JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

Marketing Language

Carnevale, Marina, Rhonda Hadi, David Luna, and Ruth Pogacar (2023). Follow Your Nose When it Sounds Right: How Brand Names Influence Consumer Responses to Product Scents, Journal of Business Research, (157), 113578.

Product scents exert a considerable influence on managerial outcomes. However, little research has examined the contextual circumstances that facilitate or hinder consumer responses to product scents. Across three studies, we address this gap by exploring how one important product element –brand name congruence – moderates the influence of product scent valence on consumer responses. Specifically, we find that brand names that are phonetically incongruent with desirable product category characteristics attenuate the effect of a product scent’s valence on consumers’ evaluations and purchase decisions. Conversely, a product scent’s valence plays an sig- nificant role in shaping consumers’ responses when the product’s brand name is phonetically congruent with desirable product category characteristics. This research has important implications for marketers who want to exploit favorable product scents, and for those who wish to reduce consumer attention to unappealing product odors.

Pogacar, Ruth, Justin Angle, Tina M. Lowrey, L. J. Shrum, and Frank R. Kardes (2021). Is Nestlé a Lady? The Feminine Brand Name Advantage. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 101-117.

A brand name’s linguistic characteristics convey brand qualities independent of the name’s denotative meaning. For instance, name length, sounds, and stress can signal masculine or feminine associations. This research examines the effects of such gender associations on three important brand outcomes: attitudes, choice, and performance. Across six studies using both observational analyses of real brands and experimental manipulations of invented brands the authors show that linguistically feminine names increase perceived warmth, which improves brand outcomes. Feminine brand names enhance attitudes and choice share–both hypothetically and consequentially–and are associated with better brand performance. The authors establish boundary conditions, showing that the feminine brand name advantage is attenuated when the typical user is male and when products are utilitarian.

Pogacar, Ruth, L. J. Shrum, and Tina M. Lowrey (2018). The Effects of Linguistic Devices on Consumer Information Processing and Persuasion: A Language Complexity × Processing Mode Framework. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 28(4), 689-711.

People—be they politicians, marketers, job candidates, product reviewers, or romantic interests—often use lin- guistic devices to persuade others, and there is a sizeable literature that has documented the effects of numer- ous linguistic devices. However, understanding the implications of these effects is difficult without an organizing framework. To this end, we introduce a Language Complexity 9 Processing Mode Framework for classifying linguistic devices based on two continuous dimensions: language complexity, ranging from simple to complex, and processing mode, ranging from automatic to controlled. We then use the framework as a basis for reviewing and synthesizing extant research on the effects of the linguistic devices on persuasion, determining the conditions under which the effectiveness of the linguistic devices can be maximized, and reconciling inconsistencies in prior research.

Pogacar, Ruth, Michal Kouril, Thomas P. Carpenter, and James Kellaris (2018). Implicit and Explicit Preferences for Brand Name Sounds. Marketing Letters, 29(2), 241-259.

This research shows that people implicitly and explicitly prefer sounds that are more common among top brand names (e.g., "S," "M," "L," and "E"). Implicit preferences correlate with explicit willingness to pay more for hypothetical brands with preferred sounds. This suggests that the prevalence of certain sounds among top brands may be a reflection of people’s phonetic preferences. We examine possible processes underlying phonetic preferences, and offer evidence excluding phonetic embodiment, pronunciation-based fluency, and familiarity-based fluency. The results suggest a phonetic frequency process account. Substantively, these findings indicate that certain sounds should be given priority when crafting brand names.

Pogacar, Ruth, Emily Plant, Laura F. Rosulek, and Michal Kouril (2015). Sounds Good: Phonetic Sound Patterns in Top Brand Names. Marketing Letters, 26(4), 549–563.

Sound symbolism, the link between sound and meaning, can convey product information, enhance affinity, and increase purchase intentions. This research examines sound patterns of Interbrand top 100 brand names, including three previously unexamined sound categories. Results show that top brand names have different sound patterns than general brand names. The pattern of differences suggests that sound symbolism may be one factor contributing to brand performance. Sounds more frequent among top brand names have potentially brand enhancing properties, while sounds less frequent may have the opposite effect. These findings should inform best naming practices and strategies.

Consumer Well-being and Decision-Making

Mourali, Mehdi, Dallas Novakowski, Ruth Pogacar, and Neil Brigden (2024), “Post Hoc Explanations Improve Consumer Responses to Algorithmic Decisions,” Journal of Business Research, 114981.

Algorithms are capable of assisting with, or making, critical decisions in many areas of consumers’ lives. Algorithms have consistently outperformed human decision-makers in multiple domains, and the list of cases where algorithms can make superior decisions will only grow as the technology evolves. Nevertheless, many people distrust algorithmic decisions. One concern is their lack of transparency. For instance, it is often unclear how a machine learning algorithm produces a given prediction. To address the problem, organizations have started providing post-hoc explanations of the logic behind their algorithmic decisions. However, it remains unclear to what extent explanations can improve consumer attitudes and intentions. Five experiments demonstrate that algorithmic explanations can improve perceptions of transparency, attitudes, and behavioral intentions – or they can backfire, depending on the explanation method used. The most effective explanations highlight concrete and feasible steps consumers can take to positively influence their future decision outcomes.

Pogacar, Ruth, Neil Brigden, Emily Plant, Frank Kardes, and James Kellaris (2023). The Reference Dependence Roots of Inaction Inertia: A Query Theory Account. PloS one, 18(3): e0282876.

Inaction inertia is the tendency to forego an opportunity after missing a significantly better opportunity. We show that inaction inertia is rooted in reference dependence. This is consistent with prior work finding that smaller discounts are devalued and inertia is motivated by avoidance of loss. We further illuminate the process by showing that consumers treat the missed discount (rather than the regular price) as a reference point relative to which a smaller discount feels like a loss. Missing a significantly better deal causes people to focus first and foremost on thoughts critical of the current deal. Notably, consumers who miss a smaller discount also construe the second deal as a loss, even if they take it. This research integrates inaction inertia and reference dependence theory using query theory analysis to contextualize inaction inertia with biases such as loss aversion, anchoring, and the default effect.

Steffel, Mary, Elanor F. Williams, and Ruth Pogacar (2016). Ethically Deployed Defaults: Transparency and Consumer Protection via Disclosure and Preference Articulation. Journal of Marketing Research, 53(5), 865–880.

Defaults are extremely effective at covertly guiding choices, which raises concerns about how to employ them ethically and responsibly. Consumer advocates have proposed that disclosing how defaults are intended to influence choices could help protect consumers from being unknowingly manipulated. This research shows that consumers appreciate transparency, but disclosure does not make defaults less influential. Seven experiments demonstrate that disclosure alters how fair consumers perceive defaults to be but does not attenuate default effects because consumers do not understand how to counter the processes by which defaults bias their judgment. Given that defaults lead consumers to focus disproportionately on reasons to choose the default even with disclosure, debiasing default effects requires that consumers engage in a more balanced consideration of the default and its alternative. Encouraging people to articulate their preferences for the default or its alternative, as in a forced choice, shifts the focus away from the default and reduces default effects.

Cross-Disciplinary Publications

Berger, Leslie, Jonathan Farrar, Ruth Pogacar, and Lu Zhang (2023). “Tax-Free”: Investigating How a Heuristic in the TFSA Name Biases Savings Preferences for the RRSP. Canadian Tax Journal, 71(1), 1-32.

The authors investigate whether and, if so, the extent to which a heuristic cue, the term “tax-free,” contained in the name of one of the two primary tax-sheltered savings plans in Canada—the tax free savings account (TFSA)—biases individuals’ saving preferences relative to the registered retirement savings plan. On the basis of the heuristic-systematic model of information processing, the authors predict that the term “tax-free” is a favourable heuristic cue that will suppress systematic processing and bias individuals toward selecting a savings plan with this term in its name. They conduct three experiments to test this proposition. Overall, the results suggest that individuals have a clear preference for a tax-sheltered savings plan with “tax-free” in its name—regardless of the content of accompanying explanatory information. The preference for savings plans with “tax-free” in the name may suggest the need for more education and financial advice to reduce the use of heuristics.

Carpenter, Thomas P., Ruth Pogacar, Chris Pullig, Michal Kouril, Stephen Aguilar, Jordan LaBouff, Naomi Isenberg, and Alek Chakroff (2019). Survey-Software Implicit Association Tests: A Methodological and Empirical Analysis. Behavior Research Methods, 51(5), 2194-2208.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is widely used in psychology. Unfortunately, the IAT cannot be run within online surveys, requiring researchers who conduct online studies to rely on third-party tools. We introduce a novel method for constructing IATs using online survey software (Qualtrics); we then empirically assess its validity. Study 1 (student n = 239) found good psychometric properties, expected IAT effects, and expected correlations with explicit measures for survey-software IATs. Study 2 (MTurk n = 818) found predicted IAT effects across four survey-software IATs (d’s = 0.82 [Black-White IAT] to 2.13 [insect-flower IAT]). Study 3 (MTurk n = 270) compared survey-software IATs and IATs run via Inquisit, yielding nearly identical results and intercorrelations expected for identical IATs. Survey-software IATs appear reliable and valid, offer numerous advantages, and make IATs accessible for researchers who use survey software to conduct online research. We present all materials, links to tutorials, and an open-source tool that rapidly automates survey-software IAT construction and analysis.

Pogacar, Ruth, Agnes Pisanski Peterlin, Nike K. Pokorn, and Timothy Pogacar (2017). Sound Symbolism in Translation: A Case Study of Character Names in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 12(1), 137-161.

Readers may infer that literary characters are sympathetic or unsympathetic based on the perceived phonetics of character names. Drawing on brand name literature in marketing, we investigate whether Slovene and English speakers can identify sympathetic and unsympathetic characters in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist based solely on their names, despite being unfamiliar with the novel. Both Slovene and English speakers can make this distinction, suggesting that sound symbolism may help communicate Dickens’s intended characterizations. Dickens’s documented focus on creating meaningful names suggests the sound symbolism in his characters’ names is likely intentional. These findings are relevant to the translating convention of preserving proper names, which leaves spelling intact (given similar alphabets). Preserving the original names in translation may be justified for readers fluent enough to perceive the original name sounds. However, not altering character names in translation may sometimes lead to different phonetic perceptions than the author intended, which alter the sound symbolic meaning.

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

Pogacar, Ruth, Robert Wyer, Tina Lowrey, and L. J. Shrum. “Round Shapes and Pointy Names.”

Pogacar, Ruth, Ryan Rahinel, and David Sidhu. “Ann is Warmer than Fran: Names Starting with Vowels Convey Warmth.”

Ruth Pogacar, Jinhee Huh, Ricky Bhatti, and Michal Kouril. “Quantifying Optimal Brand Name Warmth and Fluency.”

INVITED BOOK CHAPTERS

Pogacar, Ruth, Alican Mecit, L. J. Shrum, Braden Simpson, and Tina M. Lowrey (forthcoming), “Language,” In Spangenberg and Spangenberg (eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology and Consumer Behavior, Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Pogacar, Ruth, Fei Gao, Alican Mecit, L. J. Shrum, and Tina M. Lowrey (2021), “Language and Consumer Psychology.” In Kahle, Huber, and Lowrey (eds.), APA Handbook of Consumer Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Pogacar, Ruth, Thomas P. Carpenter, Chad E. Shenk, and Michal Kouril (2019), “Tools and Methods for Measuring Implicit Consumer Cognition.” In Kardes, Herr, & Schwarz (eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Consumer Psychology. New York: Routledge.

Pogacar, Ruth, Tina M. Lowrey, and L. J. Shrum (2017), “The Influence of Marketing Language on Brand Perceptions and Choice.” In Solomon & Lowrey (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Consumer Behavior. New York: Routledge.

Kardes, Frank R., Ruth Pogacar, Roseann Hassey, and Ruomeng Wu (2017), “Brand Attitude Structure.” In Solomon & Lowrey (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Consumer Behavior. New York: Routledge.

RESEARCH RELATED AWARDS

Primary Investigator, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant: $69,000, “Consumer Responses to Names: Implications and Applications,” (2022-2025)

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant: $97,000, “Consumer Acceptance of Algorithmic Decision Systems: The Role of Explanations,” Co-investigator; Principal Investigator: Mehdi M. Mourali (2021-2024)

Haskayne School of Business Dean’s Research Scholar (2019, 2021, 2023)

AMA-EBSCO Award for Responsible Research in Marketing, with Mary Steffel and Elanor Williams (2020)

University of Toronto Rotman GATE grant, with Sridhar Moorthy & Yang Xu (2018)

AMA Sheth Consortium Fellow (2016)

Graduate School Dean’s Fellowship, University of Cincinnati (2016)

Association for Consumer Research Transformative Consumer Research Grant, with Mary Steffel and Elanor Williams (2015)

Academy of Marketing Science Doctoral Symposium Fellow (2015)

Best Working Paper, Association for Consumer Research Latin American Conference (2014)

Robert Mittelstaedt Doctoral Symposium Fellow (2014)

Outstanding MBA Student, University of Montana (2012)

Dean’s MBA Scholarship Recipient, University of Montana (2011)

Dean’s Scholar, University of New Mexico (1999)