Customers’ perspectives regarding e-banking in an emerging economy

Determining factors affecting customer perception and attitude towards and satisfaction with e-banking is an essential part of a bank's strategy formulation process in an emerging economy like India. To gain this understanding in respect of Indian customers, the study was conducted on respondents taken from the northern part of India. The major findings depict that customers are influenced in their usage of e-banking services by the kind of account they hold, their age and profession, attach highest degree of usefulness to balance enquiry service among e-banking services, consider security & trust most important in affecting their satisfaction level and find slow transaction speed the most frequently faced problem while using e-banking.     

Chinese Luxury Consumers: Motivation,Attitude and Behavior

This study examines Chinese consumers’ motives, attitudes toward luxury brands (ATLB), and the impact of ATLB on consumer behavior. Specifically, Chinese luxury consumers were segmented into three groups: the elitist, the distant, and the democratic. Compared to the democratic group, the more one believes luxury is of good quality, the less likely one will belong to the distant group; the more likely one buys luxury for others, the more likely one belongs to the distant group. The more one buys luxury for self-actualization, the more likely one belongs to the elitist group. The more one consumes luxury for social comparison reasons, the more likely one belongs to the elitist. The more often one buys luxury for special times, the more likely one belongs to the elitist. Results show that the elitist on average bought more pieces of luxury products than the distant and the democratic.     

Understanding postorganic fresh fruit and vegetable consumers at participatory farmers’ markets in Ireland: reflexivity,trust and social movements

This paper examines how trusting relations between consumers and vendors of organic fresh fruits and vegetables (FFVs) in a particular type of farmers’ market (FM) in Ireland are established and maintained, and what the implications of this are. First, the food system is outlined, and then its attendant problems. These problems have led to various solutions, two of which are organic food and FMs. Then, the growth in these two areas is outlined, as is the accompanying growth in the academic literature on these two areas, some of which overlaps. Various pressures, including in particular the increasing distance food travels and disconnected stallholders and products at the FM, are suggested. In light of this, a need to apply an understanding of the reflexive consumer, trust and social movements is suggested. It is found that the consumers interviewed act reflexively by choosing to go to these FMs. They prioritize the trusting relationships built up through repeated personal contact at these FMs over and above organic certification. Along with and as part of this, they prioritize local, fresh, seasonal ‘chemical‐free’ FFVs over and above imported certified organic produce. Various aspects of collective identity formation, including modes of behaviour, objects and stories, and language, are involved in this process. These elements, to some extent, act as a buffer against the pressures of distance and disconnection. Along with this, the essential meaning of the word organic is, in this particular context, reconstructed to include various socio‐environmental values missing from some certified organic produce. The word postorganic is suggested. The main methodologies used are semistructured in‐depth interviews and participant observation.     

Effects of the preference for environmental quality on the export competition between China and OECD countries

This study examines how importers’ preferences for environmentally friendly products influence the effect of China’s export growth on the exports of OECD countries to third markets. The effect of China’s export growth is systematically investigated using the theoretical gravity model, which assumes that importers’ environmental preferences are heterogeneous among countries. A new measure is also proposed to represent importers’ revealed preferences for environmental quality across countries. Panel data consisting of observations for 30 OECD exporting countries and 60 importing countries over the 2000–10 period confirm that the crowding‐out effect of China’s export growth on the exports of OECD countries observed in markets for consumption goods and the dampening effect observed in markets for intermediate goods are becoming weaker as the importer preference for environmental quality becomes stronger.     

School lunch—Children’s space or teachers’ governmentality?

This article discusses social aspects of school lunches in Norway. How do 11‐year‐old students experience and perceive their packed lunches and lunch breaks and to what extent is the lunch break a space for children's sociality or an area for teachers’ governmentality? The study is based on 25 focus group discussions and drawing and writing assignments with 165 participants. A large proportion of the students expressed that they appreciated their packed lunches because they could decide for themselves what and how much to eat. Additionally, shortage of time and disturbance and noise in the classroom could ruin a good meal. The main issue that the students raised in relation to our question of sociality was with whom they could sit and eat their packed lunches. This finding underlines the importance of considering the emotional dimensions of eating and that commensal eating is not dependent on sharing the same food. The children experienced that the lunch break was governed by an adult agenda in which they had limited opportunities to create their own spaces.     

Information Technology Competence and Value Creation in Supplier-Customer Relationships

Abstract

IT has been proven to have revolutionized business reality in its totality. As such, modern information technologies (IT) may also have an impact on business relationships. However, a detailed analysis of the impact of IT on relationships is still missing. This paper, therefore, provides a discussion of the interplay between IT and relationship variables, i.e., relationship functions, trust and relationship value. An analysis of over 100 German supplier-buyer relationships shows that the impact of IT is not as straightforward as all too often postulated. Moderate levels of IT competence are proven to be the worst-case scenario and as such the main managerial conclusion of this paper is to avoid half-hearted utilization of IT in business relationships.     

上司支持感对员工工作态度和沉默行为的影响

采用问卷调查法,以珠三角地区企业组织的485名员工为研究对象,探讨了上司支持感对下属的组织承诺和工作投入两种工作态度以及沉默行为的影响及其作用机制.结构方程模型分析的结果表明:上司支持感对组织承诺和工作投入均具有显著的正向影响,对沉默行为具有显著的负向影响;上司信任和心理安全在上司支持感与组织承诺、工作投入以及沉默行为之间均起完全中介作用.     

Sports Marketing

Although text messaging as a communication tool in society is rampant, research on its effects within print advertisements is lacking. To help fill this void, we employ three between-subject experiments (i.e., Study 1: text message vs. no text message; Studies 2 and 3: text message vs. traditional language). We posit that using text message copy in print ads is a unique (as grounded in distinctiveness theory) and fitting (as grounded in communication trust theory) approach to commune with targeted viewers and, therefore, should lead to favorable advertising outcomes. The experimental results confirm this notion. For example, responses concerning ad novelty, attention toward the ad, attitude toward the ad, purchase intention, and perceived brand trust are more favorable toward the text message condition ads. Implications and directions for future text message-related research are discussed.