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A truism in the marketing literature, and among many marketing practitioners, is that requiring consumers to wait negatively impacts quality evaluations, purchase intentions and a range of other important outcomes. However, it is also true that consumer waiting or queuing has historically been considered from an operations perspective. The present research takes a different approach and examines waits in the context of their ability to function as a signal of quality. Four experiments demonstrate a required wait can indeed signal quality to consumers and increase, rather than decrease, both purchase intentions and actual experienced satisfaction. Three moderators of this effect are examined: preexisting knowledge, consumption motivations, and the extent to which quality is difficult to objectively determine. The results suggest in situations where quality is important, unknown or ambiguous, managers may increase consumer satisfaction by making consumers wait.

It is widely accepted, and demonstrated in the marketing literature, that negative online word of mouth (NOWOM) has a negative impact on brands. The present research, however, finds the opposite effect among individuals who feel a close personal connection to the brand—a group that often contains the brand’s best customers. A series of three studies show that, when self–brand connection (SBC) is high, consumers process NOWOM defensively—a process that actually increases their behavioral intentions toward the brand. Study 1 demonstrates this effect using an experimental manipulation of SBC related to clothing brands, and provides process evidence by analyzing coded thought listings. Study 2 provides convergent evidence by measuring SBC associated with smartphones, and followup analyses show that as SBC increases, the otherwise negative effect of NOWOM steadily transforms to become significantly positive. Study 3 replicates these results using a combination of a national survey conducted by J.D. Power investigating hotel stays and data drawn from TripAdvisor. Results of all three studies, set in product categories with varying levels of identity relevance, support the positive effects of NOWOM for high-SBC customers and have implications for both managers and researchers.

A majority of consumers resist switching brands when exposed to competitor sales promotions. Yet, in an effort to entice consumers to switch brands, firms spend more on sales promotions, in the form of price promotions such as discounts and coupons, than any other advertising and marketing expense. Interestingly, marketing research devotes much attention to understanding how the small subset of consumers who switch are impacted by a firm’s promotional efforts, yet little attention is focused on how forgoing a competitive promotion alters a consumer’s loyalty to an incumbent brand. The present research focuses on the potential unintended consequences of price promotions and demonstrates when a competitor brand’s offer fails to motivate consumers to switch brands, a consumer’s resistance to the promotion subsequently increases loyalty to- and spending with- their incumbent brand. Across seven studies, this research demonstrates how a competing firm’s attempt to lure consumers away from a competitor’s brand can strengthen loyalty for the incumbent brand.

The relationship marketing literature largely overlooks the most common type of loyal consumer, one who feels no personal attachment to a firm (Guo et al., Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,45(3), 357–376, 2017). To explain why so many consumers engage in this pragmatic form of loyalty, we bridge the loyalty and relationship marketing literature to reconsider the conceptualization and measurement of loyalty propensity. In particular, the present research provides evidence of loyalty propensity as a multi-dimensional relational schema that draws from consumers’ self-identity as a moral actor and less altruistic traits (e.g., deal proneness). As per these theoretical foundations, we develop a two-dimensional scale for loyalty propensity and assess it across four studies. The results indicate that loyalty propensity predicts loyalty outcomes (e.g., loyalty and economic exchange), whereas relational constructs (i.e., preference for closeness) predict relational outcomes (e.g., attachment and social exchange). A field study shows that loyalty propensity strongly predicts consumer responsiveness to a firm’s loyalty investments (e.g., sales agents’ customer orientation). Overall, the present research provides a way to expand the view of consumers as either relational or transactional.