Impact of U.S. Consumer Motivations to “Buy or Not Buy American”

Abstract

This study explores the impact of U.S. consumer motivations on cognitive and affective bases of purchasing or not purchasing American made products. Four motivational components were identified related to national pride, perceptions of product superiority, views regarding global economy, and product availability. Consumers' feelings associated with national pride/stronger economy and the disbelief that foreign products are better were found for the most part to be major reasons driving loyalty of U.S. consumers to purchase U.S. made products. However, support exists for cognitive acceptance of a global economy as evidenced by owning a foreign produced product and reduced feelings about national pride. Retailers should capitalize on these consumer beliefs if employing a “buy American” promotional by avoiding strong appeals to consumer ethnocentric tendencies. As such, promotional efforts by retailers should appeal to American pride in being able to compete on quality without crossing over into blatant flag-waving appeals that could backfire.     

The relationship between trusting beliefs and Web site loyalty: The moderating role of consumer motives and flow

This research (1) examines how specific consumer motives (i.e., goal‐directed: searching for information, experiential: browsing for recreation) influence the trusting belief–loyalty relationship at a Web site in a distinct manner and (2) investigates how the online flow experience in each of the motive states strengthens or weakens the trusting belief–loyalty relationship. The results suggest that for consumers with an experiential motive, benevolence‐ and integrity‐related beliefs are the key drivers of loyalty, while ability‐related beliefs do not drive loyalty. On the other hand, for consumers with a goal‐directed motive, the ability‐ and integrity‐related beliefs are the key drivers of loyalty, while benevolence‐related beliefs are not influential. Further, this research illustrates that when consumers with an experiential motive experience a high level of flow, the impact of trusting beliefs on loyalty weakens. However, for consumers with a goal‐directed motive, trusting beliefs continue to exert the same impact on loyalty across both high and low levels of flow. ©2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Religiosity, Attitude Toward Business, and Ethical Beliefs: Hispanic Consumers in the United States

Growth of the Hispanic consumer population in America is changing the marketplace landscape. Due to their considerable buying power, a better understanding of Hispanic consumer behavior has become a necessity. The marketing literature has examined issues regarding religiosity and attitude toward business in regards to consumer ethical beliefs as well as research differentiating consumers on the basis of ethnicity due to their inherently different religious principles. Therefore, the present study contributes to the existing consumer ethics literature by examining the roles of religiosity and attitude toward business in determining consumer ethical beliefs. Furthermore, this study compares the relationships among religiosity, attitude toward business, and ethical beliefs at the sub-cultural level (i.e., between Hispanic and Anglo-American consumers). Survey data compare a sample of 187 predominately Catholic Hispanic consumers with a sample of 127 predominately protestant Anglo consumers. Results suggest a positive relationship between intrinsic religiousness and beliefs that questionable consumer activities are unethical. However, extrinsic religiousness does not impact consumer views as to the ethicality of consumer practices. Hispanics exhibit higher levels of extrinsic religiousness than Anglos, but no difference in terms of their intrinsic religiousness. Results also suggest that Hispanics have a more negative attitude toward business than Anglos do. Implications of these results are discussed.     

“A healthy outside starts from the inside”: A matter of sustainable consumption behavior in Italy and Pakistan

The aim of this research is to determine people's motives when purchasing organic food and how these motives are moderated by price sensitivity and ethical concerns in a cross-cultural setting. A highly structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from 673 Italian and 594 Pakistani consumers, using the convenience sampling technique. Based on the etic research approach, the measurement invariance tests were performed, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that environmental concerns and health-consciousness are significant predictors of subjective norms and purchase attitudes among Italian consumers. Food safety concern proved the strongest predictor of purchase attitude and perceived behavioral control among Pakistani consumers. The results also confirm the moderating role of ethical concerns and price sensitivity in buying organic food in both cultures. In terms of originality, this study fills significant gaps in the literature, particularly regarding the roles of attitude, behavioral control, and subjective norms in consumer buying motives and purchasing intentions in cross-cultural studies but more importantly, the results validate that consumer concerns across the globe are related to the Sustainability Development Goals and the U.N. 2030 agenda, which aptly provides a blue print for the development and developmental goals and concerns across nations.     

Consumer ethics: An empirical investigation of factors influencing ethical judgments of the final consumer

Business and marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. This research investigates general attitudes of consumers relative to business, government and people in general, and compares these attitudes to their beliefs concerning various questionable consumer practices. The results show that consumers' ethical beliefs are determined, in part, by who is at fault in the unethical behavior (the seller or the buyer). The results also indicate that those with a more positive attitude toward business are less likely to engage in questionable consumer practices, but one's attitudes toward salespeople, the government and people in general arenot related to the consumer's ethical beliefs.Scott J. Vitell is an Associate Professor and the Michael S. Starnes Professor of Marketing and Business Ethics at the University of Mississippi. His publications have appeared in theJournal of Macromarketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, Research in Marketing and numerous other journals and proceedings.James A. Muncy is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Clemson University. His publications have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Journal of Marketing Education, andAdvances in Consumer Research. He has also published in the National Proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the American Psychological Association and has published five chapters in books. He is active in the Association for Consumer Research, acting as its Publications Director and Newsletter Coeditor.     

Sensitivity to Ulterior Motives in Retail Settings: The Moderating Role of Dual-Identity versus Sole-Identity Consumers

The current research compares sole-identity versus dualidentity consumers in their responses to different retail persuasion attempts that occur in situations with low versus high ulterior motives. We examine different consumer responses (e.g., interaction time, perceived friendliness, future interaction intentions, and actual purchase behavior). We find that dual-identity consumers (those individuals with sales experience who have both a consumer and agent identity available) tend to automatically activate their agent identity which makes them more likely to take the perspective of the sales agent as compared to sole-identity consumers (individuals without sales experience who only have a consumer identity available). Dual-identity consumers show greater sensitivity to ulterior motives as exhibited by more accurate responses when persuasion cues suggest that ulterior motives are low, but not high. In contrast, sole-identity consumers are insensitive to differing levels of ulterior motives. The current research further demonstrates that perspective-taking can mitigate sole-identity consumers' defensive reactions which can increase their responses to sales agents' persuasion attempts with low ulterior motives.     

Fish Market Segmentation Based on Consumers' Motives,Barriers and Risk Perception in Belgium

This study's objective was to segment Belgian fish consumers based on their motives, perceived barriers, and their risk perception corresponding with fish consumption. Cross-sectional consumer data were collected in November 2004 through a self-administered questionnaire (n = 852). Cluster analysis distinguished between three consumer segments. Uncertain fish consumers indicate strong motives and a low risk perception, but experience some barriers to increase their fish consumption. Fish Lovers do not perceive any risk from eating fish and express strong motives and low barriers. Finally, Concerned fish consumers perceive few barriers, and they score relatively moderate on fish consumption motives, but express some doubts with respect to potential risks from eating fish. Profiling the clusters yields opportunities for targeted marketing strategies and product orientation.     

Positive and Negative Antecedents of Purchasing Eco-friendly Products: A Comparison Between Green and Non-green Consumers

This study aims to analyze what drives and prevents the purchasing of eco-friendly products across different consumer groups and develops a conceptual model embracing the positive altruistic (care for the environmental consequences of purchasing), positive ego-centric (green self-identity and moral obligation), and negative ego-centric (perceived personal inconvenience of purchasing eco-friendly products) antecedents of eco-friendly product purchase intention and behavior. We empirically validate the conceptual model for green (n = 453) and non-green (n = 473) consumers (i.e., consumers who engage in a set of pro-environmental behaviors for environmental reasons versus consumers who do not engage in these behaviors). Data are analyzed using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis of the two groups. The results confirm the relevance of the determining factors in the model and show significant differences in eco-friendly product purchasing patterns between green and non-green consumers. Altruistic motives are more important for green than for non-green consumers. Negative ego-centric motives affect the purchase intentions of non-green consumers more than the intentions of green consumers, whereas the impact of negative motives on behavior is stronger for green than for non-green consumers. The first contribution of this paper is the development and testing of a parsimonious model of eco-friendly products purchasing that embraces both positive (altruistic and ego-centric) and negative (ego-centric) antecedents, which have been theoretically suggested in the past but have rarely been empirically tested together. The second contribution of this study is that it develops insight into the specific antecedents of eco-friendly products purchasing for green and non-green consumers to assess potential similarities and differences in eco-friendly products purchasing process, the hypothesized antecedents, their impact on eco-friendly products purchase intention and behavior, and the intention–behavior relation.     

Motives and barriers affecting consumers’ co-creation in the physical store

ABSTRACT

The rise of e-commerce has caused a dramatic shift in consumer behaviour, putting pressure on physical stores to offer a more personalised and service-oriented offering. This paper investigates one strategy retailers might apply in this context: in-store consumer co-creation. Research has predominantly focused on online-based consumer co-creation in new product and service development. We argue that with increased focus on digitalisation and consumer experiences in physical retail, this type of co-creation will increasingly take place in-store. Following a pre-study with practitioners, our main study uses 20 scenario-based semi-structured interviews, where we identify eight consumer motives and seven barriers that underlie consumers’ willingness and reluctance to create and select new products in-store, respectively. Some motives, such as ethical, self-efficacy, and concerted are reported as barriers when reverted, due to consumers’ concerns regarding data privacy, low levels of perceived self-efficacy and assumptions that the technology might be flawed. Other motives largely overlap existing research on motives for co-creation whereas other barriers predominantly pertain to the underlying technology and the physical setting of co-creation in-store. The findings further indicate that consumers co-create differently online versus in-store. In-store seems particularly suitable for more marketing related aspects of co-creation, with a stronger emphasis on playfulness and purchase intentions. Practical implications for retailers are therefore discussed.     

Corporate Socially Responsible Initiatives and Their Effects on Consumption of Green Products

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) research has focused often on the business returns of corporate social initiatives but less on their possible social returns. We study an actual company–consumer partnership CSR initiative promoting ecologically correct and conscious consumption of bottled mineral water. We conduct a survey on adult consumers to test the hypotheses that consumer skepticism toward the company–consumer partnership CSR initiative and the moral emotion of elevation mediate the relationship between company CSR motives perceived by consumers and consumer behavioral responses following this CSR initiative. Favorable consumer behavioral responses, in turn, relate positively to consumer support of other green products. The results provide scholars and managers with means of improving their understanding and handling of company–consumer partnership CSR initiatives.     

The EMF uncertainty problem related to mobile phones: where do consumers place their trust?

This paper addresses the uncertainty problem, i.e. cases characterized by lack of knowledge or scientific uncertainty. In such situations, it can be hard for consumers to ‘voice’ or practise consumer power. One field characterized by the uncertainty problem is electromagnetic radiation. An explicit goal of this study has been to articulate Norwegian consumers' practices, attitudes and beliefs regarding electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones to public authorities and consumer policy makers. The study was based on 1000 telephone interviews collected in 2008. Today, experts disagree on the potential health effects of radiation from electromagnetic fields (EMF), as well as standards for safe limits of exposure to mobile phones, base stations and wireless telecommunication systems. In addition, complicated technology and extremely rapid product development and diffusion leave consumers' security considerations to their own beliefs and trust. Whether or not electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones constitutes a health hazard will not be addressed in this paper. Rather, it will focus on how consumers react to this situation of uncertainty. The material reveals four main ways in which consumers can solve what we have named the EMF uncertainty problem: the confident and comfortable way, the sceptical and cautious way, the responsible and good citizen way, and finally, the neglecting way. The paper also discusses the precautionary principle related to EMF. Who should be precautionary: the public authorities, the mobile phone industry or the consumers themselves? We believe that a consistent governmental precautionary policy in combination with consumers taking their own precautionary measures is a viable solution. In this way, all consumers would be addressed and aided when navigating this field of uncertainty.     

Quantitative and qualitative insights into consumers’ sustainable purchasing behaviour: a segmentation approach based on motives and heuristic cues

The present study draws on the concepts of motives and heuristics to thoroughly understand consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviour in the context of personal care products. The mixed-methods approach combines real purchasing data with in-depth qualitative data to generate insights with a high external validity. In the first section of the study, quantitative analysis is applied to actual purchasing behaviour (n = 10,772,477) to identify market trends. Three main groupings, along with specific heuristic cues, are established. In the second step, a qualitative study (n = 21) provides deeper insights into consumers’ motives and decision-making processes. By synthesising the quantitative and qualitative research findings, a segmentation approach is developed. Relevant motives and values, and corresponding specific heuristic cues are identified for each consumer segment. Analysis suggests that consumers are motivated by self-interest and environmental motives, and that they use simple heuristic cues to make quick and satisfying purchasing decisions. Both retailers and manufacturers can leverage these insights to seize the opportunities of the developing market for sustainable personal care products.     

How U.S. consumers view in-store promotions

Most sales promotion analysis, either at the external-to-the-store or in-store level, has been conducted based on what marketers have done and how consumers have responded in specific retail situations and for specific promotional techniques. Most studies, therefore are reported as, point-in-time and point-of-place specific, historical, after-the-fact results and imply a consumer preference for the measured activity. This paper provides a holistic view of how U.S. consumers regard all forms of promotion, both external-to-the-store in the form of 31 media alternatives and 23 in-store techniques across thirteen broad product categories. Data comes from twice a year online studies of representative groups of U.S. consumers, conducted since 2002. Consumers report on which in-store activities most influence their purchase decisions. From that, predictive models of consumer response to alternative promotional combinations are developed using CHAID analysis. This predictive approach is superior to traditional after-the-fact measures.     

Consumers’ perception of CSR motives in a post‐socialist society: The case of Serbia

Questionnaire‐based consumer research was conducted in Serbia, as a country in a long post‐socialist transition. The focus was on consumers’ opinions of benefits and attitudes which motivate companies to act in a socially responsible way. Analysis resulted in a division of CSR motives into two main clusters: cluster I—stakeholder and value‐driven motives, and cluster II—egoistic motives, performance, and market‐driven motives. The division obviously concerned motives which were the socialist legacy (endogenous motives in cluster I), and motives imported from open market economies (exogenous motives in cluster II). Consumers’ perceptions are significantly different for endogenous and exogenous CSR motives. Exogenous motives are perceived as principal companies’ motives to practice CSR, but there are no significant correlations between the perception of these motives and consumers’ purchase decisions. Endogenous, value, and stakeholder‐driven motives are perceived in a significantly lower degree as CSR motivators with highly divided consumers’ opinions and female consumers rating them significantly higher. Consumers’ purchase decisions are in a statistically significant positive correlation with attribution of endogenous, value, and stakeholders’ needs‐driven motives.     

The Skeptical Green Consumer Revisited: Testing the Relationship Between Green Consumerism and Skepticism Toward Advertising

This article revisits the widely believed notion of the skeptical green consumer, in other words, that green consumers tend to distrust green advertising. Study 1, a survey of U.S. consumers, found no positive relationship between green consumerism and general ad skepticism. However, green consumerism was negatively related to green advertising skepticism. Study 2, a survey of Austrian consumers, addressed the underlying mechanism of this negative relationship in a mediation analysis. It was shown that green consumers saw more informational utility in green ads than nongreen consumers did. This, in turn, decreased their green advertising skepticism. The emotional appeal of green ads, however, had no impact on green advertising skepticism. Findings suggest that the “dilemma for marketers who desire to target the green consumer” (Zinkhan and Carlson 1995, p. 5) is far less serious than previously thought.     

The rules of engagement: how to motivate consumers to engage with branded mobile apps

ABSTRACT

This research presents and validates a framework, which illustrates how to motivate consumers to engage with branded mobile applications, or apps. The framework shows that consumer involvement with branded apps underpins two sets of consumer perceptions of the benefits that the app offers, which reflect the different motives for engaging with the app, as consumers experience them. These perceptions include the utilitarian motives of security, usefulness and ease of use; and the hedonic motives of interpersonal utility, attachment (with the device) and entertainment. This range of motives leads to the willingness to pay for the app and the willingness to recommend it. This research contributes to marketing theory by clarifying specific details of the psychological process through which it is possible to motivate consumer engagement with branded apps - i.e. by means of binding involvement, perceptions of how apps’ benefits meet individual needs and two key outcomes. The findings also yield managerial relevance. Above all, the outcomes of this research suggest that, by involving and motivating consumers through the improvement of the benefits that a branded app offers, it is possible to increase the app’s revenues and to encourage word-of-mouth, creating value for app providers and consumers.     

Consumer Perceptions of the United States and Japan as Countries of Origin

Country of origin cues ofien trigger global evalua- tions by which consumers infer the presence of quality, performance levels or product attributes that they are unable or unwilling to evalu- ate directly. This premise is used as a basis for this study in which the perceptions held by Malaysian, Taiwanese and Australian consumer samples regarding U.S. and Japanese-produced consumer goods were compared and contrasted. Across each market, Japanese imports were perceived as significantly more desirable along a number of perceptual dimensions. Implications for the strategic promotion and competitive repositioning of U.S. consumer goods within each mar- ket are developed.     

“I Love the Value From Shopping at Mass Merchants!” Consequences of Multichannel Shopping Value

The importance of consumer value-driven strategies is highlighted in the marketplace, especially with economic stagnation. The aim of this study is to shed light on the mechanisms underlying consumers’ value perception of, satisfaction with, and loyalty intentions toward shopping at mass merchants in a multichannel retail environment by using their shopping orientations as predictors. Findings based on a national sample online survey of 1,411 U.S. consumers revealed that multidimensional consumers’ shopping value perceptions regarding shopping at multichannel mass merchants had significant and positive effects on their consumer satisfaction with and loyalty intentions toward shopping at the multichannel mass merchants.     

On market mavens and consumer self‐confidence: A cross‐cultural study

Market mavens are attentive to media and important diffusers of marketplace information. This study examines the relationships between cultural individualism, general and consumer self‐confidence, and market mavenism in the context of two distinct cultural systems, the United States and South Korea. The examination of cross‐cultural equivalence of the constructs under study provides evidence for both configural and full or partial metric invariance. The results indicate that cultural individualism is positively related to general self‐confidence, general self‐confidence is positively related to consumer selfconfidence, and consumer self‐confidence is positively related to market mavenism. Additionally, this research shows that these relationships hold in both the U.S. and South Korean samples. The results of this study indicate that market mavenism, and thus levels of confidence about marketplace knowledge and speed of diffusion of such information may be more prevalent among the more individualistic than collectivistic consumers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumer needs and requirements for food and ingredient traceability information

The introduction of improved food traceability systems has aimed to restore consumer confidence in food safety and quality, in part by being able to provide consumers with more information about the origins of foods and food ingredients. However, little is known about consumers' opinions and beliefs associated with traceability, nor their preferences for information provision. In the current paper, consumer information needs and requirements regarding traceability are investigated. Semi‐structured interviews with consumers in four European countries focused on the need for traceability, the preferred means of communication, labelling and bodies held responsible for traceability and dealing with fraud. Results show that there is a clear consumer need for varied information about food and the production processes involved. Rigorous and accountable traceability systems may assist in making such information available to consumers.