Hispanic consumer acculturation and food safety concerns

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of Hispanic consumer acculturation on concerns about food safety and pesticide residues, and attitudes toward pesticide-related agricultural practices. Two 3-min bilingual, English and Spanish, videos presenting information on integrated pest management (IPM) farming practices were shown in controlled settings to Californian Hispanic consumers (n = 91). Findings reveal that acculturation among Hispanic consumers, language of use and length of residency in the United States, are significant factors associated with consumer concerns about the safety of domestic grown and imported produce at the supermarket. Overall, however the research suggests a substantial lack of information by Hispanic consumers regardless of level of acculturation. Pre- and post-video survey results show significant change in attitude among Hispanic consumers toward food safety, farming practices, and university efforts to help farmers control pests and assist with other management techniques. These findings suggest that bilingual educational programmes on food safety and the use of pesticides by farmers would be appropriate.     

Trade and economic development in Taiwan

Taiwan’s remarkable growth record has been the result of an outward-looking, export propelled development strategy. Recently unfavourable political and economic events have adversely affected Taiwan’s economy. This article analyses the country’s economic development and appraises its future prospects.     

Exploring the antecedents and consumer behavior consequences of the trait of superstition

In two exploratory studies, a hierarchical model of personality was employed to investigate a number of possible trait antecedents and consumer‐behavior–related consequences of superstition. One of the interesting findings was that the antecedents of superstition include a lower need for learning among older adults, higher levels of sports interest, a belief in fate, and a decreased belief in heaven and hell. In addition, the results suggested that the consequences of superstition might include beliefs in astrology, magic, psychokinesis, and the existence of fictitious creatures (e.g., the Loch Ness monster). Evidence suggesting a negative association between superstitious beliefs and attitudes concerning the genetic engineering of food products was also obtained. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

消费经济理论的回顾与展望

随着改革开放20多年实践的发展,我国的消费经济理论研究不断向纵深拓展,取得了突破性进展,为创造具有中国特色的消费经济理论奠定了初步的基础。     

Conceptualizing and measuring consumer perceptions of retailer innovativeness in Taiwan

This study aims to develop a reliable and valid measure of perceived retailer innovativeness (PRI) in Taiwan. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were employed. A qualitative content analysis from six focus group interviews concludes a specific form of PRI. The quantitative study, which contains 486 7-Eleven and 489 Carrefour consumers, provides an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in examining the validity of PRI scale. Consumer perceptions of retailer innovativeness can be conceptualized as emotions, cognitions, and behavior responses evoked by store-related stimuli that are part of the offerings, services, design, and activities of a store. Four dimensions have been identified, namely, perceived product-related, service-related, promotion-related, and experience-related innovation capabilities. The PRI scale might be valued by academic scholars for its application for future studies, particularly in an era of intense competition in which innovation is considered as a critical strategic tool for differentiation.     

Exploring antecedents and consequences of consumer ethnocentrism: evidence from Asian immigrants in the US

The US is a multicultural society due to its growing number of ethnic minorities. These ethnic populations have made intracultural studies more difficult because of the different senses of identity and degrees of acculturation the varied groups possess. The current study examined the impact of perceived ethnicity (Asian vs. Asian American) and acculturation level (low vs. high) on consumer ethnocentrism towards the country of immigration (the US) and its consequences with respect to Asian immigrants, the fastest growing minority in the US. One hundred and eighty‐five responses from Asian immigrants were collected through a convenience sample from a university campus located in the southwest US as well as a snowball sampling technique. Results revealed that perceived ethnicity and acculturation play an important role in influencing Asian immigrants' ethnocentrism towards the US, which in turn affects their attitudes and behavioural intentions towards products made in the US. Implications and future research directions are suggested.     

Examining consumer experience in using m-banking apps: A study of its antecedents and outcomes

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents and outcomes of consumer experience (CX) with mobile banking (m-banking) apps. To understand the linkage of CX with other constructs, data collection was done using a structured questionnaire through an online survey. A sample of 473 respondents were analysed using structural equation modeling by testing the proposed hypotheses in AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) version 22.0. The findings revealed that convenience, trust, and social influence play a significant role in enhancing CX with the m-banking app use. Apps attributes was found to be relatively less important and no relationship was found between customer support and CX. Customer loyalty and customer intention to continue using the m-banking apps were observed as significant outcome variables. This study will contribute to the growing literature on CX and will guide managers in recognizing the importance of CX in designing appropriate strategies for the promotion of m-banking and engaging their customers in a developing country context.     

基于经济持续增长的消费金融发展问题研究

伴随居民消费结构升级,我国消费金融发展迅速,逐步产生了信用卡、个人住房贷款、个人汽车消费贷款、助学贷款、个人大额耐用消费品贷款及旅游贷款等消费金融业务。为促进我国经济可持续增长,应从完善社会保障体系、健全消费金融法律法规、建立和完备个人信用体系、成立消费金融担保机构等方面做出进一步改革,以充分挖掘我国消费金融发展空间。     

Psychological antecedents of consumer trust in CRM campaigns and donation intentions: The moderating role of creativity

Cause-related marketing (CRM) refers to charitable donation contingent on consumer purchase of a product by supporting a specific cause that is linked to a non-profit organization (NPO). The present research examines the influence of consumer psychographic traits on trust in CRM campaign and its resulting impact on intention to donate money to NPO. The results indicate that collectivism and hedonism have positive effect on trust in CRM campaign, but individualism and utilitarianism have negative effect on trust in CRM campaign. Moreover, the result shows that trust in the CRM campaign had significant positive effect on donation intentions. We further have investigated the role of cognitive process and demonstrated the moderating effect of creativity on the impact of trust in CRM campaign and donation intentions, such that the higher level of creativity led to higher level of donation intentions, if consumers have trust in CRM campaign. This research offers marketers and advertising professionals’ practical insights to design effective CRM campaigns. Additionally, it assists NPO managers to understand the crucial role of trust and creativity in CRM campaigns and its positive impact on donation intentions. Academic and managerial implications of this research study along with future directions are discussed.     

Conceptualising consumer economic nationalistic tendencies: scale development and validation

Economic nationalism has been identified as a critical component of nationalistic sentiment, influencing cognitions, attitudes, evaluation and purchase intentions. While a distinction is made between economic nationalism and other measures of national and international orientation (i.e. consumer ethnocentrism), previous empirical studies explore the concept in a ‘unified’ form. This study bridges this gap by developing a scale specifically tailored to measure consumer economic nationalistic tendencies. Scale generation, purification, validation and confirmation are achieved through four studies.     

Retailers with traits of consumer: Exploring the existence and antecedents of brand loyalty in small unorganized retailers

Retail in most emerging countries, like India, is dominated by the informal sector consisting of small unorganized retailers and marketers selling through them desperately want to win them over because it can be a powerful competitive advantage in these markets.Small unorganized retail store is a unique setting because most of these stores are owned and managed by individual proprietors who are neither schooled in systematic business decision making and nor have access to professional expertise and scientific tools to assist in taking business decisions in a systematic way. With loads of decisions to be made by this individual, it can be assumed that heuristics and common sense drive a lot of their business decisions and this makes them very similar to the decision making done by the end consumers, who also engage in buying decisions but are not scientific in their approach.Based on this similarity, this study attempts to explore a simple but profound question that like individual consumers, do these retail customers’ buying decisions also get affected by brand loyalty? In that direction, the study assesses the role of three variables - salesperson quality, self-experience with the brand and perceived company support, for predicting brand loyalty in small unorganized retailers.Using Structured Equation Modelling on data collected from 543 retailers, the proposed hypothesized paths have been tested. The results strongly support the proposition made. This study extends the application of the existing attitudinal – behavioural framework of brand loyalty to retailers and puts forward a vital and a unique way for marketers to get these retailers on-board and work as an influencer to push their brand.     

Safety of the U.S. food supply: consumer concerns and behaviour

To examine consumer concern about food safety, identify characteristics of those most concerned, and determine behavioural responses to concerns, we used mailed questionnaires to survey a random sample of 630 adults. Eighty-eight percent of respondents were very or somewhat concerned about safety of the food supply. Subjects perceived greatest likelihood of harm from chemicals and lowest likelihood of harm from bacterial contamination. Relative to other concerns about food such as cost or taste, food safety ranked low. Because the concern was across all ages, education levels, genders, and places of residence, we were unable to define a type of person most likely to be concerned about food safety. Less than half the subjects had changed dietary behaviour in response to food safety concerns. Foods reduced or eliminated from the diet most often were meats, fruits, eggs and vegetables. The findings indicate that consumers need risk assessment education and help in making food choices that do not compromise diet quality.     

Interfirm strategic integration in retailer buying groups: antecedents and consequences on the retailer's economic satisfaction

Abstract

Independent small retailers have shown a growing trend toward joining buying groups as a means to compete against large distribution chains. The retailer's strategic integration of the relationship with the buying group (RSI), i.e., the retailer's recognition of this relationship as a strategic asset, is the focal theoretical construct of this study. With a sample of retailers of home appliances that are integrated in a buying group, the empirical test of two alternative models about the antecedents and consequences of RSI has confirmed that the concept plays an important and significant mediational role in explaining the effects of environment and relational characteristics on the retailer's satisfaction with the buying group. The author discusses the theoretical implications of the results obtained and explores consequences for decision makers.     

Cultural influences on consumer satisfaction with impulse and planned purchase decisions

This study examines factors thought to influence consumers' planned and impulse purchase decisions including subjective culture (individualist or collectivist consumers) and the presence of another person at the time of purchase. Data was collected in four countries — the USA, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia. The results indicate that overall, consumers are differentially influenced by others in planned and impulse purchase situations, even after controlling for price. These differential influences can be explained by culture. Compared to more individualist consumers, more collectivist consumers are likely to be more satisfied with an impulse purchase when another person is present at the time of purchase.     

Prediction of choice in a technically complex,essentially intangible,highly experiential,and rapidly evolving consumer product

This study compares the effectiveness of the theory of reasoned action, the most well known attitudinal approach, with that of traditional conjoint analysis, the most popular utilitarian approach, in predicting choice among real brands of word processing software. Results suggest that traditional conjoint analysis has a significantly higher first choice hit rate than the theory of reasoned action. With products such as word processing software, a utilitarian approach may be better than an attitudinal approach for predicting consumer choice. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An evolving historical paradigm: from ‘home economics' to ‘family and consumer sciences’1

With the professional name change in the United States of ‘home economics' to ‘family and consumer sciences’, the purpose of this paper is to facilitate communicating an understanding of our profession to our students. This paper focuses on an historical perspective depicting a progression of conceptualizations about the profession. Four developmental models are presented to provide a system of organization that will help students develop their professional identity. This paper is a reflection of an individual journey to gain a personal-professional identity. The sharing of this pilgrimage and the visual models that have been developed to enhance its communication have become a valuable resource and meaningful part of an undergraduate core class that provides students with the initiative to begin their own professional clarifications.     

Return freight strategies and selling formats in e-commerce supply chain: The perspective of consumer fairness concerns and online shopping returns

Returns and consumer fairness concerns put a huge pressure on manufacturers who sell their products online. The optimal selling format and return freight strategy become particularly important for manufacturers in an e-commerce supply chain. Therefore, we build game models for the following scenarios under different selling formats: the seller bearing the return freight costs or the return-freight insurance premiums, consumers buying insurance for themselves, and no one buying insurance. By comparing the optimal solutions of the game models under reselling and agency formats, several conclusions are derived. In the agency format, if the return-freight insurance premium is higher than a particular threshold, then the optimal strategy of the manufacturer is to decrease the selling price to encourage consumers to purchase the insurance, otherwise, the manufacturer should purchase the insurance. As the level of consumer fairness concerns and platform commission rates increase, the manufacturer should gradually move from the agency to reselling format. In the reselling format, if the return-freight insurance premium is lower than a particular threshold, then consumers will purchase insurance and this will make the platform more profitable, and conversely, the platform should bear the return freight costs.