International Journal of Research in Marketing

Volume 13, Issue 4, October 1996, Pages 389-405

Characteristics of memory associations: A consumer-based brand equity perspective

Author links open overlay panelH.S.Krishnan

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https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8116(96)00021-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

This research uses a memory network model to identify various association characteristics underlying
consumer-based brand equity. An empirical study measures association characteristics, such as set size,
valence, uniqueness, and origin, and examines differences between high and low equity brands on these
measures. The results show that consumer association differences are consistent with external equity
indicators and provide insights on strong and weak areas for each brand that could be used to
strengthen the brand. The discussion addresses implications of the association patterns for managing
brand equity, compares the association measures with other equity measurement approaches, and
broadens the set of association concepts used in this research.

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JOURNAL OF MARKETING DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS 

The Effect of the Foreign Brand on Consumer Perception

Author(s): Trang P. Tran, Robert O. Fabrize

Citation: Trang P. Tran, Robert O. Fabrize, (2013) "The Effect of the Foreign Brand on Consumer
Perception," Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, Vol. 7, Iss. 2, pp. 23 - 36

Article Type: Research paper

Publisher: North American Business Press

Abstract:

The paper empirically examines the influence of brand names (foreign versus national) on consumer 

perception. The paper also investigates how product ratings affect the relationship between brand
names 

and consumer perception which is measured by brand attitude, purchase intention, advertisement
feeling, 

and advertisement attitude. The results show that the national brand elicits more positive consumer 
 perception than the foreign brand. The findings suggest that product attribute information moderates
the 

relationship between brand names and consumer perception. The results are important and relevant to 

branding strategies marketers use to counteract competitive brands.

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Journal of Business Research

Volume 60, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 60-71

Innovation creation by online basketball communities☆

Author links open overlay panelJohannFüllerHansMühlbacher1

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.09.019 Get rights and content

Abstract
This article investigates joint-development activities within online consumer groups. While
research on user-innovations within communities exists for open source software as well as for
emerging extreme sports like kite-surfing or rodeo kayaking in offline contexts, this study
focuses on innovation activities within online consumer communities for basketball shoes, a
physical consumer product in a mature market. The research shows that a small number of
consumers are highly creative and possess sufficient domain specific skills and motivation to
develop new innovative basketball shoes. While many community members state their
experiences and problems with existing shoe models, those actively participating in joint-
innovation activities tend to be driven by excitement rather than by pure need for product
improvement. The high quality and variety of innovations, and general willingness of community
members to share their ideas with producers, lead to the discussion of how to integrate creative
online communities into a company's innovation process.

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 Review Article

 Published: 13 November 2012

 The Effect of Tape, Braces and Shoes on Ankle Range of
Motion

 Evert A. L. M. Verhagen, 

 Allard J. van der Beek & 

 Willem van Mechelen MD, PhD, FACSM 

Sports Medicine volume 31, pages667–677(2001)Cite this article

 1410 Accesses
 40 Citations
Abstract
Sport injuries are unwanted adverse effects accompanying participation in
sports. In a wide variety of sports the most common location of injury is the
ankle, frequently resulting from a forced plantar flexed inversion of the foot
exceeding the physiological range of motion (ROM). Historically the purpose
of external support systems is to prevent acute ankle injuries by restricting
abnormal ankle ROM. It is believed that a superior restrictive effect also
implies a superior preventive effect.

The purpose of this review was to examine the literature regarding the
restricting effect of adhesive taping, prophylactic ankle stabilisers (PAS) and
high-top shoes on ankle ROM. It has been found that tape restricts ankle
eversion and inversion ROM significantly following application. However,
tape loosens significantly following standardised exercise and sports activities.
Studies regarding PAS reported that both semi-rigid and nonrigid stabilisers
give a significant post-application restriction of ankle inversion motion. The
nonrigid stabilisers show loosening over time during exercise, while the semi-
rigid stabilisers maintain their restrictive effect over the same time span.
High-top shoes in comparison to low-top shoes are more effective in
restricting mechanically imposed ankle inversion ROM. Low-top shoes,
however, also limit mechanically imposed ankle inversion stress with the
ankle in the position in which ankle injury occurs most frequently. One must
keep in mind, however, that a superior mechanical restriction of ankle ROM
does not necessarily imply a superior preventive effect. Only well-controlled
randomised studies can show such an effect, and these studies have shown a
reduction of ankle injury incidence for all 3 prophylactic measures reviewed.

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 The brand management efforts of a niche
specialist: new balance in the athletic footwear
industry. (The Brand Management Efforts of a
Niche Specialist)
Authors: James M. Gladden and Mark A. McDonald

Date: June-July 1999

From: International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship(Vol. 1, Issue 2)

Publisher: International Marketing Reports Ltd.

Document Type: Article

Length: 7,518 words

Article Preview :

Keywords: Brand management, Brand equity, Niche marketing, Athletic footwear

Executive Summary

Strategic brand management is employed by organizations to maximize long-term

growth and profitability. Nowhere is brand management more important than in the
highly competitive athletic footwear industry. Given the wide variety of athletic footwear
available, shoppers often rely on brand names to assist in their purchase decision.
Industry research suggests 50% of shoppers shop with a brand name in mind
(Silverman, 1998). Thus, it is imperative that athletic footwear manufacturers cultivate
awareness and strong associations with their brands if they are to ensure long-term
success.

To date, analyses of the athletic footwear industry (e.g. Katz, 1994; Strasser &
Becklund, 1993) have focused on industry leaders, such as Nike, Reebok, and Adidas.
In contrast, this study highlights the brand management of a successful niche
competitor in athletic footwear, New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. In an industry
experiencing a leveling of growth, New Balance revenues have increased 150% during
the mid-1990s. Utilizing Aaker (1991) framework for understanding brand equity, this
study illustrates how New Balance has achieved such growth leveraging its limited
resources by focusing on two specific niches (running shoes and width sizing) in the
United States athletic footwear market. While particular interest is paid to the branding
efforts of New Balance, it is done within the broader context of understanding how a
small niche player can successfully compete in a segment dominated by much larger
publicly-owned companies. In addition to academic research and industry statistics, this
study utilizes perso nal interviews with New Balance Athletic Shoe personnel to better
understand the practices of a niche competitor in a highly competitive industry.
 The results of this study lead to four recommendations for brand managers of both
niche specialists and market leaders in the sporting goods industry. First, niche
specialists must seek controlled, rather than rapid, growth using creative segmentation
efforts. Second, niche competitors should study their larger competitors for signs of
fragmentation and dilution, and capitalize on the resulting opportunities. Third, it is
possible to drive brand identity in the sporting goods industry using an organization's
values and social responsibility. Fourth, the cultivation of a salient identity takes time,
particularly in the case of a niche specialist. Therefore, the brand manager must be
patient with well-founded brand strategies.

Introduction

One per cent per year -- the overall US market share growth goal recently stated by
New Balance CEO Jim Davis (Steven David, Product Marketing Manager, New
Balance, personal interview, August 18, 1998). Such a goal would be quite modest for
one of its larger publicly owned competitors. But for New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc, a
privately-owned manufacturer in the highly-competitive athletic footwear industry, this
represents a significant brand management challenge. No longer can the company be
content to serve its loyal base of "baby boomers" (40- to 55-year-olds), it now must
court "Generation X"(25- to 35-year-olds).

This study illustrates the brand management efforts of a niche specialist, New Balance
Athletic Shoe, Inc. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, New Balance is...

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Source Citation
Gladden, James M., and Mark A. McDonald. "The brand management efforts of a niche specialist:
new balance in the athletic footwear industry. (The Brand Management Efforts of a Niche
Specialist)." International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, June-July 1999, p. 168+.
Accessed 11 Feb. 2020.

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Sport sponsorship: evaluating the sport and brand

image match
Authors: Michael Musante, George R. Milne and Mark A. McDonald

Date: March-April 1999

From: International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship(Vol. 1, Issue 1)

Publisher: International Marketing Reports Ltd.

Document Type: Article

Length: 7,407 words

Article Preview :

* Keywords: Sponsorship, Brand Image, Personality Matching, Brand Management

Executive Summary

This paper demonstrates that the process of creating a favorable brand image can be
aided using image-sensitive sponsorship. Firms have traditionally analyzed
demographic fit to determine the appropriate sport/brand match. When utilizing
sponsorship to build brand awareness and reach a specific target market, this
methodology is sufficient. However, if one of the prime objectives of pursuing sport
sponsorship is to reinforce or modify a brand's image, an accurate assessment of
consumer perceptions of brands and sports should be added to the analytical process.

This paper presents a methodology to assess the perceived image fit between a sport
and a brand and empirically validates this approach in an applied research setting.

In building this new methodology, two studies were conducted. The first study utilized a
student sample to assess the validity of the personality image method. The follow-up
study examined the viability of using this approach to measure consumer perceptions of
image and sponsorship fit at a major US sport event.

Additionally, perceptions of a brand's overall "fit" with a particular sport were examined
in both studies to explore the relative impact of image matching relative to demographic
fit.

Study 1 results support the validity of the methodology. To assess the data structure
and the reliability of the personality scale, a common factor analysis was performed on
the 20 personality items. Four distinct factors emerged (Exciting, [alpha] = .89;
Wholesome, [alpha] = .70; Rugged, [alpha] = .90; Sophisticated, [alpha] = .91),
explaining 68% of the variance.

To test the predictive validity of the method, both a personality and demographic
congruency coefficient for each brand/sport combination was derived. Simmons Market
Research data was utilized to create a demographic fit index. Regression analysis was
performed to test the statistical relationship between personality fit, demographic fit and
perceived sponsorship fit.

Results indicate that perceptions of a brand's "fit" with a particular sport increase as the
personalities between the brand and sport become more congruent. While personality fit
was found to be a significant predictor of sponsorship fit, demographic fit was not. This
supports the need to explore personality congruency when utilizing sponsorship for
image association benefits.
 In study 2, 153 respondents attending the National Basketball Association (NBA) Jam
Session as part of the NBA all-star weekend activities assessed perceptions of
sponsorship fit between actual sponsors of the event and the sport.

The survey required subjects to assess one sport (professional basketball) and ten
brands on the four personality factors. The brands with the best personality fit with the
NBA were functionally related to the sport of basketball, athletic footwear/apparel and
isotonic beverages. The NBA was rated as being more exciting than the ten brands
listed. Thus, managers desiring a more exciting image for their brands might choose to
align with the NBA. Study 2 also revealed a strong correlation between personality fit
and perceived sponsorship fit.

Our results also indicate that a good demographic fit between a target market and a
sport audience does...

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Source Citation

Musante, Michael, et al. "Sport sponsorship: evaluating the sport and brand image
match." International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, Mar.-Apr. 1999, p. 32+.
Accessed 11 Feb. 2020.
----

Sport Brands
ByPatrick Bouchet, Dieter Hillairet, Guillaume Bodet
Edition1st Edition

First Published2013

eBook Published5 March 2013

Pub. locationLondon

ImprintRoutledge

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4324/9780203114667

Pages208 pages

eBook ISBN9780203114667

SubjectsEconomics, Finance, Business & Industry, Sports and Leisure

ABOUT THIS BOOK
Sport brands are a central element of modern sport business and a ubiquitous component of
contemporary global culture. This groundbreaking book offers a complete analysis of the topic of
sport brands from both a marketing management approach (strategy and implementation) and a
psycho-sociological approach (consumption and wider society). In doing so it explores both
supply and demand sides, offering a complete introduction to the nature, purpose and value of
sport brands not found in any other sports marketing text.
The book covers the whole heterogeneity of sport brands, going much further than the sport team
and league brands covered in most other books. As well as teams and leagues, the book considers
the brands of sports celebrities, events, media, computer games and governing bodies, as well as
the ethical, professional and technological ‘label brands’ associated with sport. Richly illustrated
with cases, examples and data, the book explores the tangible and intangible influence of sport
brands, their economic and social value, and the subcultures and communities that grow up
around them. It also introduces common strategies for growing brands, and growing through
brands, and examines the challenges and threats that sport brands face, from boycotts and
ambush marketing to counterfeiting.
An understanding of sport brands is essential for a fully rounded understanding of contemporary
sport marketing. As a result, this book is important reading for any student or practitioner
working in sport marketing, sport business, or mainstream marketing management.
------

Consumers from Emerging Markets: Perceptions and

Attitudes Toward Global Sporting Brands.

 Source: Sport Marketing Quarterly . Mar2012, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p19-31. 13p.

 Author(s): Kim, Chiyoung; Heere, Bob

 Abstract: While consumers within emerging markets arc the largest growth

market for global sport apparel brands, relatively little is known about how
they perceive these brands. These emerging markets have recently become
consumer markets for Western brands, yet they initially served as producing
nations. This study examined how this transition affected consumer
perceptions on global sport apparel brands. Consumer behavior theories, such
as the brand as "Western status symbol," ethnocentrism, the country of origin
effect, and the country of manufacturing effect were all incorporated within
this exploration. Fifteen interviews were held with young adult consumers
from both India and China. In contrast to previous studies, we suggest that
these respondents view Western sport apparel brands favorably because they
are seen as an instrument to express a global citizenship. Additionally, the
international labor practices did not seem to directly harm the global brands,
but they did diminish some of the utilitarian advantages the Western brands
possessed.
 --------
Journal

Journal of Marketing Management 

Volume 20, 2004 - Issue 3-4
4,470
Views

84
CrossRef citations to date

 
Original Articles

Brand Image Transfer Through Sponsorship: A

Consumer Learning Perspective
Gareth Smith

 Pages 457-474 | Published online: 09 Aug 2010

Abstract
Despite the massive growth in sponsorship activity of all kinds, academic research is
still in its infancy in this area. This is particularly true with regards the effect of
sponsorship on the brand image of the sponsor. This article seeks to address this by
producing a conceptual framework of factors that influence sponsorship's effect on
brand image transfer (BIT) amongst consumers. The findings from existing research are
summarised and highlighted. Where there is a lack of research, 'appropriate' theory
from the wider branding literature is used to develop the discussion. Thus, brand
knowledge, power, fit and quality are considered as influences on the BIT process. A
model of the actual process by which brand image transfers is developed and
 conditions influencing the strength of the transfer are identified. From this overall
analysis, implications for both sponsors and sponsored are discussed and future
research directions are outlined.
Keywords: SPONSORSHIP, BRAND IMAGE TRANSFER, CONSUMER LEARNING, CONCEPTUAL

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Creating an Affective Design Typology for Basketball

Shoes Using Kansei Engineering Methods

o

o

1. 1.
Conference paper
First Online: 27 June 2018

 880Downloads
Part of the Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing book series (AISC,
volume 774)

Abstract

Research has shown that for athletic shoes, visual attributes such as color and style can be more
important than ergonomic or technical attributes in consumer purchase decisions. Previous
studies have also shown that psychological feelings and emotions are in fact tied to products
based on individual design characteristics that create a ‘gestalt’ feel for the product. Kansei
engineering is one method commonly used in product development to gain a better
understanding of emotions and their linkages with specific design characteristics, which can then
be used to design products that communicate the desired ‘feel’. The current study posits that the
design characteristics of shoes and the emotions that they elicit can be statistically grouped
together, creating Kansei/affective design types that have applications for product development,
marketing, and mass customization. An exploratory study using male millennial athletes revealed
four affective design types for basketball shoes, which are associated with differing design
characteristics.

Keywords
Basketball shoes Athletic footwear Kansei engineering Affective design Design typology 

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Psychology & Marketing

Volume 27, Issue 10

 Research Article 

Free Access

Implicit measures of consumer cognition: A review

Claudiu V. Dimofte

First published:14 September 2010

https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20366

Citations: 52
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Abstract
In line with recent methodological advances from the cognitive and social psychology
literature, consumer researchers have shown strong interest in addressing the
nonconscious nature of consumer information processing, attitude formation, and
behavioral response. The related use of implicit measures in the study of a variety of
marketing effects has offered novel insights into consumer perception of, and response
to, marketing stimuli. This paper highlights conceptual issues and empirical findings on
the topic of implicit consumer cognition and examines the incremental value that
implicit measures may bring to the field. The review suggests that while the use of
implicit measures in consumer research is still in its infancy, it shows significant promise
as a methodological tool. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The recent development and use of a variety of measures designed to capture

individuals' implicit social cognitions has naturally spilled over into the consumer
psychology field. Yet with every novel methodological development, questions arise
about the proper understanding of the conceptual issues underlying the new measures
and implications regarding their practical application. These concerns are all the more
relevant to the marketing area, which has only cautiously begun to adopt some of these
measures in the hope of achieving a better understanding of the way consumers
process and respond to marketing stimuli. This is indeed new territory. For example, the
Simonson et al. (2001) review of the state of the consumer research field was virtually
silent on the topic of implicit social cognition. In 2002, Bargh made a passionate plea for
new work that was needed concerning automatic influences on consumer judgment,
behavior, and motivation.

Proposing that consumer contexts are indeed conducive to automatic processing

effects, Fitzsimons et al. (2002) reviewed accumulating evidence for the enhanced role
of nonconscious influences on consumer responses ranging from perception and
memory to affect and choice. Dijksterhuis et al. (2005) further argued for the role of the
unconscious in the routine behavior of consumers and proposed that much of it involves
automatic goal pursuit. According to these authors, conceptual accounts emphasizing
conscious and thorough information processing are unable to account for a large part of
consumer choices, and in fact the vast majority of choices are “not the result of much
information processing at all” (Dijksterhuis et al., 2005). Instead, they involve decisions
that are contextually or environmentally cue‐induced and either engage automatically
activated attitudes or are completely devoid of deliberate attitude processing. These
aspects are critical because the validity of explicit measures is negatively affected by
respondents' lack of a particular attitude, their inability to access it, or their
unwillingness to share information about it with researchers (Perkins et al., 2008).
In a consumption landscape largely determined by nonconscious influences, implicit
measures would seem to be potentially useful tools for detecting consumers' “true”
responses. In assessing this conjecture, this paper provides a brief summary of the
evolution of academic marketing thought on implicit social cognition in the last decade.
To this end, the conceptual underpinnings of this area of study from cognitive/social
psychology are first reviewed. Then the particular relevance of implicit measures to the
study of consumption topics is introduced, with specific examples from more recent
marketing literature. Finally, several conclusions are offered regarding the current state
of implicit social cognition in consumer research and directions for future research.

BACKGROUND
The Implicit–Explicit Construct Distinction
Many constructs of interest in cognitive and social psychology (and by extension in
consumer psychology) are presumed to involve stable mental representations (e.g.,
relatively consistent, valenced evaluations in the case of attitudes) that are stored in
memory and activated by contextual cues, leading to immediate changes in
behavior.11 For example, if consumers have positive attitudes toward global brands,
being exposed to globality information associated with a well‐known brand like
McDonald's may improve attitudes toward the brand and purchase likelihood (Dimofte,
Johansson, & Ronkainen, 2008). However, an alternative, constructionist view of
attitudes argues that consumers may in fact create attitudes toward global brands “on
the spot” in a particular context (in other words, consumers may infer their attitudes
from observing the ambient stimuli in a salient context and recalling their past behavior
in such contexts; see Wilson & Hodges, 1992).

To accommodate these two accounts, Wilson, Lindsey, and Schooler (2000) proposed
that when an individual is exposed to an object, the person's initial attitude toward it is
automatically retrieved, although salient aspects of the context are also brought to bear
in producing a response. Whether the initial attitude or the novel information is given
more weight can vary, as described by several classic models of attitude formation and
change, such as Chaiken's heuristic‐systematic model (Chaiken, 1980) and Petty and
Cacioppo's Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). At the end of the
process, a novel attitude is created and the old one is generally overwritten. However,
when both the initial attitude and a newly formed one toward the same object are
stored in memory, a dual attitude can result (Wilson, Lindsey, & Schooler, 2000; also
see Cohen & Reed, 2006; Petty, 2006). The classic case of vice behaviors illustrates a
situation in which the implicit–explicit discrepancy comes into play. In this example,
explicit attitudes may involve an individual's conscious acknowledgment that engaging
in a vice behavior is bad, whereas implicit attitudes point to a more positive underlying
valence (see Fitzsimons, Nunes, & Williams, 2007). For a McDonald's customer, recently
acquired knowledge of the negative aspects of fast food consumption (e.g., increased
obesity levels or risk of heart disease) may lead to a downward adjustment of explicit
attitudes toward the brand and perhaps (but not necessarily, as we will see below)
reduced patronage of the chain. However, it is likely that the individual will continue to
show a positive predisposition toward the brand and perhaps exhibit a smile when
passing by the restaurant and absorbing the enticing smell of the “golden” french fries.
In short, whereas a consumer's explicit, conscious attitudes toward a brand may
become more negative, implicit or nonconscious attitudes may yet retain their highly
positive automatic brand associations.

Petty, Briñol, and DeMarree's (2007) Meta‐Cognitive Model proposes that attitudes
consist of stored evaluative associations (positive and/or negative) along with
accompanying true/false validity tags. Unlike the dual attitudes approach of Wilson,
Lindsey, and Schooler (2000), this model argues for one integrated attitude
representation and accommodates the potential discrepancy between implicit and
explicit attitudes via the conscious consideration of the validity tag in the latter case
(Petty, Briñol, & DeMarree, 2007). In our example, McDonald's may well elicit positive
automatic thoughts, but they are largely tempered by a negative cognitive tag that our
consumer retrieves when creating an explicit attitude toward the brand.

Whether speaking about attitudes, goals, or even self‐esteem, it is possible that a

certain level of dissociation exists between constructs at the conscious, effortful
processing level and their nonconscious, implicit variants. Wilson, Lindsey, and Schooler
(2000) reviewed such disparities between implicit and explicit constructs as varied as
memory, attachment, dependency, and explanatory style. Importantly, these
differences have direct relevance for the specific type of behavior that follows, and
therefore an accurate understanding of the implicit–explicit construct distinction is
conceptually critical. Once this dichotomy is acknowledged, the next step will
necessarily involve a similar dichotomy in terms of the appropriate measurement
instruments.
The Implicit–Explicit Measure Distinction
Explicit measures rely on individuals' self‐reported assessments of the specific
attributes or their intentions regarding potential behaviors and choices they face.
Responses are often registered on Likert scales, by means of which individuals select
numerical values to express the degree to which they possess an attribute or plan to
engage in a particular behavior. This approach naturally assumes that individuals have
conscious access to the relevant constructs in memory and that responses are not
determined on the spot, as the constructionist model of attitudes suggests (cf. Wilson &
Hodges, 1992). If either of these assumptions is not satisfied, the validity of the
respective item or scale suffers significantly.

Other problems plaguing explicit measures have been widely acknowledged. For
example, they may induce poor comprehension (due to complex or unclear wording),
social desirability (due to perceived pressure to provide socially acceptable answers),
acquiescence (due to a misplaced propensity to indiscriminately agree to items
regardless of content), or extremity of response (for a more comprehensive review, see
Oskamp & Schultz, 2005). On the other hand, implicit measures are arguably free of
such methodological shortcomings and hold the advantage that individuals may not
realize what is being measured or be able to consciously correct their answers within
the allotted time constraints.

According to De Houwer and Moors (2010), a measure's implicit character is

determined by whether the processes involved in measuring the attribute are
automatic. For example, automatic processing occurs in the absence of particular
processing goals on the part of the individual or operates even when the person is
unaware of the object prompting the process. Different implicit measures can thus be
implicit (i.e., automatic) in different ways, and one should specify the automaticity
feature that characterizes the respective measure (De Houwer & Moors, 2010).

Implicit measures of attitudes are often structured to assess whether information

processing is facilitated (i.e., shorter latencies) or hindered (i.e., longer latencies) by the
presentation of an attitude object (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2007). Facilitation or
impairment reflects the (lack of) compatibility between the process engaged by the
activation of the attitude and some other processing demand. De Houwer (2003)
dichotomized this difference into two processes, response compatibility (driven by the
match between the tendencies associated with two different tasks, as in the Stroop
paradigm) and stimulus compatibility (driven by semantic similarity, as in lexical
decision tasks). Both of these processes make responses to implicit measures, unlike
those to explicit measures, difficult to control.

Despite the general enthusiasm associated with the emergence and use of these novel
methodological tools, several researchers have argued that more rigorous study is
needed to better understand the value of implicit measures. For example, the fact that
a particular construct is assessed via an implicit measure does not necessarily imply
that the construct is an implicit or nonconscious one, but instead may simply suggest
that motivational influences that occur downstream from attitude elicitation play a key
role (as suggested by the MODE dual process model of Fazio & Towles‐Schwen, 1999).
At the same time, the finding that different implicit measures of the same construct
often do not correlate very highly is not encouraging and begs for more inquiry into this
problem (Fazio & Olson, 2003; Payne, Burkley, & Stokes, 2008).

In general, implicit and explicit constructs in a consumption context are well aligned and
correlate highly. However, this is not always the case. In fact, it is in the very instance
when this alignment is lacking that research findings have shown extremely interesting
results. Here we turn to consumer research involving the most popular of the measures
of implicit attitudes, the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, &
Schwartz, 1998).

IMPLICIT MEASURES IN CONSUMER RESEARCH

The psychology literature has been prolific of late in introducing a variety of implicit
measures of cognition (see De Houwer & Moors, 2010, for a list of as many as 17
examples). The most commonly employed (and debated) measure has been the IAT
(Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998); as its popularity has expanded, specific
applications have emerged in the consumer research literature. Other such measures
have also found their place in consumer applications, as discussed next.

The IAT assesses automatic associations between a bipolar target (e.g., competing
brands such as Nike vs. Reebok in a marketing context) and a bipolar attribute concept
(e.g., fast vs. slow) through a series of categorization tasks that require quick responses
(see Schnabel, Asendorpf, & Greenwald, 2008). Shorter response latencies are
expected to emerge when strongly associated concept pairings are elicited
(e.g., Nike and fast, based on perception that Nike shoes provide better athletic
performance) and share a common response key as compared to when they do not. In a
typical IAT, the first block instructs participants to press the “D” key when a Nike logo
appears on the screen and the “K” key when a Reebok logo pops up. In the following
block, participants are trained to press “D” for fast words (e.g., speedy, quick) and “K”
for slowwords (e.g., sluggish, lethargic). The next, critical block combines the two
discrimination tasks, such that participants are instructed to press “D”
for Nike or fastand “K” for Reebok or slow. Naturally, there are also single and combined
discrimination blocks that reverse the key assignment (i.e., such that Reebok logos are
responded to with a press of the “D” key and that Nikeand slow share a response key).
The order of the combined blocks is usually counterbalanced across participants in
order to control for the fact that IAT scores show stronger associations for categories
that are paired (and learned) first. Recorded latencies in the combined tasks are then
used for calculation of IAT scores, which are generally computed as the difference
between mean response latencies to the second combined task and to the first
combined task (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). If response management is
attempted (say by a Reebok employee who is a closet fan of Nike or vice versa),
response latencies and error rates increase notably. Detailing the specific scoring
algorithms that can be used to measure the IAT effect is beyond the scope of this
review, but analysis of reliability and validity suggests that the measure has good
psychometric properties (Greenwald et al., 2009a; Maison, Greenwald, & Bruin, 2004).

According to Schnabel, Aspendorpf, and Greenwald (2008), much of the strength of the
IAT comes from the fact that many social objects seem to have natural counterparts
(e.g., males vs. females, whites vs. blacks, or even McDonald's vs. Burger King and
Microsoft vs. Apple). Yet that is perhaps one of its weaknesses as well, since as a
relative measure the IAT effect always involves a dual explanation. Thus, it is not
necessarily clear whether the IAT effect described in the example above stems from an
automatic association of Nikeand fast or, alternatively, one
between Reebok and slow.22 Although this may not be a major problem in a marketing
context (i.e., the relative implicit preference for the two brands is clearly established), in
cases where associations with unipolar concepts are of interest, other implicit measures
may be more appropriate. Along these lines, the Single Category IAT (SC‐IAT; Karpinski
& Steinman, 2006; Steinman & Karpinski, 2008) employs a single unipolar element
(e.g., Exxon) and one bipolar concept (e.g., good vs. bad) but otherwise features a
procedure similar to the IAT.
The Go/No‐Go Association Task (GNAT; Nosek & Banaji, 2001) is another example of an
implicit measure. Like the IAT, it works by presenting various stimuli for brief periods of
time that require prompt responses. However, unlike the IAT, the GNAT requires the
same response (i.e., go—press the space bar) to items that belong to a category
(e.g., insects) and an evaluative attribute (e.g., good). No response (i.e., no‐go—do not
press any key) is expected when items do not belong to the target category and
attribute (i.e., are distractors; see Nosek & Banaji, 2001). In a consumer context,
Bassett and Dabbs (2005) employed the GNAT to show that smokers had less negative
implicit attitudes toward smoking than nonsmokers, although for both groups the GNAT
correlated positively with explicit self‐reports.

Finally, the Breadth‐based Adjective Rating Task (BART; Karpinski et al., 2007) is an

indirect paper‐and‐pencil measure of consumer attitudes that is based on the premise
that individuals tend to describe expectancy‐consistent information with more abstract
and generic traits, whereas expectancy‐inconsistent information is captured via more
concrete and specific traits. This abstraction bias is captured in the BART by having
participants rate how well trait adjectives of varying breadth and valence describe an
attitude object (Karpinski et al., 2007). Initially developed in the context of information
describing the self and interpreted as an indirect expression of a person's level of self‐
esteem, the measure has found use in consumer contexts as well (e.g., Steinman &
Karpinski, 2009).

There are two general situations that warrant researcher recourse to implicit measures
in order to reliably and validly capture consumer processing of, and response to,
marketing stimuli. The first is the case of self‐presentation biases that often plague
marketing research data. To the extent that survey or experimental response items
create consumer discomfort or entail the risk of the respondent coming across as less
sophisticated, open‐minded, or knowledgeable than is socially acceptable or expected
(Kihlstrom, 2004), conscious adjustments may be undertaken that alter or even hide
objectively true responses.

The second instance that may produce biased feedback is one of consumers lacking
conscious access to their own cognitive processes or information stored in memory.
Explicit measures may simply be inadequate to capture these types of data. In these
situations, a theoretically interesting dissociation of explicit and implicit responses may
occur, and the immediate question of whether explicit or implicit measures of cognition
are more predictive of actual behavior becomes directly relevant. The self‐presentation
bias and the lack of awareness cases are each explored next.

Consumer Conscious Adjustment of Explicit Responses

In a consumption environment that features ever‐changing social trends and norms,
deviant attitudes and behaviors are often not readily admitted. Consider the case of
consumers queried about their recycling behaviors and attitudes toward recycling. It is
likely that because of the enhanced pressure to think and act in an environmentally
conscious manner in today's society, many respondents may be reluctant to express
unfavorable attitudes toward recycling or admit that they routinely fail to recycle.
Accordingly, they may engage in response management strategies to conceal their true
attitudes and instead provide socially desirable answers (see Meneses, 2010), which
can lead to invalid inferences regarding their attitudes and behavior. A recent
illustration of this effect was provided during the 2008 presidential electoral season. The
American voting public was polled by a variety of national media outlets, but a
significant number of individuals also took IAT tests that measured their implicit
preferences for the two main candidates on an Internet Web site sponsored by an
academic institution. Notably, whereas the electoral polls varied widely in their
predictions and many were unable to clearly predict a winner given their margins of
error, the IAT proved highly reliable in predicting the winning candidate (Greenwald et
al., 2009b). It appears that revealing preferences to a pollster (or a marketer, for that
matter) is less honesty‐inducing than responding to an implicit measure.

In the same vein, Brunel, Tietje, and Greenwald (2004) assessed consumers' behavioral
and attitudinal responses to spokesperson race in print advertising. Social psychology
research had uncovered relatively low correlations between explicit and implicit
measures of racial attitudes, which is in line with the expectation that respondents
consciously adjust their answers due to a self‐presentation bias (Greenwald, McGhee, &
Schwartz, 1998). Brunel, Tietje, and Greenwald (2004) exposed subjects to
advertisements featuring celebrity spokespeople of either Caucasian or African
American ethnicity. An interesting interaction occurred between viewer ethnicity and
type of measurement of respondents' attitudes toward the advertisement. Explicit self‐
report measures administered to Caucasian consumers were unable to detect any
preference for a same‐ethnicity spokesperson advertisement, whereas the IAT identified
a significant pro‐Caucasian preference among the same respondents. Alternatively,
African American consumers self‐reported an explicit preference for ads featuring same‐
ethnicity endorsers, but this effect was absent in the IAT. These results suggest that
response management strategies may have been employed by both ethnic groups,
driven by the perceived pressure to provide socially desirable or group‐consistent
responses.

Individuals are generally adept at engaging in a variety of cognitive defensive

mechanisms in order to detect and protect the self from threatening incoming
information. For example, in the domain of romantic relationships, researchers find
evidence for a specific risk regulation system designed to deal with risky relationship
situations (e.g., Murray, Holmes, & Collins, 2006). In this context of romantic
relationships, Dimofte and Yalch (2010a) exposed subjects to information according to
which a recent survey in the study's geographic location had uncovered a 3:1 ratio of
females to males in the population. The immediate implication that it is much easier to
date someone as a male was immediately salient to all respondents, including females
for whom this novel information (factually true and therefore highly credible) was
directly threatening. However, in line with classic findings on self‐enhancement, these
female respondents claimed that future dating in the respective location would not be a
more difficult task when asked about it on explicit measures. This conscious, self‐
protective adjustment in self‐reports was not possible on the IAT, which revealed
stronger automatic associations between dating and difficult(than
between single and difficult) for the threatened female respondents, including those in
committed romantic relationships at the time of the study (Dimofte & Yalch, 2010a).

Finally, recent research by Dimofte, Brumbaugh, and Goodstein (2010) on the topic of
consumer response to target marketing is germane to the point that individuals may
choose to conceal their true responses in explicit self‐reports. Over time, many product
categories develop associations with particular user prototypes in the consumer's mind
regarding who it is that tends to buy the particular products (e.g., environmentally
conscious, progressive urban dwellers are hybrid car buyers). Yet some of these
prototypes may not always fit with those brand managers had considered when
developing their targeting strategies. In these cases, it could be argued that the
marketplace has in effect created an undesirable product association (i.e., because the
prototype is overly narrow or perhaps even completely off the mark relative to the
firm's initial positioning). When firms create target advertising for such products, the
user prototype knowledge is automatically activated and the response to advertising is
often driven by the way the consumer compares to the prototype (and not to the ad‐
suggested target customer). In this case, if the user prototype is a member of an out‐
group relative to the consumer's in‐group, a social comparison process is engaged. If
this group comparison is unfavorable to the consumer (say for a Caucasian male
exposed to advertising for basketball shoes associated with an athletic African American
product user prototype), a decline in collective self‐esteem may ensue, leading to
unfavorable advertisement and product attitudes (Dimofte, Brumbaugh, &
Goodstein, 2010). These declines are not readily observed in explicit self‐reports, as
subjects may guess the reason why ethnic collective self‐esteem questions are being
explicitly asked after exposure to the ad and may choose to artificially inflate their
estimates. However, these self‐esteem–enhancing adjustments are not as likely to occur
with implicit measures, as these authors observed. In fact, results suggested that
individuals' implicit self‐esteem (captured via their IAT effect size) fully mediates the
response of consumers to target advertising that elicits threatening user prototype
knowledge (Dimofte, Brumbaugh, & Goodstein, 2010).

Consumer Lack of Awareness of Implicit Responses

It has been argued that the nonconscious nature of some consumer cognition resides in
individuals' lack of awareness for a variety of processing‐related elements. For example,
Chartrand (2005) suggested that consumers may be unaware of the external cues that
prompt the engagement of an automatic cognitive process, of this process itself, or of
its outcomes. In other words, a TV viewer exposed to a commercial for Jackson Hewitt's
tax preparation service may be unaware that the ad's slogan (“Get more in return”) has
triggered an automatic processing of its multiple meanings, that the secondary meaning
has been accessed and comprehended, or that an ad hoc perception has emerged
according to which this tax service is simultaneously perceived as more affordable and
better at getting deductions. In fact, that is precisely what Dimofte and Yalch (2007a)
found in their research on polysemous (i.e., multiple‐meaning) brand slogans. For a
cellular phone provider that employed the slogan “Raising the Bar” to effectively convey
two brand‐favorable information cues (i.e., superior service relative to competitors and
more signal bars when using the company's network), many consumers unexpectedly
had more negative attitudinal responses to the brand than did those in a control group
exposed to the slogan “Redefining the Best.” Yet the reason for the negative attitudes
was not apparent when exploring participants' elicited thoughts, suggesting that self‐
report measures may be inadequate when it comes to fully capturing the language
processing effects involved in consumer response to polysemous slogans. However, an
IAT juxtaposing the respective cellular provider with a direct competitor using the
evaluative categories affordable and expensive uncovered novel automatic associations
between the advertised brand and perceptions of expensiveness. While certainly
inadvertent and unintended on the part of the marketer, consumers apparently
implicitly accessed a negative secondary meaning of the brand slogan, according to
which they perceived that the firm raised the bar in terms of jacking up the prices it
charged for its high‐end service (Dimofte & Yalch, 2007a).

In a similar fashion, the expression “going down fast in Aspen,” employed to suggest
the quality of the mountain resort's ski slopes, was instead implicitly (but not explicitly)
construed by study respondents to imply the deteriorating quality of the resort's
services over time, an effect certainly opposite to that intended by the advertiser
(Dimofte & Yalch, 2007b). Importantly, in both cases consumers failed to mention the
negative slogan aspects in self‐reports, but demonstrated the implied negative
associations via the IAT.

Forehand and Perkins (2005) used self‐report and the IAT to assess consumer response
to advertising using celebrity voices. They found that liking a celebrity produced a
positive response to advertising featuring the celebrity's voice, but only for consumers
who were unable to recognize the celebrity. However, consumers who recognized the
celebrity, were motivated to eliminate irrelevant influences on their advertising
response, and were able to consciously adjust their explicit response did not exhibit the
same effect. The authors argued that the explicit measure adjustment involved a
correction of the perceived influence of the celebrity (i.e., resetting) because of its
actual irrelevance. This resetting implied a conscious evaluation that the IAT did not
allow for, leading to the emergence of dissociation between the explicit and implicit
results. This work (as well as that of Dimofte & Yalch reviewed above) shows the value
of the IAT as a methodological tool for capturing cognitive processes that underlie
effects observable on explicit measures of attitudes but not easily explainable from
consumer self‐reports (see Perkins et al., 2008 for a similar argument).

In evaluating consumer attitudes toward genetically modified foods, Spence and

Townsend (2006) employed the GNAT to show that context‐free implicit attitudes were
in fact relatively positive, although corresponding explicit self‐reports were neutral. At
the same time, a downshift was observed when GNAT measurement occurred in the
context of organic foods, as implicit attitudes toward genetically modified products were
found to be neutral but not negative (Spence & Townsend, 2006). These results
suggest that consumers have automatic approach tendencies toward these foods
despite indifferent explicit attitudes. Since self‐report measures did not show a reported
preference for non‐modified products (as self‐presentation bias might have suggested),
it appears the positive implicit effects are driven by consumers' lack of awareness of the
actual favorable attitudes they show toward these products at nonconscious levels.

The largely positive behavioral response that American consumers have toward global
brands was the focus of research by Dimofte, Johansson, and Ronkainen (2008). Unlike
respondents in developing nations, who display an explicit preference for these brands
due to their aspirational nature, U.S. consumers reported seeing no particular benefit or
value associated with global brands (be they American or foreign). In a study employing
a nationally representative panel of respondents recruited via the Internet, who
presumably had no self‐presentation motives, the only explanation for the favorable
behavioral effect that global brands engendered (i.e., higher purchase levels than
attitude–behavior consistency models would predict) was that U.S. consumers harbor
positive implicit attitudes toward global brands. Indeed, an indirect test showed that an
individual described along several attributes was liked better if presented as a global
(vs. local) beer drinker, whereas an IAT uncovered implicit associations favoring global
over local brands (Dimofte, Johansson, & Ronkainen, 2008).

Psychological research introduced a shifting standards model of evaluations (Biernat,

Manis, & Nelson, 1991) according to which individuals routinely adjust their subjective
(but not objective) judgment standards as they evaluate members of stereotyped social
groups. For example, women are stereotypically expected to earn less than men if
judged in annualized dollar amounts, but they are at the same time not expected to be
less financially successful than men. (In fact, Biernat, Manis, & Nelson, 1991, found that
the very same women earning less than men were perceived to be more financially
successful than those men; thus, for a woman, such financial performance was quite
impressive). Along these lines, Dimofte and Johansson (2009) uncovered the existence
of a similar shifting standards effect in marketing with respect to consumer brand
evaluations. They found that for inferior brands that engender strong expectations,
consumers unconsciously lower their evaluative standards and “cut them slack” when
responding to word‐based, subjective scales (but not to number‐based, objective
scales). In other words, a Hyundai engine that puts out 150 hp is objectively
unimpressive, but in subjective terms (i.e., on a scale anchored by “not powerful at all”
and “extremely powerful”), a horsepower rating at that level sounds pretty good for a
Hyundai. The automatic nature of this adjustment was captured via the IAT and further
demonstrated by consumers' lack of acknowledgment that they had engaged in the
evaluative shift when informed about it on a post hoc basis (Dimofte &
Johansson, 2009).

Priluck and Till (2009) examined consumer brand perception with a standard, explicit
brand equity scale as well as the IAT in order to spot instances when the two may
diverge. Their findings suggest that for clearly distinguishable brands such as those of
high versus low equity, both the IAT and the explicit brand equity scale were successful
in capturing differences in perceptions. However, when two brands were less
distinguishable in explicit terms, the IAT uncovered an implicit consumer preference for
the pioneering brand that was not apparent from explicit brand equity measurement
(Priluck & Till, 2009).

Early work on rumor processing and acceptance by Tybout, Calder, and Sternthal
(1981) found that strategies other than refutation are more useful for quelling
unfavorable brand rumors (such as the actual marketplace report at the time according
to which McDonald's burger meat contained red worms). This is an important issue
because despite explicit disbelief in the story, subsequent brand attitudes and purchase
intent measures displayed significant declines. A storage rumor quelling strategy, for
example, involved exposing consumers (simultaneously with the rumor) to novel
information cues about the negative contaminant (e.g., red worms are used in high‐end
French cuisine). The strat‐egy proved successful, although explaining the precise
mechanism through which it operated was left unaddressed. For example, it could have
been that the extra information cues interfered with the creation of a brand–
contaminant association or that the positive valence of this information made the
contaminant less objectionable (Tybout, Calder, & Sternthal, 1981). To disentangle
these alternative explanations, Dimofte and Yalch (2010a) employed the IAT to
demonstrate that the brand–contaminant automatic association is quick to emerge and
cannot be suppressed, but the positive nature of the new information about the
contaminant significantly improves implicit attitudes toward it (thus, worms are
somehow not that bad after all and therefore the rumor is less damaging to the brand).

Finally, Dimofte and Yalch (2010b) introduced a mere association effect in the context
of consumer information processing, which was driven by an inability to suppress
automatically activated but irrelevant brand associations. In one of their studies,
participants were asked to rate 20 academic institutions in terms of reputation as party
or work‐intensive schools, respectively. The two focal institutions were USC and UCLA,
with the latter perceived to be more of a party school at statistically significant levels.
Subsequent exposure to a series of brand logos that included that for Trojan condoms
(vs. a control condom brand) was conducive to the emergence of an implicit association
between USC and play (captured on the IAT), which in effect reversed prior explicit
perceptions. Thus, the mere fact that the Trojan construct is associated with both
condoms and the athletic teams of an academic institution produced an automatic
transfer of attributes between the two that logically should not have occurred. The
effect was also observed on evaluative judgments. In a different study, consumers
exposed to the word frog were more likely to choose a wine bottle featuring a frog on its
label, but the word warts (as a negative associate of toads and frogs) produced
avoidance behavior for the same label instead (Dimofte & Yalch, 2010b). This research
is informative regarding the unexpected and potentially damaging effects that may
occur when specific primes are paired with brand names, despite the fact that the mere
association effect should be consciously suppressed. Importantly, implicit measures are
critical in demonstrating and explaining their underlying associative mechanisms.

The Predictive Power of Implicit Measures for Consumption

Behavior
Fazio and Olson (2003) reviewed evidence for the predictive validity of implicit
associations, in particular studies examining priming, the IAT, and other implicit
measures (e.g., the word fragment completion task). They argued that individually
these measures seem to predict subsequent behaviors. However, they also cautioned
that implicit measures show surprisingly low correlations with each other, largely due to
their low reliability and large measurement error (Fazio & Olson, 2003).

On the other hand, supporting the claim that, in general, explicit and implicit attitudes
tend to be well aligned, Greenwald et al.'s (2009a) meta‐analysis finds that the IAT
correlates well with explicit measures, particularly in the area of brand preference and
choice (though for a different perspective see Karpinski & Hilton, 2001). In specifically
assessing the predictive power of implicit and explicit preferences on brand choice,
Friese, Wänke, and Plessner (2006) found that the specific context underlying this
choice plays an important role. In their research, participants were exposed to sets of
branded or generic products, were then asked to provide preferences for either set by
means of both explicit self‐reports and via the IAT, and were later asked to choose one
set to receive as a gift. Participants given ample time to consider their gift choice picked
products (the branded or generic set, respectively) that were predicted exclusively by
their explicit answers (regardless of whether their implicit and explicit preferences were
congruent or not). However, those who had to decide under time pressure (5 seconds)
and who had displayed inconsistent implicit and explicit preferences were less likely to
make choices that converged with their explicit answers. While in general the authors
found that explicitly measured preferences were reliable predictors of choice, their
predictive power was significantly impaired in situations where consumers were
pressured to rely more on highly accessible, automatic preferences (Friese, Wänke, &
Plessner, 2006). In a similar vein, Friese, Hoffman, and Wänke (2008) demonstrated
that in the context of individuals' food consumption choices, implicit attitude measures
(i.e., the IAT) were better than explicit measures in predicting impulsive behaviors,
whereas explicit attitude measures (i.e., self‐reported ratings) were better predictors of
controlled behaviors.

Maison, Greenwald, and Bruin (2001) examined the predictive ability of the IAT in
specific consumption contexts such as those involving preferences for low‐ versus high‐
calorie foods and consumption of these food choices. They found that explicit attitudes
toward low‐ versus high‐calorie products correlated with implicit attitudes only for low‐
calorie foods. Furthermore, these implicit attitudes were related to respondents' self‐
reported consumption of low‐ and high‐calorie products, respectively. Maison,
Greenwald, and Bruin's (2001) results suggest that the IAT could thus be employed as a
measure of implicit attitudes that may be predictive of behavior in situations where
consumers hold ambivalent attitudes that may blur explicit self‐reports. In other words,
there are both positive and negative aspects related to low‐ and high‐calorie foods (e.g.,
taste, weight control, etc.), and whichever is more salient during questioning may bias
explicit responses. The use of the IAT may avoid this bias and seems to predict behavior
reliably.

Steinman and Karpinski's (2008) research on consumer response to the clothing retailer
brand GAP found that while the SC‐IAT data did not correlate with explicit attitude
measures, they were related to self‐reports of GAP patronage and behavioral intentions.
Whereas explicit attitude was a strong predictor of behavioral intentions, the authors
proposed that “the SC‐IAT could add to the specificity of prediction of consumer
behavior” (Steinman & Karpinski, 2008). In related work employing the BART measure
alongside more traditional explicit self‐reports, Steinman and Karpinski (2009)
evaluated the predictive value of this indirect instrument on consumer behavioral intent
measures toward the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper and Ben & Jerry's ice cream,
respectively. The authors found that the BART was a significant predictor of behavioral
intentions and added to the specificity of prediction above and beyond explicit attitude
(Steinman & Karpinski, 2009). Similarly, Maison, Greenwald, and Bruin's (2004) limited
meta‐analysis of several studies employing both the IAT and explicit measures of
consumer attitudes confirmed that the use of implicit measures enhances the predictive
ability of consumption behavior relative to that of explicit measures alone.

Finally, Chan and Sengupta (2010) further qualify the correspondence between
implicit/explicit attitudes and implicit/explicit behaviors. In their work on consumer
flattery, individuals who were complimented by marketers in targeted communications
reported awareness of the firm's ulterior motive but had difficulty adjusting for it (Chan
& Sengupta, 2010). Instead of being replaced by a discounted explicit judgment, an
implicit favorable reaction to flattery continued to exist along with it, which is in line
with the dual attitude theory reviewed above (e.g., Wilson, Lindsey, & Schooler, 2000).
Importantly, the attitude–behavior correspondence account was found to operate for
immediate measurement, but a reversal occurred after a delay, such that implicit
attitudes (measured similarly to explicit attitudes but with significantly longer time to
respond) were in fact more predictive of behavior (store coupon choice from the
ingratiating marketer or a competitor).

DISCUSSION
Research evidence reviewed in this paper highlights recent methodological advances in
the area of implicit social cognition and their relevance to consumer psychology. Rooted
in the conceptual distinction between implicit and explicit facets describing a variety of
psychological constructs, a parallel dichotomy has been proposed relative to the
specific measurement instruments to capture these constructs. The implicit–explicit
distinction is of particular concern in two instances of consumer response to marketing
stimuli. First is the case in which response management strategies are engaged and
socially desirable or self‐enhancing responses are provided in self‐reports. In this case,
individuals may be unwilling to provide the researcher with their true appraisals of the
measured construct, rendering their explicit feedback invalid for purposes of assessing
their underlying sentiments or intentions. Second is the case in which the implicit nature
of the construct being measured or other related psychological processes makes these
true ratings inaccessible for respondent introspection. When this occurs, the individual's
bona fide efforts to provide accurate representations of these constructs or processes
simply fall short on grounds of inaccessibility.

The value of implicit measures thus resides in their potentially superior ability to gather
accurate construct measurement data despite consumers' reluctance or inability to
provide them. In some of the work cited here, implicit measures were differentially
qualified to capture cognitive processing effects that would otherwise be unobservable
and left open to theoretical interpretation and debate in a manner reminiscent of
behaviorism's black box paradigm. In other cases, implicit and explicit measures
displayed unexpectedly low correlations, prompting consideration of more
comprehensive theoretical frameworks that feature richer conceptual understandings.
Finally, the fact that implicit measures were shown to display relatively high levels of
predictive validity is an important consideration in a field concerned with understanding
and predicting consumer behavior.

It also seems apparent that the IAT has emerged as the most preferred measure of
implicit attitudes. The reasons for the IAT's attractiveness to researchers may have to
do with its relatively good fit with the consumer research enterprise. The dual‐category
design is a great match for marketplace scenarios that juxtapose two direct
competitors, while its general use in between‐subjects designs avoids some
methodological and interpretation issues raised in psychological research based on
within‐subject responses. It is also useful in situations featuring attitudinal ambivalence
toward specific brands, as it allows for the emergence of more clearly defined automatic
preferences once the burden of cognitive elaboration across a multitude of attributes is
lifted.

Much of the research involving the IAT has been squarely focused on measuring implicit
attitudes, at the expense of richer contexts, such as those involving assessment of
memory or self‐esteem, where the 4measure has significant potential as well. Moreover,
future consumer research should expand the use of implicit measures beyond the IAT to
perhaps the GNAT (uniquely suited to address single‐brand implicit effects), the BART,
or other, less common, methodological tools from social psychology (see Schellekens,
Verlegh, & Smidts, 2010, on consumer use of language abstraction in word of mouth).

Other areas of great potential involve the application of classic effects from
psychological research to the consumer domain in which implicit measures can be used
to assess specific underlying mechanisms. For example, Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) have
proposed that making optimal choices in complex situations entails nonconscious rather
than conscious deliberation (e.g., deliberating internally in the absence of attention and
effortful processing). The implications that this effect carries for consumer research are
significant, and understanding why these choices produce better results and greater
satisfaction provides a research opportunity that is both intriguing and appealing. If
specific product attributes are perhaps erroneously overemphasized during explicit
choice consideration, their reduced salience and importance in nonconscious
deliberation invites researchers to consider other avenues of research, such as
measurement of implicit responses.

In the end, the increasing popularity of implicit measures in mainstream consumer

psychology and the emergence of findings based on their use that shed new light on a
variety of consumer phenomena are encouraging. More work is needed, though, in
order to demonstrate their usefulness to a wider constituency and highlight their
incremental contributions in the field of marketing and advertising research. As the
knowledge base on the topic widens, replication work, meta‐analyses, and more
comprehensive reviews will contribute to a better assessment of their future place in
the field's methodological arsenal.

---

Examining the Effectiveness of Athlete Celebrity

Endorser Characteristics and Product Brand Type: The
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum
Christina S. Simmers, Datha Damron-Martinez, Diana L Haytko

Abstract

This research furthers the theoretical perspectives that athlete endorsers are brands unto themselves,
and that athlete-endorser effectiveness is determined by congruent pairings of the athlete-endorser
brand and the product brand by introducing the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum. This model
categorizes athlete celebrity endorsers on the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum with anchor points
referred to as “acquirable expertise” and “likeability.” As in successful brand alliances, this model
suggests the types of products/brands the athlete celebrities would be most successful in endorsing,
depending on their positioning on the continuum.
 Keywords

Sport marketing; brand management; celebrity endorser; sponsorship; product endorsement;

celebrity athlete; athlete spokesperson; source credibility; source attractiveness

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‘It's Gotta Be Da Shoes’: Domestic Manufacturing, International

Subcontracting, and the Production of Athletic Footwear
R Barff, J Austen

First Published August 1, 1993 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1068/a251103
     

Abstract

An apparent paradox exists in the geography of athletic footwear production. The

industry is highly labor intensive; it is also locationally volatile. Although most
production now takes place in Southeast Asia, the United States nevertheless still
contains significant enclaves of athletic footwear production. Moreover, the cheapest
shoes continue to be produced in the United States whereas more complex,
expensive models tend to be manufactured in Asia. To understand this geography,
we must move beyond the basic consideration of international labor-cost differentials.
By means of two case studies, it is shown that domestic production involves very
different labor processes from those of production based in other countries and, like
many other sectors of the economy, domestic producers gain advantage by carrying
smaller inventories through faster lead times. The best explanation, though, centers
on the shoes themselves. Athletic shoes produced in the United States tend to have
many fewer stitches in them than those manufactured elsewhere, which minimizes
the most expensive component of the production process. Furthermore, tariffs on
athletic shoes massively discriminate against imported shoes of a particular
construction.

--------

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International Review for the Sociology of

Sport

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BETWEEN AND BEYOND THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL: American

Popular Sporting Culture in New Zealand
Steven J. Jackson, David L. Andrews

First Published March 1, 1999 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/101269099034001003

Abstract

This article examines how the National Basketball Association (NBA), an explicitly
American, yet increasingly global media(ted) institution, can be located within the
local context of New Zealand. Specifically, the article provides: (a) a brief overview of
how and why the NBA transformed itself into a global sport commodity; (b) a
contextualization of contemporary New Zealand along with a cursory examination of
some empirical examples of the global/local nexus of the NBA; and (c) an analysis of
 how the NBA and American sporting culture serve as points of difference within what
Robertson terms the `hegemonic global'.

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Journal of Business Research

Volume 60, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 60-71

Innovation creation by online basketball communities☆

Author links open overlay panelJohannFüllerHansMühlbacher1

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.09.019 Get rights and content

Abstract
This article investigates joint-development activities within online consumer groups.
While research on user-innovations within communities exists for open source software
as well as for emerging extreme sports like kite-surfing or rodeo kayaking in offline
contexts, this study focuses on innovation activities within online consumer communities
for basketball shoes, a physical consumer product in a mature market. The research
shows that a small number of consumers are highly creative and possess sufficient
domain specific skills and motivation to develop new innovative basketball shoes. While
many community members state their experiences and problems with existing shoe
models, those actively participating in joint-innovation activities tend to be driven by
excitement rather than by pure need for product improvement. The high quality and
variety of innovations, and general willingness of community members to share their
ideas with producers, lead to the discussion of how to integrate creative online
communities into a company's innovation process.

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Keywords
Innovation

Online community

Consumer goods

Knowledge creation
Virtual consumer integration
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