A Psychographic Examination of Environmental Orientations

ABSTRACT

As concern about the environment increases, research is needed to help public policy marketers more fully understand and respond to the various aspects of this phenomenon. Of particular interest is (1) whether there exists a multiplicity of approaches to environmental concern and (2) whether it is possible to provide a rich multivariate explanation of each approach. This research goes beyond the often used univariate, demographic basis for describing environmentalism by undertaking a multivariate, psychographic examination of environmentalism. Responses to environmental activity, interest and opinion statements were gathered from 246 adult repsondents. The data were factor analyzed, resulting in five factors, each yielding a rich psychographic interpretation. The study provides unique, multidimensional insight into the manner in which each orientation is environmentally concerned. The study goes on to suggest ways in which public policy marketers can reach each of the environmental orientations and themes to which each is likely to respond.     

Psychographic and Demographic Profiles of State Lottery Ticket Purchasers

Data from a national mail panel are used to develop psychographic and demographic profiles of heavier, lighter, and nonpurchasers of state lottery tickets. The research is limited to the sixteen states that offered a lottery at the time the study was completed. The resulting profiles indicate that each of the groups has identifiable characteristics. The findings tend to dispel some of the stereotyped characteristics of lottery players—that they are poor, uneducated, and unemployed.     

Mapping market mobility: Psychographic profiles and media exposure

Are there households in trading areas that have unique mobility predispositions? Can mobility types be monitored? And does mobility type relate to the life style and consumption patterns of households? This study examines the mobility and life style characteristics of suburbanites in a medium-sized city in an effort to discover the answers to these and other questions.In particular, the article suggests that mobility relates to life style and media usage, which in turn largely determines the quality of consumer demand and the most efficient media to reach such a market. If the composition of mobility types within a shopping area is changing, retailers should monitor these changes so that they can better predict retail demand—both quality and quantity.A self-administered questionnaire was designed to measure (1) the mobility characteristics of consumers—including their local moves, long-distance moves, and their predisposition to move; (2) the life styles and socioeconomic characteristics of consumers; and (3) the median exposures of households. The instrument was administered by personal interviews with 322 suburban housewives within a medium-sized trading area. The usage sample included 304 cases.The data support the hypotheses of the study; mobility types emerged from the analysis and these had distinctive life styles and media habits. Periodic sampling of households is suggested as an approach to monitoring mobility composition within the trading area.     

A prototyping analysis of relationship marketing constructs: what constructs to use when

As relationship marketing research evolved, a number of key constructs emerged. Some scholars have argued that these constructs are not conceptually or empirically distinct. We investigate this phenomenon based on the premise that sustained research effort towards studying conceptually overlapping/redundant constructs, while treating them as independent, can hamper the development of the field. We use prototyping, a method adopted from psychology, to examine consumers’ views of these constructs, and then identify relationship contexts where constructs are distinct or redundant.     

威海工商局构建企业社会责任引导机制

为了顺应当前政策形势、解决企业经营问题和延伸工商监管职能的需要,威海市工商局提出了企业社会责任引导机制构建理念。     

Retailers' major ethical decision making constructs

The major constructs of the Ferrell and Gresham [Ferrell OC, Gresham L. A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision-Making in Marketing. J Mark 1985; (Summer): 87-96.], Hunt and Vitell [Hunt SD, Vitell S. A General Theory of Marketing Ethics. J Macromark 1986; 6 (Spring): 5-16.], and Ferrell et al. [Ferrell OC, Gresham L, Fraedrich JP. A Synthesis of Ethical Decision Models for Marketing. J Macromark 1989; 9(2) (Fall): 55-64.] models were tested using LISREL. Our findings suggest that Friends, Superiors, Business Associates, and Formalization of the Organization are more significant than Moral Philosophy. A new construct Ethicalness, comprised of individual, organizational, and societal value structures yielded a tight multi-dimensional fit that supports Kerlinger's domain theory and is dissimilar to Reidenbach and Robin's (1991) multi-dimensional scale. This research is one of the first to test as many ethical decision making constructs while explaining the multi-dimensional conundrum of ethical/unethical and legal/illegal practices within retailing.     

Tailor-made single-item measures of doubly concrete constructs

The present study addresses how to measure three constructs commonly used in advertising research, namely attitude towards the ad, brand attitude and brand purchase intention. The study replicates and extends Bergkvist and Rossiter’s (2007) finding that single-item measures are equally predictively valid as multiple-item measures of basic (doubly concrete – see Rossiter’s 2002 C-OAR-SE procedure) constructs in marketing, namely A_Ad and A_Brand. One extension is that the finding holds for free-standing, tailormade single-item measures, whereas the previous study establishes this result only for single-item measures extracted from multiple-item measures. Another extension is that single-item equivalence of predictive validity further holds for another widely employed dependent variable construct, PI_Brand. The present study goes beyond Bergkvist and Rossiter’s study in that it shows that items commonly used in multiple-item measures of A_Ad and A_Brand vary in their predictive validity and that, in some cases, the differences are substantial. The main finding is the further empirical proof that multiple-item scales are unnecessary for validly measuring basic constructs.     

Socio-economic and demographic determinants of consumer problem perception

Studies on consumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaining behaviour provide no consistent picture of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the consumers involved. This study indicates that consumers with different socio-economic characteristics perceive and experience different numbers and types of consumer problems.Younger people experience more problems with commercial information. Persons of lower income and full nest families report more problems with usage costs and product quality. Problems with after-sales service are more often experienced by male and upper class consumers. Differences in problem perception may affect subsequent satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaining behaviour.

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Sozioökonomische und demographische Einflüsse auf die Wahrnehmung von Verbraucherproblemen

Zusammenfassung Untersuchungen zur Zufriedenheit, zur Unzufriedenheit und zum Beschwerdeverhalten von Konsumenten ergeben kein konsistentes Bild der sozioökonomischen und demographischen Eigenschaften der untersuchten Konsumenten. Die vorliegende Studie deutet darauf hin, daß Konsumenten mit unterschiedlichen sozioökonomischen Eigenschaften sich hinsichtlich der Anzahl und der Art der wahrgenommenen Verbraucherprobleme unterscheiden.Jüngere Verbraucher empfinden mehr Probleme mit kommerzieller Information. Verbraucher mit niedrigerem Einkommen und Familien mit Kindern nehmen mehr Probleme mit den Gebrauchskosten und mit der Produktqualität wahr. Probleme mit dem Kundendienst treten dagegen häufiger bei männlichen Konsumenten und solchen aus höheren Schichten auf. Unterschiede in der Problemwahrnehmung wirken sich auf die Zufriedenheit und das Beschwerdeverhalten von Konsumenten aus.

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Dick A. Francken is a Research Fellow at SWOKA, Institute for Scientific Research on Consumer Affairs, Kon. Emmakade 192–195, NL-2518 JP The Hague, The Netherlands. W. Fred van Raaij is Professor of Economic Psychology at Erasmus University, Department of Economics, P.O. Box 1738, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.     

The interrelationships between relationship marketing constructs and customer engagement dimensions

The study examines the interrelationships between selected relationship marketing constructs, namely customer satisfaction, trust, perceived value and commitment, and their effect on the dimensions underlying customer engagement. The study is quantitative and an explanatory research design was followed. A total of 489 self-administered questionnaires were collected from customers of short-term insurance providers on the basis of convenience. Customer satisfaction impacts positively on affective commitment and trust. Customer value also impacts positively on affective commitment and trust, while trust impacts positively on affective commitment. Affective commitment in turn impacts positively on the four customer engagement dimensions: interaction, attention, absorption and affection. The research findings offer an initial understanding of the interrelationships between key relationship marketing constructs and their ultimate effect on various customer engagement dimensions. These matters have received little attention in marketing research, and knowledge of the proposed relationships may lead to further research on this topic.     

Profiling demographic characteristics of alienated consumers

Alienation, a subject of considerable research in some behavioral science areas, has been receiving growing attention in relation to unfavorable attitudes toward the marketplace, consumer disgruntlement, and other aspects of consumerism. This paper discusses several elements of alienation adapted and applied specifically to consumers as they perceive the marketplace vis-à-vis themselves. These elements of alienation were examined in relation to demographic factors consisting of ethnic background, sex, age, income, formal education, and marital status. The results offer some insights into consumer alienation and into the feasibility of utilizing traditional demographic variables to identify consumer segments apt to be alienated from the marketplace. These results take on importance because general disgruntlement with the market- place was significantly related to alienation.     

Analysis of brand preference segments

Market segments are defined in this article on the basis of a vector of preference levels for alternative brands. The proposed analytical procedure does not require the usual assumption of homogenous perceptions. The resulting segments are shown to differ in perceptions of the brands, correlations of attribute-specific perceptions with preference, and product-oriented AIO measures. A common joint space developed from a common discriminanr configuration of brand perceptions is compared with separate joint spaces for two of the segments. The results reveal unique brand configurations and attribute orientations for these segments, and the fit of preference vectors in these unique spaces is superior to that in the common joint space. These findings lead to the conclusion that the commonly made assumption of homogenous preceptions is unwarranted and can lead to erroneous managerial implications.     

Business ethics and job-related constructs: A cross-cultural comparison of automotive salespeople

Although a number of articles have addressed ethical perceptions and behaviors, few studies have examined ethics across cultures. This research focuses on measuring the job satisfaction, customer orientation, ethics, and ethical training of automotive salespersons in the U.S. and Taiwan. The relationships of these variables to salesperson performance were also investigated. Ethics training was found to be negatively related to perceived levels of ethicalness and performance. High performance U.S. salespeople reported high ethical behavior, while the opposite was true in Taiwan. Customer orientation in both countries was influenced by ethics training. Managers should evaluate current ethics training programs to insure correct ethical behavior is taught and rewarded.Earl D. Honeycutt, Jr. is Associate Professor of Marketing at Old Dominion University. He has published inBusiness Horizons, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Industrial Management, Journal of Strategic Marketing, and numerous other national and international publications.Judy A. Siguaw is Assistant Professor of Marketing at UNC-Wilmington. Her articles have appeared inJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Industrial Management, Marketing Education Review, and numerous international and national proceedings.Tammy G. Hunt is Associate Professor of Management at UNC-Wilmington. Her articles have been published inSimulation & Gaming, Journal of Business Education, Journal of Voluntary Action Research, and numerous national and regional proceedings.     

Brand morphing across Wal-Mart customer segments

The premise of segmentation theory is that different segments each have a discrete customer profile and behavioral characteristics. At a conceptual level, the recent branding literature recognizes that different sub-cultures or segments could experience different meanings of an organization's brand. However, few quantitative studies address the issue. The current paper combines branding and segmentation theory and offers a new perspective on whether all segments have the same brand meaning. A leading discount retailer, Wal-Mart, is the focus of this Canadian-based investigation. Two segments of Wal-Mart customers are the basis of the study — one segment preferring Wal-Mart and one less attached. The research quantifies the two networks of brand meaning that the two segments associate with the Wal-Mart (corporate) brand. Empirically, brand morphing of the corporate brand occurs, with different brand meanings across the two segments.     

Causal linkages between psychographic and demographic determinants of outshopping behaviour

This article explores determinants of rural to rural outshopping in the Central Western region of NSW, Australia. The results of this study indicate significant psychographic and demographic variables associated with outshoppers to another rural trading area. These outshoppers tend to be more socially active, innovative, have one to two children living at home and are younger than those people who tend to shop in their local trading area.

Regression analysis is used to develop a causal relationship between psychographic variables, demographic variables and outshopping.     

Identifying multiple preference segments from own- and cross-price elasticities

The authors develop an approach to decompose a market-level matrix of own- and cross-price elasticities to reveal potentially overlapping preference segments. The approach is grounded on the premise that markets may be represented by a parsimonious number of relatively homogeneous segments. Market-level elasticities are expressed as functions of segment weights and within-segment market shares. These relationships permit segment weights and within-segment market shares to be estimated from the market-level elasticity matrix and patterns of brand substitutability to be analyzed. The approach is illustrated with data on the grocery coffee category.The authors wish to thank M/A/R/C Inc., Las Colinas, Texas and Information Resources, Inc., Chicago, Illinois for their assistance in collecting the data used in this study. This research was supported in part by the Dean's Fund for Faculty Research of the Owen School.     

故障区段自动化定位技术探析

在配电自动化系统中,故障区段定位是核心内容.其主要作用是:当线路发生故障时,在最短时间内自动判断并切除故障所在的区段,恢复对非故障区段的供电,从而尽量减少故障影响的停电范围和停电时间.选择科学合理的故障区段定位模式,大大提高配电自动化系统的性能价格比及对供电可靠性的改善程度.当前的配电自动化故障区段定位手段主要是有信道模式、无信道模式以及两者相结合的混合模式三种.文章分析了配电网故障区段定位技术.     

故障区段自动化定位技术探析

在配电自动化系统中,故障区段定位是核心内容.其主要作用是:当线路发生故障时,在最短时间内自动判断并切除故障所在的区段,恢复对非故障区段的供电,从而尽量减少故障影响的停电范围和停电时间.选择科学合理的故障区段定位模式,大大提高配电自动化系统的性能价格比及对供电可靠性的改善程度.当前的配电自动化故障区段定位手段主要是有信道模式、无信道模式以及两者相结合的混合模式三种.文章分析了配电网故障区段定位技术.