Consumer Decision-Making in the Purchase of Estate Agency Services

The paucity of research into the ‘demand side’ of services can becontrasted with the plethora of ‘supply side’ investigations. Thispaper reviews consumers' pre-purchase choice and decision-making in services, and summarises the findings of a survey ofproperty vendors who have purchased the services of estateagents. The findings highlight the importance of non-rationaldecision-making in estate agency service purchase, and the keyrole played by personnel in shaping consumer behaviour; whilesuggesting that price and physical appearance of the serviceprovider are not major evaluative criteria. The paper concludesthat existing theory on consumer behaviour for services is inadequate and calls for the imbalance of research into the ‘demand side’ to be addressed.     

Consumer Preferences for ‘Localness’ and Organic Food Production

While organic food is based on well-defined production criteria, the criteria for ‘local’ food are less clear. This study investigates the preferences and trade-offs of distinct consumer segments relative to organic production and several dimensions of local food (sales channel, size of company, and geographical location of animals used in the production). The analysis is based on a quantitative survey of 505 Danish consumers and a choice experiment involving beef salami. Data were analyzed in a principal component and a latent class analysis. We identify five consumer segments whose preferences for organic and local product attributes differed substantially. Most respondents considered geographical proximity in the raising of cattle to be the most important attribute and a third of the consumers were willing to pay a premium for organic salami. The segmentation provides more detailed information about stated consumer behavior than what is typically elicited when considering only average consumer behavior.     

An investigation of consumer intention to use pick-up point services for last-mile distribution in a developing country

Pick-up point services are one response to last-mile distribution challenges in the e-commerce growth scenario. However, in large cities in developing countries where the low-income and high-income groups are clearly divided, differences in consumer behavior between income groups may affect service distribution. The literature shows that most consumers may use pick-up points when available. However, the service implementation is facing huge inertia. A survey was carried out with 396 consumers in São Paulo, and a conceptual framework was proposed to expand the Diffusion of Innovation Theory to reveal these behaviors. Data were accessed using advanced structural equation modeling techniques (Multigroup and IPMA) to conduct a case study. The findings suggest that ‘Trialability’, ‘Compatibility’, and ‘Relative advantage’ constructs most affect consumer behavior. Location security and accessibility are matters of great concern. The higher preference to use the pick-up point system comes from low-income consumers (social classes D and E); almost 96% of them reported being affected by delivery issues. They also prefer personal attendance and supermarkets as safe and accessible locations. Higher social classes (A and B) still prefer home delivery. This research will help retailers to understand how to operate in a given market to provide an effective, fair, and sustainable service, promoting its diffusion.     

Young consumers’ food preferences within selected sectors of the Hospitality Spectrum

In society, young consumers are influenced by an array of factors within their home, school and social environments. The adolescent period is one in which the individual becomes a more independent consumer, exerting increased degrees of independence and a subsequent freedom of preference. Such independence may be particularly apparent within the social environment, despite young consumers generally being categorized under the ‘family market’, within the Hospitality Spectrum. The aim of the study was to analyse young consumers’ food preferences within the home, school and social environments, with particular reference to the role of the Hospitality Spectrum. Young consumers for the study, are defined as being between 11 and 16 years, segmented into two age groups: 11–13 years and 14–16 years. The selected sectors of the Hospitality Spectrum which were studied, were the fast food service and school canteen sectors. In order to fulfil the research aim and objectives, a range of research instruments and analysis techniques were used. The results of the study to date would illustrate that tentative steps have been taken within the school and fast food sectors, to bridge the ‘gaps’ between business supply and consumer preferences. Gender differences were found in food selections within school canteens and fast food establishments, with females more likely to select ‘British’ styled fast foods at school and males more likely to select ethnic foods at fast‐food establishments. No significant differences were found between the two age segments. It is vital that the increasingly important role of the young consumer segment is recognized, in particular considering them as individuals rather than as a part of the ‘total’ family consumer package. However, in market segmentation young consumers are an important consumer group and it must not be overlooked that they will be the future adult consumers. The Hospitality Spectrum must therefore treat this group with respect for the consumer service industry to achieve its full potential. The results of this Northern Ireland study indicates that although the young consumer segment is viewed as important within the selected sectors of the Hospitality Spectrum, the extent of their full potential has yet to be recognized.     

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.     

Exploring the resources associated with consumer vulnerability: Designing nuanced retail hardship programs

Retailers across a variety of sectors offer hardship programs to assist consumers who are experiencing vulnerability. Hardship programs are typically designed as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, viewing consumer recipients as one homogenous group. To investigate the resources associated with consumer vulnerability, we thematically analyzed reports from 20 government-funded projects in Australia which directly assisted 32,498 low-income households in the energy retail sector. Our findings reveal three resource ‘bundles’: connections-resource-bundle, convenience-resource-bundle and security-resource-bundle. We then provide recommendations for retailers and service providers on what they can do to alleviate hardship for consumers within each resource-bundle.     

Consumer Behaviour Convergence in the European Union

This paper examines and contrasts the attitude to food shopping in Denmark and Spain in both grocery products and white goods used to store and prepare foods. The focus is on the underlying dimensions used by consumers in Copenhagen and Madrid to select food and electrical stores to patronise. The attributes studied are drawn from prior research and are consistent across the two product categories. The research concludes that there is a relatively meaningful set of attributes, which is limited in size, that consumers may employ to make judgements. The salience of individual attributes was shown to vary with the sector under consideration. Contrasts are evident between the attribute ranking given by Danish and Spanish consumers. Particular attention is paid to the manner in which consumers distinguish between ‘service’ and ‘personnel’ in making their store selection. The work is set in the context of the retail internationalisation literature, where it is held that there is a convergence of consumer tastes in different international markers that facilitate operators developing stores overseas. Some evidence is produced to support this idea, though the need for additional cross-cultural and longitudinal studies to test this idea further is recognised.     

Public face and private thrift in Chinese consumer behaviour

The concept of face, or mianzi, is quite important in Chinese culture. We examine how public face and private thrift together affect Chinese consumer shopping behaviour based on the results of a survey of nearly 400 Chinese consumers under the age of 40. When a product is used in public or the behaviour occurs in a public place, Chinese consumers are typically willing to spend more money than if a product or service is used in a private place or at home. In addition, non‐Chinese or Western brands do not mean more ‘face’ to Chinese consumers. Instead, it is the expense of the item that matters most with the ultimate goal of being praised by others.     

Forging relationships to coproduce: A Consumer Commitment Model in an extended service encounter

Consumer commitment is essential to ensure the service success in extended and complex services, wherein the service drop-out rates are often appalling. To build a more robust consumer commitment theory and provide solutions for the critical issue of high service drop-out rates in complex and extended services, this study develops a model of consumer commitment and tests it using survey data from consumer clients in a national debt management program in the U.S. The results reveal that calculative commitment only leads to consumers’ intention to remain, whereas affective commitment leads to a broader range of coproduction behaviors (i.e., individual initiative and civic virtue). Moreover, besides consumers’ relationship investment, perceived organizational support enhances both types of consumer commitment. It also increases consumer compliance. This study contributes to the consumer commitment theory by examining additional drivers and behavioral outcomes of commitment and by revealing the differential effects of different types of commitment on behavioral outcomes.     

Conceptualising consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviour intention: evidence from a university education services in Malaysia

The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical model to examine consumer word-of-mouth (WOM) behavioural intention in Malaysian education services. The results from a survey of 247 respondents indicate that servicescape, service recovery, service quality and satisfaction significantly affect consumers’ intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The results support majority of the hypothesized relationships, suggesting that servicescape and service recovery function as antecedents, directly affecting consumer perceptions of education service quality. The analytical results also demonstrate that perceived service quality positively affects satisfaction, which subsequently induces consumers’ behavioural intentions. Consistent with previous empirical studies, our findings suggest that satisfaction is a super-ordinate construct with a positive relation to behavioural intention, and significantly mediates the effect of service quality on the intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The insignificant direct effect from service quality to WOM further suggests the role of satisfaction as a complete mediator in the university education service setting. Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted.     

The vulnerable healthcare consumer: an interpretive synthesis of the patient experience literature

The increased policy emphasis on the ‘patient experience’ places the health consumer in centre stage as the driver for healthcare delivery. This poses challenges for service providers to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, notably those with disabilities, who are often more likely to be both in greater need of services and, at the same time, less able to access them. This paper reports an interpretive synthesis of qualitative research studies in the UK and US on the experience of vulnerable patient groups using a broad range of health services. An interpretive review method was adopted to capture the complexity of the data. Eighteen papers were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria for the review. Seven key themes were identified: life experience, service design, point of delivery, accessibility, availability, specialist education/training and consumer typology. Although policy makers and providers often refer to the need for greater consumerism in the development of health services, our review suggests that it may be appropriate to consider a model of ‘mediated consumerism’ for some groups of service users. While some concerns are common to both mainstream and vulnerable consumers, others such as accessibility of services, and the resulting experience of health care, are particular to specific vulnerable groups. Accessing the experiences of these more vulnerable groups therefore warrants close attention in the development of both policy and practice in health service delivery.     

Ambiguous framings of political consumerism: means or end,product or process orientation?

For dealing with various societal problems, ‘political’/‘ethical’/‘responsible’ consumerism is often discussed as an effective democratic and participatory tool. However, political consumerism – along with its tools, such as product labelling – is often conceived and discussed in oversimplified ways. Instead, the tension between scientific complexity, knowledge uncertainty and a codified, standardized label involves extensive political strategy, interest conflicts and simplified framings of the consumers’ roles as political decision makers. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how criteria for organic food labelling have been simplified, or framed, within various versions of political consumerism in policy debates. The more general purpose is to examine variations of what consumerism may entail theoretically and practically. Examples are chosen of organic food labelling in the US. The analysis is based on framing theory. The first distinction is made between framings surrounding the extrinsic and intrinsic values of consumerism (i.e. consumer empowerment towards an external goal, or as an overriding principle of democracy). The second distinction is between product‐ and process‐oriented consumerism (i.e. consumer empowerment with regard to the purchased goods or concerning the ‘invisible’ production and disposal processes). These distinctions may facilitate critical examinations of criteria, processes and communication of consumer‐related policies.     

Exploring the influence of envy on service engagement

Consumer retention is central to service firm objectives and is often the focus of firm initiated activities. However, consumer-driven processes that operate independently of firm initiated activities also influence retention. By understanding the consumption goals of service consumers, management can encourage behavioural engagement with service offerings and improve retention outcomes. Positional services provide opportunities for social status enhancement (e.g. higher education) and attract consumers seeking the positional benefits offered. Service consumers compete for positional benefits and monitor their success relative to other service consumers via positional comparisons. Envy, an emotion with benign and malicious types, is experienced if the positional comparison with another service consumer is unfavourable and influences behavioural engagement. This study proposes and qualitatively tests a conceptual model linking positional comparison and envy to changes in consumers’ behavioural engagement with a service depending on the type of envy experienced. The findings support benign envy as a motivator for increased behavioural engagement with a service. The study also supports the existence of a ‘positional’ service category in which envy is an endemic emotional theme influencing behavioural engagement in these service environments. A two-tiered approach to the management of envy involving positional goal recognition and appraisal based tactics is recommended.     

Are Stated Preferences Confirmed by Purchasing Behaviours? The Case of Fair Trade-Certified Bananas in Switzerland

As the market share of Fair Trade food products in countries of the North grows, understanding consumer preferences with regard to this recent label is becoming increasingly important. This article reports on a test of the consistency of consumers’ stated preferences, for which a survey was conducted at the place and time of actual purchase decisions. The aim of the survey was to further improve the understanding of consumers’ stated motivations for buying ‘Fair Trade’ and ‘organic Fair Trade’ bananas in Switzerland. Hypothetical questions with double dichotomous choices were used to compare two types of bananas – conventional and labelled – and to assess the average stated willingness-to-pay (WTP) for Fair Trade-labelled bananas. The results show that Fair Trade is largely accepted in Switzerland and that the premium for purchasing such products is influenced by age, the number of young children and the perception of the Fair Trade label. I then used a comparative test of field observations and stated preferences for bananas to measure inconsistency in choices. This comparison reveals that less than one-fifth of the answers are in principle inconsistent. These results point to the importance of confidence in the Fair Trade labels if consumers’ purchases are to increase.     

Exploring night-time grocery shopping behaviour

Recent legal and societal developments have provided an impetus for rethinking retail opening hours in many European countries. In many of these countries, large supermarket chains are now developing an interest in extending their opening hours to a 24-hour regime. This paper discusses the conceptual foundations for understanding night-time shopping behaviour both from a sociological and a consumer research perspective. It also presents exploratory evidence from a study combining participant observation with a survey of 146 night-time grocery shoppers in a large supermarket in the Republic of Ireland. The results indicate that with a proliferation of ‘unconventional’ lifestyles among modern consumers, night-time supermarkets offer a service that is highly appreciated by parts of the Irish population. The study also shows that despite the prevalence of functional motivators for night-time grocery shoppers, the hedonic and social aspects of this shopping behaviour should not be overlooked. The paper finishes by developing a research agenda for consumer behaviour in the new 24-hour society.     

Consumer reasons for store ‘walkouts' and the impact on future store patronage

This study addresses ‘walkouts’, one of the major issues identified by the Skaggs Institute of Retail Management for 1990–1993. Walkouts are dissatisfaction responses of consumers who enter a store with the intention of making a purchase but who eventually leave without doing so. A more severe situation occurs when the consumer becomes a store defector, one not willing to patronize the store in the future. Results of this study indicated that customers walked out three times more often because of poor merchandise assortment than for lack of, or discourteous, service. However, the consequences of poor merchandise assortments were less detrimental to the retailer/consumer relationship than poor service. Findings revealed that half of the consumers who walked out because of poor service indicated they would not shop in the store in the future - store defectors.     

‘Better safe than sorry’: consumer perceptions of and deliberations on nanotechnologies

Although nanotechnologies are considered key technologies that can drive growth‐generating innovations in well‐saturated markets, worldwide investment in nanotechnologies has to date focused largely on technology‐related development programmes and little effort has been expended to research associated risks. As a result, even though prior discourses have sensitized western consumers to potential health‐related dangers, solid knowledge on, for example, the toxicological and eco‐toxicological risks and unintended side effects of nanotechnology are scarce. This paper therefore presents an overview of the current evidence on consumer knowledge and perceptions of nanotechnology and public engagement with it, with a focus on the US, the UK and Germany. Overall, even though survey data suggest that awareness of the term ‘nanotechnology’ has risen slightly, today's consumers are generally ill informed about its nature and its applications in consumer‐related products. Hence, based on our analysis of these data, we argue that early political engagement in the nanotechnology issue – for example, consumer policy options that support consumer interest in the marketing of ‘nanos’– would facilitate objective public discourse.