Regulating Product Recall Compliance in the Digital Age: Evidence from the "Safe Cars Save Lives" Campaign

The unprecedented number of product recalls in recent years and subsequent low consumer recall compliance raise questions about the role of regulatory agencies in ensuring safety. In this study, the authors develop a conceptual framework to test the impact of a regulator-initiated digital marketing campaign (DMC) on consumer recall compliance. The empirical context is the launch of a nationwide DMC by the U.S. automobile industry’s regulator. The analysis utilizes recall completion data from 296 product recalls active both before and after the DMC’s launch. The results show that the DMC improves consumer recall compliance. In the first four quarters after it was introduced, the DMC increased the number of vehicles fixed, on average, by 20,712 per recall campaign over what would be expected without the DMC. Regarding boundary conditions, the study finds that the DMC is more effective for recall campaigns with greater media coverage and for those with older recalled products. However, the DMC’s effect weakens as the time needed to repair a defective component increases. The findings should help regulators make compelling cases for greater resource allocation toward digital initiatives to improve recall compliance.

Sotires Pagiavlas et al, EXPRESS: Regulating Product Recall Compliance in the Digital Age: Evidence from the “Safe Cars Save Lives” Campaign, Journal of Marketing (, ) pp. . Copyright © 2021. DOI: 10.1177/00222429211023016. Users who receive access to an article through a repository are reminded that the article is protected by copyright and reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses. Users may also download and save a local copy of an article accessed in an institutional repository for the user's personal reference. For permission to reuse an article, please follow our Process for Requesting Permission.

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Work Title Regulating Product Recall Compliance in the Digital Age: Evidence from the "Safe Cars Save Lives" Campaign
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Sotires Pagiavlas
  2. Kartik Kalaignanam
  3. Manpreet Gill
  4. Paul D. Bliese
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. SAGE Publications
Publication Date October 19, 2021
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. 10.1177/00222429211023016
Source
  1. Journal of Marketing
Deposited May 27, 2022

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  • Added Product Recall Comp_Seventh Sub_Final with WA_images_edited lines description-1.docx
  • Added Creator Sotires Pagiavlas
  • Added Creator Kartik Kalaignanam
  • Added Creator Manpreet Gill
  • Added Creator Paul D. Bliese
  • Published
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    Description
    • <jats:p> The unprecedented number of product recalls in recent years and subsequent low consumer recall compliance raise questions about the role of regulatory agencies in ensuring safety. In this study, the authors develop a conceptual framework to test the impact of a regulator-initiated digital marketing campaign (DMC) on consumer recall compliance. The empirical context is the launch of a nationwide DMC by the U.S. automobile industry’s regulator. The analysis utilizes recall completion data from 296 product recalls active both before and after the DMC’s launch. The results show that the DMC improves consumer recall compliance. In the first four quarters after it was introduced, the DMC increased the number of vehicles fixed, on average, by 20,712 per recall campaign over what would be expected without the DMC. Regarding boundary conditions, the study finds that the DMC is more effective for recall campaigns with greater media coverage and for those with older recalled products. However, the DMC’s effect weakens as the time needed to repair a defective component increases. The findings should help regulators make compelling cases for greater resource allocation toward digital initiatives to improve recall compliance. </jats:p>
    • The unprecedented number of product recalls in recent years and subsequent low consumer recall compliance raise questions about the role of regulatory agencies in ensuring safety. In this study, the authors develop a conceptual framework to test the impact of a regulator-initiated digital marketing campaign (DMC) on consumer recall compliance. The empirical context is the launch of a nationwide DMC by the U.S. automobile industry’s regulator. The analysis utilizes recall completion data from 296 product recalls active both before and after the DMC’s launch. The results show that the DMC improves consumer recall compliance. In the first four quarters after it was introduced, the DMC increased the number of vehicles fixed, on average, by 20,712 per recall campaign over what would be expected without the DMC. Regarding boundary conditions, the study finds that the DMC is more effective for recall campaigns with greater media coverage and for those with older recalled products. However, the DMC’s effect weakens as the time needed to repair a defective component increases. The findings should help regulators make compelling cases for greater resource allocation toward digital initiatives to improve recall compliance.
  • Updated