The barriers and drivers of seafood consumption in Australia: A narrative literature review

Although seafood is considered to be an important part of a healthy and balanced diet, many Australians still do not consume the recommended amounts for good health. Fish is an excellent source of protein, omega‐3 fatty acids and other nutrients, and studies have shown that seafood‐rich diets can have a lower impact on the environment than diets high in other animal proteins. Concerns about health and sustainability have led to an increased interest in understanding consumers' attitudes toward seafood. This review aims to assess the current knowledge on drivers and barriers to seafood consumption in the Australian context. Systematic search strategies were used to identify relevant peer‐reviewed journal articles from three electronic databases (SCOPUS, Web of Science and Science Direct) and grey literature reports from targeted government and industry websites. Accepted studies investigated drivers and/or barriers to seafood consumption in Australia through qualitative, quantitative, or mixed method designs. Initial searches identified 504 publications from which fourteen met the criteria for the review process. The reviewed studies revealed that influences on seafood consumption in Australia are similar to those identified in other developed countries. The leading drivers of seafood consumption are health, taste, and convenience, while the main barriers are price, availability, concerns about quality, and a lack of confidence in selecting and preparing seafood. Some possible intervention strategies targeted toward these factors are explored in the discussion. Future research should focus on designing and implementing specific interventions so that their effectiveness in increasing seafood consumption in Australia can be assessed.     

Ethnic identity,socialization factors,and culture‐specific consumption behavior

This study is designed to discover the degree to which ethnic identity and socialization factors influence the culture‐specific consumption behaviors of Asian American young adults, in general as well as in specific situational settings. Findings indicated that perceived parental cultural identification tended to strengthen the ethnic identity, which in turn influenced Asian American young adults' culture‐specific consumption behaviors. However, although their perceived parental acculturation level had no effect on their ethnic identity, it directly weakened the subject group's culture‐specific consumption behaviors. The ethnic‐friendship orientation was found not only to influence ethnic identity but also to influence directly the group's culture‐specific consumption behavior. Further analysis revealed that a situational factor (i.e., the presence or absence of ethnic friends) influenced culture‐specific consumption behavior, regardless of the strength of ethnic identity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Business and Culture in South-East Asia: Its Relevance for Britain

This paper introduces various elements of the relationships between business organisations and practices and cultural values and behaviour with reference to the Asian and particularly the South-East Asian region. It then summarises findings on the perceptions and evaluations of British business people of the role of culture in doing business in Asia as these were revealed in a study conducted on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry in 1992. A major conclusion is that British business people tend not to assign a significant role to culture and language and that the business community experiences problems in finding suitable materials on this dimension of their dommercial activities in Asia. The low priority given to cultural undertstanding presents a barrier to Britain's commercial success in this economically dynamic region of the world.     

Heterogeneous immigrants,exports and foreign direct investment: The role of language skills

We investigate the interplay of language skills and immigrant stocks in determining bilateral FDI outstocks of OECD reporting countries. Applying a Poisson panel estimator to 2004–11 data, we find robust evidence for a positive effect of bilateral immigrants on bilateral FDI‐provided that residents of the two countries have few language skills in common. We find a similar effect for immigrants from third countries that speak the language(s) of the FDI host country, making them potential substitutes for bilateral migrants. Our findings suggest that immigrants facilitate outgoing FDI through their language skills, rather than through other characteristics like cultural familiarity.     

Culinary tourism: An exploratory reading of contemporary representations of cooking

In Levi‐Straussian terms cooking marks the “transition between nature and culture”. Yet the study of cookbooks as placed cultural artefacts is largely neglected by consumer researchers. This essay seeks to address this oversight, setting out to explore the potential contribution of a turn to cookbooks for enriching our understanding of the character of contemporary consumer culture. It weaves a line of argument that asserts the value of treating cookbooks as cultural products, as objectifications of culinary culture, as constructed social forms which are amenable to textual analysis. In this respect it declares that, rather than simply being understood as reflections of contemporary consumer culture, cookbooks should be understood as artefacts of cultural life in the making. That is, cookbooks contain not only recipes but inscribed cultural tales which can be understood as productive of the culinary culture that they pretend only to display, and performative in their attempt to do things with us. We reveal cookbooks to be sites of aestheticised consumption.     

Place as a site and item of consumption: an exploratory study

While places are recognized as sites of consumption within the field of consumer behaviour, they have yet to be generally accepted as forms of consumption. This study investigates the idea of place as a consumption object by comparing conceptions of city and country within a cross‐cultural sample. Thirty‐six consumers living in the US, the UK and Australia were interviewed to explore their thoughts and feelings relating to the cities and countries in which they reside. The findings provide empirical support for key conceptualizations of place in the sociology literature and extend consumer behaviour theory to include considerations of the physical, social and cultural aspects of place that impact upon consumption. In addition, the findings portray places as entities that are assessed, selected and experienced in comparable ways to products.     

Consumer resistance in a world of advertising clutter: The case of Adbusters

The pervasive influence of advertising and consumer culture is examined in relation to a postmodern condition marked by increased speed, fragmentation, and the decentering of the subject. This condition often prompts the consumer to develop ad‐avoidance strategies that protect his/her psychic space by filtering out excess advertising clutter (which also colonizes the public and discursive space of consumer culture). The struggle for these cultural spaces resembles a war of position between the ideology of consumerism and its opponents, who attempt to cultivate alternative worldviews toward consumerism. Although some perspectives see consumption as a means for self‐expression and the fashioning of multiple identities, this position valorizes consumption practices irrespective of their environmental and social impact. An evaluation of the antiadvertising magazine Adbusters illustrates the obstacles inherent in launching challenges to consumerism, and the difficulty of resisting consumerism given advertising's control over cultural spaces. Marketers have converted resistance efforts from some of consumption's most ardent critics into market segments by targeting certain goods and services toward them. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Voluntary simplicity and the ethics of consumption

The increased levels of consumption that have accompanied our consumer‐oriented culture have also given rise to some consumers questioning their individual consumption choices, with many opting for greater consumption simplicity. This link between consideration of actual consumption levels and consumer choices is evident among a group of consumers known as ethical consumers. Ethical consumers consider a range of ethical issues in their consumer behavioral choices. Particularly prevalent is voluntary simplification due to concerns for the extent and nature of consumption. Through the presentation of findings from two qualitative studies exploring known ethical consumers, the relationship of consumer attitudes to consumption levels, and how these attitudes impact approaches to consumer behavior, are discussed. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The relationship between culture and perception of ethical problems in international Marketing

This research study sought to identify whether there is a relationship between ethical perceptions and culture. An examination of the cultural variables suggests that there is a relationship between two of Hofstede's cultural dimensions (i.e., Uncertainty Avoidance and Individualism) and ethical perceptions. This finding supports the hypothetical linkage between the cultural environment and the perceived ethical problem variables posited in Hunt and Vitell's General Theory of Marketing Ethics (1986).Robert Armstrong is Professor of Marketing and Research Associate of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, Programme Chair for the MBA and Marketing and Media degree programmes. Professor Armstrong has been in Australia for six years, he spent two years at the University of Western Australia and the last four years at Murdoch University. To date, he has published over 20 journal articles and an Australian Marketing Research textbook.     

Jumping from Springboard? The Role of Marginal Cultural Distance in Cross‐Border M&A Deal Completion

This article extends understanding of the cultural experience of a firm in a host culture as a mechanism to reduce cultural distances. Integrating organizational learning theory with cultural friction perspective, this study proposes that cultural experience of a focal firm is a unique, firm‐specific advantage. Time spent in a particular culture causes cultural friction that diminishes the cultural differences for the focal firm at the margin, which we term marginal cultural distance (MCD). Emphasizing the importance of learning from cross‐border acquisitions for firms from emerging markets, we propose that compared to country‐level cultural distance scores, MCD is a better predictor of the likelihood of cross‐border deal completion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Get real!: Cultural relevance and resistance to the mediated feminine ideal

As part of a longitudinal study that examines early and late adolescent girls' interpretations of mainstream teen magazines, this research focuses on how the African American audience's interpretive frame enables them to critique and distance themselves from selected aspects of a consumption object with which they regularly engage. The results were drawn from in‐depth interviews with 16 African American girls, ages 13–18, who are regular readers of one of the top three teen titles: Seventeen, YM, or ‘Teen. In this article, consumption is conceptualized not only as purchase, but acceptance of and aspiration to the ideals employed by the beauty industry to sell goods and services, e.g., a thin body type, European‐American facial features, and a preference for a “made‐up” appearance. Conversely, anti‐consumption is rejection, subversion or negotiation of those same ideals, although such critical stances do not preclude voluntary, regular exposure to the texts conveying these ideals. The analysis illustrates the importance of cultural relevance in promoting consumers' aspiration to mediated ideals; in particular, the article explores African American consumers' criticism of Euro‐centric feminine ideals as not real. While White girls actively sought out the magazines' alternate, improved version of reality, African American girls compared the fictional work to their real world experience and not only denied the veracity of the ideal, but preferred their reality to it. As predicted by racial identity theory, most African American girls in this study, particularly older girls, did not defer to the magazines' authority in defining their conception of femininity, which instead was strongly influenced by culture and frequently defined in direct opposition to the mediated ideal. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Theoretical and Applied Relevance of Consumer Limits to Processing Advertising

Abstract

This study investigates (1) how immigrant consumers change their media consumption when they move across cultural boundaries and (2) whether media exposure relates to consumers' acculturation of the new social norms. A total of 938 respondents from four sample groups including Hong Kong residents, long-time and new Hong Kong immigrants to Canada and English-speaking Caucasian Canadians responded to a predesigned questionnaire. It was found that while the immigrant groups did not increase their total media consumption, their consumption across different media types followed both assimilation and ethnic affirmation models. This acculturation process seemed to be affected by immigrants' original media consumption behavior and language ability. Media exposure was found to relate significantly to immigrants' acculturation of the new social norms after influences due to personal characteristics were removed.     

Cross‐cultural evaluation of factors driving intention to purchase new food products – Beijing,China and south‐east England

It has been reported that consumers in different countries have distinctive perceptions of, and attitudes to, products. This study investigated consumers’ thoughts on new food products in south‐east England (n = 222) and Beijing, China (n = 139), using a questionnaire‐based largely on the Theory of Reasoned Action. Results indicated that consumers in both countries believe it is necessary for the food industry in their respective countries to introduce new food products and they would like to try new products. There appears to be great interest in new products among the Beijing Chinese, with most interest in new healthy food products. The influences on choices suggest that a marketing focus on quality, utility and health benefits would be most fruitful, as personal beliefs were more important in intention to purchase than the influence of other people. Results point away from the expected result that the Chinese, as a collectivist culture, would place more emphasis on others’ opinions than their own beliefs. This may be linked to food not being an item of conspicuous consumption, or to a cultural shift among urban Chinese.     

A cognitive and behavioral hierarchical decision‐making model of college students' alcohol consumption

This study examined college students' drinking behaviors from a consumer behavioral perspective. A consumer‐oriented, cognitive, and behavioral‐hierarchical decision‐making model was developed and tested with the use of structural equation modeling. Questionnaires were collected from undergraduate students ( n = 269) attending a large state university in the southwestern United States. Results indicated that personal values can serve as significant predictors of the attitudes college students have toward alcohol use, which in turn can predict intentions to drink. Results also indicated that intentions to drink are strongly related to actual alcohol consumption, and that gender‐predicted attitudes and alcohol use during the past month influences intentions to drink. However, the structure of the model was similar after controlling for gender differences in alcohol use and for the stability of past behavior. The model delineated the specific roles played by personal values (self‐actualizing values vs. social–hedonic values) and attitudes toward the physical and psychological consequences of drinking. Overall, social–hedonic values and psychological consequences predicted actual alcohol consumption far better than did self‐actualizing values and physical consequences, respectively. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A study focusing on American expatriates’ learning in host countries

This study examines the learning process and situations while expatriates are living and working in a foreign country. The survey was conducted on 70 American expatriates via individual e‐mails and the World Wide Web. The study found that expatriates gained the culture of their host country through reflective learning. Cross‐cultural training programs should be examined based on expatriates’ actual needs. Finally, several learning situations that would be helpful in reducing expatriates’ cultural difficulties are: previous cross‐cultural experience, language competency, long‐term relationships with the host people, and information about the host country originating from the home country as well as the host country.     

Multiple dimensions of mediation within transnational advertising production: cultural intermediaries as shapers of emerging cultural capital

The paper re-conceptualizes cultural intermediaries as shapers of “emerging cultural capital” (Prieur, A., and M. Savage. 2013. “Emerging Forms of Cultural Capital.” European Societies 15 (2): 246–267; Savage, M., F. Devine, N. Cunningham, M. Taylor, Y. Li, J. Hjellbrekke, and A. Miles. 2013. “A New Model of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment.” Sociology 47 (2): 219–250) and re-frames their practice of signification and negotiation as informed by “multiple dimensions of mediation.” Drawing on a case study of Nike’s transnational advertising production and interviews with key actors within the context of production, the paper examines how the creative/cultural labour process cuts across global and national fields of cultural production and consumption through which popular culture and middle-brow tastes were mediated, signified and represented. In particular, a television campaign for the Japanese youth market was critically analysed to reveal how specific new tastes, lifestyles and consumption practices were legitimized as emerging forms of cultural capital. Consequently, their taste-making practices are profoundly implicated in symbolic struggles and cultural changes emerging within/from the increasingly “globalizing” field of cultural production.     

Privatisation and the unusual case of Belarusian accession to the WTO

The accession negotiations of Belarus to the WTO are unusual since, due to its obligations in the Eurasian Economic Union, WTO accession is not expected to impact its tariffs or formerly substantial trade‐distorting agricultural subsidies. Nonetheless, we estimate that WTO accession will increase welfare by 9.9% of consumption in Belarus. We show that inclusion of: (i) foreign direct investment; (ii) reduction in non‐discriminatory barriers against services providers; and (iii) our model with imperfect competition and endogenous productivity effects together produce estimated gains eleven times larger than a model of perfect competition with only cross‐border trade in services. Our analysis is enabled by our production of a data set on both discriminatory and non‐discriminatory barriers in services and their ad valorem equivalents. Based on a new data set on labour productivity by sector and type of ownership, in our central model, we estimate that privatisation will increase welfare by 35.8% of consumption. We find substantial variance in the estimated gains from privatisation depending on model assumptions, but all the estimates of the impacts of privatisation indicate substantial welfare gains.     

Overcoming the psychological barriers to energy conservation behaviour: The influence of objective and subjective environmental knowledge

Energy conservation is a crucial aspect of responsible consumption which is the reflection of individual efforts for sustainability. However, especially young consumers are reluctant to reduce their energy consumption despite their pro‐environmental attitudes. Resistance to behavioural change can be attributed to various psychological barriers that help consumer to avoid engaging in pro‐environmental actions. In this context, the first aim of the study is to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence regarding impeding effects of psychological barriers on individual energy conservation behaviour. Secondly, the study investigates the alleviating role of environmental knowledge on those barriers that limit energy conservation. Proposed impeding effects of objective and subjective environmental knowledge on various denial mechanisms, which are in turn expected to hinder energy conservation, were tested using the survey data collected from young Turkish consumers. Results suggest that denial mechanisms hinder young consumers’ energy conservation behaviour indirectly through diminishing feelings of moral obligations. Moreover, it was found that objective environmental knowledge's effect can be used to break down the psychological barriers and to facilitate the change towards more sustainable energy consumption patterns. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Exploring the nutrition and lifestyle knowledge,attitudes and behaviour of student home economics teachers: baseline findings from a 4‐year longitudinal study

It is widely acknowledged that obesity linked with reduced exercise contributes to health problems, and that, conversely, individuals who embark on weight reducing diets may become deficient in key nutrients. It is often advocated that these problems, which can be grouped together as poor dietary practice, be tackled through education. This study attempts to examine the relationship between nutrition education and lifestyle behaviours in a select group of third level students. The Irish Home Economics curriculum aims to teach secondary school pupils about nutrition and lifestyle practices conducive to health. However, the attitudes and lifestyle practices of those teaching this subject have never been examined in Ireland. The purpose of the present 4‐year longitudinal study, whose first year findings are presented here, is to investigate the nutrition and lifestyle knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of a cohort of Irish student home economics teachers over the 4 years of their Bachelor of Education (Home Economics) degree course. The study was designed to explore possible changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices over the course of their professional education. Nutritional knowledge was measured using a 220‐question adapted version of the test devised by Parmenter and Wardle. Attitudes were measured using a questionnaire adapted from the Pan‐EU Survey on Consumer Attitudes to Physical Activity, Body‐weight and Health. Food, alcohol consumption and exercise were measured using a 7‐day reported dietary/exercise diary. Nutrient intake data were determined using dietary analysis. Weight, height and waist circumference were measured and body mass index (BMI) calculated. When starting college, student home economics teachers have broadly similar anthropometric, dietary and lifestyle characteristics to those of their contemporaries. Mean BMI was identical [24.4 kg/m² (SD 4.3)] to that reported in the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey (NSIFCS) for those aged 18–35 years, although energy intakes were significantly higher in the cohort of student teachers (P = 0.000). Thirty‐eight per cent were overweight or obese vs. 33.6% in the NSIFCS. Only 17% (n = 6) of students achieved an intake of 300 µg/day of folate as recommended by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and only one the recommended intake of non‐starch polysaccharides (18 g/day). One in three students in this study smoke (16 of 48) and alcohol consumption was high. Only one student was very active. Students scored a mean of 55% (SD 8%) on the knowledge test, with similar scores attained for specific aspects of nutritional knowledge (i.e. food groups, constituents of foods, current dietary advice, nutrients, lifestyle practices). However, knowledge of nutrition definitions was weaker with a mean score of 31% (SD 8.6%). Students had a positive attitude towards food choice, the link between food and health and control over their own diet. Similar attitudes towards exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption were displayed despite students perceiving themselves as not having a balanced diet, having insufficient exercise and having regretted something done as a result of consuming alcohol. They appear to display optimistic bias in relation to health risks. These findings provide baseline data for the longitudinal study and indicate that those choosing to pursue a career as a home economics teacher in Ireland have similar nutritional and lifestyle characteristics to those of their contemporaries.     

Other mothers: framing the cybernetic construction(s) of the postmodern family

This study conducts a critical cultural analysis of the assisted reproductive technologies (ART) market and selected consumption that takes place within that context. Specifically, it assumes the view of markets as cultures and conceptualizes the consumption strategies of “other mothers,” the unintended consumers of such body technologies, within the larger cultural context of what it means to be a family. The view of “markets as cultures” is employed to frame the ART marketplace and to address the multiple, local realities that emerge in the consumption process. The hyperreality of the ART marketplace emerges as a fluid and dynamic force that fosters the reversal of production and consumption through the creation of new forms of consumption. In this local context, marginalized ART consumers reappropriate body technologies to construct postmodern families of their own design. A conceptual framework of this cybernetic market culture is presented and discussed with implications for future research regarding bioethics, methodological approaches, family consumption, and new frontiers in postmodern consumption.