The influence of product involvement on consumers’ interactive processes in interactive television

Based on the classical elaboration likelihood model, we develop an interactive communication behavior model and apply it to the interactive television environment. The model suggests a hypothesis about interactive information searches and how they are impacted by product involvement and hypotheses about how the category of an advertised product impacts the type of information sought. Testing these hypotheses empirically, we verify that product involvement influences the extent of interactive communication behavior, while the type of information being sought is a function of the advertised product category. Implications regarding advertising practice and research are suggested.     

The combined influence of time pressure and time orientation on consumers’ multichannel choice: evidence from China

This article deals with the influence of time pressure and time orientation on consumers’ multichannel shopping behaviour. Previous studies have documented the role of time pressure on customers’ channel choice in developed countries, without examining the moderating effects of time orientation on the relationship between perceived time pressure and consumers’ attitudes towards online/offline channels. To fill this gap, this article aims to investigate the combined influences of time pressure and time orientation on consumers’ attitude towards both online and offline shopping. The results show that time pressure helps consumers form more favourable attitudes towards online shopping than towards offline shopping. Further, the effect of time pressure on consumers’ channel attitudes depends on one's time orientations. The implications for marketing channel strategies and market segmentation in Asian emerging markets are discussed.     

Examining the influence of cultural and ethical ideology on consumers’ perceptions about the ethics of online retailers and its effects on their loyalty

The main purpose of this study was to develop and empirically test an integrated model that examines the antecedents and outcomes of consumers perceptions regarding online retailing ethics. A quantitative approach was utilised and the data were collected from 797 consumers. We used AMOS 22.0 for assessing the associations between the latent variables. The results of the analyses revealed that uncertainty avoidance and power distance are a key driver of idealism, while masculinity and individualism are a key predictor of egoism. Idealism was negatively related to consumers perceptions about e-retailing ethics, while egoism had a positive effect. Finally, customers perceptions about e-retailing ethics was positively related to customers loyalty. Implications for practitioners and academics were discussed.     

Do green packages lead to misperceptions? The influence of package colors on consumers’ perceptions of brands with environmental claims

Consumers need accurate information about brands’ environmental impacts to guide their purchase decisions. Researchers have studied consumers’ perceptions of green products and marketers’ environmental claims. Policy makers provide guidelines to minimize deceptiveness of environmental claims. Yet, little attention has been paid to what contextual cues can influence consumers’ judgments of environmental claims and green products. Drawing on conceptual fluency theory, the current research proposes that a color that matches the content of a message makes the information easier to process, thereby increasing the appeal of the message. The authors demonstrate that using the color green on a product’s package can enhance consumers’ perceptions of the brand’s environmental impact. Ironically, this positive effect of green can also lead to consumers’ misperceptions of the brand’s environmental impact if green is used for brands that are not environmentally superior. Implications and suggestions for policy makers, marketers, and consumers are provided.     

The impact of retailers’ sustainability and price on consumers’ responses in different cultural contexts

Consumers want sustainability, but at what price? With growing demands for environmental and social sustainability, retailers aim to understand how consumers might react to adaptations in retail practices. This research examines consumers’ perceptions towards retailers’ environmental and social sustainability practices and the moderating effect of price in different cultural contexts. Quantitative research methodology using scenario-based experiments was employed. Two experiments were conducted using research participants from the US (a more individualist country) and Turkey (a more collectivist country) and measured one dimension of culture, individualism versus collectivism. The results reveal that high prices negatively moderate consumers’ response to retailers’ sustainability efforts. Even though there is no significant interaction between either type of sustainability and price on purchase intention, high sustainability along with a low-price strategy leads to an increase in consumers’ commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that high prices have a more negative effect on consumers’ responses in a collectivist country. This study highlights the importance of price in both individualist and collectivist cultures and provides a better understanding of a neglected dimension of sustainability, social sustainability. Managers need to be aware of the increasing demand from consumers for environmentally and socially sustainable practices but need to recognize that consumers may not be willing to pay more for these products. Companies need to formulate business strategies based on low priced-sustainable products and the cultural context of the country in which they operate.     

The mediation effects of consumers’ need recognition and pre-purchase evaluation in consumers’ decision-making on purchasing safe street food: The case in Nakhon Si Thammarat,Thailand

Nakhon Si Thammarat province is one of the largest cities in Thailand and offers various types of street foods in the city. However, the number of street vendors that pass food safety certification is very low. Nevertheless, there are many consumers who still purchase street food because of their lifestyle who are exposed to food safety risks. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate how consumers make their decisions about the safety of the street food. This study investigates the importance of the need recognition and pre-purchase evaluation stages in consumers’ decision-making in relation to their purchasing of safe street food. The results from the structural equation modeling analysis found that, at 95%, the confidential need recognition would act as a partial mediator between consumers’ motivation → pre-purchase evaluation on purchasing safe food and consumers’ food safety knowledge → pre-purchase evaluation. In turn, pre-purchase evaluation would act as a full mediator between consumers’ motivation and safe street food purchasing. The findings signify that the stages of need recognition and pre-purchase evaluation in the decision-making process are important in order to reduce consumers' food risk while purchasing street food. Therefore, encouraging consumers to recognize the importance of purchasing safe food and convincing them to be concerned when selecting food is necessary to prevent consumers from unsafe food consumption.     

How differences in eWOM platforms impact consumers’ perceptions and decision-making

ABSTRACT

This article aims to examine the effects of different features of various eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) platforms on consumers’ perceived credibility of eWOM regarding the product-related risks. Based on the stimuli–organism–response (S–O–R) theory, this study establishes a model to explore the relationships among eWOM platforms, tie strength, social cues, and perceived eWOM credibility. A mixed design of 2 (eWOM platforms) × 2 (product-related risks) conditions experiment and a survey method is applied to verify the model. The results show that tie strength between eWOM publishers and recipients positively influences the perceived eWOM credibility. The volume of social cues in eWOM platforms positively influences the perceived credibility of a female, while the opposite is true for a male. Both tie strength and volume of social cues in social media are greater than those in e-commerce websites. For products with low risks, eWOM in e-commerce websites is perceived to be more credible. Findings implicate that interactive functions should be added to the product comment area to enhance communications between the reviewers and potential consumers. Findings also encourage the cooperation between e-commerce websites and social media and suggest that managers should develop proper strategies in different situations.     

The memory-search frame effect: impacts on consumers’ retrieval and evaluation of consumption experiences

Marketing Letters - When consumers recall past consumption experiences (e.g., vacations), they often need to search their memory for relevant events within certain time frames (e.g., the past...     

An exploration of consumers’ experiences in physical stores: comparing consumers’ and retailers’ perspectives in past and present time

Abstract

In this paper, we explore consumers’ in-store experiences and their components, from both a consumer and retailer perspective. This is a replication of a study we performed in 2006 and thus we also examine how the role of the physical store has changed over the last decade. We use the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) to improve our understanding of consumers’ in-store experiences. Moreover, we conduct in-depth interviews with Swedish retailers to achieve an understanding of how retailers use aspects of the store environment to enhance the consumer experience. Interestingly, our results suggest that consumers’ in-store experiences to a large extent are created by the same aspects today as ten years ago (e.g. personnel, layout, atmosphere). Furthermore, while retailers today emphasize the importance of fulfilling new and more advanced consumer demands, they often still accentuate the weight and use of traditional values (e.g. personnel and layout) ahead of advanced technology.     

Social media or shopping websites? The influence of eWOM on consumers’ online purchase intentions

This study empirically tests and compares the influence of friends’ recommendations on social media and anonymous reviews on shopping websites in the context of online purchase intention. For this purpose, we analyse the impacts of these two platforms based on the components of information adoption model (IAM) which are borrowed as information quality, information credibility, information usefulness and information adoption. We conduct a survey and find anonymous reviews as more influential on consumer’ online purchase intentions than friends’ recommendations on social media. However, as this result was contrary to that expected, we conduct another study through in-depth interviews in order to enlighten our results found in the first study. In Study 2, we find the reasons why consumers prefer anonymous reviews rather than friends’ recommendations. Information quantity, information readiness, detailed information and dedicated information are factors which make shopping websites superior than social media in terms of the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Academic and managerial implications are discussed.     

The terror of death and consumers’ sustainability attitudes

Applying Terror Management Theory, this research attempts to investigate how the terror of death perception affects consumers' sustainability attitudes under the contingent condition of religiosity. This field study was conducted in Malang, Indonesia. The findings disclose that both mortality salience and self-esteem increase materialism. Materialism is found to intensify consumers’ sustainability attitudes of green concern and consumer social responsibility (CnSR). It is also found that religiosity strengthens the effect of mortality salience on materialism and that of materialism on CnSR. Contrarily, religiosity weakens the effects of materialism on green concern. However, there is no statistical support for the moderating effect of religiosity on the linkage between self-esteem and materialism.     

Humanizing voice assistant: The impact of voice assistant personality on consumers’ attitudes and behaviors

A voice assistant (VA), a type of voice-enabled artificial intelligence, is no longer just a character in science fiction movies. Currently, voice is embedded in a variety of products such as smartphones (mobile applications) and smart speakers in consumers' homes. Furthermore, voice assistants are becoming integral to our daily lives. While human personalities shape the way we interact with the world, voice assistant personalities can also impact everyday interactions with our environment. This study identifies seven voice assistant personality traits (VAP) of three commonly used mobile applications: Microsoft's Cortana, Google's Assistant, and Amazon's Alexa. To examine the effect of VAP on consumer experience, this study applies and extends flow theory to uncover why VAP has the effects it has and what facets of VAP drive the voice interaction flow experience that can influence consumers' attitudes and behavioral intentions. Our study shows that voice interaction with a VA that incorporates functional intelligence, sincerity, and creativity empowers consumers to take control of their voice interactions with the VA, focus on their voice interaction, and engage in exploratory behavior. Consumers' exploratory behavior leads to consumer satisfaction and consumers' willingness to continue using voice assistant.     

Impacts of product,store and retailer perceptions on consumers’ relationship to terroir store brand

This research shows that consumers’ relationship to terroir store brand, measured through attachment and two facets of brand loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral) is respectively influenced by their perceptions of the product, retailer and store. More specifically, the perceived authenticity of the products of the terroir store brand and its perceived value have a positive and significant influence on the attachment and behavioral loyalty of the regular buyers of this store brand and a positive and significant influence on the attachment of its occasional buyers. Trust in the retailer has a positive and significant impact on the behavioral loyalty of the regular buyers of this terroir store brand while perceived image of the store has only a positive and significant impact on the attitudinal loyalty of its occasional buyers.     

Transaction factors’ influence on the choice of payment by Polish consumers

The choice of payment instrument, which is used every day to make life easier, comprises one of the consumer financial decisions influenced by several factors. To investigate when, where, and for what amount customers use different forms of payment an interview of statistically representative group of 1005 consumers from all over Poland have been realized, in the first quarter of 2019 with the use of the computer assisted personal interviewing method. The data gives a unique combination of information on consumers payment choice and detailed information about demographics, income, and consumer preferences within a nationally representative consumer survey. Within this article statistical analyzes of the influence of transaction factors on consumer choice of payment have been performed together with a first attempt to employ a data-mining method known as Random Forests for predict the choices that those consumers make regarding the method of payment. The results revealed the complexity and diversity of factors influencing consumer choices. The findings show that, despite the development of innovative forms of payment, traditional forms, especially cash, still have a strong position. Notwithstanding among the customers' personal traits, financial knowledge is one of the most important determinants of their payment choices. These results are an important step toward a predictive model of consumer choice. Additionally presented findings on consumers’ payment behavior can guide policy formulation and strategic decision-making of central banks and stakeholders, and thereby contribute toward improving the efficiency of the payment system in Poland as a whole.     

The effect of attribute originality on consumers’ adoption intention of customization: The role of construal level

As consumers' preferences become increasingly diversified, many companies strive to satisfy individual needs by offering customization options for products or services. To enhance the effectiveness of customization strategies, managers need to decide what type of attributes to provide for consumers to customize and also take consumers' individual differences into consideration. The current research investigates the joint impacts of the originality of the attributes involved in a customization option and consumers' construal level on their intention to adopt customization. Findings from two experiments consistently demonstrate that, in comparison to customization options that include common customizable attributes, offering customization options that includes original customizable attributes undermine consumers’ adoption intention. However, such negative effects will be mitigated when consumers have a high construal level.     

Caring for her: the influence of presumed influence on female consumers’ attitudes towards advertising featuring gender-stereotyped portrayals

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how presumed influence on others affects women's evaluations of advertising featuring gender stereotypes. Previous research has largely overlooked the social context of the reactions to gender stereotypes. Addressing that gap, this study draws on the influence of presumed influence model to proposed that female consumers believe that other women are negatively affected by advertising that contains gender-stereotyped portrayals. This perception is hypothesized to influence ad and brand attitudes as consumers ‘punish’ the brand for hurting others. The results of two experimental studies featuring stereotyped and non-stereotyped advertising portrayals indicate that the hypothesis holds for two types of stereotype components (physical characteristics and role behaviour). This new theoretical perspective to the literature on gender stereotypes in advertising, one that helps to explain why many women dislike gender stereotypes in advertising even though those stereotypes often have limited impact on them personally.     

Exciting on Facebook or competent in the newspaper? Media effects on consumers’ perceptions of brands in the fashion category

Abstract

Media investments are continuously shifting from traditional media like newspapers to digital alternatives like websites and social media. This study investigated if and how media choice between the two rival channels can influence consumers’ perceptions of a novel brand. 504 Swedish retail fashion customers participated in an experiment to evaluate the identical advertisement placed either in a national newspaper or on Facebook. The results revealed that advertising in a newspaper can have a positive effect on brand equity facets and purchase intention through brand personality perceptions of being competent, while advertising on Facebook have similar effects but through perceptions of being exciting. Besides some evidence that choice between traditional and new media affects brand personality this study is one of the first attempts to incorporate media channel choice into the broader customer-based brand equity framework. The results from this particular study suggest that media channel choice should be considered from a brand equity building perspective at least in the fashion category. This study shows that different media channels could complement each other strategically, as traditional media channels still can have valuable and unique contributions to brand building through brand personality perceptions, especially for brands striving to be perceived as competent.     

The influence of age on SMEs’ growth determinants: empirical evidence

This paper seeks to investigate whether age is a fundamental characteristic of the relationships between determinants and growth. The empirical evidence obtained allows us to conclude that: (1) age and size are restrictive factors of the growth of young SMEs, but they are not important for the growth of old SMEs; (2) cash flow and debt are of greater relative importance for growth in young SMEs than for growth in old SMEs; (3) R&D intensity and labour productivity are of greater relative importance for growth in old SMEs than for growth in young SMEs; (4) interest on debt is of greater relative importance for diminished growth in young SMEs than for diminished growth in old SMEs; and (5) R&D intensity in situations of financial deficit is of greater relative importance for diminished growth in young SMEs than for diminished growth in old SMEs, but only in context of high-tech SMEs.     

Examining the role of store design on consumers’ cross-sectional perceptions of retail brand loyalty

This paper compares new and established store design prototypes of the same retailer to examine the role of consumers’ cross-sectional perceptions of retail brand loyalty. In-store surveys were administered to capture consumers’ store-level perceptions towards a new store prototype and an older established prototype of the same fast fashion retailer. The data was subjected to multi-group analyzes with structural equations modeling. The findings suggest that store novelty and complexity promote both store design pleasure and retail brand loyalty outcomes. The different store designs do not, however, account for differences in brand loyalty perceptions at the overall retailer level when multi-group comparisons of both store designs are made. Consumers of newer store designs are found to possess a heightened sensitivity to price perceptions. Managerial implications of the effects of store novelty and complexity on retail brand loyalty are also presented.