Energy Conservation Options for Canada: A Nationwide Survey of Consumer Opinion

During the past decade a considerable number of studies have increased our understanding of consumer behavior in relation to energy use and conservation. A criticism of the early work has been its lack of direct relevance to policy makers under pressure to develop and implement programs to reduce energy consumption. This study provides a link between existing research knowledge and the need for policy formulation guidelines. Data were obtained from a nationwide sample of 1,451 Canadian households concerning the acceptability of selected programs designed to reduce energy consumption in the consumer sector. Respondents also provided judgments concerning the desirability of a broad range of approaches to consumer energy conservation. The findings revealed that consumers are more willing to accept conservation initiatives which are non-coercive and informational in nature. Information and labelling programs, minimum efficiency standards, home audit programs, and financial grants/tax incentives were the specific initiatives rated most acceptable.     

Competent consumers? Consumer competence profiles in Norway

Consumer competence is increasingly important in today’s commercialized society. This paper refers to some main findings from a national representative survey on consumer competences and practices in Norway. To be a competent consumer, it is decisive to be informed about products and to be familiar with how markets function. In this paper, consumers’ self‐reported efforts to keep themselves informed about specific markets is treated as an indicator of consumer competence. First, the results indicate that Norwegian consumers’ competence, according to their own judgement, is rather mediocre. Second, different groups of consumers seem to have different consumer competence profiles. Accordingly, we find that some consumers are price‐conscious in their daily purchases, others are price‐conscious when they make their yearly dispositions in the financial markets, while a third group is community‐oriented and active in the environmentally friendly and ethical product markets. Third, the analysis indicates that consumer competence is an important indicator of how market‐rational and reflective consumers’ choices and practices are.     

Consumer Protection in Postwar Canada: Role and Contributions of the Consumers' Association of Canada to the Public Policy Process

This article traces the contribution of the Consumers' Association of Canada (CAC) to the advancement of Canadian consumer protection legislation in the decades after World War II. The theory of the consumerism life cycle shows that the CAC as the spearhead of grassroots consumer activism in Canada was able to address effectively consumer concerns at both the administrative and policymaking levels of government. Analysis of the rise and fall of consumerism in post–WWII Canada from the perspective of the consumerism life cycle also might well have implications for the further development of that theory.     

Consumer behaviour reflected in store and clothing selection criteria: a pilot study in Canada and England

Similarities and differences in selected clothing acquisition behaviour at two independent sites have been investigated using the Engel, Blackwell and Miniard consumer behaviour model as the conceptual framework. Similar clothing values orientations were found, supporting the assumption of a common Anglo-root culture at both sites. The paper focuses on an outcome of the values issue, namely store selection criteria and clothing evaluative criteria used by university students in Winnipeg, Canada and Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. Respondents at both sites rated the store selection criteria and clothing evaluative criteria in similar orders of importance. Significant Spearman rank correlation coefficients for store selection criteria (r_s= 0-95) and clothing evaluative criteria (r_s= 0-88) suggest that the common Anglo-root culture of the Winnipeg and Newcastle participants has more influence on the alternative evaluative stage of the decision-making process than marketing stimuli and strategies found at each site. When individual criteria were compared across sites, only three of the ten store selection criteria gave statistically different responses, while three of the 21 clothing evaluative criteria were found to be statistically different.     

Consumer social voice in the age of social media: Segmentation profiles and relationship marketing strategies

Service failures, once handled quietly by customer service departments, are now played out on a highly public social media stage. These failures can result in not only the loss of a loyal consumer but also can negatively affect relationships with those watching the dialogue between disgruntled customers and organizations. The phenomenon of seeking resolution to service failures online is distinct from both traditional word-of-mouth and voice behaviors. This article introduces social voice: public complaining behavior that aims to change the behavior of the organization. A qualitative methodology defines eight dimensions of social voice and categorizes them by the strength of the relationship to the organization. Results indicate that appropriate response strategies differ based on social voice segment.     

Consumer Religiosity: Consequences for Consumer Activism in the United States

In recent times, organizations have experienced consumer backlash as a result of decisions to support controversial causes. To date, little research has attempted to explain consumers’ negative response as a function of religion. This study addresses that gap in the literature and examines consumer religious commitment and Christian consumers’ conservative beliefs in the United States as motivating factors for consumer activist behavior and boycott participation. Findings from a national sample of 531 consumers suggest that consumers evaluate seller’s actions and form ethical judgments. These judgments are a major explanatory variable in consumers’ voice complaints, third-party complaint intentions, and boycott intentions.     

Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy

Journal of Consumer Policy - The author examines the role of economics in consumer protection, drawing from her experience at the U. S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has a dual mandate to...     

Consumer Law and the Environment: From Consumer to Citizen

This paper addresses the question of the relationship between consumer law and the protection of the environment. In contradiction to those who see the goals of consumer protection and environmental protection as being close to each other, this paper presents the relationship as one of conflict rather than one of harmony. Consumer law as an expression of the consumer society promotes goals which sometimes run counter to the environmental interest. This clearly comes to the fore when analysing the main consumer rights and their relationship to environmental issues. However, despite this basic incompatibility, the book of consumer law also contains some small stories of environmentally constructive behaviour. The telling of these good stories would require us to transcend the boundaries of traditional consumer law and to replace "the consumer" by "the citizen" who is interested not only in his own consumption but in all aspects of social life. In support of this development certain consumer law measures can be used to raise the awareness of consumers regarding environmental issues.     

Consumer science: a science for sustainability

Consumers are essentially decision‐makers, with a strong influence in the product chain. Establishing sustainable global resource systems, across developed and developing nations, is dependent on finding ways to encourage consumers to prioritise environmental issues as one of the key determinants of their consumption decisions. More than this, all stakeholders in the product chain must become aware of their impacts on the psychological, social, cultural, physical and economic environments that predispose consumers to certain approaches when making consumption decisions. Conventional science has not provided the solutions for several reasons. Pure science and technology have developed according to different agendas and interests. Science has generally not been communicated in ways that allow consumers to make day‐to‐day decisions, fully informed of the implications. The barriers to genuine interdisciplinary research required to generate socially relevant solutions to the complex problems associated with traditional consumption patterns are only now being slowly overcome. Due to its interdisciplinary and integrated nature, consumer science provides a theoretical platform from which to formulate the core questions, articulated within a framework in which all stakeholders can contribute in synergistic ways to reverse the escalating rates of resource depletion, disparities of resources between groups, loss of species and pervasive pollution. There is no other discipline which offers an encompassing and integrated framework for the responsible communication of science necessary to describe the problems. Most importantly, consumer science has the capacity to research and interpret individual and social behaviour in ways which lead to innovative and effective controls to improve and sustain new standards for living on this vulnerable plant.     

Profiling the Australian Google Consumer: Implications of Search Engine Practices for Consumer Law and Policy

Against the legal backdrop of proceedings against Google in various jurisdictions regarding the layout of its search result page, this article presents the results of a survey of a representative sample of 1014 Australian consumers, investigating their use of the Internet and specifically Google’s search engine, and the implications of these findings for consumer law and policy concerning the operation of search engines. The study is the first of its kind in Australia, despite litigation against Google in this jurisdiction for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct. The survey findings indicate that consumers have a lack of understanding about the operation and origin of the different elements of the Google search engine. In particular, the findings show particular confusion in relation to the operation and origin of Google’s related vertical services. Such confusion seems to be more pronounced among older respondents and those without higher education qualifications, although the survey revealed some more surprising and unexpected results in terms of the demographics of confusion. These findings are important for several reasons. Firstly, they identify and point to a gap in consumer knowledge about Google search that should be addressed, presenting an opportunity for consumer education in this area. Secondly, this research challenges the widely held assumption that the average (Australian) Internet user has a basic understanding about the operation and function of the Google search engine. Thirdly, the results leave open the possibility for further proceedings against Google in Australia on the basis of consumer law, the decision in Google v ACCC notwithstanding. This points to the potential for a more active role for consumer law in the digital ecosystem to address problems emanating from large and powerful platform providers such as Google than it previously has occupied.     

Seafood Quality: Issues for Consumer Researchers

The benefits and risks of consuming seafood have received much media attention recently yet little research has been done in the area of seafood quality. This paper provides a background of the issues involved and proposes a research agenda for the study of consumers and seafood quality. Implications for public policy are drawn.     

Women business owners in traditional and non-traditional industries

Small businesses continue to grow in importance to the national economy. According to the Small Business Administration, America's 22 million small businesses generate more than half of the nation's Gross Domestic Product and are the principal source of new jobs. The National Foundation for Women Business Owners reported that between 1987 and 1994, the number of women-owned businesses grew by 78% and women-owned firms accounted for 36% of all firms. Although the growth in the number of women-owned businesses is encouraging, the size of such businesses remains small in terms of both revenues and number of employees, especially in comparison to male-owned businesses. One explanation for this disparity is that female business ownership is concentrated primarily in the retail and service industries where businesses are relatively smaller in terms of employment and revenue as opposed to high technology, construction, and manufacturing.One of the most fruitful streams of research in women's occupational choice has been based on social learning theory. Specifically, self-efficacy has been found to relate to both type and number of occupations considered by college men and women, and with regard to traditional and non-traditional occupations. Entrepreneurship researchers have also used social learning theory to study entrepreneurial intentions. This study builds on that background of women's career development and entrepreneurial intentions to examine differences between traditional and non-traditional women business owners. We examine 170 women business owners in various traditional and non-traditional businesses in Utah and Illinois. Questionnaires were the primary method of collecting data, in addition to 11 in-depth interviews from a sample of the survey respondents. Using a careers perspective, based on social learning theory, we hypothesized that women in these two different categories of industries would differ on levels of self-efficacy toward entrepreneurship or venture efficacy, their career expectations and their perceived social support. A second analysis was also done that explored the relationship between the same independent variables and success or performance of the business. The results offer support for using this integrative model to understand differences between women in traditional and non-traditional industries. The first analysis revealed that significant differences exist between the two groups on several of the independent variables. Traditional business owners had higher venture efficacy for opportunity recognition, higher career expectations of life balance and security and they reported that the financial support received from others was more important to them than those in non-traditional businesses. On the other hand, the non-traditional owners had higher venture efficacy for planning and higher career expectations for money or wealth than the traditional group.The second analysis explored whether success, as measured by sales, was affected by differences in venture efficacies, career expectations, or perceived support received by women in traditional businesses as compared to those in non-traditional ones. This analysis revealed that traditional women business owners might have different factors that contribute to their success than non-traditional owners. Specifically, for the traditional owners, venture efficacies for opportunity recognition and economic management as well as the career expectation of autonomy and money (or wealth) were positively related to sales. For the same group efficacy toward planning and the need for security were negatively related to sales. For the non-traditional women, venture efficacy toward planning and the career expectation of autonomy were positively related to sales while the expectation of money or wealth was negatively related. Also for the same group, the perceived importance of the emotional and financial support was negatively related to sales.In the past, most of the entrepreneurial research has used predominantly male samples of entrepreneurs. Those that include women entrepreneurs generally are comparative, between men and women. This study's comparison of two groups of women entrepreneurs offers a unique contribution to the field.Future research is recommended to further understand how venture efficacy and career expectations affect the decision to start a new business in a particular industry. It would be particularly beneficial to study venture efficacy and career expectations of prospective women entrepreneurs prior to the start of the business. Similarly, greater attention should be given to understanding how venture efficacy develops in different individuals.     

Riding the Wave: Consumer Economics and the Consumer Movement in the United States

The development and current state of the scholarly field of Consumer Economics in the United States is discussed in relation to the Consumer Movement and other forces that have impinged upon it. Membership in the American Council on Consumer Interests, the scholarly organization for consumer economists, is used as one measure of the size and health of the field. Other forces impinging on the field that are discussed include: the baby boom induced increase in the demand for college education; the subsequent decline in the support for higher education as higher education costs rose throughout the 1980s and 1990s; the decline in the Federal Government's support for consumer research and consumer education; and the development of competing organizations.     

Entrenchment of New Governance in Consumer Policy Formulation: A Platform for European Consumer Citizenship Practice?

Consumer typologies reveal categories of the consumer that stretch from the vulnerable to the empowered notion of the consumer citizen. At the empowered end of this spectrum, consumers in Europe have a developing, normative, organisational structure that provides channels for the consumer voice to influence consumer policy at the European level. This is an organisational structure with mechanisms for developing an effective consumer empowerment and enforcement framework across all EU Member States. It is a framework that forms a coherent whole with the European-level consumer institutions. This paper examines the integrated nature of these institutions and their role in influencing the development of consumer policy through a multi-level platform of new governance. It discusses the normative processes that, through empowerment and engagement, are encouraging a consumer citizenship practice to exploit these channels of communication in order to influence policy development.     

Consumer skills for all: a research study carried out for the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland

The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland (GCCNI) is one of the four Consumer Councils operating within the United Kingdom (the others are the Welsh, the Scottish and the National Consumer Council, which covers England and links with the other Consumer Councils). The GCCNI has a long standing interest in consumer education, and has produced a quantity of well‐regarded consumer education material aimed at both schools and adults over recent years. It has also organised regular consumer education events for schools and conferences on this subject., However, the GCCNI is aware that many people in Northern Ireland suffer difficulties in relation to consumer issues and is looking for a clear policy on dealing with those difficulties. They contracted researchers at Queen's University, Belfast to investigate the extent of the problem, with the aim of identifying the key aspects of a new consumer education and skills development strategy and the gaps and deficiencies in current provision that need to be addressed. While the GCCNI acknowledges that these problems are not exclusive to Northern Ireland, and that the nature of the problems is relatively well‐known, they felt that conditions in Northern Ireland were unique and deserving of a specific and targeted solution. Policy and decision makers in other countries will find the Northern Ireland experience of interest, both from the way in which the problem was approached and the solution which evolved.     

Consumer involvement and marketing in Africa: some directions for future research

Despite an ongoing debate, authors agree that factors that determine consumers' involvement in any goal object are the characteristics of the object, the characteristics of the customer involved and the situational context of the decision. With this as the theoretical background, this paper advocates the need to study African‐specific contextual factors to gain a thorough understanding of consumer involvement and successful marketing practice in this society. An extensive review of the extant literature was done to provide a relevant framework for exploring consumer involvement and African‐related issues. The paper concludes that existing postulations on the subject matter could not robustly capture consumer involvement in Africa due to pertinent influences of cultural values and mores that do not apply elsewhere in the world. Hence, empirical studies to gauge the context‐specific application of the subject in relation to Africa are suggested as imperative. This paper advocates a society‐oriented consciousness for marketing activities in relation to consumer involvement with specific reference to Africa. Therefore, it cautions against undue generalization about the existing postulations on the subject, and provides directions for future research towards updating the literature.     

Models of Consumer Bankruptcy: Implications for Research and Policy

The author explores three models of individual bankruptcy law which might provide some guidance for analysing policy and for posing further research questions in relation to bankruptcy as a legal and social institution. The models are: (1) Bankruptcy law as a response to deviant behaviour; (2) Bankruptcy as consumer protection; (3) Bankruptcy as social welfare law. Some tentative thoughts are also offered on the comparative analysis of consumer bankruptcy as a focus for understanding relationships between legal and social norms.     

《消费文化学》与尹世杰消费经济思想

尹世杰同志关于消费问题研究的又一部学术著作<消费文化学>已由湖北人民出版社于2002年6月出版.<消费文化学>的出版标志着尹世杰同志在消费问题研究领域所进行的具有开拓性和创新性的研究已拓展到一个更具有探索价值的课题.任何一个社会的经济发展都有着深刻的文化背景和民族的文化底蕴,一定的经济发展必然会孕育某种与之相应的文化,并且反过来这种相应的文化又会影响经济的发展.经济与文化的这种辩证关系既推动着经济的发展,又促进着文化的繁荣.就消费经济与消费文化的关系来讲也是如此.因此,从消费经济学的研究拓展到消费文化学的研究,可以说是一种合乎逻辑和历史的演绎的必然结果.