Consumer Attitude and Visit Intention toward Food-Trucks: Targeting Millennials

Food-trucks are growing in popularity, and they are now part of the foodie culture. As they fit well with Millennials’ desire to try new things—new foods, and a new food culture—the number of trucks on the streets is expected to continue to rise. To understand, how millennial consumers think and make decisions about food-truck dining, this study identifies benefits and risks of food-truck dining and their impact on a millennial consumer’s attitude and visit intention. This study finds consumers see hygienic and environmental risk and convenience and hedonic benefits in food-truck dining. The findings from this study provide evidence that hygienic and environmental risks of food-trucks negatively influence consumers’ attitudes and visit intentions toward food-truck dining experience, while hedonic benefit leads to favorable attitude and visit intention. The findings further indicate that a significant relationship exists between consumer attitude and purchasing intention. This study helps food-truck marketers and operators to develop effective marketing and operational strategies to increase the visits of existing food-truck diners and attract potential consumers.     

The behavioural intentions of specialty coffee consumers in South Africa

More than 1.6 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide on a daily basis. South Africa is rapidly adapting to worldwide trends with speciality coffee consumption on the rise, with South Africa recently having been recognised as a key player in the speciality coffee industry. Emerging market trends in speciality coffee consumption have resulted in a number of changes in consumption patterns, preferences and consumer behaviour. The purpose of this study was to determine the behavioural intention of speciality coffee consumers in South Africa, using the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The data were gathered from a non‐probability sample of 327 respondents, who were selected through a self‐completion online questionnaire. The results indicate that males consume more speciality coffee than females. The majority of respondents consume speciality coffee more than once a day, and foam cappuccinos are consumed most regularly. The results of the stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrate the utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a conceptual framework for predicting the behavioural intention of speciality coffee consumers. The findings indicate that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control are important predictors of behavioural intention. Furthermore, perceived behavioural control is the most important factor influencing speciality coffee consumption, and the most influential of the direct measures of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. With the current rise in speciality coffee consumption among South Africans, the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework contributes to understanding those factors which influence regular speciality coffee consumption. It is recommended that marketers and practitioners adapt their offerings to appeal to the specific needs of the growing speciality coffee market in South Africa.     

Understanding Green Advertising Attitude and Behavioral Intention: An Application of the Health Belief Model

ABSTRACT

Despite the high interest in green advertising and its potential to foster sustainable consumerism, academic research in this area has been somewhat limited. The current study developed a predictor model of green advertising attitude and behavioral intention using environmental issue-focused factors that included the Health Belief Model, consumption-focused factors, and demographic factors to help understand the significant influences that shape global green advertising outcome. An online survey of 385 participants showed that a number of factors in both issue-focused (e.g., response-efficacy and ecocentric/anthropocentric attitudes) and consumption-focused (e.g., green product purchase frequency and past green product attitude) categories significantly predicted green advertising attitude and behavioral intention. Theoretical as well as practical implications of the findings will be discussed in detail.     

Life Insurance in Nigeria: An Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action to Consumers' Attitudes and Purchase Intention

This paper is concerned with consumers' attitudes towards purchase of life insurance in Nigeria. There is considerable unexploited potential for the life insurance market in Nigeria. However, due to lack of confidence based on continuous negative experiences, consumers tend not to buy. Data was gathered from 240 non-users of life insurance at Abuja, the federal capital city, using structured questionnaires based on the Theory of Reasoned Action; and questions were related to issues of non-consumption of life insurance. The findings show that increased level of consumer consciousness and lack of welfare benefits are encouraging growth factors for the life insurance market in Nigeria. Since the purchase intention towards life insurance is determined by normative factors, the recommendation is that the initial point of contact for marketing communications regarding the purchase of life insurance should be family and friends.     

Identifying the key purchase factors for organic food among Chinese consumers

The current study primarily aims to identify the critical purchase factors that affect Chinese consumer purchase intention and purchase decision with regard to organic food consumption, in accordance with a modified theory of planned behavior and the alphabet theory. Specifically, this study builds a conceptual research framework by which to delve into the relationships between purchase factors and purchase intention, and elucidate the mediating roles of purchase factors in the relationships between purchase intention and purchase decision. Moreover, by leveraging a modified theory of planned behavior and the alphabet theory, the current study also determines the critical roles of subjective norms and reveals the information and knowledge that impact consumer attitude toward the purchase of organic food. The current study leverages the purposive sampling method and captures 310 records within Beijing, China. The results indicate that purchase attitude correlates positively with subjective norms and knowledge, while purchase intention correlates positively with purchase attitude, perceived behavior control, and food therapy culture. Furthermore, purchase intention can significantly mediate relationships between each of purchase attitude, perceived behavior control, food therapy culture, and purchase decision. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical significance of the framework, and propose subsequent research directions regarding organic food purchase behavior.     

Behavioural responses to service encounter involving failure and recovery: the influence of contextual factors

This study investigates two features of customer satisfaction within the context of service failure and recovery: (i) the effect of perceived justice on customer satisfaction and (ii) the effect of customer satisfaction on repurchase intentions, negative word-of-mouth, and intention to complain. The study takes into account the influence of important contextual factors, including severity of failure, recovery responsiveness, attitude toward complaining, switching cost, and the relationship level. Based on a survey of 556 customers with complaints in Brazil, the results supported the influence of perceived justice on satisfaction and of satisfaction on behavioural responses. Specifically, findings revealed that perceived failure severity, attitude toward complaining, and switching costs were the more relevant contextual factors, as these were significantly associated with satisfaction, intention to complain, and negative word-of-mouth.     

To Blow or not to Blow: An Experimental Study on the Intention to Whistleblow on Software Piracy

Using the Behavioral Reasoning Theory, we examine the factors that determine individuals' attitudes toward and intentions to whistleblow on the use of pirated software. A scenario-based experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of the relationship between the potential whistleblower and wrongdoing party as well as the monetary incentive and the level of legal protection provided to the whistleblowers. Results suggest that the relationship with the company and legal protection had moderating effects on the relationship between whistleblowing attitude and intention. The study provides theoretical understanding regarding whistleblowing behavior in the context of software piracy as well as numerous managerial implications for the stakeholders of the software industry.     

Attitude Toward and Propensity to Engage in Unethical Behavior: Measurement Invariance across Major among University Students

This research examines business and psychology students’ attitude toward unethical behavior (measured at Time 1) and their propensity to engage in unethical behavior (measured at Time 1 and at Time 2, 4 weeks later) using a 15-item Unethical Behavior measure with five Factors: Abuse Resources, Not Whistle Blowing, Theft, Corruption, and Deception. Results suggested that male students had stronger unethical attitudes and had higher propensity to engage in unethical behavior than female students. Attitude at Time 1 predicted Propensity at Time 1 accurately for all five factors (concurrent validity): If students consider it to be unethical, then, they are less likely to engage in that unethical behavior. Attitude at Time 1 predicted only Factor Abuse Resources for Propensity at Time 2. Propensity at Time 1 was significantly related to Propensity at Time 2. Attitude at Time 1, Propensity at Time 1, and Propensity at Time 2 had achieved configural and metric measurement invariance across major (business vs. psychology). Thus, researchers may have confidence in using these measures in future research.Yuh-Jia Chen received his Ph.D. in Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at Teachers College, Columbia University (with a M.A. in Organizational Psychology and M.S. in Applied Statistics). His research interests lie in choice and decision making under risk, money attitude, and resource allocation behavior. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Middle Tennessee State University.Thomas Li-Ping Tang (Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University) is a Full Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Marketing, Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 37132. He has taught Industrial and Organizational Psychology at National Taiwan University and at MTSU. His primary research interests are in work motivation, compensation, money attitudes, the Love of Money, unethical behavior, pay satisfaction, turnover, stress, and cross-cultural issues. He has published more than 100 journal articles (e.g., Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Management Research, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Business Ethics) and presented more than 180 papers in professional conferences and invited seminars around the world. He is (was) a member of the review board for 5 journals and serves as a reviewer for 26 journals around the world. He was the winner of two Outstanding Research Awards (1991, 1999) and Distinguished International Service Award (1999) at Middle Tennessee State University. He also received the Best Reviewer Award from the International Management Division of the Academy of Management in Seattle, WA (2003).     

Veganism: Theory of planned behaviour,ethical concerns and the moderating role of catalytic experiences

The growing movement of veganism culture is drawing increasing scientific attention but falls short of an empirical investigation to examine antecedents and catalytic experiences for maintaining vegan diets. An integrated theoretical framework is proposed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour Model (TPB) and includes ethical concerns to investigate the interrelationships. Comparisons are also made by adopting the strength of high and low ethical catalytic experiences of each consumer group to identify moderating results. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling from the responses of 478 vegan consumers. Results indicate that the TPB factors exert positive effects on the buying intention and ethical concerns mediate the relationship between attitudes and intention, as well as between PBC and intention, however, social norms did not impact ethical concerns.While consumers experiencing high catalytic experience had no significance, low catalytic experience consumers showed an inverse significant moderating relationship on PBC and maintaining vegan diets. Whereas the relationship for ethical concerns influencing the intention to buy vegan foods was significant and positive for the high catalytic experienced consumer, but not significant for the low catalytic experienced consumer. The moderating results for social norms were not significant on ethical concerns for the high catalytic experienced consumer but were negatively significant for the low catalytic experienced consumers indicating that the effect of peer pressure increase, results in a decline for ethical considerations.These findings offer strong theoretical and practical implications by contributing to the understanding of consumers’ behavioural intention to undertake vegan diets and extending our knowledge for formulating retail strategies to effectively tailor their offerings for this consumer segment.     

The reward gap in hierarchical loyalty programmes: how to enhance bottom-tier customers’ loyalty without alienating top-tier customers

ABSTRACT

Reward gap is the difference in the number and nature of rewards allocated to specific customer groups (or tiers) in a hierarchical loyalty programme. Building on the social comparison, equity and attribution theories, and two experiments conducted in a retailing context, we investigate the effect of reward gap size and visibility on both bottom-tier (BT) and top-tier (TT) customers. Findings from Study 1 show that a large reward gap reduces loyalty to the programme in BT customers, while it enhances it in TT customers. These effects are mediated by perceived fairness and perceived control. Findings from Study 2 show that a non-visible large reward gap increases loyalty to the programme in BT customers without affecting it in TT customers. This effect is mediated only by perceived fairness. Altogether, the findings highlight the mechanisms that explain the effect of the reward gap on BT and TT customers’ loyalty to the programme.     

Making decision with an alternative mind-set: Predicting entrepreneurial intention toward f-commerce in a cross-country context

Facebook commerce (f-commerce) is a relatively new online entrepreneurial initiative that employs Facebook as an electronic space to promote and implement commercial trades. Available empirical research on f-commerce indicates that research on factors affecting entrepreneurial intention toward f-commerce is sparse. Grounded on the theory of bounded rationality, this paper investigates the drivers of f-commerce entrepreneurial intention of young generation on a cross-nationality basis. Data were gathered from the young pool of senior university students from three countries through self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed utilizing PLS-SEM. Findings indicate that all of the predictors appear to be robust in predicting f-commerce entrepreneurial intention of the young adults of all three countries. These outcomes will help potential young entrepreneurs in selecting f-commerce entrepreneurship as an option for their future career.     

Consumers' willingness to buy products with environmental and ethical claims: the roles of social representations and social identity

This study investigates how social representations and consumers' identification with organic food consumers affects intentions to buy products that make environmental and ethical claims. For the purposes of the study, an online panel study was conducted on a representative sample of consumers (n = 1006) in the United Kingdom. The results demonstrate that consumers who are adherent to natural foods or technology and do not perceive food as a necessity are more willing to buy environmentally friendly and ethical products. There seems to be no relationship between perceptions of food as a source of enjoyment and intentions to buy sustainable products. Finally, social identification with the organic consumer is positively related with the intentions to buy products that make environmental and ethical claims. The current research demonstrates that both individual perceptions of food and consumers' perceptions of the social environment play an important role in promoting environmentally friendly and ethical behaviour.     

Keeping up with the neighbors: The role of cluster identity in internationalization

This paper explores the implications of the collective identity of a regional cluster on firms’ internationalization. Prior research has established the value of cluster “insidership” through access to knowledge and resources. Through a longitudinal study, we find that cluster identity, through distinct identity claims, provides imperatives and shapes the motivation of firms to internationalize. These imperatives, we argue, stem from cluster identity seen as defined features of regional collectives, extending reference theory to encompass the role of social cues from similar firms located geographically close. The imperatives are particularly salient in the early stages of firms’ internationalization, adding the role of cluster identity to explain the differences between inexperienced and experienced firms in internationalization.     

How to reduce coordination failure in option-dated forward contracts: the compensatory role of relational governance

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between prior ties and informal norms in achieving interorganizational coordination as an outcome of exchange efficiency. The data from the hotels operating in the Antalya tourism region show that prior ties reduce the potential for unfair rents from ex post renegotiations in flexible contractual settings. Hence, informal norms from prior ties result in enhancing efficiency of interorganizational exchange relationships with a consistent and effective management of operational risks from external environment. Overall, this study contributes to the governance literature by exemplifying compensatory role of relational governance from prior ties in coordination failure of option-dated forward contracts.     

Assessing the Role of Nationalistic Feelings in Consumers' Willingness to Take Action Against Foreign Products: An Exploratory Study in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This study draws on the social dominance theory and the intergroup relations theory to explore the impact of nationalistic feelings on consumers' willingness to take action against foreign products. This exploratory study was conducted in Brazil, using two countries as treatment conditions: Paraguay and the USA. Consistent with expectations, the mere existence of a commercial conflict involving the home country and a foreign nation seems to be sufficient to raise nationalistic feelings (a “them” against “us” feeling). The results also show that consumers' willingness to take action against products of the adversary country prompted by these nationalistic feelings might be mediated by their perception of group (nation) economic power (dominance).

RESUMEN. Este estudio se basa en la teoría del dominio social y la teoría de las relaciones intergrupales para explorar el impacto que los sentimientos nacionalistas ejercen sobre la buena voluntar de los consumidores de actuar contra los productos extranjeros. Este estudio exploratorio fue realizado en el Brasil, usando dos países como condiciones de tratamiento: Paraguay y los Estados Unidos. De conformidad con las expectativas, la mera existencia de un conflicto comercial involucrando el país de origen y la nación extranjera parece ser suficiente para despertar sentimientos nacionalistas (un sentimiento de “ellos” contra “nosotros”). Los resultados también muestran la buena voluntad de los consumidores de tomar alguna acción contra los productos provenientes del país adversario, disparados por este sentimiento nacionalista que puede ser mediado por su percepción del poder (dominio) económico del grupo (nación).

RESUMO. Este estudo utiliza a teoria do domínio social e das relações entre grupos, para explorar o impacto do sentimento nacionalista na vontade do consumidor de rejeitar produtos estrangeiros. Este estudo exploratório foi realizado no Brasil, utilizando dois países como base de consulta: o Paraguai e os Estados Unidos. De acordo com as expectativas, a mera existência de um conflito comercial, envolvendo o país de residência e um país estrangeiro, parece ser suficiente para elevar os sentimentos nacionalistas (um sentimento “deles” contra um “nosso”). Os resultados também demonstram que a vontade do consumidor de rejeitar os produtos do país adversário, estimulada por tais sentimentos nacionalistas, pode ser influenciada pela sua percepção de poder (domínio) do grupo (nação) econômico.     

What and how to communicate about a corporate brand with the consumers: An exploratory study

The present exploratory study investigates the differential impact of various relevant corporate brand associations on consumers' cognitive (product attitude and purchase intention) and affective responses (affective corporate commitment) in the three sectors, namely durables, services and fast moving consumer goods. The findings reveal that corporate brand associations can be categorised into two categories – universal associations, which are influential in all the sectors, and sector-specific associations, which have a differential effect on consumers in different sectors. Thus, this study reveals that corporate branding is important to consumers in all the sectors, but a single corporate brand story does not work in all the sectors. Further, corporate associations do not always have a positive effect on the consumers; under certain circumstances, these might either have no effect or have a negative effect on the consumers. Finally, there are two routes by which corporate brand associations can influence consumers – by affecting their cognitive responses or by influencing their affective responses towards the company. The recognition of the important corporate brand associations in the three sectors, and the routes (cognitive or affective) through which these associations influence consumer choices would enable marketers to develop more sophisticated corporate communication strategies.     

Back to basics in the marketing of place: the impact of litter upon place attitudes

Abstract

Attempts to apply marketing theory and principles to place have become a legitimate area of academic and ‘real world’ practice. However, place marketing does not typically incorporate all elements of the traditional 7 Ps, focusing far too often on just one of these – promotion. Besides this rather myopic approach, place marketing suffers from an overly strategic view of the world that ignores the meaning and lived experience of places to individuals, especially residents. The purpose of this article is twofold – first, we investigate the impact of litter on place attitudes. Litter is a common, but negative, element of place, which is intimately connected to the lived experience of a place but typically far removed from the positive promotional activity favoured by place marketing efforts and the study thereof. In this sense, the article reframes place marketing from a strategic to a micro-marketing endeavour. We found that exposing respondents to litter significantly lowers their place attitudes. Our second contribution is to demonstrate the relevance of classic marketing research approaches, such as attitudinal measures, to investigate litter and its impact on place evaluations, through quasi-experimental design (with 662 respondents). Through this, we extend the range of theory and method applied in place marketing – away from controllable promotional endeavours investigated through case-studies to a more holistic and robust interpretation of place marketing, which has a measurable impact upon the places where people live and visit.     

An integrative approach to relationship marketing,customer value,and customer outcomes in the retail banking industry: a customer-based perspective from Turkey

Given how important it is to provide superior value to customers and to maintain customer loyalty for a sustainable competitive advantage, the aim of this paper is to examine the relationships among relationship marketing components of – trust, competency, commitment, communication, and conflict handling, – relationship investment, relationship quality, perceived customer value, satisfaction and loyalty in an integrated framework in the Turkish retail banking industry. Unlike previous studies, this research extends the literature by analysing affective as well as cognitive dimensions in the same model with a holistic view by simultaneously examining the direct and indirect effects of the related concepts. The distinctive nature of this study is its evaluation of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the perspective of actual consumers. The research model was tested using data collected from 685 retail banking customers by applying structural equation modelling. The findings show that relationship marketing induces loyalty through relationship quality, customer value, and satisfaction, which are mainly provided by trust, communication, and relationship investment. Furthermore, relationship investment and relationship quality are the most important factors in the development of customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty. The emotional value dimension, which captures the affective aspects of perceived value, has the strongest effect on both satisfaction and loyalty.     

Dark personality in dark times: How Dark Triad personality interacts with injustice and politics to influence detachment and discretionary behaviours

Using two-wave time-lagged multi-source data in two studies, we examine how Dark Triad personality (DTP) interacts with contextual variables to influence psychological detachment and discretionary behaviours. In Study 1 (N = 288), we examine the combined effects of DTP and perceived injustice on psychological detachment and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs). In Study 2 (N = 461), we examine the combined effects of DTP and perceived organizational politics (POP) on counterproductive work behaviours (CWB) and psychological detachment. We found that Dark Triad personality was positively related to psychological detachment and CWBs and negatively related to OCBs. The effects of the DTP on psychological detachment, OCBs, and CWBs were stronger when perceived injustice and POP was high.