Antecedents to Online Purchasing–An Exploratory Comparison of Anglo versus Hispanic Consumers in the United States

ABSTRACT

This exploratory research investigates whether or not Anglo versus Hispanic consumers in the United States (US) differ with respect to purchase behavior on the Internet. As a new, ground-breaking innovation, the Internet represents an entirely new medium of exchange. In this study, we address whether or not the Internet has been adopted to the same extent and in the same way(s) among Anglo and Hispanic US consumers. Anglos and Hispanics represent the two largest segments of the US population and, curiously, little if any marketing research has compared and contrasted these two groups with respect to using the Internet to make commercial purchases. Extant theory and research in electronic commerce provide a basis to suggest that there may, in fact, be differences across these two US sub-cultures. Our findings reveal that the two groups do actually differ in this regard; the data also offer insights into these differences.     

The Role of Spiritual Well-Being and Materialism in Determining Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: An Empirical Study with Australian Consumers

A survey was conducted to investigate the relationship of Australian consumers’ lived (experienced) spiritual well-being and materialism with the various dimensions of consumer ethics. Spiritual well-being is composed of four domains—personal, communal, transcendental and environmental well-being. All four domains were examined in relation to the various dimensions of consumers’ ethical beliefs (active/illegal dimension, passive dimension, active/legal dimension, ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension and ‘doing good’/recycling dimension). The results indicated that lived communal well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the active/illegal dimension and the passive dimension and was positively related to perceptions of the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension and the ‘doing good’/recycling dimension. Lived personal well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the active/illegal dimension and was positively related to perceptions of the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension and the ‘doing good’/recycling dimension. Lived transcendental well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the passive dimension, the active/legal dimension and the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension. Lived environmental well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the active/legal dimension and the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension. The findings also indicated that materialism was positively associated with perceptions of actively benefiting from illegal actions, passively benefiting at the expense of the seller, actively benefiting from questionable but legal actions and benefiting from ‘no harm, no foul’ actions. Public policy implications of the findings and opportunities for future research are discussed.     

The lure of the sorcerer: Consumers’ consumption meanings in the context of trading card games

This article examines the consumption experiences of consumers of trading card games. Fourteen depth interviews illuminate the emic and etic meanings that exist for two key groups of trading card game players – hobby players and expert tournament players of the trading card game, Magic. An etic framework is then derived that analyzes these perceptions in the context of issues related to collective dramatizations of leisure consumption and the social self. Findings show marketers how consumers use their imaginations especially for mythic consumption.     

Price Awareness and Consumers’ Use of Deals in Brand Choice

There is evidence that consumer knowledge of prices is limited, implying that, on occasions, consumers may not be fully informed of prices when making a brand purchase. On such occasions, how do consumers make their brand choice decision? One possibility is that consumers use their expectation of prices. This raises an interesting question. To what extent is brand purchase either a function of preferences and posted prices or, of preferences and expectation of brand prices? Another important issue relates to the role of displays and features in simplifying consumer brand choice. First, do promotions cause consumers to restrict their attention to only promoted brands? Second, do promotions affect the price aware consumers more than the price unaware consumers? Our study uses scanner data on ketchup and peanut butter categories to answer the foregoing questions. We find that between 40 and 50% of the purchases are made by consumers using expectations of prices rather than posted prices. Consumers using price expectations may be thought of as being “unaware” of prices. We also find that promotions cause some consumers to focus exclusively on promoted brands, and this effect is greater on the price aware consumers than on the price unaware consumers. Our findings have an important bearing on the rationality of consumer expectation of prices, especially of the promoted brands. Price aware consumers act as a check against firms promoting without accompanying price cuts.     

The Effects of Comparative Advertising on Young Consumers’ Perceptions: Cross-Cultural Comparison Between the United States and Taiwan

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of comparative advertising of a high involvement product in two countries, the United States and Taiwan. The results show that different types of comparative advertising moderate the relationship in the proposed model and exert different levels of influences on consumers. The United States and Taiwanese consumers are significantly different in attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the sponsored brand, and purchase intention. The results show that direct comparative advertising might be suitable for promoting a new brand in countries with individualistic cultures. However, global marketers should be cautious when employing comparative advertising formats in collectivist cultures.     

The Impact of Intrinsic Religiosity on Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: Does It Depend on the Type of Religion? A Comparison of Christian and Moslem Consumers in Germany and Turkey

Intrinsic religiosity drives ethical consumer behavior; however, previous studies regarding this connection are limited solely to a Christian cultural context. This comparative study instead includes Christian Consumers from Germany and Moslem Consumers from Turkey to determine if a specific religious community moderates the connection between intrinsic religiosity and consumer ethics. The results show that Consumers in the Turkish, Moslem subsample, exhibit an even stronger connection between religiosity and ethical consumer behavior than Consumers from the German, Christian subsample.     

Are Low Price and Price Matching Guarantees Equivalent? The Effects of Different Price Guarantees on Consumers’ Evaluations

Some retailers offer price match guarantees, whereas others offer guarantees making the same promise but labeling these low-price guarantees. Do consumers respond differently to these different price guarantee labels? To address this research question, this paper leverages insights from pricing, signaling, and regulatory focus theories to demonstrate – across multiple studies – that consumers perceive price match versus low price guarantees differently. In turn, contingent on consumers’ regulatory focus, this difference in perceptions feeds forward and influences consumers’ purchase intentions and post purchase (e.g., repurchase) intentions. This paper contributes to theory, not only by showing differences across price match versus low price guarantees, but also by being the first to jointly examine purchase and post purchase intentions relating to price guarantees. This paper also speaks to practice, noting contingencies that determine whether the price match or the low-price guarantee label should be used.     

Small Italian wine producers’ internationalization: The role of network relationships in the emergence of late starters

This paper aims to examine how network relationships influenced the internationalization of small Italian wine producers characterized as late starters. It is based on four cases. It shows that foreign tourists helped these firms to expand internationally: they identified business opportunities, suggested firms to contact importers, contacted importers themselves to get access to the same wine in their home country or provided foreign market knowledge. Thus, small wine producers should pay more attention to attracting tourists and creating network relationship with them. Several other network relationships ? for instance, with friends and relatives, Italian expatriates and other business partners ? also advanced the case firms’ internationalization. Moreover, they were affected by lack of time and resources, language barriers and other factors. Thus, all these aspects also need managers’ attention. Furthermore, they should take a more strategic approach towards internationalization and understand that not all internationalization attempts succeed or result in continuous orders.     

The Fascist ‘Disciplining’ of the Italian Retail Sector, 1922–40

Under the Fascist dictatorship, fundamental laws for the regulation or ‘disciplining’ of retail commerce were introduced. This article analyses three main features of these – the creation of a compulsory retailers' confederation, the system of price controls, and the introduction of a licensing system. The regime's priority for retailing was that it should distribute essential commodities at the lowest possible prices, thereby satisfying basic demand within an economy that privileged production at the expense of consumption. The original expectation was that this would be achieved through a combination of the ‘modernisation’ of retailers' practices and a reduction in the numbers of small scale enterprises. Ultimately, however, it was traditional retailers who proved most able to adjust to the declining profitability and lack of opportunity that characterised distribution in the Fascist era.     

Consumers’ Shrimp Purchasing Preferences: An Application of Conjoint Analysis

The U.S. shrimp farming industry has been developing in Southern states in response to domestic market demand for shrimp. Shrimp farmers have expressed interest in marketing fresh, whole shrimp directly to consumers. This study employed a mail survey and conjoint analysis to quantify the utility value and relative importance of key, farmer-controlled shrimp attributes: size, refrigeration state, form, and price. Almost all survey respondents (96%) indicated that a member of their household eats shrimp, and 84% purchase shrimp for at-home consumption. The conjoint analysis results suggest that large (26–35 tails per lb. count), fresh, whole shrimp should receive favorable consumer acceptance.     

An Investigation of Egyptian Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Ethical Issues in Advertising

This article investigates Egyptian consumers’ attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising held by a sample of 306 participants. The subjects completed a 20-item instrument originally designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward controversial issues in advertising. The study validates the scale in an Arab non-Western context. The results revealed that Egyptian consumers have negative attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. There are significant differences between males’ and females’ perceptions of ethics in advertising. Finally, the study detects a significant difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in Egypt regarding their attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. These results lend strong support to the adaptation hypothesis and suggest that ads produced in one country cannot be standardized or directly translated for use in another, particularly if they are different culturally.     

‘Consumers’ Evaluation of Unethical Marketing Behaviors: The Role of Customer Commitment’

While there is a significant amount of research investigating managerial ethical judgments, a limited amount examines consumer judgments of unethical corporate behavior and its impact on the marketplace. This study examines how consumers’ commitment to a company impacts not only their ethical judgment of corporate behavior but also the outcomes of that judgment. The authors test hypotheses with data from 334 consumers and find that consumers’ level of commitment attenuates the level of perceived fairness. More specifically, highly committed consumers may forgive companies for behaviors when perceived harm is low, but become progressively dissatisfied as the level of perceived harm increases. Results of the study point to the importance of considering ethical behavior from a consumer perspective. If corporate actions are perceived as unethical, the company stands to lose favor with their most committed customers. Considering that more time, effort and investment is required to gain a new customer as to retain an old, this study shows that engaging in behavior perceived as unethical by consumers risks alienating the most committed customers.     

The impact of country-of-origin on the acceptance of foreign subsidiaries in host countries: An examination of the ‘liability-of-foreignness’

This paper examines the relationship between an organization's country-of-origin and the acceptance into a host country environment by constituents such as vendors, suppliers, and distributors. This study contributes to the literature by proposing the examination and ultimate measurement of various tangible and intangible sources of the ‘liabilities of foreignness’. Additionally we show that are these sources are internal and external moderators of perceived acceptance in the host country. Manager must recognize the country-of-origin strategic options to address the negative overshadowing of the liability-of foreignness. We conclude that not doing so can create a stigma that may be attached to the overall organization, its image, products, brands, and to its employees. Further, negative attribution may be caste upon all the identifying characteristics of the foreign entity. The management of the firm must note the potential resistance to accept the organization and its products/services and must develop a proactive set of strategies to address the negativism of the host country constituents.     

Consumers’ value perception and value construction: the case of bottled water in the Middle East

This study illustrates how consumers realize the concept of value creation when making quick selections for a commodity in the Saudi market. Data were collected through a self-administered survey to customers; 1,045 completed and usable responses were received and analysed. The proposed model was tested through structural equation modelling using AMOS 22. Results indicate that product design and brand trust affect electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM), and product design, brand trust, and e-WOM influence consumers’ value creation. However, e-WOM does not mediate the relationship between product design and consumer value nor does it mediate the relationship between brand trust and consumers’ value creation. This study focused on one product (bottled water). Caution must be exercised in generalization of the results to other products/countries. Theoretically, this study extends the perception of value creation on a commodity and the influence of trust on perceived value. Although this study is based on a sample of Saudi Arabian consumers that is oversampling the age group of young consumers, it extends the rare empirical evidence base on the perception of value creation in the bottled water market, and the influence of trust on perceived value. The results suggest that firms could benefit from altering the design of their bottled water products to create higher perceived value and higher brand trust, differentiating themselves further from competition. The study contributes to the existing literature on consumers’ perceptions of bottled and branded water, taking into account e-WOM communication, and providing rare evidence on brand trust from outside of Europe and North America.     

The Illusion of Merit and the Demons of Economic Meritocracy: Which are the Legitimate Expectations of the Market?

Journal of Business Ethics - Meritocracy is gaining momentum in public discourse, being close to the determinants of people’s demand of social justice (equality of opportunity, social...     

‘Size revolution’: the industrial foundations of the Italian clothing business

From the beginning of the 1950s, how to size clothing became an issue debated within national and international organisations which were committed to the standardisation of the technical specifications of industrial products, clothing included. At the time the Gruppo Finanziario Tessile (GFT), which would later act as the industrial springboard for the Italian fashion, introduced a new system of sizes in Italy. Drawing on the company's extensive historical records, the article deals with the technical, organisational, and cultural nature of the process of standardisation of the sizing of clothing. The research provides new evidence about the emergence of a new competitor within a mature industry.     

Ground Roasted Coffee Consumers’ Ability to Determine Actual Quality: The Use of Attributes and the Role of Education Level in Mexico

This study contributes to the understanding of the consumer’s ability to distinguish levels of quality of a product comparing it to an objective evaluation. Also, it was hypothesized that a higher level of education would lead to a better ability to discriminate quality. Perceived and objective quality are compared using a semi-experimental design with subjects evaluating coffee attributes. Objective values are provided by certified expert coffee cuppers, whereas perceived values are obtained from regular coffee drinkers. Results suggest that the importance placed on each attribute (aroma, flavour, body, and residual flavour) by the consumer is different from that placed on each attribute by the experts. Furthermore, the most relevant attribute for the consumer (flavour) is distinct from the one most relevant for experts (residual flavour). Additionally, the consumer is unable to distinguish quality levels as an expert can do, regardless of his education level.     

The Influence of Consumers’ Cognitive and Psychographic Traits on Perceived Deception: A Comparison Between Online and Offline Retailing Contexts

In this article, we examine the role of several consumers’ cognitive and psychographic traits in their perceptions of retailers’ deceptive practices (perceived deception) and the different effects on perceived deception associated with online vis-à-vis in-store shopping. Building on theoretical models of persuasion in consumer behavior, we hypothesize that the antecedents of perceived deception in traditional settings are the same as those on the Internet, while the intensity of the impact of these antecedents differs between the online and the offline environment. Results suggest that the effects of individual’s cognitive traits (Internet-based information search and perceived Internet usefulness) and risk aversion on perceived deception are more relevant when consumers shop online than when they purchase from traditional stores. Conversely, psychographic traits (shopping enjoyment and materialism) play a more important role in explaining perceived deception in the traditional shopping context as compared to the online channel. Several theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these findings.     

Institutional distance and the quality of the headquarters–subsidiary relationship: The moderating role of the institutionalization of headquarters’ practices in subsidiaries

Through the lens of the institutional theory, we developed and empirically tested a contingency theoretical framework that examines the effects of formal and informal institutional distances on the quality of the headquarters–subsidiary relationship, and how such effects are contextualized by internal institutionalization of headquarters’ practices in subsidiaries of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). Data were collected from both the headquarters of 297 Chinese MNEs and their respective subsidiaries. The results show that regulative and cultural distances are positively associated with the quality of the headquarters–subsidiary relationship, and that these positive relationships are stronger when subsidiaries institutionalize headquarters’ practices to a higher degree. Theoretical and practical implications are highlighted in the paper.     

Correction: The Bill,Please! Households’ Real Returns on Financial Assets Since the Introduction of the Euro

Intereconomics - In the article “The Bill, Please! Households’ Real Returns on Financial Assets Since the Introduction of the Euro” by Marc-Peter Radke and Manuel Rupprecht in...