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When Is Advertising a Signal of Product Quality?

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  • Ignatius J. Horstmann
  • Glenn M. MacDonald

Abstract

A model of advertising is presented in which consumption experience is an imperfect indicator of product quality. In equilibrium, neither price nor advertising signal the quality of newly introduced goods. Advertising of established products can be a signal of quality, but if it is, it must be an imperfect signal leaving residual uncertainty that influences consumers’ repurchase decision. A set of observable implications follow.

Suggested Citation

  • Ignatius J. Horstmann & Glenn M. MacDonald, 1994. "When Is Advertising a Signal of Product Quality?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 561-584, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:3:y:1994:i:3:p:561-584
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1430-9134.1994.00561.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mark N. Hertzendorf & Per Baltzer Overgaard, 2001. "Price Competition and Advertising Signals: Signaling by Competing Senders," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 621-662, December.
    2. Eric Schmidbauer, 2016. "New and Improved?," Working Papers 2016-02, University of Central Florida, Department of Economics.
    3. Mark Israel, 2005. "Services as Experience Goods: An Empirical Examination of Consumer Learning in Automobile Insurance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1444-1463, December.
    4. Laurent Linnemer, 2008. "Dissipative Advertising Signals Quality even without Repeat Purchases," CESifo Working Paper Series 2310, CESifo.
    5. Jie Bai, 2016. "Melons as Lemons: Asymmetric Information, Consumer Learning and Seller Reputation," Natural Field Experiments 00540, The Field Experiments Website.
    6. Linnemer, Laurent, 2002. "Price and advertising as signals of quality when some consumers are informed," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(7), pages 931-947, September.
    7. C. Robert Clark & Ignatius J. Horstmann, 2005. "Advertising and Coordination in Markets with Consumption Scale Effects," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 377-401, June.
    8. Ignatius Horstmann & Sridhar Moorthy, 2003. "Advertising Spending and Quality for Services: The Role of Capacity," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 337-365, September.
    9. Dana, James D, Jr, 2001. "Competition in Price and Availability When Availability is Unobservable," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(3), pages 497-513, Autumn.
    10. Zhen, Xueping & (George) Cai, Gangshu & Song, Reo & Jang, Sungha, 2019. "The effects of herding and word of mouth in a two-period advertising signaling model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(1), pages 361-373.
    11. Toshiaki Iizuka, 2004. "What Explains the Use of Direct‐to‐Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 349-379, September.
    12. Eric Schmidbauer, 2013. "New and Improved?," Working Papers 2013-01, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    13. Moorthy, Sridhar & Hawkins, Scott A., 2005. "Advertising repetition and quality perception," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 354-360, March.
    14. Dmitri Kuksov & Ron Shachar & Kangkang Wang, 2013. "Advertising and Consumers' Communications," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 294-309, March.
    15. Nitin Mehta & Surendra Rajiv & Kannan Srinivasan, 2003. "Price Uncertainty and Consumer Search: A Structural Model of Consideration Set Formation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 58-84, June.
    16. Bilanakos, Christos & Heywood, John S. & Sessions, John & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2018. "Does demand for product quality increase worker training?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 159-177.
    17. Régis Chenavaz & Sajjad M. Jasimuddin, 2017. "An analytical model of the relationship between product quality and advertising," Post-Print hal-01685892, HAL.
    18. Horstmann, Ignatius & MacDonald, Glenn, 2003. "Is advertising a signal of product quality? Evidence from the compact disc player market, 1983-1992," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 317-345, March.
    19. Yasui, Yuta, 2021. "Controlling Fake Reviews," MPRA Paper 108177, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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