Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Business Ethical Behavior in Two Muslim Countries

After measuring consumers’ sentiments toward business ethical practices in mostly Christian countries, the Business Ethics Index was expanded to two Muslim countries – Turkey and Egypt. The overall BEI for both countries was on the negative range, with Egypt exhibiting the widest gap between personal ethical perceptions and vicarious ones. No difference between genders was observed.     

Consumer Perceptions of the Consumer Credit Process

This research contrasts the perceptions of consumers with those of loan officers faced with similar credit application situations. Fundamental misperceptions of the credit granting process are encountered. Consumers clearly misperceive the credit standards of both banks and finance companies. Given large interest rate differentials between loan sources and the narrow shopping scope of most consumers for consumer credit, equitable allocation of credit dollars demands greater appreciation of the nature of the credit evaluation process by lender and borrower.     

Consumer Perceptions of Kosher Products

ABSTRACT

The demand for kosher food has grown markedly during recent years, largely due to their perception as healthier, “safer,” more nutritionally enhanced value, and improved hygienic preparation conditions. This perception was verified by a survey conducted in Israel with 440 respondents. Both groups, younger and older age, secular and religious people, perceive the term kosher in a beneficial light, affecting the public view of food products as well as fast-food outlets. The survey, which was conducted in Israel, could be utilized as a pilot furnishing and facilitate a basis for further studies in other countries. The data highlights the vast market potential entailed in improving consumer perception of overall quality. Given the elevated perceived image of kosher food as “healthier” and of an enhanced quality, this study provides an essential marketing tool and detailed information in order to enable both manufacturers and retailers to expand the kosher segment and corner a larger share of the food market.     

Formation of Procedural Justice Judgments in Legal Negotiation

Research has indicated that procedural justice—fairness of decisionmaking processes—plays an important role in bilateral legal negotiation, encouraging the acceptance of negotiated agreements. Additionally, research has suggested that procedural justice leads to opportunities for increased integrative bargaining. However, procedural justice judgments are typically measured as subjective assessments by disputants. If procedural justice plays an important role in legal dispute negotiation, it is critical to understand how individuals form judgments about fairness of process. The study presented explores antecedents of procedural justice judgments in legal negotiation. Results suggest that although all potential identified antecedent variables—voice, courtesy/respect, trust, and neutrality—play a role in judgments about procedural justice, the primary component is courtesy/respect behavior by the speaker and her partner. Parties share some agreement about the presence of courtesy/respect behavior and trust behavior, and third-party coders can identify behavior that reliably relates to the parties’ procedural justice antecedent assessments. Additionally, results indicate that appeals to potential “neutral” benchmarks such as legal authority lead to lower assessments of procedural justice. These findings suggest that courtesy and respect are the primary drivers of negotiators’ procedural justice assessments, and that such courtesy/respect behavior is not merely a subjective artifact of the participant but can be observed by a third-party coder.     

Procedural and Distributive Justice: Examining Equity in a University Setting

The concept of organizational justice is important to understanding and predicting organizational behavior. A significant development in the research literature has been the separation of distributive and procedural justice. While much of the research has focused on negative outcomes, this research attempted to verify the presence of both forms of justice in the context of positive outcomes. Subjects completed an instrument designed to measure their perceptions of distributive and procedural justice. The subjects also reported their satisfaction and sense of fairness with their salary increases, their belief that the procedures to award the increases had been followed, and their level of information and agreement regarding the salary program. These measures, along with size of salary increase and gender were examined to determine their impact on the subjects' perceived level of justice. The data support the existence of the two distinct forms of justice, but suggest that procedural justice may, in turn, branch out into two aspects. One category involves being informed, and a second appears to deal with acceptance of procedures. A series of relationships are then considered. Significant gender effects were non-existent.     

A Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Following the Sustainable Development Paradigm

The aim of this research is to develop and validate a measurement scale for consumer’s perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSRConsPerScale) using the three-dimensional social, environmental and economic conceptual approach as a theoretical basis. Based on the stages of measurement scale creation and validation suggested by DeVellis (Scale development: theory and applications, 1991) and supported by Churchill Jr.’s (J Mark Res 16(1):64–73, 1979) suggestions, five different empirical studies are developed expressly and applied to consumers of tourist services. This research involves 1147 real tourists from 24 countries in two different cultural and geographical contexts. A three-dimensional 18-item scale is proposed for measuring consumer perceptions of corporate social, environmental and economic responsibilities. This paper presents the complete development of the scale, as well as the implications and limitations of the main findings and the managerial implications.     

Consumer Regulation Strategies: Attenuating the Effect of Consumer References in a Voting Context

Consumption cues (e.g., brands, money, and advertisements) can have powerful effects on cognition, perception, and behavior, yet how people regulate responses to such cues is not well understood. This is surprising given that consumption cues are increasingly present in nontraditional consumer contexts, such as healthcare, education, and politics. This research develops a measure of two types of consumer regulation strategies, cue‐based and budget‐based (studies 1–4), and demonstrates that these strategies influence how people respond to consumption cues in a political context (study 5). Specifically, in a study involving the 2012 American Presidential Election, priming survey participants as consumers (versus citizens) influenced both voting intentions and self‐reported voting behavior, and the newly developed consumer regulation scale was instrumental in detecting this effect. These findings suggest there may be merit in the escalating debate and concern over referring to voters as consumers.     

Consumer Consumption and Perceptions of Salmon

Abstract

The percentoffarmed salmon production has grown from 20.3% of total world salmon supply in 1989 to 52.0% in 1998. This trend poses a major challenge for the wild salmon industry. The impact of the wild salmon industry's marketing programs on the demand for ocean-caught salmon needs to be addressed. This study explored the consumption and perceptions of wild and farmed salmon among college students. Results showed that salmon consumption varied noticeably within this market segment, as well as consumers' familiarity with the terms wild salmon and farmed salmon and related issues and attributes. These findings suggest that the wild salmon industry may need to place more emphasis on product differentiation awareness and promotion campaigns targeting niche markets to increase sales of ocean-caught salmon.     

Consumer Perceptions of Advertising as Misleading

A mail survey was conducted of 314 residents of two California cities to measure consumer perception of the prevalence of misleading advertising. Information was obtained concerning the extent of misleading advertising in the various media, for 30 products and services and for three age groups. The findings indicate that over half of the sample viewed “most” or “all” mail and telephone advertising as misleading, and that 38 percent of the respondents regarded “most” or “all” television advertising as misleading. Newspaper advertising was considered the most credible. Findings indicate that “most” or “all” advertising for products and services was viewed as misleading by 30 percent of the respondents. Findings for actions taken concerning misleading advertising indicate that nearly half of the sample had registered a complaint to the store or person advertising and that 29 percent of the respondents had complained to a manufacturer. Also, findings for the age groups indicate that two out of three respondents regarded “most” or “all” advertising directed at children as seriously misleading. Advertising directed at senior citizens was viewed as seriously misleading by 45 percent of the sample, and advertising directed at young and middle-aged adults was viewed as only slightly less misleading.     

An Analysis of Third Party Consumer Complaint Handling Mechanisms: The Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of third party complaint handling mechanisms, based on data obtained from the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection. Specifically, the study focuses on the types of complaints processed by the Agency, the factors which affect the redress received by consumers and the length of investigation time.     

Consumer Rights: An Assessment of Justice

For the last 50 years the idea of consumer rights has formed an essential element in the formulation of policy to guide the workings of the marketplace. The extent and coverage of these rights has evolved and changed over time, yet there has been no comprehensive analysis as to the purpose and scope of consumer rights. In moral and ethical philosophy, rights are integrally linked to the notion of justice. By reassessing consumer rights through a justice-based framework, a number of key issues emerge regarding the way in which markets enable justice for consumers. The consumer rights which underpin the United Nations consumer protection guidelines address all forms of justice to some degree, but the predominant focus is on procedural justice. Our conclusions question whether this is sufficient and also whether there is a case to develop the notion of consumer ‘duties’ that complement the idea of rights.     

Consumer Insolvency in the European Legal Context

Consumer credit, as an important aspect of the free movement of capital, has for a long time now been subject to European Union regulations. However, one important aspect of consumer credit, over-indebtedness, has not been acknowledged in the Consumer Credit directives of 1978 and 2009, nor is there any other European Union law instrument that addresses over-indebtedness or insolvency of consumers. The only European-level document addressing the problem of over-indebtedness of ordinary people is the Council of Europe Recommendation of 2007. In European Union law, over-indebtedness can and should be approached from several angles. The Insolvency Regulation (2000) does not directly address situations facing the consumer debtor and leaves it up to the discretion of the Member States to include or exclude insolvency proceedings for consumer debtors regarding the scope of the Regulation. There can be little doubt that the European Union has a legal basis for action in this field, and it has also used its competence in a number of related issues, such as general insolvency law and enforcement of judgments. Case C-461/11, in which Advocate General delivered her opinion on Sept 13^th, 2012 shows that national insolvency procedures for natural persons may constitute a restriction on the freedom of movement. This article argues that, even in the absence of a European Union law instrument, the Member States should recognize debt adjustment judgments made in another Member State and that there is a need for a regulation in the European Union law in this field.     

Consumer Perceptions of a Potential Fresh Ground Beef and Poultry Product

Abstract

Consumer concerns with the consumption of fat and cholesterol have encouraged many to seek alternatives to regular ground beef. A sample of Louisiana households was surveyed by mail to examine the willingness of consumers to purchase a blended fresh ground beef and poultry product relative to alternative ground products. Multinomial logit analysis was used to analyze the data. The important variables in the Yes versus No purchase decision for the blended product were: beef is one of the household's two most popular fresh meats, the household had consumed hamburger during the last month, the respondent had mixed the two products in the home, age, single adult head, and Caucasian. Gender, children in the household, education, presence of a homemaker, and family income were less important variables.     

Manufacturer Responsiveness to Consumer Correspondence: An Empirical Investigation of Consumer Perceptions

Although there is general agreement on the importance of the consumer correspondence handling function, specific steps businesses can take to satisfy consumers are relatively unexplored empirically. This study examines 300 consumers’ responses to actual manufacturers' letters addressing complaints and compliments. The discussion focuses on understanding the components of consumer satisfaction to manufacturers'responses and provides suggestions to businesses to increase that satisfaction level.     

Consumer Perceptions of Financial Service Offerings in Retail Outlets

No abstract available for this article.     

The Roles of Procedural and Distributive Justice in Logistics Outsourcing Relationships

In this paper, the effects of two dimensions of justice—procedural and distributive—on key attitudinal and behavioral elements of logistics outsourcing relationships are investigated. The findings suggest that the fairness of policies adopted by a third‐party logistics provider (3PL) and respective outcomes nurtures a customer's trust in and long‐term orientation toward the relationship with a 3PL. In such a relationship climate, patterns of cooperative behavior take place, providing an incentive for a 3PL to proactively pursue operational improvements.     

Developing a Scale for Measuring Service Quality Perceptions in Distance Education

Abstract

The emphasis of quality in distance education in the last decade tended to place on operational efficiency under the concepts of quality control and quality assurance. This tendency has shifted towards a student's perspective in the wake of greater competitive pressure and heightened students' expectations. This paper reports the results of a study to identify service quality determinants based on the students' perceptions. The results of an exploratory factor analysis of 25 items and a regression analysis produce five dimensions in the following priority: (1) learning facilities, (2) quality of course materials, (3) studying atmosphere, (4) capability of tutors, and (5) center arrangement for tutorials. This study highlights the pressing need for a distance education institution to pay attention to physical facilities and course materials which represent the core of the service offering and are relatively easier to evaluate than other service elements.     

Perceptions of the Ethicality of Consumer Insurance Claim Fraud

It was proposed that ethical evaluation of insurance claim padding behavior would be affected by characteristics of the policyholder, insurance agent, and company. These three factors were manipulated in written scenarios and the premise was tested in a factorial experimental design. No significant support was found for an effect of any of the three factors on ethical perceptions of claim padding. However, females found claims padding to be significantly less ethical than males. Given a claim scenario where the actual loss was $500 and the claimed amount was $3000, subjects awarded an average of $986.91 on the claim. Many respondents were willing to compensate victims for intangible losses as well as tangible losses.     

Social Consumer Neuroscience: Neurophysiological Measures of Advertising Effectiveness in a Social Context

The application of neurophysiological methods to study the effects of advertising on consumer purchase behavior has seen an enormous growth in recent years. However, little is known about the role social settings have on shaping the human brain during the processing of advertising stimuli. To address this issue, we first review previous key findings of neuroscience research on advertising effectiveness. Next, we discuss traditional advertising research into the effects social context has on the way consumers experience advertising messages and explain why marketers, who aim to predict advertising effectiveness, should place participants in social settings, in addition to the traditional ways of studying consumer brain responses to advertising in social isolation. This article contributes to the literature by offering advertising researchers a series of research agendas on the key indicators of advertising effectiveness (attention, emotion, memory, and preference). It aims to improve understanding of the impact social context has on consumers' neurophysiological responses to advertising messages.