versus not (e.g., using a mouse on a desktop).
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Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Economic Mobility and Materialism on Impulsive Spending
– Sunyee Yoon and Hyeongmin Christian Kim
This research shows that perceived economic mobility moderates the negative effect of materialism on impulsive spending.
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The Modern Advertising Agency Selection Contest: A Case for Stipends to New Participants
– Dan Horsky, Sharon Horsky, and Robert Zeithammer
We study whether advertising agencies should receive upfront stipends for participating in agency selection contests, and we find that "new-business" stipends that partially defray the participation costs of new-to-the-advertiser agencies can be profitable to the advertiser.
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SPECIAL SECTION: THE GREATER GOOD

Knowing When to Spend: Unintended Financial Consequences of Earmarking to Encourage Savings
– Abigail B. Sussman and Rourke L. O’Brien
Although labeling savings for a specific purpose is an effective strategy for increasing savings, it can lead people to be more likely to use high-interest credit over savings to finance an emergency.
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The Illusion of Wealth and Its Reversal
– Daniel G. Goldstein, Hal E. Hershfield, and Shlomo Benartzi
Translating retirement savings into monthly amounts (rather than one lump sum) can increase near-retirees motivation to save for retirement.
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The Effect of Stress on Consumer Saving and Spending
– Kristina M. Durante and Juliano Laran
Stress leads consumers to increase saving behavior and increase spending only for those products perceived to be necessities because such products provide a sense of control.
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When Should the Ask Be a Nudge? The Effect of Default Amounts on Charitable Donations
– Indranil Goswami and Oleg Urminsky
When charities set a higher amount as the "suggested donation," they get fewer donations but the donations are larger.
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Pleasure as a Substitute for Size: How Multisensory Imagery Can Make People Happier with Smaller Food Portions
– Yann Cornil and Pierre Chandon
To encourage people to choose more reasonable food portions, pleasure appeals can be more effective than health appeals because they can make people happier with less food.
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Ethically Deployed Defaults: Transparency and Consumer Protection Through Disclosure and Preference Articulation
–Mary Steffel, Elanor F. Williams, and Ruth Pogacar
Disclosing how defaults are intended to affect choices changes how fair people believe defaults to be but does not reduce default effects, because people do not know how to counter the processes by which defaults bias their judgment.
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