Mitigating panic buying behavior in the epidemic: An evolutionary game perspective

The panic buying behavior under public health emergencies will lead to many adverse consequences, such as material waste, price fluctuation and uneven distribution of epidemic prevention materials, which will pose a threat to the social stability and economic development. In this paper, we construct a tripartite game model to explore the strategic choices of the public, merchants and the government in order to effectively respond to the panic buying behavior in the epidemic. The results demonstrate that: (1) Eight evolutionary stable strategies emerge in the panic buying events. The worst scenario can be improved by adjusting some relevant parameters. (2) The probability of the public choosing the strategy of “not involving in panic buying” depends on the potential benefits and losses of snapping up, rather than the extent of price rising. (3) The probability of merchants choosing the strategy of “not bid up price” depends on the intangible benefits. (4) The probability of the government choosing the strategy of “active supervision” depends on the supervision costs and government credibility, rather than the amount of fines. In addition, strategic suggestions to mitigate panic buying behavior are put forward from the perspective of each stakeholder.     

Factors influencing buying behavior of Lebanese consumers towards fashion brands during economic crisis: A qualitative study

The purpose of this article is to contribute to an understanding of the impact of the Lebanese economic crisis on fashion buying behavior. It uses a qualitative approach by conducting semi-structured interviews with 29 Lebanese consumers. The study reveals that consumer fashion purchases are motivated by emotional, social, and functional drivers. It also indicates that subjective norms, such as societal and cultural values dictate buying behaviors. The findings provide further insights into social media and highlight its influence on shaping trends and making fashion products desirable. The article concludes that Lebanese consumers exhibit impulsive buying behavior, and explains how fashion brands can remain relevant amidst a wrenching economic crisis.     

Information and Knowledge as Antecedents of Consumer Attitudes and Intentions to Buy and Recommend Fair-Trade Products

The authors propose and empirically test a causal model to understand how the availability of fair-trade information and consumer knowledge about this issue affect consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward fair-trade products. The model is built upon the attitude-behavior paradigm and the premises of agency theory. It is tested through structural equation modeling with a sample of 292 Spanish consumers. The findings are that consumers do not have good knowledge about fair trade and that this is significantly determined by the lack of information about this in the market. It is also observed that consumers’ perceptions about the availability of fair-trade information have negative effects on their concern about this issue and that such information as is available is not effective in reducing consumer skepticism. The research represents an extension of previous fair-trade literature because the role of information and communication in improving consumer attitudes and buying intentions has rarely been explored in the case of ethical products.     

Strategic entry or strategic exit? International presence by emerging economy enterprises

By proposing an integrated strategic choice framework, we theorize the distinctive dynamics of international expansion by emerging economy enterprises. Specifically, we explicate how these firms build international presence based on combined strategic entry (i.e., prompted by internal capabilities such as innovation and diversification) and strategic exit (i.e., pushed out by external handicaps at home such as institutional obstacles and market competition). Further, a firm’s cooperative ties with foreign multinationals in the former’s home country fortify the strategic entry intent, while ties with home government institutions weaken the strategic exit intent. We also demonstrate that building international presence helps bolster firm performance, highlighting the economic catch-up consequence of international expansion. Analyses of a two-year imbalanced panel data of 2136 firms statistically support our hypotheses.     

网红营销对消费者购买行为影响调查研究

伴随“互联网+”概念的深入人心和自媒体的迅速兴起,网红已成为自媒体时代网络经济发展中不可小觑的重要力量,“网红大军”在引领消费时尚的同时还极大地促进了消费者的购买欲望。本文以网红营销为研究对象,主要针对网红博主所处的社会背景和广告营销策略展开研究,基于文献研究和问卷调研数据,分析网红营销对消费者购买行为的具体影响过程和作用机理。研究表明,网红借助于直播这一营销方式,既有效的提高了销售额,也增强与消费者的互动交流。本文研究结论将对相关企业决策提供有益的决策支持和策略指导。     

Unusual purchasing behavior during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach

During the COVID-19 pandemic, unusual consumer behavior, such as hoarding toilet paper, was reported globally. We investigated this behavior when fears of consumer market disruptions started circulating, to capture human behavior in this unique situation. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, we propose a structural model connecting exposure to online information sources (environmental stimuli) to two behavioral responses: unusual purchases and voluntary self-isolation. To test the proposed model, we collected data from 211 Finnish respondents via an online survey, and carried out analysis using PLS-SEM. We found a strong link between self-intention to self-isolate and intention to make unusual purchases, providing empirical evidence that the reported consumer behavior was directly linked to anticipated time spent in self-isolation. The results further revealed exposure to online information sources led to increased information overload and cyberchondria. Information overload was also a strong predictor of cyberchondria. Perceived severity of the situation and cyberchondria had significant impacts on people's intention to make unusual purchases and voluntarily self-isolate. Future research is needed to confirm the long-term effects of the pandemic on consumer and retail services.     

Is all turnover intent the same? Exploring future job preference and environmental considerations

This study approaches turnover intent in a novel way by incorporating both environmental and internal organizational factors together to create a more nuanced view of what drives turnover. The analytical focus is on senior-level employees in four agencies within the US Department of Health and Human Services. The findings show that internal organizational factors partially explain decisions to change jobs, but agency and time differences remain even after controlling for those factors. It also finds that the decision to leave government is driven by different factors than the decision to move to other jobs within government.     

COVID-19: The effects of job insecurity on the job engagement and turnover intent of deluxe hotel employees and the moderating role of generational characteristics

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented crisis in all industries around the world. This study sought to verify that job insecurity, as perceived by deluxe hotel employees, significantly affects their job engagement and turnover intent and to determine the moderating effect of generational characteristics. The finding showed that perceptions of job insecurity had negative effects on the engagement of deluxe hotel employees. Also, employees’ job engagement can decrease turnover intent. The engagement of employees fully mediated the relationship between perceptions of job insecurity and turnover intent, and job insecurity caused by COVID-19 had a greater influence on Generation Y than Generation X in reducing job engagement, indicating that the negative impact of job insecurity is higher in Generation Y.     

Contrasting the Drivers of Switching Intent and Switching Behavior in Contractual Service Settings

We examine consumer switching decisions in contractual service settings and contrast the drivers of actual switching with those of switching intent. We surveyed a panel of subscribers to all cell phone service providers in a market and recorded key marketing mix data. At four months intervals, we asked panel members about their switching intentions and then subsequently observed actual switching behavior. Consistent with construal level theory, our findings show that switching intent is explained by only a handful of desirability- or outcome-related variables (i.e., overall satisfaction, performance perceptions of important attributes, and monetary switching costs). In contrast, the results show that many more variable categories contributed to explain actual switching behavior. These findings confirm that switching intent is driven by a qualitatively different set of variables than switching behavior. Implications for theory, research and practice are discussed.     

How does face influence the purchase of imitative new products? Moderating roles of product design characteristics

Face plays a profound role in consumption, but the question of how it impacts the purchase of imitative new products remains unanswered in the current literature. Imitative new products, which are legitimate innovations bearing similarities to existing products, are prevalent in many markets. This study investigates how two dimensions of face consciousness—the desire to gain face and the fear of losing face—influence consumers' purchase intentions regarding imitative new products by considering three product design characteristics (new product imitation locus, new product imitation scope, and product hedonism) as boundary conditions. We find through experiments carried out with adult Chinese consumers that the desire to gain face strengthens, but the fear of losing face weakens purchase intention. Moreover, the positive effects of the desire to gain face are weakened by imitation locus (form vs. function imitation) but enhanced by imitation scope (either form or function imitation vs. both form and function imitation); whereas the negative effects of the fear of losing face are strengthened by imitation locus but weakened by imitation scope. Product hedonism enhances the positive effects of the desire to gain face and augments the negative effects of the fear of losing face. This study thus contributes to the face literature by differentiating the roles of two dimensions of face consciousness in affecting consumption of imitative new products. In addition, this study contributes two important constructs—new product imitation locus and new product imitation scope—to the literature on imitative new products.