Selling and Buying Aspects of Used Products That Are Brand Anthropomorphized

This dissertation establishes the impact of brand anthropomorphization on used product transactions from both buyers’ and sellers’ perspectives. That is, we show that brand anthropomorphization leads sellers to set higher selling prices for used products and buyers to set lower buying prices. We theorize that these outcomes occur because sellers develop stronger emotional connections toward their brands that persists even after they have decided to end (sell) their relationships with the brand, whereas buyers apply a relationship-dissolution stigma (a pervasive stereotype toward people who dissolved their relationships) toward anthropomorphized used products. We further demonstrate important boundary conditions for these core effects. That is, we show that a seller’s favorable attitude toward the past enhances the positive impact of brand anthropomorphization on selling prices of used products, whereas a buyer’s creative mindset attenuates the negative impact of brand anthropomorphization on buying prices of used products. Finally, we provide critical managerial implications of the impact of anthropomorphizing a brand in the refurbished marketplace.

Many thanks to Junhee’s Defense Committee: Dissertation Chair: Dr. Rolph Anderson Dissertation Co-chair: Dr. Chen Wang Dissertation Committee Member 1: Dr. Trina Larsen Andras Dissertation Committee Member 2: Dr. Srinivasan Swaminathan Dissertation Committee Member 3: Dr. Christopher Laincz