Papers by Ronald E Goldsmith
Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 2006
Abstract This paper describes a study in the psychology of market mavenism, the consumer tendency... more Abstract This paper describes a study in the psychology of market mavenism, the consumer tendency to become especially involved in the marketplace. The purpose was to investigate empirically associations with the important consumer characteristics of innovativeness, status consumption, and need for uniqueness. The findings support the notion that market mavenism is due less to the demographic characteristics of consumers as it is more a socially constructed phenomenon. Global innovativeness, status consumption, and ...
Psychological Reports, Aug 1, 1982
Researchers interested in discovering the motivational bases of authoritarianism have isolated th... more Researchers interested in discovering the motivational bases of authoritarianism have isolated the negative relationship between self-esteem and dogmatism as one possible source. Previous research has shown low selfesteem associated with high dogmatism. This study replicates the finding successfully using different tests and a different population of students.
Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Sep 1, 1996
This study reports new findings about fashion leaders that describe their unique characteristics ... more This study reports new findings about fashion leaders that describe their unique characteristics in an unexamined area: their self-concept. A valid and reliable self-report scale was used to measure fashion leadership for 376 college students. Analyses showed that this scale did a good job of identifying the fashion leaders. Additional analyses showed that fashion leaders expressed a unique self concept; they considered themselves more excitable, indulgent, contemporary, formal, colorful, and vain than followers. The implications of these findings for fashion theory and merchandising are discussed.
International Journal of Consumer Studies, Feb 14, 2011
The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of social influence regarding sustainability i... more The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of social influence regarding sustainability in households. Several research studies show that individual and family recycling and e-consumption behaviours are more affected by people that the individual/family know than by outside influences such as government or advertising campaigns. Social influence theory, although prevalent in such diverse fields as communication, marketing, sociology including medical and rural sociology, management information science and education, has not been used as extensively in human sciences, home economics and human ecology, specifically in applications to household green behaviour. The origins of social influence are found in the ground-breaking work in opinion leadership by Lazarsfeld in sociology and in E.M. Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory. The present article makes a case for using social influence theory as a framework for future studies and academic work in environmentalism, and for those trying to increase or promote pro-environmental behaviour at the individual, family or household level.
International Journal of Consumer Studies, 2006
Innovators represent a small and somewhat elusive group of consumers who are often the earliest a... more Innovators represent a small and somewhat elusive group of consumers who are often the earliest adopters of new products. As such, marketing researchers and practitioners alike are interested in determining the personality characteristics that influence innovators to purchase a new product early in the product life cycle. This correlational study examined the relationships of three of these characteristics (susceptibility to interpersonal influence, attention to social comparison information, and role-relaxed consumption) to individual innate innovativeness. Data were collected using self-report surveys administered to 326 students at a large public university in the south-east United States. The results supported hypothesized negative relationships between consumer innovativeness and both susceptibility to interpersonal influence and attention to social comparison information, as well as a positive relationship between consumer innovativeness and role-relaxed consumption.
Social Behavior and Personality, 2006
Using animals to test cosmetic products is controversial, but little research has explored its so... more Using animals to test cosmetic products is controversial, but little research has explored its social and psychological influences. Relationships between two personality constructs related to nonconformity (independence and anticonformity) and attitudes toward animal testing were studied using data from a survey of 418 students. The Independence Orientation and Nonconformity Orientation Scales were used to measure independence and anticonformity. Results showed that behavioral intentions were unrelated to age, women were more likely to get involved in antitesting behavior than were men, holding antitesting attitudes predicted intended action, and higher levels of anticonformity were associated with opposition as well, even when the effects of the other variables were held constant.
This book provides a basis for class discussion about the responsible conduct of social science r... more This book provides a basis for class discussion about the responsible conduct of social science research. These 16 brief research ethics cases describe situations in which ethical dilemmas arise and present the student with the opportunity to think through the different implications for researchers. The cases emphasize different types of ethical dilemmas involving faculty, students, participants, and stakeholders. Students can discuss what happened, why it was or was not unethical, and what should be the consequences for the ...
Psychological Reports, Jun 1, 2005
This study assessed the relationship between two important constructs in social psychology, confo... more This study assessed the relationship between two important constructs in social psychology, conformity and psychological reactance, which are suggested to be negatively related, i.e., a person higher in the tendency to conform will score lower on psychological reactance and vice versa. The two constructs were measured by multi-item self-report scales, the Therapeutic Reactance Scale of Dowd, et al. and a new tendency to conform scale constructed for this study. Data from a survey of 423 undergraduate students were used to test the hypothesis that scores on the scales were negatively correlated. The hypothesized relationship was positively supported by a significant but only moderately sized correIation (r = -32, p< .001).
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Feb 24, 2012
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how materialism, brand engagement in self‐concept (BE... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how materialism, brand engagement in self‐concept (BESC), and status consumption influence clothing involvement and brand loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from a survey of 258 US college students to test a model using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results show that materialism, BESC, and status consumption positively influence clothing involvement and brand loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe study findings are bounded by the country and sample providing the data. The results strongly support hypotheses derived from the literature and provide important insights into the motives for clothing involvement and brand loyalty.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that appealing to these three important motivators can influence some consumers to choose specific brands of clothing.Originality/valueThis study is the first to demonstrate the influence of materialism, especially operationalized by Kasser's scale, and brand engagement in self‐concept on these clothing behaviors.
Psychology & Marketing, 2005
Market mavens are consumers who are highly involved in the marketplace and represent an important... more Market mavens are consumers who are highly involved in the marketplace and represent an important source of marketplace information to other consumers. Because of their influence on other consumers across a wide range of product domains, market mavens are particularly interesting to retailers. Previous studies have clarified the behavioral tendencies of market mavens. The present study focuses on psychological influences on market mavenism. A structural-equation model of the normative influences on the psychology of the market maven is developed and tested. The hypothesized model describes relationships between global psychological constructs (self-esteem, tendency to conform), consumer traits (susceptibility to interpersonal influence, consumer need for uniqueness), and a domain-specific tendency (opinion leadership), placing the market maven construct in a normative, nomological network. The hypothesized model was supported by the data. The findings reveal the complexity of the market maven by disclosing their susceptibility to normative influence despite their need for uniqueness.
Journal of Business Research, Sep 1, 1999
Consumer knowledge is important both to theoretical models of consumer behavior and to marketing ... more Consumer knowledge is important both to theoretical models of consumer behavior and to marketing practice. There are three distinct but related ways in which consumer knowledge is conceptualized and measured: objective knowledge, subjective knowledge, and experience. This paper describes the development and validation of a short, reliable, and valid self-report measure of subjective knowledge that is applicable to a variety of data collection methods and subject areas. It can be used to test consumer theories and in ...
Educational and Psychological Measurement, Dec 1, 1993
This paper reports a study validating a new self-report scale used to measure innovativeness or t... more This paper reports a study validating a new self-report scale used to measure innovativeness or the tendency to adopt an innovation soon after it appears in a specific domain. Data obtained from 247 undergraduate business students showed that the 6-item scale was unidimensional and free from acquiescent responding. Rock music innovativeness was positively associated with opinion leadership for, involvement with, and both perceived and real knowledge of rock music. Innovativeness was also positively associated with the following: rock music magazine readership, time spent shopping for rock records, money spent for rock records, and time spent listening to rock music. These findings demonstrate both nomo-logical and criterion-related validity of the new scale.
Psychological Reports, Jun 1, 2000
A survey was made of 69 men and 51 women undergraduate students who described their self-image us... more A survey was made of 69 men and 51 women undergraduate students who described their self-image using the 15 adjective pairs of Malhotra's (1981) Selfconcept Scale. Tests of mean differences showed that the men described themselves as more rugged, dominating, unorganized, rational, formal, and colorless; and the women described themselves as more delicate, submissive, organized, emotional, informal, nod colorful. These results are consistent with several descriptions of male/female differences in the literature, thereby demonstrnting that Malhotra's scale may be a simple and convenient way to measure these specific aspects of self-image.
Journal of Social Psychology, 2012
Materialism influences many people. We focus on two aspects of this influence: reactions to prest... more Materialism influences many people. We focus on two aspects of this influence: reactions to prestige products and to the influence of others. A study of 187 U.S. student consumers shows that materialism is positively related to buying products that confer status. In contrast, materialism is negatively related to consumer independence, an enduring tendency to pay minimal attention to the prescribed norms of other consumers and to make product and brand decisions according to personal preferences. Consuming products for status is also negatively related to consumer independence. Moreover, the association between materialism and consumer independence is completely mediated by consuming for status. Materialism urges consumers to be status conscious so that they follow social norms in purchasing, but seeking status through goods is avoided by less materialistic, independent consumers. A second study (n = 258) also using student consumers confirmed these results.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Mar 1, 1996
Since Feick and Price (1987) introduced the concept of market mavenism almost 30 years ago, resea... more Since Feick and Price (1987) introduced the concept of market mavenism almost 30 years ago, researchers have accumulated a large body of empirical findings describing market maven attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics. Mavenism can be defined briefly as a strong involvement in the marketplace. The purpose of the present study was to assess relationships between market mavenism and three aspects of consumption behavior largely ignored by previous research into market mavenism. Analysis of data from a sample of 351 adult U.S. consumers confirms that market mavenism is positively related to frugality and negatively related to brand loyalty. The results showed that as H1 hypothesized, mavenism is positively related to frugality (r = .27). H2 proposed that mavenism is negatively correlated with brand loyalty. The results (r = -.24, p < .01) support this hypothesis as well. H3 posited that mavenism is positively correlated with shopping and spending. The correlations (.27 and .29) support this. These findings continue to develop our understanding of market mavenism and provide insights that marketing managers might use as they factor mavenism into their strategies.
Consumer independence describes indifference to the social influence of others. Brand engagement ... more Consumer independence describes indifference to the social influence of others. Brand engagement in self-concept represents how much consumers use brands to form and to display their self-concepts. Both individual difference variables and their respective scales are new to the field of marketing and consumer research. Consequently, it is important to evaluate their psychometric characteristics. As consumer independence increases, consumers should be increasingly indifferent to the social image their brand choice conveys and thus be unconcerned with what brands say about them. This paper presents the results of three studies, two in the U.S. and one in Korea, verifying that, as expected, consumer independence and brand engagement in self-concept are unrelated, testifying to the nomological validity of both concepts. Moreover, all three studies found the multi-items scales to be unidimensional and internally consistent
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Papers by Ronald E Goldsmith