The Effect of Stylistic Product Information on Consumers’ Aesthetic Responses

This paper investigates the effect of stylistic information about a product, defined as verbal product information aimed at helping consumers to interpret a product's visual design, on consumers’ aesthetic responses. The results of three experimental studies show that for consumers with higher centrality of visual product aesthetics (CVPA), stylistic information positively influences aesthetic responses through perceived meaningfulness of product design (i.e., the extent to which an individual is able to make sense of a product's visual appearance and understands what it represents). Further, these effects translate into consumers’ purchase intentions. For consumers with lower CVPA, stylistic information neither affects aesthetic responses nor perceived meaningfulness of product design. These findings contribute to existing research on consumers’ aesthetic processing by highlighting the importance for consumers to grasp a product's design meaning in order to maximally appreciate its visual appeal.     

The Tipping Point of Design: How Product Design and Brands Interact to Affect Consumers’ Preferences

Existing research on product design has demonstrated the importance of aesthetics in generating favorable consumer responses. However, the literature has only recently begun to explore if and to what extent the impact of product design is influenced by brand strength. Whereas some research indicates that strong brands may benefit less strongly from aesthetically attractive designs, other research suggests that attractive designs are more persuasive when they are paired with a strong brand. In this research, these two competing predictions were tested through three studies with German car buyers. In Study 1, participants were exposed to a fictitious car that was paired with a randomly chosen brand name. In Study 2, participants were presented with a set of existing cars and were asked to choose one. Both studies yield converging evidence and show that product design and brands interact in a positive fashion, suggesting that attractive designs exert a greater influence on consumers’ decision processes when they are accompanied by a strong brand. Study 3 extended these findings by demonstrating that strong brands only increase the impact of attractive designs when perceived risk is high but not when it is low.     

Consumers’ perspectives on online banking services

The forces of economic change, coupled with advancements in technology, prompt banks to rethink their use of traditional branches and begin forming new partnerships to deliver financial services. The Internet seems to be the new delivery channel in the banking sector. Factors such as the security of personal data or the reliability of a financial institution have been identified by previous studies as the determinants of electronic‐banking adoption. In this paper, a series of new factors, such as the difficulties of using the Internet, are shown to play a crucial role in the consumer’s attitude – adoption or rejection – of this new alternative channel. We examine consumer behaviour by modelling multivariate categorical response data using a generalized linear model. Our choice model is based on the assumption that an individual’s decision to use electronic services depends on a number of explanatory variables, and we try to estimate the factors that affect an individual’s decision to use online services.     

Consumers’ Protection of Online Privacy and Identity

This article examines online behaviors that increase or reduce risk of online identity theft. The authors report results from three consumer surveys that indicate the propensity to protect oneself from online identity theft varies by population. The authors then examine attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic antecedents that predict the tendency to protect one's privacy and identity online. Implications and suggestions for managers, public policy makers, and consumers related to protecting online privacy and identity theft are provided.     

Cry,Laugh, or Fight: The Impact of the Advertising Image and Disease Target Match on Consumers’ Evaluations of Cancer Advertising

Cancer detection and treatment is now a huge part of the health care system, and many cancer charities and organizations advertise heavily in various media. However, from pink ribbons to yellow wristbands, marketing spending and imagery are vastly different between diseases that primarily affect men and those that primarily affect women. Yet, the ways in which consumers react to specific marketing images when used in cancer‐related advertising, and the importance of the congruence between the disease and the ad image have been under‐researched. This paper explores these research questions in two studies and finds significant differences in ad evaluations by image and gender of the disease target.     

Consumers’ attitudes,trust and willingness to pay for food information

Market failure can be corrected using different regulatory approaches ranging from high to low intervention. Recently, classic regulations have been criticized as costly and economically irrational, and thus, policy makers are giving more consideration to soft regulatory techniques such as information remedies. However, despite the plethora of food information conveyed by different media there appears to be a lack of studies exploring how consumers evaluate this information and how trust towards publishers influence their choices for food information. In order to fill such a gap, this study investigates questions related to topics that are more relevant to consumers, who should disseminate trustful food information, and how communication should be conveyed and segmented. Primary data were collected both through qualitative (in‐depth interviews and focus groups) and quantitative research (web and mail surveys). Attitudes, willingness to pay (WTP) for food information and trust towards public and private sources conveying information through a new food magazine were assessed using both multivariate statistical methods and econometric analysis. The study shows that consumer attitudes towards food information topics can be summarized along three cognitive‐affective dimensions: the agro‐food system, enjoyment and wellness. Information related to health risks caused by nutritional disorders and food safety issues caused by bacteria and chemical substances is the most important for about 90% of respondents. Food information related to regulations and traditions is also considered important for more than two‐thirds of respondents, whereas information about food production and processing techniques, lifestyle and food fads are considered less important by the majority of respondents. Trust towards food information disseminated by public bodies is higher than that observed for private bodies. This behaviour directly affects WTP for food information provided by public and private publishers when markets are shocked by a food safety incident. WTP for consumer association (€1.80) and the European Food Safety Authority (€1.30) are higher than WTP for the independent and food industry publishers that cluster around zero euro. Furthermore, trust towards the type of publisher also plays a key role in food information market segmentation together with socio‐demographic and economic variables such as gender, age, presence of children and income. These findings invite policy makers to reflect on the possibility of using information remedies conveyed using trusted sources of information to specific segments of consumers as an interesting soft alternative to the classic way of regulating modern food markets. JEL codes: D12, D18, D89, Q18.     

Consumers’ Understanding of Privacy Rules in the Marketplace

Studies suggest the general structure of Web sites leads consumers away from demanding that online merchants take certain approaches to privacy as a condition for dealing with them. This article presents findings from a nationally representative survey showing that the absence of such a privacy marketplace can also be attributed to the public’s incomplete knowledge of privacy regulations. Most respondents correctly understood that regulations regarding merchants’ sharing information are domain specific. The respondents were only sporadically correct, however, regarding which domains have which rules. The study raises questions about the best approaches to education in the absence of a coherent national policy of privacy regulation.     

Consumers’ acceptability and creative use of traditional woven fabric

The study examined the utilization and acceptability of traditional woven fabric ‘aso‐oke’ in patchwork craft design as bedcover and throw pillows. The ‘aso‐oke’ fabric was sewn using a patchwork technique of clothing construction to produce a bedcover and throw pillows. A questionnaire designed on a 5‐point Likert scale was used to collect the data. The result showed a favourable response of Likert mean score 4.17 which indicates a greater acceptability of the fabric and design used in the making of the bedcover and throw pillows.     

Consumers’ views of breast care services in Ireland

One Irish woman in 14 develops breast cancer. There are 1700 new cases each year. These rates compare poorly with EU figures. The government indicated in 1995 that it favoured rapid, comprehensive diagnostic facilities, using the triple assessment model of clinical care, to improve survival rates and to diminish the anxiety women experience about breast cancer. Implementation of this policy was delayed until 1999, when a plan for centres of excellence in breast care was conceived. To compliment this plan, the Department of Health and Children wanted consumer views on existing breast care services. The Women’s Health Council was asked by the Department of Health and Children, through the National Cancer Forum, to conduct research on women’s views and reactions as consumers of existing services for symptomatic breast disease. The research team was asked to document women’s views on: diagnostic services; counselling; additional treatment services such as surgery and radiotherapy. The methodology consisted of four strands: questionnaires and focus groups with consumers of breast care services; postal questionnaires to clinic staff and a literature review. Striking aspects were the long delays women experienced before obtaining a completed diagnosis; often chaotic clinic settings which added greatly to women’s shock and anxiety; the lack of support if they received a diagnosis of cancer; and problems relating to limited resources for cancer treatment, including radiotherapy. We explored women’s coping mechanisms and their experiences, in the context of the model of quality of care. Finally, we argue that a centre of excellence must develop a multidimensional model of breast disease care that incorporates the full range of psycho‐social dimensions for women, if it is to earn its claim to excellence.     

Consumers’ perceptions of the fairness of price-matching refund policies

This paper examines the antecedents and consequences of perceived price-matching policy fairness. Among the antecedents, we study the effects of the refund depth if a lower competitive price is identified, the degree that the retail product assortment is available at competing retailers, and the consumers’ inference as to the retailer's motive for the price-matching policy. Product assortment uniqueness is identified as a key driver of fairness perceptions, both directly and indirectly through inferred motive. The three experiments show that consumers’ perceptions of the fairness of a store's pricing policy influence their price fairness perceptions, consequently influencing their retail shopping intentions.     

Effects of Lightness‐Location Congruency on Consumers’ Purchase Decision‐Making

A considerable body of psychological and neuroscientific research has demonstrated the existence of robust sensory correspondences between various features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities. Despite findings indicating the importance of sensory correspondences to human information processing, research on purchase decision‐making has not to date focused sufficiently on this phenomenon. The present study examines how the lightness of packaging colors, and the location of products on a display shelf interact to affect consumers’ purchase decision‐making via perceived visual heaviness. As predicted, a display with light (dark) colored products positioned in the upper (lower) shelf positions increases shoppers’ perceptual fluency and facilitates their visual search, thus leading to the suggestion that “light” (heavy) locations are most appropriate for light (dark) colored products. Moreover, the lightness‐location congruent display is shown to influence people's choice behavior positively as well. This research also demonstrates that when consumers consider the lightness (in terms of their weight) of the products, they are more likely to choose light (vs. dark) colored products located in the upper shelf positions. These results therefore demonstrate that consumers’ purchase decision‐making may be promoted by in‐store environments designed to be congruent with their sensory correspondences.     

Investigating Gender‐Schema Congruity Effects on Consumers’ Evaluation of Anthropomorphized Products

Anthropomorphism refers to the tendency to attribute humanlike characteristics, intentions, and behavior to nonhuman artifacts. Prior research has established a product‐schema congruity effect by suggesting that successful anthropomorphism necessitates a product with schema‐congruent features next to the promotion message. This article extends this body of research for the specific case of gender anthropomorphism by proposing a gender‐schema congruity effect. Specifically, the results of two experimental studies demonstrated that when a human gender schema is primed, that is, congruent with consumers’ own gender, consumers show more preferential evaluations and are more likely to perceive the product as human, even when no product‐schema congruent features are present in the product. Results indicated that perceived anthropomorphism mediates the gender‐schema congruity effect and the product‐schema congruity effect on product evaluations.     

Context Effects on Older Consumers’ Cognitive Age: The Role of Hedonic versus Utilitarian Goals

This paper deals with older consumers’ cognitive age (i.e., the age they feel), which is self‐assessed as systematically lower than their chronological age (i.e., their actual age). Such a tendency would lead older consumers to display attitudes and purchasing behaviors, which are not typical of people of their real age. Two studies show that cognitive age is not an immutable construct but varies according to its context of reference, so that the same individual may feel different ages under different circumstances. Results demonstrate that the declared cognitive age is affected by the physical environment, the social references, and the product categories that the consumer is using when self‐assessing it. Furthermore, the tendency of older consumers to feel younger is stronger when these consumers are pursuing in these contexts hedonic rather than utilitarian goals. These findings provide novel inputs for the development of appropriate ways to measure cognitive age and to deal with it when targeting senior consumers and positioning hedonic versus utilitarian goods.     

The Effects of Model Size and Race on Chinese Consumers’ Reactions: A Social Comparison Perspective

Previous research on women's reactions to female body images in advertisements has been restricted to same race target women and models, and typically conducted among Western participants. The present research examines the combined effects of model race and size for the first time, and extends inquiry to Chinese consumers. Results across four experiments demonstrate that model race and size are potent informative cues that influence Chinese consumers’ self‐esteem and advertising effectiveness. Studies 1a and 1b suggest that model race is an informative trigger predicting differential social comparison and subsequent self‐esteem judgments for Chinese women, but has no effect on Chinese men's self‐esteem. In addition, model size exerts differential impacts on Chinese women's and men's self‐esteem. Study 2 shows that manipulation of the social comparison mechanism may outweigh that of race as an informative cue. Study 3 examines the relationship between model size and Chinese women's evaluative responses to advertisements. These findings not only contribute to the literature, but also offer practical guidelines for marketers advertising in China.     

Does Private Label Quality Influence Consumers’ Decision on Where to Shop?

When consumers decide where to shop, they take several criteria into account. It is not yet clear whether private label (PL) quality is one of these criteria. It is the intention of this study to shed light on this issue because many retailers have invested heavily into the quality of their PLs. They assume that PLs differentiate a store's assortment and image, which should attract customers to the store. This study examines this assumption by use of a simultaneous equation model that links PL‐specific quality evaluations to perceptions of the image of the associated store as well as to the category‐specific share of store visits. Empirical results for 10 product categories show that PL quality positively affects store image perception, and influences consumers in the decision of where to shop.     

Consumers’ perception of food packaging in Trinidad,West Indies and its related impact on food choices

The purpose of the study was to investigate consumers’ perception of food packaging and its impact on food choices. The study population comprised 82 people who were ultimately consumers of packaged food products. The sample was drawn from six major supermarkets located in different geographical areas in Trinidad, West Indies. Data collection was carried out by using a questionnaire based on five topics: visual impact or attractiveness of the packaging; type of packaging material; labelling and nutritional information; new products; and fruit preserves. The packaging feature that influenced most of the respondents’ choice of products was information on the label (41.5%); it was followed by quality and type of packaging (24.4%), brand name/popularity (22.0%) and visual impact (12.2%). When asked if they would purchase a product that was most attractively packaged, 85.4% responded in the affirmative. Most respondents (92.7%) believed that packaging material could adversely affect the quality of performance of a food product. Also, 92.7% of respondents agreed that nutrition information should be shown on all food products, although 36.6% admitted that they do not read the label because of its complexity. Influence of gender was not significant (P < 0.05) on consumer perception of food packaging and on food choices. Although the sample was small, the data highlighted the need to educate consumers of packaged foods, so that informed decisions could be taken in respect to food quality, safety and nutrition.     

Consumers’ green commitment: indication of a postmodern lifestyle?

Green consumer behaviour is one of the key focuses of contemporary research on the sociology of consumption. The constant presence of environmental issues related to consumption and the changes consumer society has faced during the 20th century are presumed to reflect on present consumer behaviour. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, the postmodern elements of consumer society will be discussed; second, the study analyses to what extent these elements of postmodernism fit with the phenomenon of contemporary green consumerism. The empirical part utilizes Finnish consumer behaviour‐related data from 2003, which were analysed by applying various statistical methods. In this part, the study reports of the connection between lifestyle and green commitment. Lifestyle is measured by consumption styles and green commitment by certain environment‐related consumption choices. The results suggest that different lifestyles explain green commitment better than traditional socio‐economic background variables. The effect of postmodernism on green consumer behaviour is, thus, discussed.