Consumers’ perspectives on online banking services

The forces of economic change, coupled with advancements in technology, prompt banks to rethink their use of traditional branches and begin forming new partnerships to deliver financial services. The Internet seems to be the new delivery channel in the banking sector. Factors such as the security of personal data or the reliability of a financial institution have been identified by previous studies as the determinants of electronic‐banking adoption. In this paper, a series of new factors, such as the difficulties of using the Internet, are shown to play a crucial role in the consumer’s attitude – adoption or rejection – of this new alternative channel. We examine consumer behaviour by modelling multivariate categorical response data using a generalized linear model. Our choice model is based on the assumption that an individual’s decision to use electronic services depends on a number of explanatory variables, and we try to estimate the factors that affect an individual’s decision to use online services.     

Context Effects on Older Consumers’ Cognitive Age: The Role of Hedonic versus Utilitarian Goals

This paper deals with older consumers’ cognitive age (i.e., the age they feel), which is self‐assessed as systematically lower than their chronological age (i.e., their actual age). Such a tendency would lead older consumers to display attitudes and purchasing behaviors, which are not typical of people of their real age. Two studies show that cognitive age is not an immutable construct but varies according to its context of reference, so that the same individual may feel different ages under different circumstances. Results demonstrate that the declared cognitive age is affected by the physical environment, the social references, and the product categories that the consumer is using when self‐assessing it. Furthermore, the tendency of older consumers to feel younger is stronger when these consumers are pursuing in these contexts hedonic rather than utilitarian goals. These findings provide novel inputs for the development of appropriate ways to measure cognitive age and to deal with it when targeting senior consumers and positioning hedonic versus utilitarian goods.     

Consumers’ green commitment: indication of a postmodern lifestyle?

Green consumer behaviour is one of the key focuses of contemporary research on the sociology of consumption. The constant presence of environmental issues related to consumption and the changes consumer society has faced during the 20th century are presumed to reflect on present consumer behaviour. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, the postmodern elements of consumer society will be discussed; second, the study analyses to what extent these elements of postmodernism fit with the phenomenon of contemporary green consumerism. The empirical part utilizes Finnish consumer behaviour‐related data from 2003, which were analysed by applying various statistical methods. In this part, the study reports of the connection between lifestyle and green commitment. Lifestyle is measured by consumption styles and green commitment by certain environment‐related consumption choices. The results suggest that different lifestyles explain green commitment better than traditional socio‐economic background variables. The effect of postmodernism on green consumer behaviour is, thus, discussed.     

Consumers’ views of breast care services in Ireland

One Irish woman in 14 develops breast cancer. There are 1700 new cases each year. These rates compare poorly with EU figures. The government indicated in 1995 that it favoured rapid, comprehensive diagnostic facilities, using the triple assessment model of clinical care, to improve survival rates and to diminish the anxiety women experience about breast cancer. Implementation of this policy was delayed until 1999, when a plan for centres of excellence in breast care was conceived. To compliment this plan, the Department of Health and Children wanted consumer views on existing breast care services. The Women’s Health Council was asked by the Department of Health and Children, through the National Cancer Forum, to conduct research on women’s views and reactions as consumers of existing services for symptomatic breast disease. The research team was asked to document women’s views on: diagnostic services; counselling; additional treatment services such as surgery and radiotherapy. The methodology consisted of four strands: questionnaires and focus groups with consumers of breast care services; postal questionnaires to clinic staff and a literature review. Striking aspects were the long delays women experienced before obtaining a completed diagnosis; often chaotic clinic settings which added greatly to women’s shock and anxiety; the lack of support if they received a diagnosis of cancer; and problems relating to limited resources for cancer treatment, including radiotherapy. We explored women’s coping mechanisms and their experiences, in the context of the model of quality of care. Finally, we argue that a centre of excellence must develop a multidimensional model of breast disease care that incorporates the full range of psycho‐social dimensions for women, if it is to earn its claim to excellence.     

Consumers’ perceptions of the fairness of price-matching refund policies

This paper examines the antecedents and consequences of perceived price-matching policy fairness. Among the antecedents, we study the effects of the refund depth if a lower competitive price is identified, the degree that the retail product assortment is available at competing retailers, and the consumers’ inference as to the retailer's motive for the price-matching policy. Product assortment uniqueness is identified as a key driver of fairness perceptions, both directly and indirectly through inferred motive. The three experiments show that consumers’ perceptions of the fairness of a store's pricing policy influence their price fairness perceptions, consequently influencing their retail shopping intentions.     

Effects of Consumption Frequency on Believability and Attitudes Toward Alcohol Warning Labels

Alcohol consumption frequency and alcohol warning label type are examined for their influence on label believability, attitude toward the label, and attitude confidence. Findings from a convenience sample of students indicate a differential impact among five warning labels on label believability and label attitudes. As expected, frequent alcohol users find the labels to be significantly less believable and less favorable than occasional/nonusers of alcohol. However, occasional/nonusers of alcohol hold more confident attitudes toward the labels than frequent alcohol users.     

Determinants of Consumers’ Decisions to Seek Third Party Redress: An Empirical Study of Dissatisfied Patients

A dissatisfied consumer's decision to seek redress from third parties has significant implications for society in general and the focal industry in particular, yet little is known about why consumers choose such actions. To address this gap, a generalizable, comprehensive, and testable model of the processes that result in consumers’ decisions (not) to engage in one or more third party actions is developed. In addition, results from an empirical investigation of a portion of the proposed model are presented. The empirical model explains 65 percent of the variance in the dependent construct. Several implications and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Social Sharing of Online Videos: Examining American Consumers’ Video Sharing Attitudes,Intent, and Behavior

The present study integrated the theory of planned behavior, technology acceptance model, and Palka et al.'s (2009) viral marketing model to examine U.S. consumers’ online video sharing attitudes, intent, and behavior. Two online surveys of 318 U.S. college students and 370 U.S. general consumers were conducted consecutively in April 2012 and May 2012 to strengthen the study's reliability and validity. Results show that perceived pleasure and cost served as important predictors of online video sharing attitudes among college students and general consumers. Their intent to share online videos was predicted by perceived pleasure and normative influences, attitudes, and social media use. The number of online videos they shared was determined by online video consumption, intenteh, normative influences, and social media use. Sharing of online videos is different from sharing other online content in that perceived utilities and behavioral control do not really matter. The findings carry important implications for academic researchers, online marketers, and video publishers.     

企业战略差异、产品市场竞争与风险提示信息

以2010-2018年中国A股上市公司为研究对象,按照竞争程度—信息环境—战略安排的研究范式,考察企业战略差异对年报风险提示信息的影响及产品市场竞争的调节作用.研究发现:企业战略差异度越大,年报风险提示信息越多;随着产品市场竞争程度的提高,战略差异度对风险提示信息的增强作用有所减弱.进一步分析表明,战略差异度通过企业风险承担和信息不对称影响风险提示信息的披露;同时,产品市场竞争作为影响公司治理的一种重要外部机制,能够通过竞争压力传导促使企业强化内部治理,从而对企业战略和风险信息披露产生影响.     

Consumers’ use of information intermediaries and the impact on their information search behavior in the financial market

An information intermediary is a human or a nonhuman party designed to assist consumers in information processing. The current study identifies factors determining the likelihood of using human information intermediaries and the effects of using information intermediaries on the amount and the pattern of overall information search. The proposed model is built based on a value‐intention framework and tested in the context of financial investment decisions. The results indicate that a low level of perceived expertise in financial management, a large amount of total financial assets, and a high opportunity cost of time enhance the perceived value of information intermediaries, thus increasing the likelihood of using information intermediaries. We also find that the use of information intermediaries is positively associated with the overall extent of information search and influences the likelihood of using other information sources.     

Consumers’ attitudes,knowledge, self‐reported and actual hand washing behaviour: a challenge for designers of intervention materials

Cross contamination by microbial pathogens in the kitchen environment may play an important role in many cases of food borne illnesses. Hand washing has been shown to be one of the most important factors in controlling the spread of microorganisms and in preventing the spread of disease. However, educational campaigns such as distribution of information leaflets, workshops, performance feedback and lectures have been, at best, associated with a transient improvement in compliance rates. In addition, the majority of research investigating UK consumers’ food safety behaviour has examined self‐reported as opposed to actual hand washing behaviour. This research utilises psychological theory in an attempt to understand how one might design a more effective hand washing campaign. Social cognition models were utilised to explore the relationship between consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, self‐reported and actual hand washing behaviour. The research was conducted in two stages. Firstly, salient beliefs of 100 consumers towards food safety were obtained using open‐ended questions. Secondly, the food handling practices of 40 consumers were observed and their food safety attitudes and knowledge determined using structured questionnaires. All the participants were knowledgeable about hand washing techniques, intended to wash their hands and generally had positive attitudes towards the importance of washing their hands. However, none of the participants adequately washed their hands on all appropriate occasions. The attitude statement results suggest measures of perceived behavioural control, perceived barriers and perceived risk may provide developers of food safety intervention materials with more useful information compared with measures of consumers’ knowledge or intention. Issues of habit and optimistic bias also need to be given consideration when designing intervention materials to change hand washing behaviour of consumers.     

Reversing the Similarity Effect in Stock‐Outs: A New Look at a Renowned Phenomenon in Consumers’ Brand Switching Behavior

Over 40 years of research has established the robustness of the similarity effect (SE; Tversky, 1972 ), which states that the introduction of new options into choice sets predominantly reduces the choice share of similar options. The present work examines whether the SE systematically reverses when real brands are excluded from assortment subsets, as is the case with stock‐outs in real purchase decisions. To this end, within‐subject decisions are examined under certain out‐of‐stock (OOS) conditions in an enhanced experimental design that resembles real shopping environments. Specifically, unforced choices of experienced consumers, inclusive of real payments, are observed for products in online transactions. The results of two studies corroborate the existence of a reserved SE. Specifically, the OOS‐induced switching patterns systematically refute the assumptions of classic economic theory, since consumers disproportionately switch to alternatives which are similar to the unavailable item in contrast to dissimilar substitutes. Finally, managerial implications and potential directions for follow‐up research in the general domain of marketing are deduced.     

Welfare Effects of Food Miles Labels

We assessed the consumer welfare effects of two generic food miles labels: “carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission” label and “time and number of kilometers” label. Using data from a choice experiment, our results generally suggest that a mandatory labeling policy for either type of label would have a positive welfare effect. However, a label informing consumers about the time and number of kilometers the food product has traveled provides greater positive welfare effects than a label informing consumers about the amount of CO₂ emission .     

Amount of Label Information Effects on Perceived Product Quality

This paper points out the need for advertisers to consider the amount of label/package ingredient information as a variable influencing consumer quality perceptions. Previous research results linking the amount of nutritional information presented on labels with quality perceptions are reviewed, and results of an exploratory study concentrating on non-nutritional ingredient information are presented. Tentative implications for advertisers and multinational marketers are drawn.     

PIM:让产品用数据说话

复杂的产品信息和全球经济的一体化迫切要求在生产商和销售商中间建立数据同步的网络数据池,共享产品信息     

The Effectiveness of Two Online Persuasion Claims: Limited Product Availability and Product Popularity

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of two online persuasion claims: limited product availability (e.g., only 3 items left) and product popularity (e.g., 94% of consumers bought this product after viewing this site). The popularity claim appeared to enhance quality perception, particularly among highly risk-averse consumers, and purchase intention. We attribute these findings to the quality signaling effect and the bandwagon effect of the claim. On the other hand, the limited availability claim exerted no influence: low message credibility and the lack of psychological reactance are deemed to be possible reasons for the insignificant effect of the claim.     

140 Million Forgotten Consumers—The Life Insurance Policyholders of America

The life insurance disclosure movement has focused almost entirely on point-of-sale disclosure, to the virtual exclusion of post-sale disclosure. Life insurance companies are therefore under pressure to provide attractive point-of-sale information. Some of the methods used to achieve this objective adversely affect long-time policyholders. Emphasis should be placed on the need for post-sale disclosure, and policyholders should be educated on how to perform their own evaluations. Publicity should be given to companies whose actions improve the position of long-time policyholders, and to companies whose actions adversely affect long-time policyholders.     

Strategic Effects of Private Labels and Horizontal Integration

The present study examines whether women involved with career work have shopping attitudes and purchase participation preferences different from those of women involved in non-career work. It finds that career women do differ from their non-career counterparts with regard to several attitudes that have been related to shopping. The attitudinal changes associated with careers and the socioeconomic resources that accompany such work, however, appear to have only an indirect relationship to preference for mail/phone order buying methods. In addition, career status could not be linked to willingness to expand or contract the traditional areas of female purchase jurisdiction.     

Socialization,Gender, and Adolescent's Self-Reports of Their Generalized Use of Product Labels

This study examines how various aspects of the consumer socialization process affect male and female teenagers' tendencies to use product labels in general. In contrast to the traditional information-processing perspective used in many studies of gender differences and studies of labeling, this research focus more on sociological explanations for gender differences in teens' tendencies to read product labels. Specifically, because males and females are likely to receive differential consumer socialization, differences are expected in the genders' use of product labels. Male and female teenagers may be differentially taught about the importance and use of product labels through differences in exposure to marketplace-related communication from parents, peers, and mass media. Exposure to marketplace-related communication, in turn, is likely to have positive effects on teens' tendencies to use product labels in general. With the exception of exposure to mass media, results based on data from a sample of high school students generally supported this mediational model.