ONLINE CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World docx

He hasbeen published in forums like: Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of tising, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising

ONLINE CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World

Advertising and Consumer Psychology

A Series Sponsored by the Society for Consumer Psychology

Aaker/Biel: Brand Equity & Advertising: Advertising's Role in Building Strong

Brands (1993)

Clark/Brock/Stewart: Attention, Attitude, and Affect in Response Advertising

(1994)

Englis: Global and Multi-National Advertising (1994)

Goldberg/Fishbein/Middlestadt: Social Marketing: Theoretical and Practical

Perspectives (1997)

Haugtvedt/Machleit/Yalch: Online Consumer Psychology: Understanding and

Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World (2005)

Kahle/Chiagouris: Values, Lifestyles and Psychographics (1997)

Kahle/Riley: Sports Marketing and the Psychology of Marketing Communications

(2003)

Mitchell: Advertising Exposure, Memory, and Choice (1993)

Schumann/Thorson: Advertising and the World Wide Web (1999)

Scott/Batra: Persuasive Imagery: A Consumer Response Perspective (2003) Shrum: The Psychology of Entertainment Media: Blurring the Lines Between

Entertainment and Persuasion (2004)

Thorson/Moore: Integrated Communication: Synergy of Persuasive Voices

(1996)

Wells: Measuring Advertising Effectiveness (1997)

Williams/Lee/Haugtvedt: Diversity in Advertising: Broadening the Scope of

Re-search Directions (2004)

For a complete list of LEA titles, please contact Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, at www.erlbaum.com.

ONLINE CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Understanding and Influencing Consumer

Behavior in the Virtual World

LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS

2005 Mahwah, New Jersey London

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Online consumer psychology : understanding and influencing consumer behavior in the virtual world / Editors Curtis P Haugtvedt, Karen A Machleit, Richard Yalch.

p cm.—(Advertising and consumer psychology)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8058-5154-2 (case : alk paper)—ISBN 0-8058-5155-0 (pbk.: alk paper)

1 Consumer behavior 2 Internet advertising 3 Electronic commerce.

I Haugtvedt, Curtis P., 1958- II Machleit, Karen A III Yalch, Richard IV Series.

HF5415.32.O55 2005

659.14'4'019—dc22

2004027585

Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on

acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and

durability.

Printed in the United States of America

1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1 Ritual Behavior and Community Change: Exploring the

Social-Psychological Roles of Net Rituals in the

Developmental Processes of Online Consumption Communities 7

Anat Toder-Alon, Frederick F Brunei, and Wendy L Schneier

Siegal

2 Published Word of Mouth: Referable, Consumer-Generated

Information on the Internet 35

Robert M Schindler and Barbara Bickart

3 Understanding Pass-Along Emails: Motivations and Behaviors

David M Boush and Lynn Kahle

PART II: ADVERTISING

5 How Banner Ads Affect Brand Choice Without Click-Through 125

Andrew Mitchell and Ana Valenzuela

6 Factors Affecting Click-Through Rate 143

Jean-Louis Chandon and Mohamed Saber Chtourou

vi CONTENTS

7 Exploring Consumer Response to "Advergaming" 167

Michelle R Nelson

8 Going Mobile: Marketing and Advertising on Wireless

Networks Around the World 195

Robert J Kent, Patrick D Lynch, and Srini S Srinivasan

PART III: CUSTOMIZATION

9 Online Product Customization: Factors Investigating the

Product and Process 207

Janis J Crow and James Shanteau

10 Marketing to Individual Consumers Online: The Influence

of Perceived Control 225

John Godek and J Frank Yates

11 Smoother Surfing Across Cultures: Bilinguals on the Web 245

David Luna, Laura A Peracchio, and Maria D de Juan

12 Processes of Preference Construction in Agent-Assisted Online

Shopping 265

Kyle B Murray and Gerald Haubl

PART IV: SITE DESIGN

13 Effects of Visual Consistency on Site Identity and Product

Attitude 287

Richard C Omanson, June A Cline, and Christie L Nordhielm

14 Gendered Information Processing: Implication

for Web Site Design 303

Elizabeth Purinton and Deborah E Rosen

15 The Effect of Site Design and Interattribute Correlations on

Interactive Web-Based Decisions 325

Barbara Fasolo, Gary H McClelland, and Katharine A Lange

CONTENTS vii

PART V: DECISION MAKING

16 Is the Internet Empowering Consumers to Make Better

Decisions, or Strengthening Marketers' Potential to Persuade? 345

Paul Henry

17 Rationality Unbounded: The Internet and Its Effect on

Consumer Decision Making 361

Saurabh Mishra and Richard W Olshavsky

18 Consumer Relationships with an e-Brand: Implications

for e-Brand Extensions 379

JongWon Park, Hyan-Jung Lee, and Hyung-Il Lee

19 Finding the Best Ways to Combine Online and Offline

Shopping Features 401

Awn M Levin, Irwin P Levin, and C Edward Heath

20 Consumer Behavior in Online Auctions: An Exploratory Study 419

Eugene Sivadas, Barbara Stern, Raj Mehta, and Melanie Jones

21 The Impact of Internet Use on Health Cognitions

and Health Behavior 433

Noel T Brewer

PART VI: RESEARCH TOOLS AND APPROACHES

22 Experiential Ecommerce: A Summary of Research

Investigating the Impact of Virtual Experience on

Consumer Learning 457

Terry Daugherty, Hairong Li, and Frank Biocca

23 Web-Based Consumer Research 491

Basil G Englis, Michael R Solomon, and Paula Danskin

Author Index 511 Subject Index 527

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About the Contributors

Barbara Bickart (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is

inter-ested in context effects on judgment and decision-making processes, how peopleretrieve and use information about others in answering survey questions, and devel-oping methods for reducing measurement error in surveys via questionnaire de-

sign She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

Frank Biocca (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is the SBC Chaired

Pro-fessor of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media and Director of theMedia Interface and Network Design (M.I.N.D.) Lab at Michigan State University.The M.I.N.D Lab is an international, multi-university human-computer interac-tion and communication research lab with ten facilities spanning six countries(www.mindlab.org) His research interests focus on the interaction of media andmind, specifically how media form can be adapted to extend human cognition andenhance human performance

David M Boush (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is Associate Professor of

Mar-keting at the University of Oregon Topics of his research include brand equity,response to advertising, and consumer trust His articles have appeared in such

outlets as the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing search He is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Association

Re-for Consumer Research, the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Society Re-forConsumer Psychology He is also a former marketing research analyst for Hall-mark Cards His visiting appointments include a stint at ESSEC, and a series ofe-commerce classes for University of California-Berkeley extension He currently

serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences.

Noel T Brewer (Ph.D., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) conducts

re-search is the areas of health psychology and public health His work examines howhealth cognitions inform decision-making One focus of the research examines therelation of mental models of illness to health behaviors such as medication com-pliance and physician utilization Another focus examines the influence of Internetuse on health judgments and choices

Frederic F Brunei (Ph.D., University of Washington) is an Assistant Professor

of Marketing at Boston University School of Management He holds an MBA

ix

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORSfrom Illinois State University, and a BS from Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Com-merciales d'Angers (ESSCA) Angers, France He has lead professional educationprograms in the USA, Europe, Latin America, and Asia His primary researchinterests include consumers' perceptions of product design and visual aesthetics,consumers' attitude and emotions, and socio-cultural, gender, and relationship is-sues in marketing He has presented his research at numerous conferences He has

been published in forums like: Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of tising, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Psychology and Marketing, Business Strategy Review, Advances in Consumer Research, Developments in Marketing Science, Cross-Cultural Consumer and Business Studies, Gender, Marketing and Consumer Behavior and in several books Professor Brunei has also won several

Adver-teaching, research, and service awards

Jean Louis Chandon (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is Professor of Marketing

at IAE of Aix en Provence and Academic Director of the MBA E-Business gram He worked as a media consultant for Nielsen, Emap, and Mediametrie Hehas written several papers in the area of audience measurement, media planning,and service marketing

pro-Mohamed Saber Chtourou (Ph.D., University of Aix Marseille III) is a research

assistant in EDHEC Business School He is also an associate researcher at CEROG IAE Aix en Provence, University of Aix Marseille III His area of interest is Internetadvertising persuasion process; especially understanding what makes the Internet

-a different medi-a In -addition, he is interested in f-actors -affecting -ad effectiveness,potential complementarily between online and offline media, and issues related toInternet media planning This paper is a part of a larger project he is conducting

at Wanadoo Regie, a leading French Internet ad agency Other papers have beenpresented to the French Marketing Association Congress, ESOMAR Conference,IREP Conference

June A Cline works as a research consultant and statistician with doctoral students

at Wayne State University who are completing their dissertations She also workswith school districts and nonprofit organizations, planning and completing programevaluations on educational programs intended to improve student learning Herresearch interests are varied, including education, nursing, psychology, politicalscience, and sociology

Janis J Crow is a doctoral student completing her dissertation in consumer

psy-chology at Kansas State University and is an instructor in the Marketing ment Her research interests are in unstructured decision making where a clearalternative does not exist such as in customizing a product She is interested in

Depart-the use of technology to aid in making decisions She has published in Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers and the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising.

x

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS xi

Paula Danskin (Ph.D., The University of Memphis) is Assistant Professor of

Man-agement in the Campbell School of Business at Berry College Her current researchinterests include the validity of Internet-based approaches, knowledge manage-ment, and international entrepreneurship Her work has appeared in several jour-

nals, including Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of World Business, and Academy of Management Review.

Terry M Daugherty (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Assistant Professor

in the Department of Advertising at the University of Texas at Austin His researchfocuses on investigating consumer behavior and strategic media management, with

work appearing in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and in the im- pending books Advances in Electronic Marketing and Marketing Communication: Emerging Trends and Developments, among others Before joining the Depart-

ment of Advertising at UT, he held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with eLab in theOwen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, and has worked

in advertising media

Maria D de Juan, Ph.D., is a Business Administration Professor at the

Universi-dad of Alicante (Spain), where she lectures since 1991 De Juan has been a lecturer

at the University of Florida (USA) and at the Southampton Institute (United dom), as well as at several Spanish Business Schools, such as ESADE (Barcelona)

King-She is the author of the books Shopping Centre Attraction Toward Consumers, Sales Promotions, and Commercial Distribution: Channels and Retailing Her articles

about distribution and consumer behaviour have been published or are

forthcom-ing in several journals and edited books, includforthcom-ing the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Basil G Englis (Ph.D., Dartmouth College) is the Richard Edgerton Professor of

Business Administration and Chair of the Department of Marketing in the bell School of Business at Berry College His current research interests includelifestyle and product symbolism, consumer socialization, and online research is-sues His research has appeared in several journals and other publications, including

Camp-the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Profes-

sor Englis has consulted with numerous organizations, including E I DuPont

de Nemours, eBay, and the Vanity Fair Corporation

Barbara Fasolo (Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder) studies multi-attribute

choice processes across different domains, ranging from consumer and medicaldecision making to food and mate choice She is interested in the development ofaids to assist these difficult decisions, particularly on the Internet She has investi-gated how online consumer choices are affected by web-based decision aids (com-pensatory or non-compensatory) and the correlation among the choice attributes

xii ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

(positive or negative) She co-authored an Annual Review of Psychology chapter

reviewing consumer web-based decision aids After completing a post-doctoralfellowship at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, she is now an Assistant Professor

in the Department of Operations Research at the London School of Economics

John Godek (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is Assistant Professor of Marketing

at the University of Oregon Professor Godek directs his research at identifying theinfluence of firms' individual level marketing efforts (customization and personal-ization) on consumers' decision processes and choices His research has appeared

in the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Gerald Haubl (Ph.D., Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien) is Canada Research Chair in

Behavioral Science, R K Banister Professor of Electronic Commerce, and ciate Professor of Marketing at the University of Alberta's School of Business Hisprimary research areas are consumer decision-making, human-computer interac-tion, and consumer behavior in electronic shopping environments, the construction

Asso-of preference and value, consumer information search, bidding behavior in tions, and the automated creation of personalized customer interfaces His research

auc-has been published in Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, ternational Journal of Research in Marketing, Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, and other journals He serves on the editorial boards of Computational Intelligence and Journal of Interactive Marketing.

In-Curtis P Haugtvedt (Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia) studies attitude

change and persuasion, personality variables in consumer behavior, and mediated behavioral research methodologies Professor Haugtvedt teaches under-graduate courses in Electronic Marketing, Consumer Behavior and MarketingManagement, MBA courses in Consumer Behavior and Electronic Marketing,and Ph.D seminars in Advanced Topics in Consumer Psychology His research

computer-has appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of sumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Communication Monographs,

Con-and numerous book chapters He serves as a frequent reviewer for the major

psy-chology and marketing journals, and is a member of editorial boards of the Journal

of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Interactive Advertising, and Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce He is former As- sociate Editor of the Journal of Consumer Psychology and was President of the

Society for Consumer Psychology (1999-2000)

C Edward Heath is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Xavier University He is

currently completing his Ph.D at the University of Kentucky His work has been

published in Advances in Consumer Research.

Paul Henry (Ph.D., University of New South Wales) is Senior Lecturer at The

University of Sydney He was previously Strategic Planning Director at Ogilvy &

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS xiiiMather in New York City where he worked on numerous internet-related projects.This included interactive strategy development within a broader communicationsetting, evaluation of content and functionality needs, and site realization.

Melanie Jones (Ph.D., University of Cincinnati) is a law student at Loyola

Uni-versity, New Orleans Her primary research interests include data protection issues

on the Internet and international strategy as it pertains to consumer behavior Shehas presented two papers at the Academy of International Business She has an

article in the International Journal of Technology Transfer, and has an upcoming publication in the Loyola Law Review.

Lynn R Kahle (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is the James Warsaw

Professor of Marketing at the University of Oregon Topics of his research includesocial adaptation, values, and sports marketing His articles have appeared in such

outlets as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Sport ing Quarterly, and Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Child Development His books include A ttitudes and Social Adap- tation, Social Values and Social Change, Marketing Management, Cross-National Consumer Psychographics, and Values, Lifestyles, and Psychographics He has

Market-served as President of the Society for Consumer Psychology, President of the City

of Eugene Human Rights program, and Chair of the Department of Marketing atthe University of Oregon

Robert J Kent (Ph.D., University of Cincinnati) is an Associate Professor of

Marketing at the University of Delaware His work looks at issues in advertising

media, promotions, and memory for ads This work has appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and other outlets.

Katharine A Lange (BA, University of Colorado at Boulder) contributed to

studies about everyday decisions made on the Web, in order to help users makebetter choices online, and to further understand decision processes in general She

is currently working in Marketing and Public Relations at a ski resort and is incharge of the resort's web page development and organization

Hyung-Il Lee (MS in Marketing, Korea University) is currently a research

asso-ciate at Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea Previously, he worked as a marketingspecialist at a major telecommunication company in Korea (SK Telecom) where

he developed the Ring Back Tone Service and Color-Ring His work has appeared

in journals such as Korean Journal of Consumer Studies.

Hyun-Jung Lee is a doctoral candidate in marketing, Korea University, Seoul,

Korea She is currently working on her dissertation research, which investigates

xiv ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORSpsychological processes underlying consumer investment decisions in online stocktrading contexts Her research area includes brand extensions, advertising effects,and consumer investment decision making, and her work has appeared in journals

such as Korean Journal of Consumer Studies.

Aron M Levin is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Northern Kentucky

Univer-sity He earned his Ph.D from the University of Kentucky His research interestsare in brand alliances and the impact of sport sponsorships on consumers His work

has been published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business and Psychology, and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising.

Irwin P Levin is a professor of psychology and marketing at the University of

Iowa His research interests are consumer decision-making, information framingeffects, and individual differences and risky decision-making His work has ap-

peared in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology He is past

president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making

Regina Lewis holds a Ph.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill and an MBA from Columbia University Since cofounding Lewis, Mobilio

& Associates, her internet-related communications research has spanned tation, usability, and brand health analyses She also has successfully pioneeredsampling research and consumer-modeling work to help large Internet advertisersmake spending and targeting decisions

segmen-Hairong Li (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Associate Professor of

Ad-vertising and Research Fellow at the M.I.N.D Lab at Michigan State University.His research interests include consumer behavior in electronic commerce, withemphasis on consumer learning from virtual experience

David Luna (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) is an Associate

Profes-sor of Marketing at Baruch College He conducts research focusing on the effect

of language on consumer information processing and marketing communications

His work has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of sumer Psychology, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal

Con-of Advertising, and Psychology and Marketing.

Patrick D Lynch (Ph.D., University of Delaware) is a Principal with North Star

Leadership Group A former Research Fellow at the Accenture Institute for gic Change, he specializes in research and consulting on organizational and con-sumer behavior His work on customer relationships, leadership, and business

Strate-strategy issues has been featured in the books The Ultimate CRM Handbook;

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS xv

DoCoMo: Japan's Wireless Tsunami; and Got Game: How the Gamer Generation

is Reshaping Business Forever His work on the psychology of the Internet,

wire-less consumer behavior, customer experience, usability and teams has appeared

in Forum, Outlook, Journal of Applied Psychology, Applied and Preventative Psychology, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of International Business Studies.

Karen A Machleit (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is Professor of Marketing,

University of Cincinnati Her primary research interests are in the areas of affectiveresponses in consumption contexts and measurement issues/scale development.Her recent research examines the effect of the online store atmosphere on shopper

responses Her work has been published in many forums including the Journal

of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Retailing, Marketing Letters, and the Journal

of Business Research, among others She has served the Society for Consumer

Psychology as Secretary/Treasurer during 1999-2001

Gary H McClelland (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is Professor of Psychology

and Professor of Marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder He has

pub-lished two books on statistical methodology: Data Analysis, A Model Comparison Approach (with Charles Judd) and Seeing Statistics (www.seeingstatistics.com),

a recently published web-based statistics textbook using Java applets to ize statistical principles, in addition to numerous journal articles in the areas ofjudgment and decision making, methodology, and data analysis He serves on the

visual-editorial board of Psychological Methods.

Raj Mehta (Ph.D in Marketing, University of Utah) is Professor of Marketing,

University of Cincinnati His research interests include the influence of informationtechnology on marketing, international marketing, new product development, andmarketing models He also has interests in the role of competition in sustainabledevelopment His work has been published in leading marketing academic journals

such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal

of Marketing and Marketing Letters among others.

Saurabh Mishra (MA in Economics, India; Masters in Business, Indiana

Univer-sity) is currently a doctoral candidate in the Marketing Department at the KelleySchool of Business, Indiana University His research interests lie broadly in inves-tigating consumer behavior in online and conventional store environments

Andrew Mitchell is the Patricia Ellison Professor of Marketing in the Rotman

School of Management at the University of Toronto He received his Ph.D at theUniversity of California at Berkeley and has published over 50 articles, including

articles in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research,

xvi ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Management Science, and Journal of Marketing His current research interests

include the effects of memory on judgment and choice, brand evaluation processes,and the organization of brand information in memory

Lynne Mobilio (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) focuses her research on mental

simulations, coping strategies, goal formation, and planning processes In 1999 shecofounded Lewis, Mobilio & Associates to investigate issues relating to the onlineenvironment By examining cognition, attitudes, and motivations of consumers

as they approach the Internet, she and her partner, Regina Lewis, have helpednumerous clients develop Web site strategy

Kyle B Murray (Ph.D., University of Alberta) is an Assistant Professor of

Mar-keting in the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.His research focuses on consumer judgment and decision making, with an empha-sis on how consumers make choices in electronic environments Dr Murray's work

in this area has been published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology and the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery The results of his

research have also been featured in a number of book chapters, as well as the tional Post's Business Edge As an educator, Dr Murray has developed and taughtundergraduate, MBA, and executive level courses in marketing and e-commerce

Na-He has also been active as a consultant for a variety of organizations in fields as verse as oil and gas, manufacturing, financial services, retailing, and not-for-profitenterprises

di-Michelle R Nelson (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is

As-sistant Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University ofWisconsin-Madison Her research focuses on persuasion processes and consumer

behavior She has published in Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising search, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Advances in Consumer Research, and numerous book chapters.

Re-Christie L Nordhielm is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University

of Michigan Business School She is interested in the impact of repetition oncognitive and affective response in a consumer behavior context She recentlyreceived the 2003 Ferber Award for best article based on a Dissertation published

by the Journal of Consumer Research In addition to her publications in academic

journals, Nordhielm has published in the Harvard Business Review, and her work is also presented in her forthcoming book, Marketing Management: The Big Picture

(Thomson-Southwestern) Nordhielm has received numerous teaching awards andrecognition as an educator In 2003, the Northwestern University's Kellogg School

of Management student body recognized her with the highest honor given to aProfessor for teaching excellence, the Lavengood Outstanding Professor of theYear award

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS xviiPrior to joining the faculty of the University of Michigan, Nordhielm was anAssistant Professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern Univer-sity She was also a Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Chicago GraduateSchool of Business, where she earned her PhD in Marketing and Behavioral Sci-ence in 1998.

Richard W Olshavsky (Ph.D., Carnegie-Mellon University, Professor of

Market-ing, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN) is primarily

interested in consumer behavior with a special interest in the heuristics used in

choice Most of his published articles have appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Con- sumer Psychology, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior His published proceedings articles have been mainly in Advances in Consumer Research.

Richard Omanson (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is a Director at User Centric,

Inc., a design and usability consulting company where he conducts user researchand designs software and Web interfaces He has a patent for creating linear ex-periences on the Web and his published work has appeared in such journals as

Discourse Processes, Cognition and Instruction, Reading Research Quarterly, and Journal of Memory and Language and in numerous book chapters.

Jong-Won Park (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is Professor

of Marketing, Korea University, Seoul, Korea His primary research interest is incognitive processes underlying consumer choices, advertising effects, and strategicbrand management Topics of his recent research includes decoy effects in pref-erence reversals, priming effects on choices for self versus others, effects of goalorientation on self-regulatory depletion, superstar effects in advertising, and brand

extensions in online and offline contexts His work has been published in Journal

of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behaviors, and Advances in Consumer Research.

Laura A Peracchio (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is Professor of Marketing

at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee She is interested in how bilingualconsumers process verbal and pictorial information and make decisions She alsostudies visual persuasion and its impact on information processing on and off/line

She has published her research in the Journal of Consumer Research and Journal

of Marketing Research.

Joseph E Phelps (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) holds the Reese

Phifer Professorship in the Advertising and Public Relations Department at TheUniversity of Alabama The two major thrusts of his research agenda are consumer

xviii ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORSprivacy concerns relating to marketers' use of consumer information and integratedmarketing communications Phelps has published in a variety of marketing and

advertising journals He served as editor of volumes 1-3 of Frontiers of Direct

& Interactive Marketing Research He serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Interactive Advertising, the Journal of Advertising Education, the Newspaper Research Journal, the Journal of Current Issues & Research in Ad- vertising, and the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising In

1999, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation selected Phelps as the standing Direct Marketing Educator He served as Head of the Advertising Division(2001-2002) of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communi-cation In 2004, he served as the President of the American Academy of Adverti-sing

Out-Elizabeth Purinton (Ph.D., University of Rhode Island) is an Assistant Professor

at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York Dr Purinton is a fellow of theAMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Dr Purinton's research programsinclude web site design, high-tech marketing, and the marketing orientation withemphasis on TQM techniques, marketing channel partnership survival, and mature

marketing relationships Dr Purinton's research is published in the Academy of Marketing Science Review, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, the Journal of Business Research, and several conference proceedings.

Niranjan "Nick" Raman (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is Vice President

at ImpactRx Inc Nick's research interests include information processing andconsumer behavior in electronic media, and his work has been published in the

European Journal of Marketing and in Advances in Consumer Research.

Deborah E Rosen (Ph.D., University of Tennessee-Knoxville) is an Associate

Professor in the College of Business Administration, the University of RhodeIsland Dr Rosen's research interests include Web site design, online word-of-mouth (mouse), inter-organizational relationships, and quality management Her

research has appeared in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, International Journal of Services Industry Manage- ment, and Academy of Marketing Science Review and in conference proceedings.

Robert M Schindler (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts) is interested in

con-sumer motivation and the psychological processes underlying the effects of ing techniques His current research concerns price promotions, 9-ending prices,word-of-mouth communication, and the effects of early experience on consumertastes His papers have appeared in a number of journals and other publications,

market-including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Consumer Psychol- ogy.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS xix

James Shanteau (Ph.D., University of California-San Diego) is a Commerce

Bank Distinguished Graduate School Professor of Psychology at Kansas StateUniversity He is received his doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology Hisresearch interests include analysis of expertise in decision makers and studies ofconsumer choices He is co-founder, executive committee chair, and past Presi-dent of the Judgment/Decision Making Society He served as Program Director

of Decision, Risk, and Management Science Program at the National ScienceFoundation Presently, he is the Director of the Judgment and Decision MakingLaboratory at Kansas State University His publications include over 63 articles

in referred journals, 10 books, 60 book chapters, 6 encyclopedia entries, 7 graphs, 21 proceedings papers, 14 technical reports, and 3 computer programs Hehas been a consultant to 38 organizations on issues related to consumer behavior,expert systems development, and behavioral research methodology

mono-Wendy Schneier Siegal (Ph.D., Ohio State University) received her MBA at the

Ohio State University and a BA in Psychology from Tulane University She wasand Assistant Professor of Marketing at Boston University School of Managementwhen this chapter was written Her research focuses on managerial/consumer learn-ing and the impact of situational and dispositional factors on information search,information use, and decision-making processes She has published and presented

research in leading marketing conferences and journals such as the Journal of sumer Research, Information Systems Research, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and the CASE International Journal of Educational Advancement.

Con-Eugene Sivadas (Ph.D., Marketing, University of Cincinnati) is Assistant

Profes-sor of Marketing, Rutgers Business School—Newark & New Brunswick, Rutgers,The State University of New Jersey His research interests include electronic andother forms of direct marketing, interorganizational relationships, and health care

marketing His research has appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of ness Research, Journal of Interactive marketing, and Marketing Health Services.

Busi-Michael R Solomon (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is

Hu-man Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University His researchinterests include symbolic consumption, fashion psychology, and online consumer

research methodologies His work has been published in such journals as the nal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal

Jour-of Personality and Social Psychology, and Journal Jour-of Retailing He serves as a

consultant to numerous organizations on issues pertaining to consumer behaviorand marketing strategy

Barbara Stern is Professor II of Marketing and department chair at Rutgers

Busi-ness School Her research on consumer behavior in online auctions has appeared in

the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and the Journal of Advertising.

xx ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORSHer research on the application of gender and literary theory to the analysis of ad-vertisements, consumer behavior, and marketing text consists of over 100 articles

appearing in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Current Issues in Research on Advertising, and others She served as

co-chair of the 1995 American Marketing Association Summer Educators' ence, and was track chair for the "Netvertising" track in the American Marketing

Confer-Association 2001 Winter Educators' Conference She is editor-in-chief of keting Theory, and co-editor of the Routledge Press series on "Interpretive Mar- keting Research." She serves on numerous editorial boards, including the Journal

Mar-of Consumer Research, Journal Mar-of Advertising, and Current Issues in Research

on Advertising She received the American Academy of Advertising Outstanding

Contribution to Research Award

Anat Toder-Alon is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Marketing at Boston

University School of Management She holds a MA and a BA from Hebrew versity in Jerusalem She is currently finishing her dissertation entitled: "Redis-covering Word of Mouth: An Ethnomethodological Analysis of Word of MouthTalk in the Context of Online Communities." She has presented her research at

Uni-several international conferences and has published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Richard F Yalch (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is Professor of Marketing at

the University of Washington He served for three years as Director of ing Services for the School of Business His current research focuses on Internetstart-ups and consumer inferences Recently, he served as associate editor of the

Comput-Journal of Consumer Research, where he published several papers He has also published papers in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business Research, and numerous con-

ference proceedings Richard regularly consults with Northwest Research Group,

a full-service marketing research firm

J Frank Yates (Ph.D., University of Michigan) focuses his research on judgment

and decision processes (including emphases on cross-cultural variations); sion management; decision aiding (including special attention to cross-culturalcollaborations as well as managerial, marketing, medical, and risk-taking deci-sions); judgment analysis and training; and applications of cognitive psychology

deci-His research has appeared in many books and journals, including the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Pro- cesses, Psychological Bulletin, and the International Journal of Forecasting He is the associate editor for the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, a consulting editor for the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and a member of the editorial review board for Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes His latest book is Decision Management (Jossey-Bass, 2003).

ONLINE CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World

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The conference and this book follow from the 1996 Advertising and Consumer

Psychology Conference and subsequent publication, Advertising and the World

Wide Web (Schumann & Thorson, 1999) This book contains definitions of Internet

terms, historical presentations, discussions of theoretical foundations, the structure

of Web advertising, public policy issues, and applications of the medium Thisimportant volume served to better acquaint advertisers with the medium and theimportant research questions at that time The authors challenged researchers tothink about the potential advantages and disadvantages of the Web as an advertisingmedium Specifically, the authors mentioned the need for greater use of theory

as well as studies that take advantage of the unique situations created by theInternet The present volume addresses many of these issues and goes beyondthe topic of advertising and the Web to include topics such as customization, sitedesign, word-of-mouth processes, and the study of consumer decision makingwhile online Some of the research methods employed by authors in the currentchapters allow us to gain more insight into the consumer's thought processes whileonline Many of the chapters move beyond research that is descriptive of consumer

1

HAUGTVEDT, MACHLEIT, YALCHactivities The theories and research methods employed by the present authors helpprovide greater insight into the processes underlying consumer behavior in onlineenvironments.

The book begins with a section on Community One advantage of the Internet

is the ability to bring like-minded individuals from around the world into one rum Alon, Brunei, and Siegal examine the way in which ritual activities maintainand develop the culture of the community forum Schindler and Bickart examinepublished word-of-mouth comments to determine the way in which product ex-periences and information are communicated from consumer to consumer within

fo-a community People who pfo-ass-fo-along emfo-ails to others fo-are exfo-amined by Lewis,Phelps, Mobilio, and Raman; these authors provide some insight into the issue ofviral marketing on the Internet This section concludes with Boush and Kahle'sdiscussion and research agenda for using online consumer discussion communities

to understand products, companies, and brands

The second section in the book examines issues related to Advertising The

first two chapters in this section examine the issue of click-through rates, albeitfrom different perspectives Chandon and Chtourou examine factors that affectthe rate at which individuals will click on a banner ad Mitchell and Valenzuelaconsider the banner ads that are not clicked—and reason that even without aclick through, banner ads will still influence consumer judgment and choice Theother two chapters in this section examine advertising content that is placed in adifferent content—first within the context of gaming online (Nelson's article onAdvergaming) and next within the context of wireless networks (Lynch, Kent, andSrinivasan's chapter on mobile advertising)

Customization is the third section Crow and Shanteau's chapter provides us

with reasons why consumers customize products and the benefits of customization.Godek and Yates look at the role of customer perceptions of control in the person-alization/customization process Luna, Perrachio, and de Juan Vigaray examineWeb site customization and the importance of adapting the site across cultures.Finally, Haubl and Murry examine electronic recommendation agents as one form

of preference customization and construction

The psychological effects of Site Design are considered next Omanson, Cline,

and Nordhielm's chapter demonstrates that visual consistency in the look andfeel of Web sites will affect, among other things, brand attitudes of visitors tothat site Purinton and Rosen examine gender differences in processing Web siteinformation and present both similarities and differences by gender Finally, Fasolo,McClelland, and Lange examine the way in which the format that product decisionsites use to present information to site visitors can affect the visitor's ability to makebetter decisions

The Fasolo, McClelland, and Lange chapter overlaps with the next section—

Decision Making Henry begins by asking the question of whether the Internet

empowers consumers to make better decisions? Similarly, Mishra and Olshavskyconsider whether the increased availability of information technology (personal2_

computers, the Internet, cellular technology) will allow consumers to make morerational decisions and examine how new technology affects the consumer deci-sion making process The chapters that follow become more specific in nature.For example, Park, Lee, and Lee examine decision making within the context ofe-branding strategy Levin, Levin, and Heath examine the advantages and dis-advantages of online and offline shopping and discuss situations when strategicalliances between online and offline brands will benefit consumers This sectionconcludes with chapters that examine decision making in online auctions (Sivadas,Stern, Mehta, and Jones) and using the Internet to make better health care decisions(Brewer)

The book concludes with a discussion of Research Tools and Approaches that

can be used online This final section contains a discussion of the use of the virtualexperience environment as a research tool (Daugherty, Li, and Biocca) Using theWeb to create an online, interactive research space is proposed as a way to providebenefits throughout the research process (Englis, Solomon, and Harveston).Clearly, there is much to learn when applying principles of consumer psychol-ogy to the online environment We thank the chapter authors for their creativecontributions to this book

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I C O M M U N I T Y

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C H A P T E R O N E

Ritual Behavior and Community Change:

Exploring the Social-Psychological Roles of Net Rituals in the Developmental Processes of Online Consumption Communities

du jour of Internet communications tools Tools do not a community make It does not work that way in real life; it does not work that way online.

—Banks & Daus (2000, p 317).

The objective of this chapter is to reach beyond existing theories and ceptual frameworks of communities' developmental processes in an attempt tosearch for new insights regarding the role of rituals in these processes Al-though electronic communities (also called online communities, Internet com-munities, or virtual communities) are in their infancy, they are predicted toexercise significant power in the future (Bickart & Schindler, 2001; Hagel &Armstrong, 1997; Venkatraman & Henderson, 1998) Online communities areamong the most trafficked Web sites For example, statistics have shown that 6

con-of the 20 most trafficked Internet domains are primarily community based (Ward,2000) Moreover, a study from McKinsey & Co and Jupiter Media Metrix (Brown,Tilton, & Woodside, 2002) found that one third of the visitors to e-commercesites used community features such as chat rooms and bulletin boards Further-more, these users make two thirds of all purchases at e-commerce sites Also, site

7

TODER-ALON, BRUNEL, SCHNEIER SIEGALvisitors who contribute to community features are nine times as likely to comeback to that site, and twice as likely to make a purchase Even users who read, butdon't participate in, the community sections of an e-commerce site tend to comeback more often and buy more often than those who do not visit the communityfeatures at all Thus, as the importance of online communities grows, one of themost profound challenges for marketers is to understand the dynamics of the rela-tionships among community members and to develop appropriate mechanisms aspart of their business strategies.

Indeed, in online communities, as in any other types of community, there is

an ongoing process of change and development However, little social science search has focused on dynamic and developmental processes, instead of the morecommon cross-sectional "snap-shots." The tendency to generate studies that fo-cus on cross-sectional rather than longitudinal perspectives has been criticized

re-by scholars from different fields, including marketing, organizational studies, andcommunication studies (e.g., Quinn & Cameron, 1983; Araujo & Easton, 1996;Hakan & Sharma, 1996; Barker et al., 2000) This "structuralist and static mode ofexplanation of social behavior" was mainly criticized as "poorly equipped to ex-plain how structures are created, reproduced and transformed" (Araujo & Easton,

1996, p 75) The typical artificial nature of the conventional studies' researchcontext (i.e., lab environment), the lack of real value of the task to group mem-bers, and the cross-sectional nature of the research precludes meaningful study

of how group relationships develop over time in natural settings (Barker et al.,2000) Consequently, group communication scholars have emphasized the needfor a broader perspective incorporating naturalistic contexts (Poole, 1999), the ne-cessity to widen the perspective beyond task processes and to renew the interest

in relational communication in groups (Frey, 1996; Keyton, 1999; Poole, 1999),and particularly relevant to this research, the requirement to consider how specificcontexts and forms of communication impact relational communication in groups(Barker et al., 2000)

Further, specifically within the marketing milieu, Bagozzi (2000) advocated search on the social aspects of consumer behavior, particularly as found in groups

re-of consumers and manifested through group action Moreover, later, Bagozzi andDholakia (2002) articulated this appeal specifically to the context of online commu-nities arguing for the distinctiveness of the "group intentions" concept by establish-ing its value for understanding individuals' participation in virtual communities.Likewise, following Belk's (1991) Consumer Behavior Odyssey, Catterall andMaclaran (2002) advocated the need for a new odyssey, one that focused on con-sumers in virtual worlds The researchers stressed the value for studying onlinecommunities, emphasizing their many interactions that are continuously docu-mented Accordingly, it is suggested in this chapter that the context of onlinecommunity provides an opportunity to unobtrusively observe and develop a theo-retical understanding of relationship dynamics within consumers' communities.Answers for the foundational question of what constitutes an online communityare as many and varied as the researchers attempting to study the phenomenon (for

8

RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNITY CHANGE 9

a review of the different types of communities, see Hagel & Armstrong, 1997;Jacobs, 2000; Rayport & Jaworski, 2001; Mohammed, Fisher, Jaworski, & Cahill,2002) The term "online community" has different meanings for different peopleand these meanings are often influenced by the discipline from which this term

is being defined (Preece, 2000; Maloney-Krichmar & Preece, 2002) Rheingolddefined online communities as "social aggregations that emerge from the Netwhen enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficienthuman feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace" (Rheingold,

1993, p 5) However, researchers and practitioners "are left in the dark as to whenfeelings will be sufficient to form webs of personal relationships and about theprocesses by which such communities will develop" (Wilbur, 1996, p 7)

We propose that the performance and expression of Net-ritual activities play asignificant social-psychological role in communities' transformational processes.Despite apparent interest in the field of consumer rituals, the relationship betweenrituals and intragroup processes within consumer communities has not yet beenexplored Although scholars have examined consumption during ritual occasions,various rites of passage as forms of consumption, and the relationship betweenadvertising and rituals, relatively few studies discuss the role that ritual activitiesplay in maintaining the culture of a community (e.g., Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001;Schouten & McAlexander, 1995) In addition, although the dynamic nature of rit-uals is well accepted (Rook, 1985; Bell, 1997), there has been a lack of researchaddressing the role that these dynamics play in the developmental and transforma-tional processes within a community's life cycle The objective of this chapter is

to address these important issues

In the first part of this chapter, literature on the nature and characteristics ofonline communities, communities' developmental processes, and ritual behavior isselectively reviewed and interpreted This review intends to familiarize the readerswith the conceptual foundations of the subsequent analysis and to identify the gaps

in the literature In the second part, we briefly present an illustrative case study thatwas used to ground and illustrate the theories, frameworks, and processes presented

in the rest of the chapter This part is concluded by a presentation of severalresearch questions In the third section, we develop a typology of ritual behavior.Employing this typology, in the forth section we develop an integrative model thatconnects Net-ritual expression with a community's developmental stages Finally,

we conclude the chapter by discussing conceptual and practical implications andsuggestions for future research

FOUNDATIONS

The objective of this chapter is to reach beyond existing theories and tual frameworks of communities' developmental processes in an attempt to searchfor new insights regarding the role of rituals in these processes It is first neces-sary, then, to outline the current status of the literature in order to establish the

concep-10 TODER-ALON, BRUNEL, SCHNEIER SIEGALfoundations on which this project develops Thus, in this section, a review of theliterature on the nature and characteristics of online communities is provided Inaddition, the pivotal importance of reaching beyond the traditional stages models

is stressed Finally, the notion of ritual dynamics is developed, granting license topursue ritual-oriented analysis

Online Communities—Exploring the Distinction Between Virtual

and "Real" Communities

Hagel (1999) stated that Internet-based communities started as "spontaneous socialevents on electronic networks, gathered around common areas of interest, engaging

in shared discussions that persist and accumulate over time, leading to a complexnetwork of personal relationships and an increasing identification with the group

as a community" (p 55) Within the context of electronic communities, the virtualspaces where relationships can be formed include chat areas where people canspeak in real time to others about their topics of interest, bulletin board servicesthat enable people to exchange information, special debate forums where mem-bers can communicate their views, product and service reviews where memberscan post their evaluations about products and services, and so on The nature ofthe relationship varies: Participants may be seeking advice, giving advice, or both;exchanging technical information; exchanging gossip about others in the commu-nity; giving or receiving moral support in a time of crisis; sharing affections; orsharing secrets (Galaskiewicz, 1996)

An attempt to understand what "community" means brings right from the start asense of the complexities of this term Bell and Valentine (1997) elaborated on this:

"'Community.' It's a word we all use, in many different ways, to talk aboutwhat? About belonging and exclusion, about 'us' and 'them.' It's a common-sense thing, used in daily discussions, in countless associations, from 'care inthe community' to the Community hall; from 'community spirit' to the 'businesscommunity.' The term community is not only descriptive, but also normativeand ideological; it carries a lot of baggage with it" (p 93)

Undoubtedly, studies and definitions of communities have typically emphasizedthe concept of a physical place where social scientists can engage in participantobservation (Jones, 1998) Clearly this place-centered notion of community doesnot seem readily applicable in cyberspace Hence, although a few scholars havequestioned the appropriateness of imposing the community metaphor onto thesocial relations emanating from cyberspace (e.g., Foster, 1996; Lockard, 1996),others believe that if "we embrace the symbolic form of community (that is, notthe physical manifestation of the term community but, rather, a community ofsubstance and meaning), concerns of the 'real' juxtaposed against the 'virtual' are

of less importance" (Fernback, 1999, p 213) Moreover, it has been argued thatany sizeable community is to a large extent imagined, because each communitymember owns a mental image of his or her communion with the group Therefore,

RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNITY CHANGE 11

a community's reality should be evaluated based on how it is imagined and not onthe space in which it exists (Anderson, 1983)

Thus, it can be argued that if consumers log on, form relationships in cyberspace,and believe they have found communities, these must be "real" for them (Fernback,1999) This fact is illustrated in our observation of the BabyCenter.com community.This community is actually very "real" to its members, and they truly believe thatthey have found and joined a strong and supportive community The followingquote is a vivid illustration of this point:

Thank you very much I feel like your Web site saved my life (OK, maybe I am being a bit dramatic—it's the hormones), but really I was feeling very alone in

my pregnancy My husband is amazing but just can't understand what I'm going through I was having a bit of a problem with my weight gain thus far, but after using your chat room and posting my concerns on the bulletin boards, I have talked to a lot of women who feel the same way as me It is so nice to know that I am not alone.

I plan to visit your site daily and tell everyone I know about it You are doing more than you will ever know for me and I am sure tons of other women.

[—Babycenter.com feedback archive]

It is important to recognize, however, that not all online social gatherings arecommunities When Internet forums lack individual commitment and closenessbetween members they are just "a means of communication among people withcommon interests" (Fernback, 1999, p 216)

Community Development—Beyond Levels-by-Stages Models

Our analysis emphasizes the need to think of a community as a continuous process,thus concentrating on the dynamic of communicative practices among members

of the group This notion rejects communities as ontologically real entities andargues that what is ontologically real are the relationships among the members ofthe community (Tuomela, 1995) Accordingly, this exploratory study sees commu-nity life "a continually-evolving entity, an entity experiencing on-going growth,change, and redefinition" (Fournier, 1994, p 34) The emerging question is how

to explore the social interactions within a community, that is, how are we ing to develop an understanding of the way interactions evolve and change overtime?

go-Across disciplines, various conceptual frameworks have been proposed tocapture the dynamic nature of community development and the reasons forgrowth and change Most theories of community relationship development haveadopted a life-cycle conceptualization or what Brent (1984) referred to as thelevels-by-stages model A variety of levels-by-stages models have been proposed

in the interpersonal relationships literature (e.g., Davis, 1973; Scanzoni, 1979;Levinger, 1983) and in the communication and organizational behavior literature(e.g., Bales, 1951; Lacoursiere, 1980; Tuckman, 1965; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977)

12 TODER-ALON, BRUNEL, SCHNEIER SIEGALAlthough these models are appealing because of their parsimony and linearstructures, one should keep in mind that communities are complex and dynamicsystems As such, the basic assumption that stages in a community life cycle oc-cur as a hierarchical progression, with each stage appearing as more "evolved"than its preceding stage, is somewhat problematic Thus, although groups followsome of the same stages or phases, the exact composition, number, and ordering

of stages involves more particularity (Poole, 1981; Cissna, 1984) As Cissna (1984)

stressed, the core problem is that: "Every group is like all group in some respects, like some—or even most groups in some respects, and like no groups in other

respects" (p 25) In addition, in general, the models mentioned here are primarilydescriptive They do not provide specific insights into the drivers of communitychange or the psychological and social meanings that characterize each stage.Furthermore, exploring social interactions within a community and understand-ing the way interactions evolve and change over time is particularly challengingfor researchers who attempt to explore the development of the relationship withinthe context of an online community In the absence of direct control on who reads

or writes to the community, it is critical to distinguish between the participantswho are really members of the community and others who are not (Tepper, 1996).This distinction has to be based on "asynchronous textual production, with none

of the verbal or visual cues that are so crucial to traditional notions of subculturalformation" (Tepper, 1996, p 45)

Considering these unique features, we believe that a ritual-oriented analysisprovides a more useful framework for making sense of the sort of activities that ishappening The importance of studying rituals in the context of online communities

is further underscored in the premise that rituals are perceived as a means to late and stabilize the life of a community, adjust its internal interactions, maintainits group ethos, and restore a state of harmony after any disturbance (Bell, 1997).However, rituals may also exaggerate conflicts that exist in relationships (Bell,1997) In, fact, Gluckman (1963) argued that rituals are actually the expression

regu-of complex social tensions rather than the sole affirmation regu-of social unity Thus,rituals do not simply restore social equilibrium, they are part of the ongoing pro-cess by which a community is continually redefining and renewing itself (Turner,1974)

It is important to understand that a ritual-oriented analysis shifts the focus fromissues such as the nature and degree of relationship among community mem-bers that typify levels-by-stages models to the purpose of the communicationand its regularities of form and substance As Erikson (1997) emphasized, on-line discourse may be useful and engaging to its participants even if the par-ticipants form no lasting relationships What is important is the communicationitself—the shared informational artifact that is created by the participants—ratherthan a real or perceived bond among the participants in the communication(Erikson, 1997) Thus, a ritual-oriented analysis is useful because it shifts the

RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNITY CHANGE 13focus from the participants and the putative relationships among them to sharedartifacts (i.e., rituals) and the way these artifacts are typically interpreted and used.

Rituals as Adaptive Phenomena

Over the last 20 years, researchers from diverse fields have turned to rituals as awindow on the cultural dynamics by which people make and remake their worlds(Bell, 1992) Although scholars differ regarding the precise definition of this richconcept, there is a general agreement that a ritual consists of some form of symbolicaction with some degree of repetition, regularity, and routine (Lipari, 1999).Within consumer behavior research, Rook's (1985) definition of ritual is widelyaccepted Rook defines ritual as "a type of expressive, symbolic activity constructed

of multiple behaviors that occur in a fixed, episodic sequence, and that tend to berepeated over time Ritual behavior is dramatically scripted and acted out and isperformed with formality, seriousness, and inner intensity" (p 252) Hence, sev-eral characteristics of ritual activities are noteworthy: (1) episodic string of events,(2) repetition and invariance, (3) performance, (4) symbolism, and (5) formalism.Besides these descriptive characteristics, Rook (1985) suggested that ritual expe-rience relies on four key elements: (1) ritual artifacts, (2) ritual script, (3) ritualperformance role(s), and (4) ritual audience Accordingly, ritual activities involvethe use of artifacts (i.e., objects that are used in a ritual context) Artifacts oftencommunicate specific symbolic messages that are integral to the meaning of thetotal experience The script identifies the artifacts to be used, their behavioral se-quence, and by whom they will be used Ritual scripts are performed by individualswho occupy various ritual roles These roles may be explicitly scripted, as in wed-dings, or alternatively, on other occasions individuals have a great deal of freedom

in ritual-role enactment Finally, a ritual may be aimed at a larger audience beyondthose individuals who have a specified ritual-performance role

Not all scholars agree, though, that specific rules and features are necessarycriteria for defining rituals (Lipari, 1999) Bell (1992) rejected the notion of aformal-feature definition of rituals and avoids proffering a restrictive definitionfor rituals because of their great diversity of forms and purposes across cultures.Overall, whether one recognizes a formal definition of rituals, it is important tohighlight that rituals can be indeed context, rather than purely content, dependent.These considerations seem directly applicable and relevant to our present effort,and allow us make a case for how rituals can be evidenced and enacted in thecontext of online communities

Ritual activities generally tend to give the impression of being old and mutable However, there is much evidence that like most marketplace products,rituals are also subject to life-cycle forces (Bell, 1997; Rook, 1985) For instance,some scholars have made an attempt to connect ritual expression with individuals'stages of maturation within the human life cycle (Gennep, 1908; Erikson, 1982)

im-14 TOPER-ALON, BRUNEL, SCHNEIER SIEGAL

TABLE 1.1

Classification of Ritual Activities Within Consumer Behavior Literature

Focus of Experience Nature of Inquiry Personal Activity Dyadic/Group Interactions

Ritual as a stable Rook (1985) Sherry (1983)

phenomenon Belk, Wallendorf, & Sherry (1989) Caplow (1984)

O' Guinn & Belk (1989) Sherry, McGrath, & Levy (1993) Hirschman & LaBarbera (1989) Ruth, Otnes, & Brunei (1999) Sherry & McGrath (1989) Ritson & Elliot (1999) Schouten (1991) Muniz & O'Guinn (2001) Otnes & Lowrey (1993)

Lowrey and Otnes (1994) Ritual as an adaptive Belk (1989) Wallendorf & Arnould (1991) phenomenon Otnes & Scott (1996) Fischer & Gainer (1993)

Schouten & McAlexander (1995)

Nevertheless, despite many demonstrations that the context of communities cangenerate a variety of changes in the structures, symbols, and interpretations of ritualactivities, scholars have not addressed the connections between ritual expressionand communities' developmental and transformational processes

Because the focus of this research is on the dynamic roles that rituals play inthe developmental processes of online communities, we reviewed various studiesthat appear within the consumer behavior field and characterized them along twodimensions: (1) the focus of ritual experience: whether the ritual was viewed from apersonal point of view (e.g., grooming) or as part of a dyadic or group interactions(e.g., gift giving) and (2) the nature of inquiry: whether the research exploredritual practices as a dynamic phenomenon that adapts and transform as conditionschange, or as a stable and static activity at a specific point in time (see Table 1.1)

As shown in Table 1.1 and to our best knowledge, the number of studies that havefocused on rituals as an adaptive phenomenon is very limited More importantly,although a few exceptions do exist, this analysis illustrates the paucity of consumerbehavior research addressing the dynamic nature of rituals within the context ofgroup interactions Bearing in mind that rituals are always embedded in a thickcontext of traditions, changes, and tensions (Bell, 1997), a community's ritualisticactivities should be considered to be inseparable from its worldview Thus, it isclear that rituals are prone to change as the conditions of the community change

AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY

This chapter employs what Kozinets (2002) refers to as netnography nique: "a new qualitative research methodology that adapts ethnographic researchtechniques to study the cultures and communities that are emerging through

tech-RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNITY CHANGE 15computer-mediated communications" (p 62) Netnography, also called onlineethnography or cyber ethnography (Fox & Roberts, 1999), has emerged as amethodology only within the past decade Text data was used from the discourse

of bulletin boards within a selected Internet community, BabyCenter.com This is

a site on the Internet for new and expectant parents The community section withinthe site includes bulletin boards, chat areas, special events (usually chat with spe-cial guests), and great debates In order to participate in chats and to post messages

on the community's bulletin boards, a participant has to become a member ofBabyCenter.com Once registered (which is free of charge), a member can get tothe bulletin boards A participant can decide on which board to post by definingthe topics that she is most interested in Once a participant found her niche, shemay see many "topics" on each board These are also referred to as "threads." Shecan post a response on someone's topic, or start one of her own Most messagesexpire in 30 days on most boards (if the topic is no longer active)

In an attempt to explore the complex roles that online rituals play within thedifferent phases of a community's life cycle, and the relationships between ritualexpression and intragroup processes, we used threads from the Birth Clubs bulletinboards The fact that the Birth Clubs bulletin boards are organized according to

"due date" enables us to analyze changes and trends within the community frominception to decline because new boards are "born" every month The unit ofanalysis was the verbatim thread transcripts, which was operationalized as a post(seed) with all replies

We collected messages on five different bulletin boards (cross-sectional) in twopoints of time (longitudinal) The complete text of all messages of each bulletinboard was captured for a one-month period during both September 1999 andNovember 2000 Our data contain the following: two bulletin boards that are around

6 months old (parents during pregnancy), two bulletin boards that are about 1 yearold (parents with newborn), two bulletin boards that are approximately a year and

a half old (parents with infant), and two bulletin boards that are more than 2 yearsold (parents with toddler)

This research adheres to theory-grounding guidelines articulated by Strauss andCorbin (1998) As Charmaz (1990) suggested: "by starting with data from the livedexperience of the research participants the researcher can from the beginning attend

to how they construct their worlds" (p 1162) In this process, we read through theentire set of threads, enabling the development of notions regarding substantivecontent areas These initial areas were aggregated into meaning categories Thethreads were then reanalyzed to further develop thematic categories and to identifyholistic relationships among the meanings and categories members used in theirmessages

In analyzing the transcripts, our interpretations addressed the following issues:

1 Can we identify consumption rituals in a virtual space, where the typical,established characteristics of rituals are not found?

16 TODER-ALQN, BRUNEL, SCHNEIER SIEGAL

2 Can we identify distinct phases in an online community's life cycle? Can wedistinguish different Net rituals that characterize each phase?

3 What symbols are invoked in the different rituals? Can we identify any tionship between these symbols and shifts in members' identity orientation?What is the primary function that Net ritual activities serve within eachphase? Can we identify any relationships between rituals' symbolic systemsand shifts in rituals' primary function?

rela-Because of the conceptual nature of this chapter and also because of space andscope constraints, we do not systematically report on all the findings of the ground-ing case study Rather, the findings were used first as foundations for the modelsand frameworks that we present, and second as illustrations of some selected points

of our argument

TOWARD A DYNAMIC TYPOLOGY OF RITUAL BEHAVIOR

Rituals in an Online Setting

Our exploratory, theory-grounding study confirmed that many of the characteristics

of ritual activities discussed earlier can be empirically observed in online munities, albeit without the physical manifestation typically present in traditionalsettings An examination of the primary characteristics and principal elements(cf Rook, 1985) of ritual behavior as they appeared in the exploratory study ofonline communities is provided in Table 1.2

com-First, although ritualistic message exchanges on the Internet do not have a formalscript and unquestionably allow for spontaneous variation, we were able to observeevidence of emergent or casually stereotyped script Messages that we considered

as rituals tended to be posted with virtually the same content and structure eachtime they appeared For example, messages that were concerned with the creation

of communities' daily routines were very short and formal in style It seems thatthese messages serve as symbolic community markers Thus, we presume that, inthis context, ritualistic messages function as mnemonic devices that elicit specificthoughts and sentiments from the individual (Mead, 1956)

Second, individuals who occupied various ritual roles performed ritualistic sage exchanges For example, the typical roles we observed in word-of-mouthmessages include a word-of-mouth seeker and a word-of-mouth provider As sug-gested by Rook (1985), ritual roles can be either active or passive Hence, althoughthe initiator of the ritualistic message (i.e., the person that posts the seed message)occupies an active role, as do the various members that post replies, there can bemany other readers that actually participate in the ritual although not in any activeway Thus much like any other ritual activities, online ritualistic message exchange

mes-RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNITY CHANGE 17

TABLE 1.2

Rituals in an Online Setting

Net Ritual Description

Ritual Elements

Ritual Characteristics

Artifacts

Script Performance role(s) Audience Episodic string of events Repetition and invariance Performance

Symbolism

Formalism

No physical artifacts Community-specific shorthand communication Verbal and graphic artifacts.

Casual script Similar content of messages Various active and passive roles Freedom

in ritual role enactment.

Members of the bulletin board and members

of other bulletin boards.

Simple string.

Messages with similar content are posted

in different bulletin boards.

No bodily action One sensory level (through reading).

Ritual-like messages have the ability to shape member's experience.

Messages facilitate interpersonal interactions Message differentiate the "community" from others.

Low formalism, possibility of spontaneous variation.

may be aimed at a larger audience beyond those individuals who have a ritual role.The audience may include not only other members of the community that read thethread, but also members of other communities that happen to lurk in the bulletinboard

Finally, although online ritualistic message exchanges lack physical artifacts toaccompany the ritualistic activity, they can be classified as a verbal rituals (Douglas

& Isherwood, 1978) in which the material exchange of a physical good is replaced

by the exchange of a verbal artifact in the form of message interpretation (see Ritson

& Elliot, 1999) In many ways, one could interpret the specific shorthand and visualsigns that community members develop as a type of verbal or visual artifact that

is used to signal that one is familiar with the group's rituals and belongs there

It thereby reinforces the separation between members and nonmembers Multipleexemplars of observed Net rituals are presented in the later part of this chapter.Although one could argue that all the messages that are posted on bulletinboards contain certain roles (e.g., advice seeker, advice giver, joker, etc.), audi-

ence, and some kind of simple script, it should be emphasized that it is the symbolic meaning that occurs when messages are repeatedly written and perceived by com-

munity's members that establishes these messages as Net rituals Hence, we wouldconsider message exchanges as Net rituals as long as they can be interpreted as