Joseph Lajos, Zsolt Katona, Amitava Chattopadhyay, Miklos Sarvary
We develop a spreading activation model, which we call the category activation model, to predict where within a category structure consumers are likely to position a subcategory that they have created to accommodate a new hybrid product. Based on this model, we hypothesize that the probability that an individual will position a new category subordinate to a particular category i is proportional to the relative number of categories that are already subordinate to i. We report the results of two studies that support this hypothesis and provide evidence that accessibility is an underlying mechanism. © 2008 by Journal Of Consumer Research.
INSEAD, Europe Campus, 77305 Fontainebleau, Boulevard de Constance, France; Department of Marketing, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Department of Marketing, Innovation, and Creativity, INSEAD, Asia Campus, 138676 Singapore, 1 Ayer Rajah Avenue, Singapore
