Values,socially conscious behaviour and consumption emotions as predictors of Canadians’ intent to buy fair trade products

Over the last two decades, a growing concern about ethical behaviour has been observed among consumers. Ethically minded consumers are more inclined towards the consumption of ethical goods, such as green products and fair trade (hereafter, ‘FT’) products, organic products and local products. Establishing the motives that predict FT consumption behaviour provides ground for understanding how consumers make purchase decisions. This research postulates that the intention of buying FT products is influenced by socially conscious behaviour, consumers’ values and emotions. The study, conducted among 268 Canadian consumers, shows that the high intention of buying FT products is linked to high levels of pride, enthusiasm, satisfaction, happiness and joy related to FT product consumption. The FT consumption experience provides consumers with hedonic gratification. It shows that the higher the levels of self‐centred, equality and social justice values are, the higher the intention of buying FT products. An increase in socially conscious behaviour generates an increase in intention of purchasing FT products. The research contributes to a preliminary analysis of the role of emotions in this field and calls for the development of cognitive‐affective models of purchase and consumption behaviour. Understanding the dimensions of hedonic values and the significance of pleasure experience is essential to the development of the theory and practices of FT consumption.     

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.     

Counterfeit proneness: Conceptualisation and scale development

Abstract

Counterfeiting is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world across a wide range of product categories, including music, movies, food, computer software, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, and machinery parts. Prior research focuses on deceptive counterfeiting in which the consumers are not aware about buying counterfeit products, with little attention to non-deceptive counterfeiting in which consumers knowingly purchase counterfeit products. Most of this research is fragmented and exploratory in nature, resulting in mixed or inconclusive findings that leave many important questions unanswered. For example, it is still not clear why some customers are more prone to buying counterfeit products compared to others. We address this important gap by conceptualising counterfeit proneness (CFP), an individual-level psychological trait that relates closely with counterfeit purchase behaviour. We also develop a scale to measure this trait and validate it through a series of empirical studies. Finally, we discuss some limitations of our approach and directions for future research.     

Marketing flexibility measurement scale: conceptualization,development and nomological validation

The purpose of the study is to conceptualize, develop, and validate the marketing flexibility measurement scale for automobile companies. Development of measure starts with operational definition of the construct followed by generation of items and their content validation. Quantitative analysis, as per laid out procedure of scale development, is conducted for item refinement and reliability assessment. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used in step-wise manner for the development of scale. A 26-item AUTOFLEX scale emerged after analysis showed good reliability, and provided evidence of content, convergent, and discriminant validity. Further, AUTOFLEX scale was assessed for its nomological validity by establishing its correlation with measure of market orientation. Study discusses managerial implications and future scope toward the end.     

Internal brand orientation: conceptualisation,scale development and validation

Internal branding is increasingly acknowledged as a potential route to acquiring sustainable competitive advantage. However, to date no systematic attempt has been made to operationalise from an organisational perspective all imperatives for achieving brand internalisation. To address this omission, we introduce internal brand orientation as a new construct that provides a measurable and more succinct picture of internal branding. Following the literature in measurement theory, we report a series of complementary studies and develop a scale which comprises two dimensions: top management brand commitment and shared brand values. The new scale demonstrates strong psychometric evidence of reliability and validity, facilitating future research in the area. Findings can be used as a guidance by business executives in their effort to turn employees into brand ambassadors and motivate everyone in the organisation towards brand supportive behaviours.     

Consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns: Construct conceptualization and scale development

This study conceptualizes the consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns, which are important tools in improving the interactions between brands and consumers. We offer a comprehensive definition of this construct and discuss the nature and dimensionality of it. Further, this paper reports the development and validation of a 12‐item scale for measuring the aforementioned construct. This scale development process comprises four studies. Study 1 begins by generating a pool of items and then employs both a panel of experts and some Instagram users to examine the content validity of the items. To validate the scale, this paper carries out several online surveys in subsequent studies. Study 2 uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to remove the problematic items and evaluate the dimensionality of the construct. In Study 3, we conduct iterative CFAs to purify the scale and reassess the psychometric properties of the scale. Study 4 uses structural equation modeling to test the nomological validity. Our analyses reveal that consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns is a second‐order construct encompassing three first‐order dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement). The results also support the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, known group validity, and nomological validity of the engagement scale.     

Development of a sustainable consumption measurement scale

Sustainable consumption has been recognized since the 1990s; however, advances in the studies have been modest and have not yielded significant breakthroughs. The urgent need to adopt sustainable consumption has been emphasized by consumers, practitioners, and researchers, but despite efforts by social and government agencies, progress in relation to adoption remains insufficient. The multivariate nature of sustainable consumption is one reason for this insufficient progress. Previously developed literature-based instruments have been univariate or limited in their dimensions and inadequate for measuring the phenomena they purport to measure. Hence, in this study, we develop a measurement scale to address this gap. The scale encompasses dimensions relevant to contemporary society and is informed by prior research and primary data. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with sustainability specialists, a nominal group technique with engaged consumers, a survey of 255 students, and a survey of 808 consumers from diverse regions of Brazil, all resulting in a heterogeneous sample. The final data analysis included an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis, which resulted in a final model that comprised eight dimensions: activism, personal sacrifice, communitarianism, environmental concern, healthy food, perceived consumer effectiveness, search for information, and social concern. Of these dimensions, personal sacrifice, environmental concern, and social concern are the archetypes of the present generation. The variables of these dimensions have not been accounted for in previous scales, making our new scale more comprehensive and contributing to a better understanding of sustainable consumption. This new comprehensive scale will aid future studies in sustainable consumption, contributing to a better understanding of this construct. We expect that this scale will help improve the monitoring of the progress made in sustainable behavior and the assessment of management practices of sustainable consumption. Future studies should be carried out to validate the dimensions in different cultural contexts.     

Conceptualising consumer economic nationalistic tendencies: scale development and validation

Economic nationalism has been identified as a critical component of nationalistic sentiment, influencing cognitions, attitudes, evaluation and purchase intentions. While a distinction is made between economic nationalism and other measures of national and international orientation (i.e. consumer ethnocentrism), previous empirical studies explore the concept in a ‘unified’ form. This study bridges this gap by developing a scale specifically tailored to measure consumer economic nationalistic tendencies. Scale generation, purification, validation and confirmation are achieved through four studies.     

A consumption emotion measurement development: a full-service restaurant setting

This article describes the development of a consumption emotion scale for use in the full-service restaurant industry. The current emotion measures utilized in consumer and marketing research are reviewed, along with the conceptualization of consumption emotions. The adequacy of employing a categorical approach to assess restaurant customers' emotional responses is discussed. Moreover, the appropriate procedure for a scale development is described. Based on quantitative analyses, a multi-item scale involving four dimensions of consumption emotions (excitement, comfort, annoyance, and romance) is developed. Further analyses provided strong evidence of the scale's unidimensionality, reliability, and validity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed with study limitations and recommendations for future research.     

The shopping list in goal-directed shopping: scale development and validation

This paper aims to develop and validate a shopping list scale in a goal-directed shopping context based on three complementary study phases (and literature review): shopper interviews (exploratory stage to identify the items and dimensions), a pilot study with 162 respondents for scale purification, and a refined questionnaire administered to 213 respondents (to establish reliability, convergent, discriminant and nomological validity). An exploratory factor analysis shows that the items load onto four factors: memory aid, money controller, shopping controller, and deviation controller. We performed confirmatory factor analysis to test the model and check for reliability and validity of the anticipated scale. The model fit and reliability levels are acceptable, as are the convergent and discriminant validities of the scale. The scale is a second-order factor, thus satisfying nomological validity. The shopping list scale should be of interest to researchers and retail managers in exploring factors and outcomes of goal-directed shopper behaviour.     

Corporate brand image in retail banking: development and validation of a scale

Recent changes in deregulation and technology have made banking one of the most competitive sectors in the global economy. Within this background, corporate image management has gained importance as a way of differentiating companies. This paper aims to develop a scale to analyse the corporate image in banking. Derived from a review of the literature, a scale with the most cited dimensions of analysis is developed. This scale is then tested by means of an empirical study of 450 individuals, where dimensionality, reliability and validity requirements are confirmed. Both theoretical and managerial implications are presented.     

Fair trade and global cognitive orientation: a focus on Spanish fair trade consumers

In the past few years, there has been an increase in the ‘ethical consumer’, characterized by more reflexive values like solidarity, social responsibility, multiculturalism and ecology. This idea has found support in the appearance and development of proposals like fair trade, along with others, such as responsible consumption, the recycling business or sustainable development. In a parallel way, also during the past few years, various analysts have pointed out that the phenomenon of globalization is changing not only the aspect of the world but also our way of perceiving it, which is progressively becoming a ‘global orientation’. In the framework of these two tendencies, this paper examines the extent to which ‘global orientation’ is also a characteristic of consumers of fair trade products. The paper presents a two‐phase exploratory study. The first phase, of a quantitative nature, showed the greater global orientation of Spanish consumers of fair trade products, and it obtained a typology of them. This typology showed, however, that not all the clusters of consumers of fair trade products have a high global orientation, which reveals that the relationship between this dimension and the consumption of fair trade products is not a direct, straightforward one. The subsequent qualitative study examined the components of this global orientation in each of the three clusters where the consumption of fair trade products was the highest. The results showed that the purchase of fair trade products is influenced by the ‘global orientation’ of the consumer, although other factors, such as a sense of social responsibility and trust in international non‐governmental organizations, can condition this influence.     

Understanding consumption behaviours for fair trade non‐food products: focusing on self‐transcendence and openness to change values

Using the Schwartz value system, this study explored the personal values of consumers related to fair trade product consumption. This study further investigated how the values determine beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions associated with fair trade non‐food products. Data were collected using an online survey from a random sample of 1824 nationwide consumers. The results of this study revealed that fair trade purchasers show a higher level of self‐transcendence (universalism, benevolence) and openness to change values (self‐direction, stimulation) than non‐purchasers. These values also have positive effects on the formation of beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions pertaining to fair trade non‐food products. Fair trade purchasers were also found to possess distinctive socio‐demographic characteristics concerning age, education and income. Findings can offer marketers specific information regarding consumers' motivations to purchase fair trade goods, which can improve targeting of products and ultimately increase the business and benefits of fair trade.     

Measurement of factors influencing online shopper buying decisions: A scale development and validation

The paper attempts to develop an ‘Online Susceptibility Scale’ (OSS) by focusing on the factors that influence shopper buying decisions in an online environment as they are not adequately addressed in the literature. The proposed scale supports the understanding of the impact of online information which leads to consumer decisions. The study involves qualitative and quantitative studies to develop the scale. Eleven items are identified for the scale development which were borrowed from literature and modified through focus group discussions. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) resulted in three factor groups: Evidential online influence (five items), Confirmational online influence (three items), and Experiential online influence (three items). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) has validated the factor structure. Results indicate that the three factors explaining online information sources have a significant impact during buyer purchase decision-making. The study relates ‘Online Susceptibility Scale’ (OSS) to online retailers for exploring the online shopping influences, thereby managing their campaigns accordingly. Managerial and theoretical implications of this new scale are discussed.     

Measuring customer value and satisfaction in services transactions,scale development,validation and cross‐cultural comparison

Customer value and customer satisfaction are pivotal but at the same time elusive concepts in services marketing theory. This paper focuses on discussing the relationship between these two concepts. We propose operationalization by developing and testing scales, especially operational indicators, for important dimensions and drivers of the services‐value construct. A multitrait‐multimethod design is used to test the robustness of the operationalization. Furthermore, a cross‐cultural data set is used to explore country influences using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models. Results indicate that the measurement construct is robust and useful in country‐comparative studies.     

Fair Trade: Three Key Challenges for Reaching the Mainstream

After nearly 20 years of work by activists, fair trade, a movement establishing alternative trading organizations to ensure minimal returns, safe working conditions, and environmentally sustainable production, is now gaining steam, with increasing awareness and availability across a variety of products. However, this article addresses several major remaining challenges: (a) a lack of agreement about what fair trade really means and how it should be certified; (b) uneven awareness and availability across different areas, with marked differences between some parts of Europe and North America that reflect more fundamental debates about distribution; (c) larger questions about the extent of the potential contribution of fair trade to development under the current system, including limitations on the number and types of workers affected and the fair trade focus on commodity goods.     

Sustainable consumption: consumption,consumers and the commodity discourse

This paper examines the concept of sustainable consumption by focusing on the consumption habits of Irish consumers. The key research findings fit into three broad and interrelated categories. Firstly, whilst recent sustainable consumption literature suggests that new research should focus on the issue of consumption, in and of itself, our study shows that consumers themselves view environmental problems from a supply and not a demand perspective. They focus on issues such as recycling and waste and not consumption itself. Secondly, our study shows that consumers have green opinions about very diverse issues and these are directly related to the individuals' lifestyles. Finally, our research shows that “material green” consumers are buying into a particular image in their consumption practices. This is very much connected to the meanings of their consumption that are derived from the communication value they attach to commodities. As such our study provides support for earlier conceptual research which suggests that in order to encourage less consumption we must use existing commodity discourse to achieve such ends.     

Experiential value: Multi-item scale development and validation

The present study aims to explore the underlying dimensions of experiential value to provide a holistic view. The study proposes a 16-item scale ‘CEXPVALS’ capturing four distinct dimensions which may be termed as cognitive value, hedonic value, social value and ethical value. The scale items demonstrated that experiential value may be apprehended holistically in terms of quality of services, time, effort and convenience (cognitive value); enjoyment, pleasure and escapism (hedonic value); status, esteem and social approval (social value); trust and privacy (ethical value). Predictive modeling indicated that experiential value predict purchase intention. The extant literature revealed that no study so far has captured a holistic view of experiential value. Thus, this could be seen as a unique and significant contribution to the literature.     

Evaluating fair trade consumption: politics,defetishization and producer participation

This paper combines a critical review of the scholarly literature on fair trade with an analysis of data gathered during 19 months of ethnographic research conducted between 2001 and 2003 among the members of a Guatemalan fair trade coffee co‐operative and fair trade coffee roasters and advocates in the US. It explores three common claims made about fair trade consumption that: first, fair trade consumption emerges from the political choices and conscious reflexivity of Northern consumers; second, it defetishizes coffee by revealing the social and environmental conditions of the coffee production; and third, it forges equitable trade relationships between producers and consumers. While the research results demonstrate that there is some validity to each of the three claims, they also highlight two negative trends: the reinforcement of producer–consumer differences and low levels of farmer participation in fair trade networks beyond the realm of commodity production. In conclusion, the paper argues that overstating the exceptional nature of fair trade consumption weakens the market’s transformative potential. In order to nurture equitable trade partnerships fair trade must expand to accommodate a substantially higher degree of producer participation in administrative decision making and goal setting.     

Self-service innovativeness scale: introduction,development, and validation of scale

Consumer innovativeness is a central variable in innovation diffusion and adoption literature. The foremost challenge confronted by investigators involved in innovation diffusion and adoption research is the problem of measuring the innovativeness construct. Furthermore, a scale measuring innovativeness towards self-service technologies (SSTs) adoption is required as SSTs have grown considerably in the last few decades. To this end, this study develops and validates a self-service innovativeness (SSI) scale applicable across a variety of SSTs. The study presents a series of six distinct phases describing the development and validation of a six-item, self-report scale. The innovativeness scale has been validated in different contexts, allowing comparisons across distinct samples (i.e., student vs. non-student sample) and different industries (i.e., retail and hospitality industries). The SSI scale presented in this paper is short, valid, reliable, and easy to administer in service domains.