Non-Profits are Seen as Warm and For-Profits as Competent: Firm Stereotypes Matter
Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2010
Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper No. 69
14 Pages Posted: 23 Jan 2010 Last revised: 3 Mar 2015
Date Written: January 21, 2010
Abstract
Consumers use warmth and competence, two fundamental dimensions that govern social judgments of people, to form perceptions of firms. Three experiments showed that consumers perceive non-profits as being warmer than for-profits, but as less competent. Further, consumers are less willing to buy a product made by a non-profit than a for-profit because of their perceptions that the firm lacks competence. Consequently, when perceived competence of a non-profit is boosted through subtle cues that connote credibility, discrepancies in willingness to buy disappear. In fact, when consumers perceive high levels of competence and warmth, they feel admiration for the firm - which translates to consumers’ increased desire to buy. This work highlights the importance of consumer stereotypes about non-profit and for-profit companies that, at baseline, come with opposing advantages and disadvantages but that can be altered.
Keywords: Brand Management, customer relations/retention, marketing strategy
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
The Happiness of Giving: The Time-Ask Effect
By Wendy Liu and Jennifer Aaker
-
The Happiness of Giving: The Time-Ask Effect
By Jennifer Aaker and Wendy Liu
-
How Warnings About False Claims Become Recommendations
By Ian Skurnik, Carolyn Yoon, ...
-
Age-Related Differences in Responses to Emotional Advertisements
By Patti Williams and Aimee Drolet
-
'The Time vs. Money Effect': Shifting Product Attitudes and Decisions through Personal Connection
By Cassie Mogilner and Jennifer Aaker
-
By Jennifer Aaker and Wendy Liu
-
The Pursuit of Happiness: Time, Money, and Social Connection
-
The Shifting Meaning of Happiness
By Cassie Mogilner, Sep Kamvar, ...
-
Micro-Finance Decision Making: A Field Study of Prosocial Lending
By Jeff Galak, Deborah A. Small, ...