Consumers’ willingness to disclose their personal data in e-commerce: A reciprocity-based social exchange perspective

While personal data is invaluable to firms, the drivers of e-commerce customers' willingness to disclose their personal data remain tenuous. Using social exchange theory, we develop a model that explores the impact of consumers' perceived benefit, and relative power, on store trust, in turn driving their willingness to disclose their personal data. We collected our empirical data using a representative online survey, with the results being analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results corroborate that (a) consumer-perceived e-commerce store trust drives their willingness to disclose their personal data, and (b) perceived e-commerce provider reciprocity outweighs consumers’ perceived data disclosure benefit, suggesting the existence of symbolic (vs. purely instrumental) social exchange.     

Private labels ain’t bona fide! Perceived authenticity and willingness to pay a price premium for national brands over private labels

Abstract

As private labels are consolidating their gains in national markets, a conventional recommendation to national brand manufacturers would most likely be to invest more in marketing in order to increase the perceived quality gap between national brands and private labels. It is assumed that the quality gap would boost consumer willingness to pay a price premium for national brands over private labels. Differing from this conventional approach, the current study focuses on the perceived authenticity gap between national brands and private labels, to explore whether and how this factor influences the effect of marketing and manufacturing variables on willingness to pay. This relationship is relevant in milieus where consumers might take brand authenticity rather than quality perceptions to guide their brand evaluations. The current study finds that the perceived authenticity gap mediates the effect of only some particular conventional marketing tools on willingness to pay. The study suggests that national brand managers should take the presence of private labels in the national markets as an opportunity to exploit the dynamics of authenticity evaluations, rather than as a threat.     

Does Nutrition Information Contribute to Grocery Shoppers’ Willingness to Pay?

An experimental auction and the eye-tracking technology are used to detect the relationship between consumers’ understanding of the nutrition information and their willingness to pay for food items. Additional attention is given to health-conscious individuals. Salad mix and apple juice are selected for the experiment. A Tobit model is used for the analysis. The results show that nutrition information has some effect on consumers’ purchasing decision. Shoppers are willing to pay less for fat and mineral information, but more for ingredient, protein, sodium, and carbohydrate information of salad mix. As for apple juice, shoppers care only for energy and other nutrient information, as well as the health claim “vitamin C naturally high.” Further, health-conscious individuals are more responsive to the nutrition claims, such as “high in fiber” (salad mix) and “vitamin C naturally high” (orange juice). A possible limitation of the conclusion exists due to the small sample size.     

Introduction to ‘Valuation in Emerging Markets’

The purpose of the Batten Institute/Association for Investment Management and Research/Emerging Markets Review conference was to examine the challenges of valuing assets in emerging markets. These challenges are immensely interesting to practitioners and scholars for many reasons, among them for what they reveal about the differences between emerging markets and developed markets. The colloquium surveyed business and research practices, stimulated critical reflection, and highlighted questions for future research. This article provides an overview of the issues discussed in the conference.     

China’s Night-time Economy Continues to Increase

Consumers of the night-time economy not only help to stimulate the domestic de-mand for 1ocal residents,but also prolong the retention time of non-local tourists and business and office workers, thereby driving local economic development.Throughout the pandemic.     

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Non-pirated Software

This study analyzed consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for non-pirated computer software and examined how attitudes toward intellectual property rights and perceived risk affect WTPs. Two commonly used software products, Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office, were used in the study as objects to reveal consumer assessed values. A consumer survey was administered in Taiwan and the total valid samples were 799. Respondents in this study included students from senior high schools, colleges, and graduate schools, and general consumers who were no longer full-time students. The estimated average WTP for Windows was USD 58.55 and for Office was USD 53.49, much lower than the respective suggested retail prices in the market. Social norms had strong positive influences on willingness-to-pay for software products. The prosecution risk did not significantly increase WTPs for software products due to the reason that individuals who used pirated software were not at a high risk of being prosecuted. Performance risk was positively correlated to WTPs for software products. The respondents segmented into the low-WTP cluster were more likely to use pirated software than those in the high-WTP segment. Source reliability, legitimacy, technical support, and customer service were emphasized in decisions of respondents in the high-WTP segment and could be used in marketing strategies. Dr. Jane Lu Hsu is Professor in Department of Marketing at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. Charlene Wan-Yun Shiue was a former Research Assistant in the Department of Marketing at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan.     

Understanding consumers’ decisions to adopt technology-enabled transformative services

This study extends understanding of consumers' decisions to adopt transformative services delivered via technology. It incorporates competitive effects into the model of goal-directed behavior which, in keeping with the majority of consumer decision making models, neglects to explicitly account for competition. A goal-level operationalization of competition, incorporating both direct and indirect competition, is proposed. A national web-based survey collected data from 431 respondents about their decisions to adopt mental health services delivered via mobile phone. The findings show that the extent to which consumers perceived using these transformative services to be more instrumental to achieving their goals than competition had the greatest impact on their adoption decisions. This finding builds on the limited empirical evidence for the inclusion of competitive effects to more fully explain consumers' decisions to adopt technology-based and other services. It also provides support for a broader operationalization of competition with respect to consumers' personal goals.     

How customers ‘learn’ to work for retailers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how learning style affects the performance of the ‘working’ customer in one self-service context – retail Self Check-Out Tills (SCOT). For the purposes of this paper, we have adopted the UK term Self Check-Out Tills (SCOT), also known as ‘self-service registers’ in other countries, to describe this form of self-service in retail stores). The study uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from users of retail SCOT. Initial exploratory factor analysis of 232 SCOT users revealed significant differences in learning styles. Three categories emerged: ‘regular reassurance’, ‘motivated practice’ and ‘cautious discovery’. Customers adopting different learning styles varied in their perceptions of ability and enjoyment with SCOT, and in their capability of helping other customers with SCOT. The demographic make-up of customers adopting the different learning styles was also shown to vary. Previously, little has been done to identify the specific training needs of working customers. This research begins to address this knowledge gap.     

You Don’t Actually Want to Get Closer to the Star: How LMX Leads to Workplace Ostracism

High-quality leader-member exchange (LMX) is commonly seen as beneficial to employees. However, this is not always the case in the eyes of other members of the same team. Based on social comparison theory, we propose that members who have high-quality LMX relationships with team leaders might face workplace ostracism through being envied by other members of the same team. Further, we hypothesize that this indirect influence is mitigated by the high-quality LMX member’s agreeableness. Based on data from 196 employees, we found that though ostensibly LMX quality directly led to less workplace ostracism, it had a positive effect on workplace ostracism through being envied by other team members, and agreeableness buffered this indirect positive effect. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

How to Profit from China’s Strong Tourism Growth

Now in its third year the WTM China Contact Forum will follow- up on industry experiences learned from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing offering an interactive opportunity for discussion about how to develop business with China as a destination, service provider and tour operator. With the support of Visit Britain,the China National Tourism Administration,Visit London,the Kunming Municipal Tourism Board     

Determinants of Consumer’s Willingness to Purchase Gray-Market Smartphones

The study analyzes the influential factors of consumers’ willingness to purchase gray-market smartphones by considering the model of novelty seeking, status consumption, integrity, and perceived risk. Attitude toward counterfeit is used as mediation in the model. The causalities in the model of problematic willingness of consumer to purchase gray-market smartphones are hypothesized. A total sample of 350 respondents with 238 effective samples is collected by interviewing with questionnaires at the service counters of telecommunications operators. Structure equation modeling (SEM) is adopted in the analysis. Consumers’ attitude toward counterfeit goods is found to be positively related to the willingness of consumers to purchase gray-market smartphones, but perceived risk is negatively related to consumers’ willingness to purchase. As for personality constructs, integrity and status consumption are found to be negatively related to consumers’ attitude toward counterfeit goods, but novelty seeking is positively related to the attitude. Further, managerial implications for branded smartphone manufacturers and telecommunications regulators are provided by the research.     

China’s Consumption Market on the Road to Recovery

The Party leadership’s proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021-2025)for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 were adopted by the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in October of 2020.The proposals clearly stated the need for“comprehensively promoting consumption”and made concrete arrangements for how to achieve this target.It is estimated that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period,the consumption and retail market will undergo rapid growth to become the backbone of China’s economic development.     

What determines firms’ intention to postpone product differentiation?

Abstract

In present-day Japan, more firms are beginning to apply postponed product differentiation in favor of providing mass-customized products. Mass customization can lead to competitive advantages in satisfying consumers’ individual needs. We propose a causal model to describe why and how Japanese distributors decide to postpone product differentiation and supply mass-customized products. The model was empirically tested by structural equation modeling with a dataset from Japanese automobile dealers, who have employed highly advanced mass customization systems and are world leaders in this practice. The results show that two environmental factors, uncertainty and innovation, affect firms’ expectations of their customers’ intentions to purchase mass-customized products and, in turn, firms’ decisions regarding postponing product differentiation in favor of mass customization. Mass customization has a high potential for growth in the future due to increasing levels of uncertainty and evolving forms of innovation.     

Consumers’ online responses to the death of a celebrity

Humans have long been fascinated with celebrated persons. Because celebrities are usually protected, fans rely on celebrity-related products to connect to a beloved individual. As symbolic embodiments of celebrities, these related products often become cherished personal possessions. The death of a celebrity appears to strongly elevate a celebrity’s stature and increase the value of the celebrity’s products. This research examined marketplace effects of celebrity deaths using longitudinal data obtained from online auctions. Results indicated that a celebrity's death strongly boosts demand for surviving memorabilia. Marketers were also found to act with incredible speed in offering products to meet this heightened demand. These findings suggest that the effect of death on memorabilia sales varied by product type and death context.     

Consumers’ Perceived Value and Willingness to Purchase Organic Food

ABSTRACT

The demand for organic products has rapidly expanded worldwide in recent years. However, the organic market remains a niche market in most countries, and research in this area remains limited. Further investigation is necessary to better understand consumer perceptions about organic food and the circumstances in which they are willing to purchase organic food. Accordingly, the authors seek to understand the perceived value that consumers associate with organic food and the factors that impact their willingness to purchase organic food. This study is exploratory in nature and uses a qualitative approach through the use of in-depth interviews. Findings from the study suggest that consumers who perceive a positive value with regard to organic food are more willing to purchase organic food, in which health was the primary perceived benefit. For consumers who perceive a negative value with regard to organic food, they are less willing to purchase organic food. Many did not see any difference between organic food and nonorganic food. Instead, they viewed the prices of organic food as being expensive and argued that more efforts are needed on their part to source for organic food. Implications and recommendations from research findings are also presented.     

Changes in Polish Farmers’ Attitudes Toward Risk After Poland’s Accession to the EU

This article presents the econometric estimation of the risk attitudes of Polish farmers. For that purpose, a model of production under risk has been employed. The research is based on data from the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), from the years 2004–2010. For the Polish farming sector, risk-related considerations became increasingly important after Poland’s EU accession in 2004. After the accession, Polish agriculture was affected by market liberalization, which was somewhat mitigated by CAP support. To examine the risk aversion of Polish farmers, an estimation procedure based on Antle’s (1987) approach has been applied. This study suggests that, as was the case in other countries, risk aversion decreased following EU accession, that is, the Arrow-Pratt measure of absolute risk aversion based on producers specializing in field crops systematically decreased over the analyzed period.