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Newspaper Reports and Consumer Choice: Evidence from the Do Not Call Registry

Author

Listed:
  • Khim-Yong Goh

    (NUS School of Computing, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117418, Singapore)

  • Kai-Lung Hui

    (Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong)

  • Ivan P. L. Png

    (NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119245, Singapore)

Abstract

Despite annual expenditures on public relations exceeding $19.42 billion, U.S. businesses lack practical guidance about the effectiveness of publicity in mass media. Here, we assemble a rich and novel data set to gauge the impact of news reports on consumer sign-ups with the U.S. Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. Using multiple identification strategies, we found robust evidence that news reports increased consumer registrations. Specifically, a 1% increase in the number of news reports increased DNC registrations by 0.018%. The impact increased with mention of the toll-free telephone number and URL, but decreased with the length of the headline and main text. Furthermore, we found evidence that reports affect behavior through persuasion as well as information--the impact on registration was higher for reports that mentioned the number of other people registering. Finally, the impact of news reports on consumer registration was stronger in national than local newspapers and in politically neutral and Democrat than Republican newspapers. This paper was accepted by Pradeep Chintagunta and Preyas Desai, special issue editors. This paper was accepted by Pradeep Chintagunta and Preyas Desai, special issue editors.

Suggested Citation

  • Khim-Yong Goh & Kai-Lung Hui & Ivan P. L. Png, 2011. "Newspaper Reports and Consumer Choice: Evidence from the Do Not Call Registry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(9), pages 1640-1654, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:57:y:2011:i:9:p:1640-1654
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1110.1392
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