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Multi-unit discounts (MUDs, e.g. “3 for $4”) typically increase sales relative to other discounting frames. This study demonstrates the value of MUDs by showing that positive multi-unit price/quantity signals are potent enough to match and even exceed the sales produced by larger discounts on single items. However, there is reason to believe that MUDs can produce neutral effects in some cases (e.g. among consumers interested in only single-unit purchases) and even negative effects in others. In addition, the study considers whether MUDs can, in some cases, reduce purchase quantities by signaling smaller-than-otherwise-planned purchase amounts and/or lower-quality products.

The effectiveness of MUDs is tested in both the field and lab. Study 1 models purchase quantities stemming from 2,374 purchases of discounted items at a mass retailer. Purchased products ranged in type from pantry items to apparel and electronics, and ranged in price from 44¢ to $99.99. There were 1,530 single-unit discounts, 596 two-unit discounts and 248 discounts, involving three or more units. Study 2 consists of a laboratory experiment that overcomes the shortcomings of Study 1 by accounting for non-purchasers, controlling for product classes and testing whether smaller MUDs can lead to lower purchase quantities for larger-purchase-quantity products.

The results of both the field study and the laboratory experiment indicate that MUDs’ monetary cue (savings) and purchase-quantity cue (volume) increase purchase quantities. Generally, purchase quantities increased monotonically with the number of units offered in the discount. In fact, the quantity cue is so effective that it can increase sales enough as to substitute for larger discounts. However, in some instances, MUDs can decrease intended purchase quantities. The negative effect of MUDs is the most pronounced for larger unit deals, offering deeper discounts on perishable goods.

This research is the first to demonstrate that the power of the signals provided by MUDs may be so positive as to lead them to be more effective than discounts of substantially larger value but also so negative as to render them less effective than single-units discounts. This negative outcome poses a threat beyond those typically associated with discounts, in that rather than consumers simply discounting a discount, in which case the discount remains positive even if their impact at the margin wanes, the MUD frame may actually reduce sales.

The purpose of this study is to examine if consumers, after missing a price discount on a desired product, prefer to buy the latter at a smaller discount or prefer to pay full price but offset some of it with windfall money.

In four experiments, participants imagine that they have missed an opportunity to buy a box of chocolates at $50 off and are offered a second chance to buy them at a less attractive discount ($25) or pay full price, but partially offset the full price with various windfall lotteries ($25, $50, $75) and gift cards ($50).

Participants are more likely to buy the chocolates at the less attractive (second) discount rather than pay full price using windfall money. In doing so, they show that they are willing to be more, rather than less, poor from an overall wealth perspective to acquire the chocolates. This anomaly surfaces irrespective of the windfall amounts or preference elicitation methods (joint versus separate evaluation). The negative transaction utility of paying full price mediates the purchase method effect (discount versus windfall) on purchase likelihood, but gift cards are able to reduce the negative transaction utility of paying full price.

The research reveals a judgmental anomaly in how consumers assess product acquisition value following a lost opportunity and suggests that marketing managers may be able to reduce consumer inertia by strategically matching rewards with the source of the lost chance.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the conclusions of a previous synthesis of attraction effect research (1995), focusing on the influence of background and design variables on the magnitude of the effect, and to identify additional factors that question the effect’s practical market relevance.

Meta-analysis and moderator analysis (meta-regression) are used to summarize the findings and assess the explanatory power of background variables on the magnitude of the attraction effect.

Analyses indicate significant effects for procedure and the pre-entrant target percentage in addition to decoy type and decoy location found in previous synthesis. These factors explain 16 per cent of the variance. Previous findings that between-subject designs result in stronger attraction effects are not substantiated. Viable decoys led to a reversal of the attraction effect.

This research contributes conceptually by demonstrating that the attraction effect is sensitive to research design factors which in some cases reverse the effect. This suggests that the underlying theory needs qualification and that generalizability may be limited. Given the constraints of meta-analysis, design factors that are idiosyncratic to a single study or are constant across studies could not be tested.

This research suggests that for the attraction effect to have practical relevance, knowledge of the effect needs updating because critical realities in the marketplace have been somewhat ignored by researchers in building theories regarding this effect.

By focusing on background variables that can moderate the magnitude of the attraction effect, the authors open a venue to expand the theoretical understanding and the practical relevance of the attraction effect in marketing.

Talk of “macrofoundations” helps foreground the constitutive and contextualizing powers of institutions – dynamics that are inadvertently obscured by the imagery of microfoundations. Highlighting these aspects of institutions in turn opens intriguing lines of inquiry into institutional reproduction and change, lived experience of institutions, and tectonic shifts in institutional configurations. However, there is a twist: taking these themes seriously ultimately challenges any naïve division of micro and macro, and undermines the claim of either to a genuinely foundational role in social analysis. The authors propose an alternative “optometric” imagery – positioning the micro and the macro as arrays of associated lenses, which bring certain things into focus at the cost of others. The authors argue that this imagery should not only encourage analytic reflexivity (“a more optometric institutionalism”) but also draw attention to the use of such lenses in everyday life, as an underexplored but critical phenomenon for institutional theory and research (“an institutionalist optometry”).

The purpose of this paper is to describe three foundational concepts that contribute to conceptual heritage of the field of public relations (publics, organizations and relationships). Conceptual heritage is positioned as a type of shared public memory, a dominant narrative, that encourages adherence to the past whilst recognizing that counter-narratives can pose useful alternatives to foundational concepts.

The approach is a selective literature review that describes three dominant concept categories and presents more recently developed alternative concepts and approaches to illustrate how public memory is subjective and evolving.

The concepts of publics, organizations and relationships have grounded the dominant narrative and development of the field of public relations. Though these concepts continue to be influential as researchers rely upon and expand upon their legacies, counter-narratives can spur the innovation of ideas, measurement and practice.

The paper focuses on only three major foundational concepts selected by the authors. The importance of these concepts as well as additional examples of the field’s conceptual heritage and evolution could be identified by different authors.

The analysis demonstrates how the public memory contributes to the development and evolution of the field of public relations. Counter-narratives can offer appealing, subjectively constructed challenges to dominant narratives.

This paper describes and critiques public relations’ conceptual heritage and argues that conceptually and methodologically-based counter-narratives have contributed to its evolution.

Educators’ decisions regarding what instructional practices they use have significant consequences for the learning and life outcomes of their students. This is especially true for students with learning and behavioral disabilities, who require highly effective instruction to succeed in school and achieve their goals. In this volume of Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities chapter authors provide readers with accessible information on theory, critical elements, and research for instructional practices that are and are not supported by bodies of scientific research as effective in critical outcome areas. Educators can use this content to inform and enhance their instructional decision making. To contextualize subsequent chapters, in this introductory chapter we discuss the research-to-practice gap in special education, the importance of considering scientific research when making instructional decisions and considerations for interpreting and applying research findings on instructional practices. We conclude with a preview of the chapters in the volume.

The focus of this paper is on developing a rationale for the use of transmedia storytelling in corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. Transmedia storytelling involves telling stories across multiple platforms by multiple people that are still united by a central theme. The purpose of this paper is to develop a rationale for the application of transmedia storytelling for CSR communication and illustrate how Procter & Gamble’s “Thank You Mom” campaign demonstrates how transmedia storytelling can be found in the current CSR communication.

The first part of the story is theoretical development. The idea of transmedia storytelling is developed then translated into how it can be used in CSR communication. The key ideas are that the engagement with messages created by transmedia storytelling is the idea for capturing emotions in CSR messages and avoiding the backlash created by some CSR messages, such as advertising. Transmedia storytelling provides a lens for understanding and guiding the use of various social media channels in the distribution of CSR communication. A case study is they conducted to illustrate how P&G used transmedia storytelling in its “Thank You Mom” campaign. Qualitative content analysis is used to identify the plot lines in the stories and the overall storyworld that is being developed thereby illustrating how the concepts for transmedia storytelling can be applied to the case.

The results illustrate how transmedia storytelling can be applied to CSR communication and the potential benefits of this application. The primary yields are theory development for CSR communication and the insights from the case study.

The extant literature on strategic communication in general and CSR communication specially have shown only a passing interest in transmedia storytelling. This paper provides a very detailed rationale for applying transmedia storytelling to CSR communication and illustrates the utility of this approach with a case study. A detailed application of transmedia storytelling to CSR communication is new and can help advance both theory and practice.

This paper aims to examine the trends among the elderly population in China about residential preferences and policy applications, as the elderly is a rapidly expanding demographic group that has increasing and diversifying inclinations for demanding the residential facilities for the elderly (RFEs) now and in the foreseeable future.

Based on a review of the existing literature and policies, a model is conceptualised for understanding the demands of the elderly. Their needs for functional supportiveness and richness of residential resources in RFEs are then categorised into focal groups.

The Chinese elderly’s demand for specialised residential facilities is under a shift from seeking deficit relief to pursuing personal choices. It is suggested that there will be a continuing demand for affordable RFEs from a number of key focal groups, including: the functionally impaired; marginally housed; socially isolated; and the elderly requiring social relief. In addition, retirement housing in China is likely to be more affordable for the next elderly generation. However, the immature social welfare system and low average income level of the current elderly generation means that the Chinese Government has tough decisions to make about service priorities.

Policy and investment priorities may have to be inclusive of those who demand social relief (free-of-charge) and affordable professional long-term care in RFEs, whereas the rest of the demand could be released by growth in the development of community- and home-based service systems.

This study is one of the first to identify the diversifying demands of age-exclusive living facilities for the elderly that deserve priorities in China. The results can inform and guide future policy and project investment in China.