An investigation of the effectiveness of uncertainty in marketing promotions involving free gifts

Journal of Marketing

Volumn 77, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 112-123

  Laran, Juliano ^a   Tsiros, Michael ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI   (United States)

Author keywords

Affect; Free gift; Promotions; Surprise; Uncertainty

Indexed keywords

EID: 84874603700     PISSN: 00222429     EISSN: 15477185     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1509/jm.11.0255     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Calvo, Manuel G. and M. Dolores Castillo (2001), "Selective Interpretation in Anxiety: Uncertainty for Threatening Events," Cognition and Emotion, 15 (May), 299-320. (Pubitemid 32396585)
2. Chandon, Pierre, Brian Wansink, and Gilles Laurent (2000), "A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion Effectiveness," Journal of Marketing, 64 (October), 65-81.
3. Cohen, Joel, Michel T. Pham, and Eduardo B. Andrade (2008), "The Nature and Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior," in Handbook of Consumer Psychology, Curt Haugtvedt, Frank Kardes and Paul Herr, eds. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 297-348.
4. Dhar, Ravi (1997), "Consumer Preference for a No-Choice Option," Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (September), 215-31.
5. Dhar, Sanjay K., Claudia Gonzalez-Vallejo, and Dilip Soman (1999), "Modeling the Effects of Advertised Price Claims: Tensile Versus Precise Claims?" Marketing Science, 18 (Spring), 154-77.
6. Edwards, Kari (1990), "The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Attitude Formation and Change," Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 59 (August), 202-216.
7. Elster, Jon and George Loewenstein (1992), "Utility from Memory and Anticipation," in Choice Over Time, George Loewenstein and Jon Elster, eds. New York: Russell Sage, 213-34.
8. Gneezy, Uri, John A. List, and George Wu (2006), "The Uncertainty Effect: When a Risky Prospect Is Valued Less Than Its Worst Possible Outcome," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121 (November), 1283-1309. (Pubitemid 44888174)
9. Goldsmith, Kelly and On Amir (2010), "Can Uncertainty Improve Promotions?" Journal of Marketing Research, 47 (December), 1070-77.
10. Heilman, Carrie M., Kent Nakamoto, and Ambar G. Rao (2002), "Pleasant Surprises: Consumer Response to Unexpected In- Store Coupons," Journal of Marketing Research, 39 (May), 242-52.
11. Kivetz, Ran (2005), "Promotion Reactance: The Role of Effort-Reward Congruity," Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (March), 725-36.
12. Lee, Yih H. and Cheng Qiu (2009), "When Uncertainty Brings Pleasure: The Role of Prospect Imageability and Mental Imagery," Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (December), 624-33.
13. Loewenstein, George (1994), "The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation," Psychological Bulletin, 116 (July), 75-98. (Pubitemid 24976763)
14. Matthews, Imogen (1995), "Heaven Scent," Marketing Week, 31 (October 20), 67-71.
15. Oliver, Richard L. (1993), "Cognitive, Affective, and Attribute Bases of the Satisfaction Response," Journal of Consumer Research, 20 (December), 418-30.
16. Pham, Michel T., Joel B. Cohen, John W. Pracejus, and G. David Hughes (2001), "Affect Monitoring and the Primacy of Feelings in Judgment," Journal of Consumer Research, 28 (September), 167-88.
17. Pieters, Rik and Marcel Zeelenberg (2007), "A Theory of Regret Regulation 1.1," Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17 (1), 29-35.
18. Preacher, Kristopher J. and Andrew F. Hayes (2008), "Asymptotic and Resampling Strategies for Assessing and Comparing Indirect Effects in Multiple Mediator Models," Behavior Research Methods, 40 (August), 879-91.
19. PROMO Magazine (2009), "2009 Promo Industry Trends Report," (December 1), (accessed October 17, 2012), [available at http://chiefmarketer. com/09-industry-trends-report].
20. Raghubir, Priya (2004), "Free Gift with Purchase: Promoting or Discounting the Brand?" Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14 (1/2), 181-86. (Pubitemid 38597474)
21. J. Jeffrey Inman, and Hans Grande (2004), "The Three Faces of Consumer Promotions," California Management Review, 46 (Summer), 23-42.
22. Rottenstreich, Yuval and Christopher K. Hsee (2001), "Money, Kisses, and Electric Shocks: On the Affective Psychology of Risk," Psychological Science, 12 (May), 185-90. (Pubitemid 33653529)
23. Russell, James A. and James M. Carroll (1999), "On the Bipolarity of Positive and Negative Affect," Psychological Bulletin, 125 (January), 3-30.
24. Schiller, Gail (2004), "Consumer Promotion Spending Up," Amusement Business, (April 26).
25. Schultz, Don E., William A. Robinson, and Lisa A. Petrison (1998), Sales Promotion Essentials. Chicago: NTC Business Books.
26. Sexton, Norma (1987), "Toiletries and Beauty Aids: GWPs and PWPs Losing Edge as Promotional Tools," Advertising Age, 58 (March 2), S4-S5.
27. Slovic, Paul, Dale Griffin, and Amos Tversky (1990), "Compatibility Effects in Judgment and Choice," in Insights in Decision Making: A Tribute to Hillel J. Einhorn, Robin M. Hogarth, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 5-27.
28. Tsiros, Michael (2009), "Releasing the Regret Lock: Consumer Response to New Alternatives After a Sale," Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (April), 1040-60.
29. Tversky, Amos and E. Shafir (1992), "The Disjunction Effect in Choice Under Uncertainty," Psychological Science, 3 (September), 305-309.
30. Shmuel Sattath, and Paul Slovic (1988), "Contingent Weighting in Judgment and Choice," Psychological Review, 95 (July), 371-84.
31. Valenzuela, Ana, Barbara Mellers, and Judi Strebel (2010), "Pleasurable Surprises: A Cross-Cultural Study of Consumer Responses to Unexpected Incentives," Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (5), 792-805.
32. Van Dijk, Eric and Marcel Zeelenberg (2007), "When Curiosity Killed Regret: Avoiding or Seeking the Unknown in Decision- Making under Uncertainty," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43 (July), 656-62.
33. Wilson, Timothy D., David B. Centerbar, Deborah A. Kermer, and Daniel T. Gilbert (2005), "The Pleasures of Uncertainty: Prolonging Positive Moods in Ways People Do Not Anticipate," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88 (January), 5-21. (Pubitemid 40140094)
34. Zeelenberg, Marcel and Rik Pieters (2007), "A Theory of Regret Regulation 1.0," Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17 (1), 3-18.
35. Zhao, Xinshu S., John G. Lynch, and Qimei M. Chen (2010), "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths About Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (August), 197-206.