Consumer Motivations and Responses to Rejection

• Other Authors: Bittner, Samantha (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Marketing
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Bittner_fsu_0071E_15180

Consumers can experience rejection in a variety of marketing contexts. Rejection may originate from consumer-to-consumer interactions in brand affiliated groups. Business-to-consumer interactions may also result in consumer rejection. Indeed, there are multiple reasons a firm might decide to reject a consumer and deny them access to particular goods and/or services. The research on social exclusion and consumer rejection, while extensive, has largely focused on how experiencing rejecting from a peer affects consumers’ psychological well-being and attitude towards others. In contrast, much less is known about the effects of acting as a source of exclusion. In addition, only a handful of researchers have considered the influence of rejection on an individual’s consumption behavior. Furthermore, the effects of experiencing rejection at the hands of the firm have not been extensively studied. In this research, I address these weaknesses by examining the underlying motivations that lead consumers to engage in exclusionary behavior. The first context in which this is considered is brand communities and club membership (Essay 1). Consumers are found to have different motivations when participating in brand related affiliated groups, which manifests in opposing behaviors. Individuals high (low) in domain-relevant experience are driven by a desire for status (belonging) in the community. As a result, high (low) experience individuals are more likely to engage in exclusionary (inclusionary) behavior and exhibit increased brand commitment and purchase intentions after excluding (including) another individual. The second context which I examine is that of consumer response to promotion denial (Essay 2). Results indicate that responses to a denial are influenced by the value of the denied promotion. More specifically, a quadratic relationship is found to exist between promotion value and future purchase intentions. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Marketing in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2019. === April 15, 2019. === Includes bibliographical references. === Charles Hofacker, Professor Directing Dissertation; Chad Van Iddekinge, University Representative; Tatiana Fajardo, Committee Member; Pui Wan "Ruby" Lee, Committee Member.