Personal interviews in cultural consumer research – post‐structuralist challenges

This paper takes a post‐structuralist perspective on consumer research and discusses the role of personal interviews in cultural analysis. It problematizes the use of the phenomenological interview in cultural consumer research, arguing that the underlying research paradigm, existential‐phenomenology, is not necessarily adequate for cultural analysis because it focuses attention primarily on the individual and the first‐person experience. Such a paradigmatic perspective is problematic because it tends to sustain a view of human agency that is highly individualistic and thus fails to account for the cultural complexity of social action. Overall, the paper contributes to the further development of the post‐structuralist approaches to postmodern marketing thought. Post‐structuralist ideas and assumptions challenge the central principles of modern marketing and consumer research in many ways and it is the aim of the paper to contribute to a better understanding of the methodological implications that they entail.     

Why buy new when one can share? Exploring collaborative consumption motivations for consumer goods

The notion of collaborative consumption or sharing economy—where consumers share access to ownership of properties such as cars, clothes and accommodations—has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. Development of communication technologies and peer‐to‐peer communities has enabled consumers to coordinate sharing activities through various online platforms. Collaborative consumption involves sharing of both intangible (e.g., music, space and car rides) and tangible assets (e.g., household items, clothes and furniture). Activities such as renting, swapping, trading and purchasing/selling used consumer goods are included in the latter. Despite increasing academic attention on collaborative consumption, little research has been pursued in the context of consumer goods. The nature of consumption for tangible goods can be entirely different from that of intangible goods because people can exercise greater control over tangible goods, which results in greater psychological ownership than that for intangible goods. To address this gap, the objective of this study is to develop a scale that examines consumer motivations for collaborative consumption of consumer goods. Following Churchill's paradigm of scale development, the procedures of scale item generation, purification and validation were conducted via in‐depth interviews, literature review and surveys. The study identified five underlying dimensions of collaborative consumption of consumer goods: concern‐for‐sustainability, social, variety‐seeking, fun and cost‐saving. Study findings and implications are discussed, and future research avenues are suggested.     

Measuring values using best‐worst scaling: The LOV example

The paper discusses the way that values have been measured and suggests an alternative way to collect values data. A recently developed approach, termed Best Worst Scaling, developed by Louviere and his colleagues, offers an opportunity to collect such data in a way that may produce more desirable values estimates. Kahle's (1983) List of Values, which has been widely employed in consumer research, was used to examine differences between the new approach and traditional ratings and rankings approaches. The results suggest that the new technique may provide better outcomes and that researchers should think about its potential usefulness in future research with these and other scales. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Doing sensory ethnography in consumer research

This paper is a contribution to sensory‐aware cultural consumer research. It suggests that while the audio‐visual domain is unquestionably a crucial ingredient of contemporary consumer culture, there is a pressing need to explore the role of the other senses as well. The study works towards a practice‐based culturalist approach to sensory ethnography, a perspective that allows consumer scholars to empirically account for the cultural aspects of the senses. Through an empirical case study on sport fishing, the paper scrutinizes the challenges and opportunities related to conducting sensory ethnography. In addition, it discusses the benefits of this approach in consumer research.     

An extension of the benefit segmentation base for the consumption of organic foods: A time perspective

Abstract

Benefit segmentation is a long-standing marketing approach that emphasises the ‘what’ and ‘how’ dimensions of consumer benefits; that is, what benefits consumers perceive in product/service consumption, and how such benefits are perceived. This research proposes a fresh time-based approach to benefit segmentation – namely, focusing on the ‘when’ element or when in time benefits take effect. Drawing upon a survey of UK consumers, it explains and discusses consumption motivations through examining antecedents of temporally dominated benefits in application to organic food. Specifically, the study investigates why some consumers predominantly seek present-based benefits vis-à-vis future-based benefits or vice versa in organic food purchase and consumption behaviour. Using correlation and regression analyses, the research findings establish significant associations of level of involvement, prior knowledge level, and product usage level, and some association of time orientation with the temporally emphasised consumption benefits consumers ultimately pursue. Overall, the research highlights the added contribution of a time perspective in a benefit segmentation approach which can assist marketers in understanding better and communicating more effectively with consumers through drawing up consumer profiles based on when in time their dominantly pursued benefit for an offering is perceived to take effect.     

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.     

The Structure of São Paulo Street Markets: Evolving Patterns of Retail Institutions

Development in emerging economies leads to a cohabitation of traditional and modern forms of retailing. This diversity allows for centuries' old consumer behavior patterns to continue along with new options. The street markets or Feira Livres¹ of São Paulo, Brazil demonstrate how consumption patterns are culturally determined. Participant observation, both in supermarkets and at feiras, and interviews with consumers and vendors are used to investigate consumer shopping patterns, along with evolving patterns of retail structure. We find that informal markets, such as the feira, are able to coexist with modern, Western-style retail institutions, partly because of ingrained food preparation habits and deep-seated consumer impressions about superior qualities offered by feiras (e.g., the perceived freshness of the produce). Our findings support the Natural Selection Theory of retail development in that we find evidence of adaptation. Specifically, the supermarkets in Brazil have evolved to include departments that imitate some of the popular characteristics of the feiras.     

Integrating Multiple Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior Toward Organic Foods: The Role of Healthism,Hedonism, and Trust in Consumer Purchase Intentions of Organic Foods

Consumer awareness about organic foods has been growing. However, this trend is not always translated to consumer organic food purchases. It is argued that when it comes to assessing organics, one should expect consumers to use multiattribute evaluations due to credence attributes and organic standards that organic foods need to adhere to. A thorough review of the existing literature on consumer buying behavior of organic foods identifies healthism, hedonism, and trust among some factors that enhance consumer experiences with organic foods and therefore can affect their purchase intentions. This article is one the few studies that integrated multiple factors in one research framework to empirically evaluate their role in explaining consumer purchase intentions of organic foods. Results from a demographically representative sample completed by an online survey in Australia (N = 1011) provides support for the research hypotheses by revealing positive and statistically significant effects of healthism, hedonism, and trust on consumer purchase intentions. The study concludes with implications and suggestions for future research.     

Defining the Consumer Interest: Challenges for Advocates

From its birth, The Journal of Consumer Affairs has provided a forum for government officials, consumer activists, and academics to discuss the definition of the consumer interest and how best to pursue it. In the inaugural issue of JCA, published in the summer of 1967, three of the first four articles were titled “The View from Washington” (by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor David Swankin), “Is It Time to Re‐Evaluate the Consumer Protection Activities of the Federal Government?” (by Consumers Union president Colston E. Warne), and “The Consumer Interest—the Real Issue” (by Professor of Marketing Robert D. Schooler). When JCA began publication in 1967, a few landmark pieces of consumer legislation had already been passed concerning pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, and motor vehicles, but the heyday of the consumer movement—and consumer research—was just beginning. In his article, Warne wrote: “The time has come, I think, for consumers and consumer movements to face some highly unpleasant problems” (p. 24). Schooler chastised the federal government for being “misdirected toward real but secondary issues” (p. 40). Swankin called for an organization and a professional journal capable of creating “an intellectual climate in which the phrases ‘consumer interest,’‘consumer economics,’ and, yes, ‘consumer information’ can be developed and can flourish” (pp. 9–10). Nearly forty years later, and long after the zenith of the U.S. consumer movement, we still face a host of consumer problems and a federal government disinclined to address them. We do, however, have a respected journal in whose pages the consumer interest and consumer policy can be examined. On April 25, 2005, the University of Utah hosted a symposium on consumer policy in honor of the retirement of Dr. John R. Burton. John, who established the consumer studies program at the University of Utah, has devoted his career to teaching, research, and service that advance the consumer interest. Seven nationally renowned speakers, including professors Monroe Friedman, Loren Geistfeld, Jeanne Hogarth, Jean Lown, and Ivan Preston, presented papers pertaining to the consumer interest. Two of the seven papers are reproduced here. The first is by Stephen Brobeck, long‐time executive director of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the editor of The Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement. Dr. Brobeck's article examines how a major consumer advocacy organization like CFA decides what public policy positions are in the consumer interest. The article applies a general framework to the specific issue of automobile fuel economy standards. In the companion piece to this article, Michael Burton, an assistant professor of political science at Ohio University and the son of the symposium's honoree, draws on his experience as a congressional aide and vice presidential staff member to describe and defend the art of compromise as it applies to consumer politics. – Robert N. Mayer, University of Utah     

Gandhian values and consumption behavior: scale development and validation

Researchers have long been interested in the measurement of human values. Gandhi was a leading figure in the independence of India and also in the fight against racialism in South Africa. His teachings are invaluable and have inspired generations all over the world. Following standard procedure for scale development, we aim to identify the various Gandhian values that can be imbibed by an individual. We validate the applicability of the instrument by assessing its relationship with potentially related constructs like socially responsible consumption behavior and consumer frugality. We also assess its relationship with a negatively valenced construct of materialism. To develop the Gandhian values scale, we used a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods. We conducted three data collection rounds corresponding with four separate phases of scale development. We ensured the stability of the Gandhian value scale across different contexts by testing and validating it across three different sets of sample. To the best of our knowledge, our scope of research is second only in the line of similar research like the Confucian values. Our primary contribution is the development and testing of a parsimonious Gandhian values scale that captures the value system of individuals.     

Consumer Socialization and the Role of Branding in Hazardous Adolescent Drinking

This study examines the relationship between alcohol marketing and consumer socialization to alcohol brands (assessed here using aided and unaided brand recognition and brand saliency), and the associated relationship between consumer socialization and hazardous alcohol consumption among a cohort of adolescents surveyed in Scotland. The research addresses gaps in the consumer socialization literature, by examining how marketing influences brand consumer socialization, and how brand consumer socialization influences subsequent hazardous consumption behavior over time, using a robust longitudinal design that assesses causal relationships while controlling for a wide range of important confounding variables. The results demonstrate the contribution of marketing to adolescents’ brand socialization to alcohol and the impact of this socialization on subsequent drinking behaviors. Implications for marketing managers, parents, policymakers, and consumer researchers are discussed, together with suggestions for future consumer research.     

Information Sensitivity Typology: Mapping the Degree and Type of Risk Consumers Perceive in Personal Data Sharing

Surveys show significant public concern regarding information privacy. To better understand how consumer concerns vary by type of personal data, the authors created a typology of information types based on perceived associated risks. In a national consumer survey, 52 information types were analyzed along four perceived risk categories (physical, psychological, monetary, and social), consumers' overall sensitivity regarding the information, and their willingness to provide it. This resulted in six highly distinctive clusters—Basic Demographics, Personal Preferences, Contact Information, Community Interaction, Financial Information, and Secure Identifiers—organized around similarities in perceived risk profile. Additionally, consumer segmentation analysis shows rank order of cluster risk perceptions to be stable, even when perceived magnitude and overall risk propensities change by segment. This research advances the conversation from an outdated PII/non‐PII framework to a more meaningful, consumer‐based understanding of the perceived risks associated with different types of personal information.     

Results May Vary: Overcoming Variability in Consumer Response to Advertising Music

Although listening to music seems effortless, it actually involves many separate psychological mechanisms. This article describes and extends the multimechanism framework proposed by Juslin and colleagues, highlighting how the operation of psychological mechanisms leads to two general types of variability in consumer response to advertising music. First, the risk of between‐consumer variability (individual differences) in musical response is moderate or high for most mechanisms, and it often depends on each individual's particular history of exposure to music (listening biography). Second, within‐consumer variability occurs when different mechanisms have contrasting effects, so that an individual consumer's musical response is often mixed (e.g., guilty pleasures, bittersweet feelings, pleasurable sadness). Both types of variability can negatively impact advertising objectives (message reception, recall, acceptance, brand attitudes, etc.). The article offers preliminary suggestions for how marketers can use a multimechanism approach to successfully incorporate music in commercials and reduce the risk of unanticipated consumer responses. It ends with proposals for further research.     

Gendered consumer competences in households with one vs. two adults1

Consumption is gendered. Some markets can be described as female‐dominated, while others can be described as male‐dominated consumer areas. The departure of this article is observed gender differences in consumer competences, measured by men and women's self‐reported efforts to stay informed on different markets. Three central gender research hypotheses are applied to investigate the observed gender differences in consumer competences. Nowadays, modern consumer markets are characterized by abundance, complexity and rapid changes, making it hardly possible for any consumer to master all markets he or she operates in. Because very much of the consumption takes place within the households, it should be convenient to live in a household with two adult persons who can share responsibilities and stay informed on the different segments of the markets. However, many households consist of only one adult person. Our main concern has been to investigate whether the observed gender differences in consumer competences could be explained by the specializing hypothesis, i.e. that the gendered pattern relies on a gendered division of consumer competences within couple households; in other words, that gender differences in consumer competences among single‐person households should be absent, or significantly lower, than among couple households. In case we would not find support for the specializing hypothesis, two other probable explanations are also put forward: the traditional gender difference hypothesis and the selection hypothesis. These three hypotheses are tested in a data material based on 2000 telephone interviews from the SIFO survey, collected in 2007.     

Marketing education to international students: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Even though numerous studies provide information on marketing education to international students, research that reviews the accrued knowledge holistically remains elusive. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to (1) systematically synthesize, compile and understand the existing line of empirical research on the topic of marketing education to international students and (2) outline a comprehensive future research agenda to help further advance this field. This study adopts the theory-context-characteristics-methodology (TCCM) framework proposed by Paul and Rosado-Serrano to systematically review 52 articles published in A*, A and B category journals from the ABDC Journal Quality List. This systematic review reveals that the existing studies mostly focus on consumer-specific theories and detects a need for more macro-market, and industry-related theoretical perspectives (theory); it also identifies research gaps related to international student host and home country settings (context), and the application of competition-related variables for the main relationships in this field (characteristics). Finally, the author proposes several methodological best practices (methodology) to advance findings in this field.     

Masstige consumption values and its effect on consumer behavior

This study provides a basis for market research for a deeper understanding of the masstige by segmenting the market according to the multi-dimensional consumption value and by explaining how masstige consumption value affects masstige brand equity and consumer's purchase intention. This research explores the relationship between the two types of brand extensions and consumer behavior because most brands penetrate the masstige market via brand extensions. Study 1 validates the dimensionality of the masstige consumption value and performs value-based market segmentation. From the results obtained in Study 1, Study 2 identifies the linear relationships between the dimensions of the masstige consumption value, masstige brand equity, and purchase intention. The results contribute to the existing literature by comprehensively investigating the consumption value and its effect on consumer behavior in the emerging masstige market.     

Cosmopolitanism, individual-level values and cultural-level values: A cross-cultural study

Cosmopolitanism (COS) is an important consumer characteristic for international market segmentation. To date, no empirical studies investigate how COS relates to consumer values. This research, involving samples of Canadians and Turks, focuses on the associations of individual- and cultural-level values to COS dispositions, and compares these relationships cross-culturally. The findings support the cross-cultural applicability of these constructs. While some of the COS-values relationships are consistent across the two cultures, others differ. Overall, COS is much more strongly associated with Schwartz's individual and cultural level values than with either Hofstede's cultural dimensions or demographics.     

“I can't get no satisfaction:” The impact of personality and emotion on postpurchase processes

Emerging theory and empirics in personality psychology have related enduring traits with transient affective experiences or states. The research reported in this article integrates these findings with recent consumer research models linking consumption-based emotions with consumer satisfaction and postpurchase behaviors (including complaints, recommendations, and repeat purchase intentions). Our results support a model relating broad, fundamental personality traits to specific consumer behaviors via mediating affective experiences. These findings may help identify consumer segments inclined toward satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and consequently, toward loyalty, word of mouth, and complaining. Further, they suggest a general approach for relating broad traits to specific behaviors by incorporating mediating processes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The impact of advertising on consumer price sensitivity in experience goods markets

In this paper we use Nielsen scanner panel data on four categories of consumer goods to examine how TV advertising and other marketing activities affect the demand curve facing a brand. Advertising can affect consumer demand in many different ways. Becker and Murphy (Quarterly Journal of Economics 108:941–964, 1993) have argued that the “presumptive case” should be that advertising works by raising marginal consumers’ willingness to pay for a brand. This has the effect of flattening the demand curve, thus increasing the equilibrium price elasticity of demand and the lowering the equilibrium price. Thus, “advertising is profitable not because it lowers the elasticity of demand for the advertised good, but because it raises the level of demand.” Our empirical results support this conjecture on how advertising shifts the demand curve for 17 of the 18 brands we examine. There have been many prior studies of how advertising affects two equilibrium quantities: the price elasticity of demand and/or the price level. Our work is differentiated from previous work primarily by our focus on how advertising shifts demand curves as a whole. As Becker and Murphy pointed out, a focus on equilibrium prices or elasticities alone can be quite misleading. Indeed, in many instances, the observation that advertising causes prices to fall and/or demand elasticities to increase, has misled authors into concluding that consumer “price sensitivity” must have increased, meaning the number of consumers’ willing to pay any particular price for a brand was reduced—perhaps because advertising makes consumers more aware of substitutes. But, in fact, a decrease in the equilibrium price is perfectly consistent with a scenario where advertising actually raises each individual consumer’s willingness to pay for a brand. Thus, we argue that to understand how advertising affects consumer price sensitivity one needs to estimate how it shifts the whole distribution of willingness to pay in the population. This means estimating how it shifts the shape of the demand curve as a whole, which in turn means estimating a complete demand system for all brands in a category—as we do here. We estimate demand systems for toothpaste, toothbrushes, detergent and ketchup. Across these categories, we find one important exception to conjecture that advertising should primarily increase the willingness to pay of marginal consumers. The exception is the case of Heinz ketchup. Heinz advertising has a greater positive effect on the WTP of infra-marginal consumers. This is not surprising, because Heinz advertising focuses on differentiating the brand on the “thickness” dimension. This is a horizontal dimension that may be highly valued by some consumers and not others. The consumers who most value this dimension have the highest WTP for Heinz, and, by focusing on this dimension; Heinz advertising raises the WTP of these infra-marginal consumers further. In such a case, advertising is profitable because it reduces the market share loss that the brand would suffer from any given price increase. In contrast, in the other categories we examine, advertising tends to focus more on vertical attributes.

‘It’s an illusion,but it looks real!’ Consumer affective,cognitive and behavioural responses to augmented reality applications

ABSTRACT

The paper investigates two augmented reality (AR) applications and corresponding consumer responses to their media characteristics. Firstly, it discusses the role of interactivity with AR technology. Secondly, it introduces augmentation as a salient media characteristic of AR applications and tests measurement items of perceived augmentation. Two experimental studies replicate the research design of Van Noort et al. [Van Noort, G., Voorveld, H. A. M., & van Reijmersdal, E. A. (2012). Interactivity in brand web sites: cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses explained by consumers’ online flow experience. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 223–234], applying it in the context of AR. The results show that perceived augmentation represents a fitting concept for understanding consumer responses to AR features and, furthermore, that flow mediates effects of perceived augmentation on consumers’ affective responses and behavioural intentions. AR features on the other hand do not increase perception of interactivity. Finally, implications of the study and further research directions are discussed.