Factors affecting consumers’ purchase intention of eco‐friendly food in China: The evidence from respondents in Beijing

The purpose aims to examine the key factors influencing Chinese consumer’s purchasing behaviour of eco‐friendly food in China giving its context as an emerging economy and its rapidly rising importance in the world eco‐friendly food market. This paper adopts and extends the Responsible Environmental Behaviour (REB) theory by empirically testing key psychosocial factors influencing the purchase intention of eco‐friendly food and the moderating effects of consumers’ demographic characteristics on the relationship between the key psychosocial factors and the purchase intention. A number of hypotheses are proposed. A questionnaire was designed and distributed via online survey in Beijing, China. A total of 239 valid responses were received. The empirical data were used to test the research hypotheses using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The research finds that the personality factors in the REB model (i.e., pro‐environmental attitudes, the internal locus of control and personal responsibly) have significant positive effects on the consumers’ eco‐friendly food purchase intention. Such effect is stable across consumers with different income levels. On the other hand, the knowledge–skill factors in the REB model do not have significant effect on the purchase intention of consumers. This study contributes to a better understanding of factors affecting eco‐friendly food consumption intention in China and the behavioural characteristics of consumers in developing countries. Moreover, the findings also shed light on the applicability of the REB theory in emerging economies and a specific industrial context.     

Moderating effects of consumer empowerment on the relationship between involvement in eco‐friendly food and eco‐friendly food behaviour

This study investigates the moderating effect of consumer empowerment on the relationship between involvement in and purchase behaviour towards eco‐friendly food. It uses the generalized linear model, with data from the 2017 Research on Food Consumption. The results showed that gender is related only to involvement in eco‐friendly food and this involvement is higher for women than for men. Moreover, involvement in eco‐friendly food, purchase empowerment, engagement empowerment and frequency of buying eco‐friendly food increase as age increases, with the highest increases observed at ages 40–49 and 50–59; the score for those older than these age groups was much lower, resembling an inverted U shape. Groups with high education and income levels presented high scores for involvement in eco‐friendly food, purchase empowerment, engagement empowerment and frequency of buying eco‐friendly food. Regarding the effects of involvement in eco‐friendly food, purchase empowerment and engagement empowerment on the frequency of buying eco‐friendly food, the main effects of involvement in eco‐friendly food and purchase empowerment as well as the interactive effects between involvement in eco‐friendly food and engagement empowerment were statistically significant.     

Do Eco‐friendly VMD and Store Reputation Increase Satisfaction of Retail Customers?

This study builds on previous research to investigate the effect of the benefits of eco‐friendly VMD (visual merchandising) on satisfaction as well as the effect of satisfaction on store attitude. This also testifies the moderating effects how the benefits of eco‐friendly VMD affect customer satisfaction by store reputation. A total of 363 responses were used to examine the process through which core benefits and relational benefits of retailers with eco‐friendly VMD affect psychological satisfaction and social satisfaction. This is a unique study offering empirical evidence that psychological and social satisfactions are the mechanisms through which benefits of eco‐friendly VMD lead to store attitude. Results indicate that information benefit and psychological benefit result in positive psychological satisfaction and social satisfaction, which in turn leads to positive store attitude in retail customers.     

Quality,Value? – Insights into Medical Tourists’ Attitudes and Behaviors

The research investigates the factors influencing medical tourists’ attitudes and behaviors. The factors examined include hospital service and customer perceived value. The study was undertaken in a major hospital located in a South-East Asian country. The sample includes foreign patients who have received various medical treatments in the hospital. The findings indicate that medical tourists are value oriented customers as their value perception has the strongest direct effect on their behaviors, followed by their attitudes towards the hospital. Hospital service appears to have a substantial direct effect on perceived value and medical tourist satisfaction, and also exerts an indirect effect on medical tourist behaviors. The research highlights the prominent role of perceived value, and pinpoints the most effective avenues for healthcare providers in allocating resources to improve hospital performance from the perspective of medical tourists.     

Sustainable tourist behaviour – a discussion of opportunities for change

Research shows that despite their declared positive attitudes towards sustainable tourism, only a few tourists act accordingly by buying responsible tourism products, choosing environmentally friendly transportation or behaving responsibly towards destination communities. The low support from customers is one of the main barriers for progress towards sustainable tourism. One reason can be that existing initiatives are missing customers' attention, discouraging industry and governments to continue promoting sustainable tourism. Positive attempts to encourage sustainable consumption in other sectors indicate that specific barriers may reside in the nature of tourist choices. Taking a critical look at tourism research and literature, this article examines the interplay between reasons for tourists' choice of products and services, and environmental motivations. After identifying possible gaps that may explain current failures to stimulate responsible tourist choices, the article concludes by discussing the implications for the effectiveness of informative and awareness‐raising tools aimed to facilitate the shift towards responsible tourist behaviour and actions.     

Tourists’ participation and preference-related belief in co-creating value of experience: a nature-based perspective

We draw theoretical support from the concept of customer participation and cognitive dissonance theory to investigate the moderating effects of the preference-related belief of nature-based tourists, that is, the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), on relationships between tourist experiential components and outcomes. The responses of 500 visitors to the Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan indicate that actively participative experiences (APEs)—that is, education and escapism—are more positively related than passively participative experiences (PPEs)—that is, entertainment and esthetics—to pleasure and memorability. Furthermore, tourists’ NEP appears to reinforce the effects of APEs and to weaken the effects of PPEs. We also found that tourists’ NEP has a stronger reinforcing effect than a weakening effect. Our study contributes further evidence to current insights into the importance of tourists’ participation in co-creating value of tourist experiences.     

Effects of institutions on ecological attitudes and behaviour of consumers in a developing Asian country: the case of the Philippines

This study examines the effects of institutions emanating from the social environment on ecologically sustainable consumer behaviour in a developing country context. Drawing on the behavioural perspective model of consumer choice and institutional theory, this study argues that the regulative, normative and cognitive dimensions of the institutional environment play critical roles in shaping the pro‐environmental attitudes called eco‐attitudes of consumers. In turn, eco‐attitudes positively influence the eco‐behaviour of consumers. The structural equation modelling of data from a survey of 1045 consumers from the Philippines shows the significant and positive effects of the regulatory, normative and cognitive dimensions of the institutional environment on the eco‐attitudes of consumers, which in turn have strong positive influence on eco‐behaviour. The findings about the partial mediating role of eco‐attitudes offer a more nuanced explanation on how institutions explain the eco‐behaviour of consumers which is a topic that is less understood especially in a developing country context. The study highlights the theoretical, methodological, policy and future research implications of the findings.     

External Determinants and Financial Outcomes of an Eco‐friendly Orientation in Smaller Manufacturing Firms

With the significant growth of problems relating to the natural environment, an increasing number of firms are engaged in environmentally friendly activities. This paper reports the results of a study conducted among 153 small‐sized manufacturing units located in Cyprus, focusing on the external drivers and financial outcomes of their eco‐friendly orientation. The findings confirmed the instrumental role of environmental regulations, environmental public concern, competitive intensity, and market dynamism in harnessing an eco‐friendly orientation within the small firm. They also underline the critical role of this orientation in enhancing the firm's financial results, although this link was found to be stronger when the firm possesses adequate resources and capabilities committed to environmental activities. Our study contributes to the literature by putting together, in a theoretically anchored, integrative, and causal fashion, concepts and ideas that touch upon important aspects of small firms' environmental behavior that have been only tangentially studied in the past, namely the role of external forces in stimulating sensitivity to green issues, the dynamics of forming an ecological orientation within the organization, the positive link between eco‐friendly thinking and financial performance, and the importance of supporting ecological actions with appropriate organizational resources/capabilities. Critical implications for small business managers and public policymakers are also derived from the study findings.     

Consumer guilt and green banking services

Banks offer loans to support many projects; however, some of these projects may not give adequate consideration to the environment. Little is known regarding the extent to which banking customers experience guilt when discovering that their bank supports projects that disregard the environment. An experiment with 313 participants was conducted, and the results showed that customers do experience guilt when discovering that their bank supports projects that do not give adequate consideration to the environment. This study found that guilt drives perceived consumer effectiveness and negative word‐of‐mouth regarding banking projects that neglect environmental considerations but not attitudes towards green banking. Negative word of mouth, but not the attitude towards green banking, mediates the effect of perceived consumer effectiveness on the intention to use green banking services. Negative word‐of‐mouth, rather than attitudes towards green banking and its perceived consumer effectiveness, drives the intention to use green banking services. These findings imply that banks need to encourage their customers to perceive that they are eco‐friendly to avoid a significant loss of customers.     

试论旅游目的地空间关系马太效应的成因及影响

旅游目的地的优劣势发展中虽然有相互转化的现象,但更多的是两极分化:优势旅游地更优,劣势旅游地更劣,旅游目的地空间关系的这种现象就以马太效应表现出来。旅游目的地间等级差异上的空间竞争是形成马太效应的内在推动力,而对旅游目的地形象感知的旅游者的决策行为是马太效应形成的外在拉力。     

基于行为分析的南宁市越南旅游市场拓展研究

自2007年以来,越南已经成为广西第一大入境游客客源地,越南旅游市场已经成为广西入境旅游的重要组成部分。南宁作为广西的首府,是越南游客重要的中转站和目的地。越南游客的旅游消费行为特征将对南宁市开发越南旅游市场具有十分重要的意义。本文通过对南宁市越南游客的市场调研,在分析越南游客的行为特征基础上,提出了南宁市进一步拓展越南旅游市场的对策。     

The Public Health Implications of Consumers' Environmental Concern and Their Willingness to Pay for an Eco‐Friendly Product

Environmental concern has been an important topic for more than 40 years and has recently become even more critical with today's concerns about creating a sustainable and healthy environment. This research examines factors affecting an individual's willingness to pay more for an environmentally friendly product. Our results show that willingness to pay more differs across demographic groups. We also find that individuals who rate concern for waste as highly important are willing to spend more money on an eco‐friendly product. Consequently, our findings provide insight into the development of appropriate educational strategies for different consumer groups to encourage consumers to purchase eco‐friendly products, with a goal of creating a healthier environment for current and future generations.     

服从会带来好绩效吗?心理权利感的中介作用及沟通开放性的调节作用

服从被认为能够较好地提高组织的运作效率，因而许多企业非常强调员工的服从，但服从所带来的消极影响同样也不容忽视。基于自我决定理论，文章采用问卷调查法，利用两个时间点收集了88名领导以及594名员工的配对数据，探讨了员工表现出服从行为后可能产生的消极影响。研究发现：员工表现出服从行为后，会产生心理权利感；服从行为通过心理权利感降低了员工的任务绩效；团队的沟通开放性调节了服从行为与心理权利感之间的关系，即沟通开放性较高时，服从行为对心理权利感的正向影响减弱；同时，沟通开放性也调节了服从行为通过心理权利感影响任务绩效的中介效应。研究结论扩展了对员工服从行为消极影响的认识，同时也为干预这一消极影响提供了理论支持。     

Internal and external barriers to eco‐conscious apparel acquisition

Apparel consumption is a contributing cause of environmental change, and environmental integrity requires the encouragement of eco‐conscious apparel acquisition. Unfortunately, among consumers, there is limited engagement in this behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to expand the knowledge base of eco‐conscious apparel consumption and question the limited participation by identifying barriers that constrain consumers. This study used a qualitative approach to collect and analyse data from 26 eco‐conscious consumers. Data collection for the study occurred through semi‐structured interviews. Results indicate that consumers find it difficult to engage in eco‐conscious apparel acquisition on a consistent basis because a number of barriers stand in the way. These barriers include knowledge and attitudes about environmentally preferable apparel, availability of environmentally preferable apparel, economic resources, retail environments and societal norms. Consequently, the implication is that strategies intending to encourage eco‐conscious apparel acquisition should include a focus on diminishing these barriers.     

Eco‐labelling and the Trade‐Environment Debate

In this paper we consider the effectiveness of eco‐labels as a substitute for alternative, but trade‐restrictive, environmental policies. Specifically, while there are concerns that eco‐labelling requirements increase the cost of international trade, due to their potential for misuse as technical trade barriers, little attention has been given to the environmental benefits of eco‐labelling. We show that incentive problems inherent in eco‐labelling policies make it a very weak tool of environmental policy. Despite this, we argue that eco‐labelling schemes may remain popular, owing to the lack of alternative WTO compliant environmental policies. We also use this framework to consider the economic and political conflicts facing the EU with regard to its policies on genetically modified organisms.     

Generativity and self‐enhancement values in eco‐friendly behavioral intentions and environmentally responsible consumption behavior

During the past 35 years, academic researchers have been examining the relationship between environmentally responsible consumption behavior and numerous antecedent variables. Because sustainability requires a long‐term perspective, the study included generativity, a construct developed by Erikson ( 1950 ) and self‐enhancement values (Schwartz, 1994 ) as antecedent variables for environmentally responsible consumption behavior. Generativity refers to individuals' beliefs that their current behavior has consequences that extend into future generations, while self‐enhancement refers to values relating to power, wealth, and influence. These variables are related in that generativity requires consideration of others while self‐enhancement generally refers to considering only one's self. This suggests that individuals high on generativity ought to be more aware of and concerned about the environment and should modify their behavior accordingly, and those who are high on self‐enhancement should be less concerned or willing to change behavior. The results of the study, including French and American respondents, indicate that individuals who score high on generativity are more likely to have eco‐friendly intentions and more environmentally responsible consumption behaviors, but generativity interacts with self‐enhancement, resulting in an interpretation that is different from that typically found in environmentally related studies. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Like it or not? How the economic and institutional environment shapes individual attitudes towards multinational enterprises

This paper analyses the determinants of people's attitudes towards foreign direct investment (FDI) using a survey‐based data set that covers a wide range of rich and poor countries. We find that both individual socioeconomic characteristics and macroeconomic and institutional factors shape agents’ attitudes towards multinational firms. Moreover, we find that the influence of an individual's characteristics—such as education and the status as an entrepreneur—on her/his perspective on multinationals depends on the respective country's per‐capita income. Our results confirm the conjecture that relative individual attitudes towards multinationals reflect distributional interests as suggested by economic theory.     

旅游者形象感知影响因素及其对忠诚影响

旅游者形象感知是旅游消费行为和营销领域的一个研究重点与热点.文章构建了旅游者形象感知影响因素及其对忠诚影响的整合模型,通过对乡村旅游者调查获取丰富基础数据,验证它们之间的相互关系.研究发现,服务公平是旅游者形象感知的最重要影响因素,感知价值是旅游者形象感知的较重要影响因素,服务质量是旅游者形象感知的重要影响因素,而旅游者参与对旅游者形象感知没有显著影响;旅游者形象感知是旅游者忠诚的重要前置变量,对重游倾向、口碑宣传具有显著正向影响,对寻找替代旅游地具有显著负向影响.文章最后提出相应管理启示,指出了研究局限及未来研究方向.     

Ethical Considerations in Organizational Politics: Expanding the Perspective

The aim of this study is to contribute to a conceptualization of organizational politics that underscores the possibility of developing positive political behavior at the workplace. In this respect, we seek to provide a context of re-evaluating the normative foundations of organizational politics. Normative issues are critically discussed in the context of mainstream ethical theories that illuminate the interaction of ethics and political behavior. More specifically, it is argued that a deontological framework is of particular importance for the proper management of negative political behavior, whereas a virtue-ethics context can be employed so as to foster positive political behavior at the workplace. Finally, the implications of this approach for organizational life and HRM processes and practices are taken into consideration.