The marketplace is full of cues about a product’s popularity. There are two types of consensus cues, or statements about how others generally responded to the product: Cues that describe others’ attitudes (“top rated,” implying the product is widely liked) and cues that describe others’ behaviors (“best seller,” implying the product is widely purchased). Can this subtle difference in consensus cues affect persuasion? In their recent Journal of Consumer Research article, Aaron J. Barnes and Sharon Shavitt show that the effectiveness of attitudinal versus behavioral consensus cues depends ..read more

It was a pleasure seeing so many of JCR’s Editorial Review Board members and Associate Editors at the recent Association for Consumer Research conference. We were able to celebrate continued success at the journal, and we welcomed new members to the team. Please say congratulations to the new Associate Editors at JCR: Alixandra Barasch Josko Brakus Robin Canniford Rhonda Hadi Daniella Kupor   Also, a warm welcome to the newest members of the Editorial Review Board: Susan Broniarczyk Inyoung Chae Cammy Crolic Emanuel deBellis Emily Garbinsky David Matthew Godfrey Kirk Kristofferson Monika ..read more

Reward-based crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indigogo are wildly popular around the globe. Every year, consumers use these platforms to transfer billions of dollars to help entrepreneurs and artists develop market innovations. Strangely, though, these consumers obtain no financial benefits from these producers, no legal guarantee that their money will be used aptly, and no reimbursement options. These unfavorable conditions led authors Andre F. Maciel (University of Nebraska—Lincoln) and Michelle F. Weinberger (Northwestern University) to ask in their most recent JCR article why s ..read more

  What is an Inclusion Grant? The general idea is to help JCR authors offered a revision opportunity who do not have access to sufficient funds to conduct the required research. We are trying to include potential authors who may otherwise by shut out of JCR due to resource constraints. When an author team receives a “revise and resubmit” decision from JCR, it is usually accompanied by a request for new empirical data. This may be due to flaws in existing study designs, and/or underpowered existing studies, more qualitative data needed, as well as for other reasons. The move for more rigo ..read more

A timely and relevant new JCR paper by Sunaina Velagaleti and Amber Epp investigates same-sex couples’ attempts to address hysteresis – when their gendered bodies, roles, and expressions are out of sync with the evolving script of a destabilized wedding field. We asked the authors to summarize their findings for you: Tradition is at the heart of America’s wedding industry, a multi-billion-dollar marketplace that dictates legitimacy—who and what will be valued and accepted—as well as the latest styles and trends. Each year, millions of couples embark on the extensive and pricey wedding plannin ..read more

The post Call for Nominations: Editor in Chief appeared first on Journal of Consumer Research ..read more

The current JCR editorial team—Bernd Schmitt, June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew Stephen, and Stacy Wood—will end their term on December 31, 2024. The next editorial term will begin on January 1, 2025, and end on December 31, 2028. In preparation for the transition to the next editorship, the JCR Policy Board is calling for nominations for editor in chief. After the JCR editor in chief is selected, that individual will then assemble a team of co-editors who will be responsible for appointing associate editors and the Editorial Review Board, selecting manuscript reviewers, writing decision let ..read more

Consumer fascination with the past drives a diverse range of markets. Genetic ancestry, antique collecting, heritage tourism, and historical re-enactments are just a few examples of market-mediated efforts to memorialize the past. Typically, the past is made consumable by professionals, such as brand managers, tourism agents, and heritage boards. However, what happens when consumers are the drivers of memorialization? What are the consequences of prioritizing consumer interpretations over commercial interpretations of the past? We asked the co-authors of a new JCR paper focusing on consumer-d ..read more

The post Origin versus Substance: Competing Determinants of Disruption in Duplication Technologies appeared first on Journal of Consumer Research ..read more

The post The Value-Translation Model of Consumer Activism: How Consumer Watchdog Organizations Change Markets appeared first on Journal of Consumer Research ..read more