Scarce objects attract people (scarcity effect). The present study examined determinant factors for the scarcity effect to be elicited, decreasing the number of objects of a certain feature while keeping objects of another feature constant. The results interestingly showed that the likeability was rated higher for the decreased abundant objects than for the constant few objects, demonstrating that newly generated scarcity given by the decrease of objects is a predominant factor in the effect. Given these results, visualizing the decreasing products could easily boost the likeability of products in the real world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the service climate and the customer’s perception of service quality in a retail setting. Previous work has paid little attention to service climate as a multi-dimensional construct. And most of them focused at the organization level. In addition, previous work usually did not care the characteristic of nested data. The present study considers service climate as a multi-dimensional construct (global service climate, customer orientation, managerial practices, customer feedback), examines the relationship between service climate and service quality, and uses the hierarchical linear model (HLM). The data used in this study are collected from 159 employees and 214 customers at 20 stores within a supermarket chain. As a result, most of service climate dimensions significantly associated with service quality.

This study focused on “the pleasures of uncertainty” hypothesis and aimed to examine what kinds of discount message led positive moods and the willingness to purchase. Findings in the experiment showed that when participants looked at the POP-message where the reason for discount was not written, their positive moods and willingness to purchase were stronger than when there was a reason. Further, the result was limited to those who have shown interest in the goods. This paper discussed the implications of the study, limitations and directions for future research.