Research Interests
Psychological response to promotions, prosocial behaviors, group and social perception, personal causality/control, consumer perceptions and lay theories of science
Select Research Project Abstracts
Costello, John P. and Rebecca Walker Reczek (2020), “Providers vs. Platforms: Marketing Communications in the Sharing Economy,” forthcoming at the Journal of Marketing.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) business models have become increasingly prevalent in the marketplace. However, little is known about what factors influence consumer perceptions of purchases from firms using these models. We propose that features inherent to the P2P model lead consumers to perceive high provider-firm independence, where providers are viewed as relatively independent from the platform on which they offer goods/services. Across a series of studies, we show that when P2P brands use provider-focused marketing communications versus platform-focused marketing communications, consumers perceive a purchase as helping an individual provider to a greater extent, increasing both likelihood of purchase and app download, as well as willingness to pay (WTP). This is because provider-focused marketing communications in this context lead consumers to think about their purchase from the provider’s perspective, adopting an empathy lens. We further show that this effect does not extend to other business models. Our work thus identifies provider- (vs. platform-) focused marketing communications as a way for marketing managers of P2P brands to drive important purchase-related outcomes.
Costello, John P. and Selin A. Malkoc, “My Money is Yours, but My Time is Still Mine: ‘Spending’ Frames Increase Personal Causality and Donations of Money,” revising for second-round review at the Journal of Consumer Research.
Solicitation of time and money donations are central to the success of nonprofit organizations like charities and political organizations. However, mounting evidence suggests that consumers think about the use of these two resources differently. In this research we identify resource separability – the ability for a resource to be separated from the self during consumption – as an inherent difference between time and money. We propose and demonstrate that time, which is inherently inseparable from the self, is imbued with more personal causality than money, which in turn increases donation interest and amount. Based on this theorization, we propose a novel language-based intervention (i.e., framing a donation as “spending” rather than “giving”) that increases causality and donations of money (but, not time). The results of five studies, using real and hypothetical donation behaviors, support the idea that that framing a donation as “spending” will lead to more donations of money, a resource which is separable and thus naturally lower in causality, but not time, a resource which is naturally imbued with high levels of causality.
Costello, John P., Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Rob W. Smith, “Rivalry Promotions Increase Consumer Acceptance of Risk in the Marketplace,” in preparation for submission to the Journal of Marketing Research.
Many brands in the marketplace employ “rivalry promotions,” that is, marketing activities that reference pre-existing rivalries unrelated to the brand in the domains of college sports, politics, and professional sports. Five lab studies and a field study demonstrate that exposure to rivalry promotions increases consumer acceptance of risk in the marketplace (e.g., willingness to click on a risky online ad, try a risky product, and share sensitive personal information with a brand). Because rival groups have such an impactful relationship with one’s in-group, rivalry promotions are particularly effective at making group membership salient, thus making people feel safer, cushioned from danger by other members of one’s group, and thereby increasing tolerance for risk. These effects are moderated by whether the consumer is a core versus marginal member of the group behind “their” side of the rivalry. After exposure to a rivalry promotion, core group members feel a sense of security from group membership, thus increasing risky behaviors, while marginal group members actually feel a lack of security, thus reducing risky behaviors. Our research thus contributes to a growing literature on the psychology of rivalry and offers practical guidance for marketers interested in understanding when and why rivalry promotions are effective