Consumers buying behaviour towards agri-food products: A mixed-method approach

This study aims to identify the factors that can influence consumer purchasing behaviour in the context of agri-food. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Behaviour-Consequence theory, this study proposed a model to explain purchasing behaviour that included environmental factors as well as a set of cognitive processes. This study adopted a mixed method approach and in the first stage, a qualitative analysis was conducted to extract the constructs for the study. In the second stage, the quantitative analysis was performed by means of CB-SEM using 891 responses collected through a survey. This resulted in identifying the factors that influence agri-food purchasing behaviour. According to the findings, health consciousness and food safety concerns in the form of a stimulus have a positive relationship with agri-food image, agri-food label, and agri-food benefits acting as the organism. Similarly, the three organisms have a positive relationship with trust. Ethnocentrism is also found to have positive and significant association with trust. The combination of trust and ethnocentrism has consequences, in the form of agri-food purchase behaviour. The study's findings have significant implications for marketers and marketing strategists.     

Is similarity a constraint for service-to-service brand extensions?

Are service brands constrained in launching new service offerings? Both research evidence and managerial wisdom suggest brands should extend to similar categories. However, in five studies using real-life brands - four experiments and one large-sample survey - we provide evidence that similarity is less of a constraint for service brands extending to other service categories (service-to-service extensions), compared to cases involving parent brands or extension categories of a product nature. Importantly, we demonstrate that such an effect occurs because service brands possess associations relevant across the spectrum of service categories. Our results suggest that service brand managers have the opportunity to stretch their brands to dissimilar service offerings; yet, they need to ensure the marketing execution does not make the brands’ service associations inaccessible to consumers. The findings suggest that even product brands can build service associations by adding service components to their offering, thus becoming “servitized” and better able to extend to dissimilar service categories. Overall, our work contributes to the academic debate documenting that the principles governing the management of product vs. service brands are not identical.     

“I live with terror inside me”: Exploring customers’ instinctive reactions to terror

Terrorist attacks occur mostly at public service-oriented sites. Consequently, their victims are likely to be customers. The present study explores how customers instinctively react toward the reality of terror in a matrix of 2 × 2 aspects concerning terror circumstances: temporal proximity (brief or long) and physical proximity (close or remote) from the terror event. In qualitative in-depth interviews, customers from France and Israel were requested to share their instinctive reactions and coping strategies when approaching hospitality (hedonistic) and transportation (utilitarian) services. Participants (N = 47) comprised customers having a protracted acquaintance with persistent terror threats. The analysis identified differences in reactions, subject to temporal and physical proximities. When terror attacks are physically close, customers’ emotions, cognitions, and behaviors undergo modification with time. However, when terror attacks occur at a location remote from the customer, customers’ emotions and cognitions, but not their behavior, change with time. These reactions were comparable for the two service contexts. Practical implications were elaborated to enable service establishments (i.e., hospitality and transportation) to design and manage their operations for the short and long term to assist customers in the difficult era of terror.     

服务业对外直接投资的出口效应——基于我国微观企业的研究

文章基于我国服务业上市企业数据，采用多维固定效应模型，探讨和分析了我国服务业OFDI对服务贸易出口的影响，经研究发现：第一，服务业OFDI通过吸收东道国先进技术经验提升企业生产率水平和避开东道国服务贸易壁垒降低贸易成本，促进企业服务贸易出口增长；第二，我国服务业OFDI显著提升了企业服务贸易出口的二元边际，具体而言，整体上服务业OFDI会促进服务贸易出口增长4.82%，同时会提升企业的出口概率；第三，我国服务业OFDI"出口效应"存在明显的区域和行业的异质性，具体表现为：生产性服务业和消费性服务业OFDI存在显著的"出口效应"，其OFDI带动服务贸易出口的增长分别为5.68%和3.52%，而公共服务业则不存在显著的"出口效应"；东部地区和中部地区服务业OFDI存在显著的"出口效应"，其OFDI带动区域服务贸易出口的增长分别为4.97%和3.56%，而西部地区则不存在显著的"出口效应"。上述研究结论对化解我国服务贸易出口增长困境和完善服务业对外直接投资政策机制具有一定的启示意义。     

社会心理服务驱动下信访“分类治理”的理路——以河南省西平县为例

学界对于信访分类治理的研究大多基于因“人”分类或因“事”分类展开,形成了信访分类治理研究的基本范式。然而,社会心理服务嵌入信访治理体系,为信访分类治理提供了新的视野:因“心”分类,即按照信访人“心理诉求——利益诉求”的两分原则,将信访人分为利益型、心理型、耦合型和无意识型四种。本文以西平县信访治理实践为个案,提炼出由“心”而治的信访分类治理模型,并对该模型的治理理路进行了分析。研究发现:地方政府对信访频次、情绪和事件的三维叠加形成了信访分类治理的参照维度,而地方政府对治理技术的灵活性运用则构成了信访分类治理的动态实践。本文为信访分类治理过程中信访人的心理诉求与利益诉求间的关系提供经验事实,并为社会心理服务驱动下的信访分类治理理路提供分析框架。然而,受限于研究区域和案例数量,本文提炼出来的由“心”而治的信访分类治理模式还有待进一步验证和完善。     

众创空间类型如何塑造创业服务行为？基于制度逻辑视角的分析

文章基于制度逻辑视角,以浙江省746家众创空间为样本,分析了政府、高校、民营企业三类主体设立的众创空间和创业服务行为选择的关系。研究发现：（1）制度逻辑对众创空间的创业服务行为选择具有塑造作用,持有行政逻辑的政府型众创空间会将时间更多的分配给办公场所服务,而持有专业逻辑的高校型和持有公司逻辑的民企型众创空间,则分别会将时间更多的分配给培训咨询服务和投融资服务。上述发现在替换了其它两种因变量测量指标后依然成立。（2）国家级认证会使民企型众创空间显著减少在投融资服务上的时间分配比重,而显著增加在办公场所服务和培训咨询服务上的时间分配比重,这种调节效应在另外两类众创空间中并不显著,在替换了省级认证后结果依然成立。这表明,相较于公司逻辑,政府逻辑和专业逻辑更具稳定性,更不易受高阶制度因素的影响和干扰。文章拓展了制度逻辑和众创空间创业服务行为关系的理论认识,为创业者的众创空间入驻决策以及政府针对众创空间的政策制定提供了实践启示。     

金融服务开放与制造业企业出口产品质量:影响机制与经验证据

文章从理论上分析了金融服务开放影响制造业企业出口产品质量提升的动态演变过程，并利用2004-2013年中国金融服务进出口和中国工业企业数据对理论推演进行验证。结果表明：金融服务开放显著促进了制造业出口产品质量升级，且金融服务引进来对制造业企业出口产品质量提升的作用略大于金融服务走出去所产生的作用；从不同贸易方式、不同衡量指标、不同企业所有制等方面对此进行检验均证实了金融服务开放对制造业出口产品质量升级的正向作用；影响机制检验和扩展分析显示，创新效应、金融服务"引进来"对"走出去"的推动、垂直专业化效应和本地吸收效应影响着金融开放对企业出口产品质量升级的作用。文章的研究发现有助于为进一步扩大金融服务开放来推动制造业高质量发展提供有价值的政策依据。     

Fairness perception of ancillary fees: Industry differences and communication strategies

This study examines fairness perception of ancillary fees across different industries, and ways to communicate ancillary fees in a way that reduces customers' feeling that they are being unfairly treated. Through surveys and consumer experiments, we show that consumers’ perception of fairness decreases as the level of ancillary fees increases, with differences across industries. Also, when the customer is given a cue that the ancillary fees are necessary for low base prices, fairness perception increases, explained by the “dual entitlement” concept. Another effective communication strategy is early disclosure, as opposed to late disclosure which decreases fairness perception and willingness to recommend.     

Pillars of sustainable food experiences in the luxury gastronomy sector: A qualitative exploration of Michelin-starred chefs’ motivations

Based on a qualitative exploratory study that combined three sources of qualitative data: interviews, archival data, and observational notes this research aims to explore the dimensions of sustainable food experiences offered in the luxury gastronomic industry. Our research indicates two critical findings. First, chefs’ definition of sustainable luxury food experiences should encompass both functional (e.g., sustainable and healthy food, eco-friendly practices) and experiential (e.g., sensory, creativity, pleasure, aesthetics) aspects. Second, Michelin-starred chefs’ motivations to adopt and promote sustainability incorporate, in addition to extrinsic factors (Planet and people), intrinsic factors (plate, pleasure, and place) not addressed previously in the literature. Our study enriches the literature on sustainable hospitality overall, and in particular in luxury restaurants by considering an emic perspective centered on the way the principal actors (chefs) define and implement sustainability in a new service and hospitality sector: the luxury gastronomy sector.     

Customizing calories: How rejecting (vs. selecting) ingredients leads to lower calorie estimation and unhealthier food choices

Customization of food products has increased substantially in recent years while the desire for healthiness and an emphasis on understanding and providing calorie information continues to dynamically change the landscape of restaurant retail. The authors report four studies demonstrating that different customization routes (i.e., rejecting alternatives from a full product offering versus adding alternatives to a basic product offering) lead to systematic, but predictable, differences in consumers’ estimations of calories. In particular, this research finds that a rejection (vs. selection) customization process leads consumers to persistently estimate lower calories in the final product, which then improves evaluations of the retailer and leads to unhealthier food choices. These findings occur when consumers estimate calories of the exact same final product using the different paths to customization as well as when they create their own customized final product, while accounting for differences in the quantity and type of ingredients selected, suggesting a very general difference in estimations. This research has important implications for consumers who want to manage their weight and for firms that need to manage consumers’ health perceptions.