Consumer uncertainty,revisited

Uncertainty is an important concept within consumer behavior which to date is under‐theorized, especially in relation to important downstream variables such as information search intention and purchase intention, and can therefore lead to a loss of utility. The authors propose a new multidimensional conceptualization of consumer uncertainty and develop a theoretical model of uncertainty within two consumer behavior contexts, namely avoidance of sweatshop apparel and avoidance of food additives. Drawing on literature‐based insights as well as qualitative research and Expected Utility Theory, the authors develop hypotheses that offer insight into the potential antecedents (ambiguity and credibility) and consequences (search intention and purchase intention) of uncertainty. Using survey data, the authors test the hypotheses, finding strong support for many relationships hypothesized. Research and managerial implications are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Price Intransparency,Consumer Decision Making and European Consumer Law

Price comparison is a basic element of competition. For comparison to work, at least prices need to be transparent. Moreover, price is usually a focal point in consumer thinking and deciding on transactions. Hence, obfuscating prices can be detrimental to consumers. Therefore, it is vital for policymakers to know how transparent pricing is in reality. Commercial practices involving price intransparency can be detrimental to consumer decision making and may be associated with market failure. So, legislative intervention to ensure price transparency is sometimes warranted. Suppliers may disclose and frame pricing information in such ways as to influence consumers. For some suppliers, advantages may be gained by obfuscating price—through practices ranging from the outright hiding of price terms in the small print to subtle ways of throwing in gifts or adding charges during the vending process. Do consumers appreciate the implications of the fact that by framing price in different ways suppliers actually try to influence their demand for products? And how does the law broadly speaking respond to problems of price intransparency? In this article, behavioural science insights are combined with a legal analysis of European consumer law in order to chart some of the detrimental influences of price intransparency on the consumer decision-making process and to answer whether and to what extent European consumer law addresses these issues. In doing so, this article first reviews research from consumer psychology, marketing, and behavioural law, and economics regarding the influence of presentation, framing, and transparency of price on the consumer decision-making process. Subsequently, it describes and evaluates the legal framework offered by European consumer law and how this framework responds to practices of price intransparency. Particular problematic pricing techniques are identified and discussed. In conclusion, attention is drawn to the disadvantages of the increasing full harmonization character of European consumer law for combating price intransparency at Member State level.     

探究产品颜色、消费者性格和消费行为之间关系

通过梳理颜色和性格相关性理论研究以及性格和消费行为理论研究,发现到目前为止,对颜色、性格和消费者消费行为三者之间关系的实证研究比较少。基于此,论文选取某大学学生为研究对象,发放问卷500份,回收有效问卷338份,构建颜色-性格-消费行为理论模型。借助SPSS软件对数据进行相关分析。结果发现,不同颜色反应不同消费者性格,不同性格反映出不同消费行为,针对不同颜色反映出不同性格所表现出的不同消费行为提出有效的营销策略,希望此研究能为企业营销决策提供有力依据。     

消费教育中的"消协":职能、问题与改进思路

在与厂商的竞争中,消费者处于弱势地位,而消费者弱势的集中表现是信息不足.因此,消费教育的核心任务,就是通过种种途径和方法,增加消费者的知识和信息,提高消费质量,增强消费者的维权能力,降低消费风险.作为正式组织的消费者协会(或委员会),承担着重要的职责,在消费教育中的地位不可替代.     

创造需求不止是说说而己

YOU上了《时代》杂志封面，着实让网民震撼了一把。而在广告人眼中，YOU就是消费者，YOU早就上了广告人心中的封面。     

Credit, Debt and Consumer Protection

Should credit consumers always be deferred to? Dr Tom Sorell contributed to the British Open University Business School MBA programme, and is Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Essex.     

女性消费,我消费我做主

<正>"如今80%的商品被女人购买,现代经济在很大程度上依赖于女人对产品和服务的消费。"著名女权主义者杰曼·格里尔在其《完整的女人》(The Whole Woman)一书中这样评价女性对消费的冲击。这位被《时代》杂志形容为"连男人都会喜欢的女权主义者"也看到了问题的另一面——"女人并不仅仅满足于当前消费带来的愉悦"。女性的性格特征以及女性在家庭中的角色,决定了女性在消费者中是以先驱者的姿态存在的。     

消费信用与消费者破产研究

消费信用与消费者破产之间存在密切的联系。进入消费者破产程序的消费者必然有无法偿还的债务,而消费者只有接受了消费信用,才可能成为债务人,因此,消费信用是消费者破产的根本原因。消费信用越容易获得,消费者过度负债的可能性就越高,相应地,消费者对宽松的消费者破产制度的需求就越强烈。从消费市场的繁荣程度和消费者破产数量的关系来看,二者是成正比关系的。消费者破产制度作为消费信用的回收制度将影响消费信用的供给与需求,促进信用体系的建设。消费信用在我国进入快速发展时代,从控制社会危机的角度来看,消费者破产制度的建立已经迫在眉睫。     

Information,Incentives, and Proenvironmental Consumer Behavior

The article discusses the factors influencing proenvironmental consumer behaviors and the policy implications of knowledge about these influences. It presents a conceptual framework that emphasizes the determining roles of both personal and contextual factors and especially of their interactions. The practical usefulness of the framework is illustrated by evidence of the interactive effects of information and material incentives – typical interventions in the personal and contextual domains, respectively. The author concludes that incentives and information have different functions, so that efforts focused on only one are sometimes misplaced; however, properly deployed, they can have synergistic effects on behavior. Some policy conclusions are drawn for consumer and environmental policy.     

Consumer Acumen: Augmenting Consumer Literacy

Appreciating that some consumer scholars are expressing frustration with the limitations of consumer literacy, this article offers the additional construct of consumer acumen (i.e., an astute, penetrating mind and intellect). After discussing consumer confidence in a global recession and emergent post‐recession consumer segments (reflecting the recession's psychological toll), consumer acumen, modeled after the emergent literature on business acumen, is defined, including six proposed dimensions. Consumer acumen augments consumer literacy with keen, penetrating consumer intelligence that informs quick perception and discernment of changing economic contexts. Consumer acumen is a foundational competency for the future, enabling people to better function in the post‐recession economy.     

Brand Equity, Consumer Learning and Choice

The aim of this paper is to explore the links between brand equity, consumer learning and consumer choice processes in general and considering two recent trends in the market place: store brands and the Internet. We first review the advances that have occurred in brand equity research in marketing in the past decade, with particular emphasis on integrating the separate streams of research emanating from cognitive psychology and information economics. Brand equity has generally been defined as the incremental utility with which a brand endows a product, compared to its non-branded counterpart. We amplify this definition: we propose that brand equity be the incremental effect of the brand on all aspects of the consumer's evaluation and choice process. We propose an agenda of research based on this amplified definition.     

Consumer Perceptions of the Consumer Credit Process

This research contrasts the perceptions of consumers with those of loan officers faced with similar credit application situations. Fundamental misperceptions of the credit granting process are encountered. Consumers clearly misperceive the credit standards of both banks and finance companies. Given large interest rate differentials between loan sources and the narrow shopping scope of most consumers for consumer credit, equitable allocation of credit dollars demands greater appreciation of the nature of the credit evaluation process by lender and borrower.     

Consumer Knowledge and Understanding of Consumer Credit

Much has recently been written about the desirability of restrictive usury laws. While low maximum rates may prevent excessive charges to some, they also limit the ability of high-risk persons to borrow. Therefore, if consumers have a sufficient understanding of the credit market to realize what they are paying for and how much they are paying when they borrow, a case can be made against low maximum finance rates. This article reports on a nationwide study designed to measure consumer knowledge and understanding of consumer credit. The results are that while consumers can generally rank lenders correctly in terms of cost, there are serious gaps in their knowledge of the credit market. Education and income are the key determinants of knowledge and understanding of consumer credit.     

Agrifood Safety Standards,Market Power,and Consumer Misperceptions

This article analyzes how the public regulation of food safety influences a firm's strategic behaviour in a food chain. In this context, we provide an original theoretical framework to show how, regardless of the level of standard, food safety regulation may have unexpected harmful effects. Namely, the level of compliance costs alone cannot explain the producer exclusion due to a high level of standard. We highlight how upstream producers' involvement in the market also depends on the strategic interest of the downstream firm to remunerate their compliance process. Finally, we show how the actual level of risk does not necessarily decrease when the standard is reinforced.