The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how product experiences with a new product affect consumers attitudes toward the brand, the products country of origin (CO), and the other brands competing in the same market place. The dissertation is composed of two essays. Using direct...

Purpose: Copycat brands offering improved product quality pose serious challenges to original brands. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of why consumers prefer copycat brands with superior product attributes and how original brands can shift this preference back by strategically...

Purpose: This research aims to examine how credence, search and experience attributes compete with suggestive brand names that are incongruent with the attributes they cue (e.g. expensive EconoLodge Motel, short-lasting Duracell battery and joint-stiffening JointFlex pill)....

Choice options almost always have some information that is unavailable. Some researchers have argued that consumers do not form inferences in these situations, while others have shown that consumers rely on existing attributes to infer missing ones. This paper focuses on what happens to choices...

Most purchases involve choices among options with incomplete attribute information. In such situations, consumers often have the option not to choose any of the alternatives to avoid uncertainty. Alternatively, consumers can make inferences about the missing attributes. These inferences may...