• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.89-97
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• 2010

This study researches the effects of common features on a no-choice option with respect to regulatory focus theory. The primary interest is in three factors and their interrelationship: common features, no-choice option, and regulatory focus. Prior studies have compiled vast body of research in these areas. First, the "common features effect" has been observed bymany noted marketing researchers. Tversky (1972) proposed the seminal theory, the EBA model: elimination by aspect. According to this theory, consumers are prone to focus only on unique features during comparison processing, thereby dismissing any common features as redundant information. Recently, however, more provocative ideas have attacked the EBA model by asserting that common features really do affect consumer judgment. Chernev (1997) first reported that adding common features mitigates the choice gap because of the increasing perception of similarity among alternatives. Later, however, Chernev (2001) published a critically developed study against his prior perspective with the proposition that common features may be a cognitive load to consumers, and thus consumers are possible that they are prone to prefer the heuristic processing to the systematic processing. This tends to bring one question to the forefront: Do "common features" affect consumer choice? If so, what are the concrete effects? This study tries to answer the question with respect to the "no-choice" option and regulatory focus. Second, some researchers hold that the no-choice option is another best alternative of consumers, who are likely to avoid having to choose in the context of knotty trade-off settings or mental conflicts. Hope for the future also may increase the no-choice option in the context of optimism or the expectancy of a more satisfactory alternative appearing later. Other issues reported in this domain are time pressure, consumer confidence, and alternative numbers (Dhar and Nowlis 1999; Lin and Wu 2005; Zakay and Tsal 1993). This study casts the no-choice option in yet another perspective: the interactive effects between common features and regulatory focus. Third, "regulatory focus theory" is a very popular theme in recent marketing research. It suggests that consumers have two focal goals facing each other: promotion vs. prevention. A promotion focus deals with the concepts of hope, inspiration, achievement, or gain, whereas prevention focus involves duty, responsibility, safety, or loss-aversion. Thus, while consumers with a promotion focus tend to take risks for gain, the same does not hold true for a prevention focus. Regulatory focus theory predicts consumers' emotions, creativity, attitudes, memory, performance, and judgment, as documented in a vast field of marketing and psychology articles. The perspective of the current study in exploring consumer choice and common features is a somewhat creative viewpoint in the area of regulatory focus. These reviews inspire this study of the interaction possibility between regulatory focus and common features with a no-choice option. Specifically, adding common features rather than omitting them may increase the no-choice option ratio in the choice setting only to prevention-focused consumers, but vice versa to promotion-focused consumers. The reasoning is that when prevention-focused consumers come in contact with common features, they may perceive higher similarity among the alternatives. This conflict among similar options would increase the no-choice ratio. Promotion-focused consumers, however, are possible that they perceive common features as a cue of confirmation bias. And thus their confirmation processing would make their prior preference more robust, then the no-choice ratio may shrink. This logic is verified in two experiments. The first is a $2{\times}2$ between-subject design (whether common features or not X regulatory focus) using a digital cameras as the relevant stimulus-a product very familiar to young subjects. Specifically, the regulatory focus variable is median split through a measure of eleven items. Common features included zoom, weight, memory, and battery, whereas the other two attributes (pixel and price) were unique features. Results supported our hypothesis that adding common features enhanced the no-choice ratio only to prevention-focus consumers, not to those with a promotion focus. These results confirm our hypothesis - the interactive effects between a regulatory focus and the common features. Prior research had suggested that including common features had a effect on consumer choice, but this study shows that common features affect choice by consumer segmentation. The second experiment was used to replicate the results of the first experiment. This experimental study is equal to the prior except only two - priming manipulation and another stimulus. For the promotion focus condition, subjects had to write an essay using words such as profit, inspiration, pleasure, achievement, development, hedonic, change, pursuit, etc. For prevention, however, they had to use the words persistence, safety, protection, aversion, loss, responsibility, stability etc. The room for rent had common features (sunshine, facility, ventilation) and unique features (distance time and building state). These attributes implied various levels and valence for replication of the prior experiment. Our hypothesis was supported repeatedly in the results, and the interaction effects were significant between regulatory focus and common features. Thus, these studies showed the dual effects of common features on consumer choice for a no-choice option. Adding common features may enhance or mitigate no-choice, contradictory as it may sound. Under a prevention focus, adding common features is likely to enhance the no-choice ratio because of increasing mental conflict; under the promotion focus, it is prone to shrink the ratio perhaps because of a "confirmation bias." The research has practical and theoretical implications for marketers, who may need to consider common features carefully in a practical display context according to consumer segmentation (i.e., promotion vs. prevention focus.) Theoretically, the results suggest some meaningful moderator variable between common features and no-choice in that the effect on no-choice option is partly dependent on a regulatory focus. This variable corresponds not only to a chronic perspective but also a situational perspective in our hypothesis domain. Finally, in light of some shortcomings in the research, such as overlooked attribute importance, low ratio of no-choice, or the external validity issue, we hope it influences future studies to explore the little-known world of the "no-choice option."

• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.1
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• pp.61-113
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• 1987

The increasing emphasis placed on the production of fine turf for lawns, golf courses, parks, and other recreational sites has led to many unsolved problems as to how such turf could be best established and mainteined. For this purpose, a series of experiments were conducted under con ditions of pot and field. The results obtained were as follows EXPERIMENT I. The effect of nitrogen fertilizer and clipping interval on Zoysia japonica. 1. Increasing the rate of nitrogen and frequent clipping increased tiller number of Zoysis japonica and the maximum number of tillers were obtained from 700 kg N application and freqnent clippings (10 days interval ) in October. Treatment of 350kg N with 10 days clipping interval increased tillers much more than those of 700 kgN with 20 and 30 days clipping intervals. 2. The average number of green leaves occurred during the growth period maximized by applying 700 kg N and clipping 10 days interval. 3. Increasing tiller numbers significantly decreased tops DM weight per tiller by clipping plants at interval of 10 and 20 days, irrespective of nitrogen applied, and with nil N, at the interval of 30 days. By applying 700 kg N, however, top DM weight per tiller increased as the number of tillers increased consistently. 4. The highest top DM weight was achieved from late August to early September by applying 350 and 700kgN. 5. During the growth period, differences in unders ( stolon + root ) DM weight occurred bynitrogen application were found between nil N and two applied nitrogen levels, whereas, at the same level of nitrogen applied, the increase in stolon DM weight enhanced by lengthening the clipping interval to 30 days. 6. Nitrogen efficiency to green leaves, stolon nodes and DM weight of root with high nitrogen was achieved as clipping interval was shortened. 7. By increasing fertilizer nitrogen rate applied, N content n the leaves and stems of Zoysiajaponica was increased. On the other hand, N content in root and stolon had little effect onfertilizer nitrogen, resulting in the lowest content among plant fractions. The largest content of N was recorded in leaves. Lengthening the clipping interval from 10 or 20 to 30 days tends to decrease the N content in the leaves and stems, whereas this trend did not appeared in stolon androot. 8. A positive correlations between N and K contents in tops and stolon were established andthus K content increased as N content in tops and stolon increased. Meanwhile, P content was not affected by N and clipping treatments. 9. Total soluble carbohydrate content in Zoysia japonica was largest in stolon and stem, and was reduced by increasing fertilizer nitrogen rate. Reduction in total soluble carbohydrate due to increased nitrogen rate was severer in the stolons and stems than in the leaves. 10. Increasing the rate of nitrogen applied increased the number of small and large vascular bundles in leaf blade, but shortened distance among the large vascular bundles. Shortening the clipping interval resulted in increase of the number of large vascular bundles but decrease ofdistance between large vascular bundles.EXPERIMENT II. Growth response of Zoysia japonica imposed by different plant densities. 1. Tiller numbers per unit area increased as plant density heightened. Differences in num ber between densities at higher densities than 120 D were of no significance. 2. Tiller numbers per clone attained by 110 days after transplanting were 126 at 40D,77 at 80D, 67 at 120D, 54 at 160D, and 41 at 200D. A decreasing trend of tiller numbers per clone with increasing density was noticable from 100 days after transplanting onwards. 3. During the growth period, the greatest number of green leaves per unit area were attainedin 90days after transplanting at 160D and 200D, and 100 days after transplanting at 40D, 80Dand 120D. Thus the period to reach the maximum green leaf number with the high plantdensity was likely to be earlier that with the low plant density. 4. Stolon growth up to 80 days after transplaning was relatively slow, but from 80 daysonwards, the growth quickened to range from 1.9 m/clone at 40D to 0.6m/clone at 200Din 200 days after transplanting, these followed by the stolon node produced. 5. Plant density did not affect stolon weight/clone and root weight/clone until 80 daysafter transplanting. 6. DM weight of root was heavier in the early period of growth than that of stolon, butthis trend was reversed in the late period of growth : DM weight of stolon was much higherthan that of root.EXPERIMENT Ill. Vegetative growth of Zoysia japonica and Zoysia matrella as affected by nitrogen and clipping height. 1. When no nitrogen was applied to Zoysia japonica, leaf blade which appeared during theAugust-early September period remained green for a perid of about 10 weeks and even leavesemerged in rate September lived for 42 days. However, leaf longevity did not exceed 8 weeks asnitrogen was applied. In contrast the leaf longevity of Zoysia matrella which emerged during the mid August-earlySeptember period was 11 weeks and, under the nitrogen applied, 9 weeks, indicating that thelife-spen of individual leaf of Zoysia matrella may be longer than that of Zoysia japorica. Clipping height had no effect on the leaf longevity in both grasses. 2. During the July-August period, tiller number, green leaf number and DM weightof Zoysia japonica were increased significantly with fertilizer nitrogen, but were not with twolevel of clipping height. This trend was reversed after late September ; no effect of nitrogen wasappeared. Instead, lax clipping increased tiller number, green leaf number and DM weight. Greenleaves stimulated by lax clipping resulted in the occurrance of more dead leaves in late October. 3. Among the stolons outgrown until early September, the primary stolon was not influencedby nitrogen and clipping treatments to produce only 2-3 stolons. However, 1st branch stoIon asaffected by nitrogen increased significantly, so most of stolons which occurred consisted of 1st branch stolons. 4. Until early September, stolon length obtained at nil nitrogen level was chiefly caused bythe primary stolons. By applying nitrogen, the primary stolons of Zoysia japonica waslonger than 1st branch stolons when severe clipping was involved and in turn, shorter than 1stbranch stolons when lax clipping was concerned. In Zoysia matrella, 1st branch stolons were muchlonger than the primary stolon when turf was clipped severely but in conditions of lax clippingthere was little difference in length between primary and 1st branch stolons. 5. Stolon nodes of both Zoysia japonica and Z. matrella were positively influenced by nit rogen, but no particular increase by imposing clipping height treatment was marked in Zoysiamatrella. Although the stolon of Zoysia japonica grew until late October, the growthstimulated by nitrogen was not so remarkable as to exceed that by nil N.