The effects of product scarcity and consumers' need for uniqueness on purchase intention

Scarcity strategies are employed by marketers to influence consumer decision making. Many famous brands have been designed and produced for the purpose of as being marketed as limited‐edition products to intensify consumer desire and intention to purchase them. However, very few studies have simultaneously integrated relevant constructs to explain the phenomenon of scarcity purchasing. To fill this void, this study develops a comprehensive research model in order to fully understand how scarcity affects consumer value perception and purchase intention. Simultaneously, two competing models are developed to compare the explanation power of Lynn's Scarcity–Expensiveness–Desirability (S‐E‐D) model and Synde and Fromkin's desire for uniqueness model. The results suggest that the effects of scarcity on purchase intention through perceived uniqueness, perceived sacrifice and perceived value are stronger than the scarcity effects through assumed expensiveness, perceived quality, perceived sacrifice and perceived value.     

Missing data and maximum likelihood estimation

The proper use of the maximum likelihood principle in the context of missing data is explored. The relationship between the false procedure of treating the predicted values as if they were observable and the E–M procedure suggested by Dempster, Laird, and Rubin (1977) is also discussed.     

Outsourcing in Product Cycles

In this quality‐ladder product‐cycle model, a production process consists of core research and development (R&D), complementary R&D and manufacturing; and there exist northern imitation, southern innovation, and outsourcing of complementary R&D as well as manufacturing from the North to the South. It is found that a policy to protect intellectual property rights or to subsidize R&D may reduce the aggregate rate of innovation. In addition, not every globalized production strategy is innovation‐improving.     

Private labels and new product development

This paper provides a positive theory of private labels in new product development when a non-integrated distribution channel is faced with demand uncertainty. We consider a regular marketing environment in which a manufacturer endowed with a branded product seeks to design a new product to resolve its retailer’s mis-targeting problem and to optimally screen consumers. Assuming that only linear pricing schemes are available and that the retailer learns the state of demand earlier than the manufacturer does, we show that the presence of a private label always improves channel efficiency. Moreover, a private label is more likely to prevail when the existing branded product is a premium item.

Creating Shared Value Through Implementing Green Practices for Star Hotels

This study expands the concept of shared value through the value chain to include green practice innovation in star hotels in Taiwan. By employing the Delphi method, 44 green innovation indicators were established for star hotels to create an instrument to help address green practices’ implementation. Through creating shared value by using the top 18 indicators among eight dimensions, this study explores the preliminary green innovation framework to configure the value chain and to propose a conceptual model based on a shared value perspective. The findings contribute to the current literature by including green innovation processes into the shared value concept to complement the existing value chain design, and by addressing whether the green innovation indicators examined pertain to a value chain or process analysis. The results provide substantial contributions on how star hotels can efficiently implement green practices to simultaneously approach economic profits and environmental protection.     

The foundations of Chinese attitudes towards advocating luxury spending

Abstract

In China, some scholars have argued that luxury spending is socially beneficial to equalise wealth, under the assumption that the total endowment of resources is a fixed amount. This argument is not only consistent with Confucianism but also might point to another lesser known side of Confucianism that the luxury spending of the rich can be regarded as a wealth-transferring mechanism. Furthermore, luxury spending was encouraged for purposes of enjoyment; it did not involve the consideration of power and protection. This is in sharp contrast to the extravagance of the European nobility; their intention was to maintain a hierarchical structure.     

Health status and labour market outcome: Empirical evidence from Australia

This paper uses eight waves of Australia Household, Income and Labour Dynamics data to study the issues of state dependence and the short‐run and long‐run response to health shocks on the labour market. We consider six alternative panel data binary dependent variable models with different ways of modelling labour market dynamics and individual heterogeneity. We find that the key results with regard to labour market dependence and the impacts of health shocks are sensitive to model specification and pooling of male and female samples with differences as large as sixfold. Specification analysis is conducted and favours the dynamic fixed effects logit model for separate male and female samples. Methods for evaluating dynamic response paths to a one‐time health shock for binary outcomes are also suggested and results are presented.     

Transcendent Experience,Flow and Happiness for Mountain Climbers

Mountaineering has become a popular form of adventure tourism. However, previous research has never explored the construct of transcendent experience and its effects on mountaineering. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among transcendent experience, flow and happiness. Survey data from 339 mountain climbers in Taiwan indicate that transcendent experience positively affects flow and happiness. In addition, flow mediates the effect of transcendent experience on happiness. However, the relationship between flow and hedonic enjoyment is insignificant for novices. Implications of these findings as well as future research are subsequently discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How the introduction of concepts of energy saving and carbon reduction (ESCR) can affect festival visitors’ behavioural intentions: an investigation using a structural model

This study investigates the relationships across a behaviour model of festival visitors based on a major festival encouraging energy saving and carbon reduction (ESCR). Using the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition (Taiwan) as a case study, 275 visitors completed a questionnaire, the answers to which were assessed using a structural equation model to test the behaviour model and its six hypotheses. The results showed that behaviour intentions are the best predictors of “value orientation”, “motivation for visiting”, “visitor experience” and “attitude towards behaviour”. Specifically, a highly positive correlation between visitors’ motivations and their experiences was found, suggesting that the presentation of festival activities influences visitors’ perceptions. The ESCR curriculum design and pedagogy, especially the inclusion of reflective learning, was found to be very important for the successful planning of future events, as was green transportation using advanced, energy-saving vehicles and effective waste processing and disposal at the site. Prior studies have explored links between festival tourism and behavioural change, but have often focused on Western contexts; this study provides an Asian cultural setting. Suggestions are made for future research.     

The endogenous role of location choice in product innovations

The location choice of product innovations is a prevalent phenomenon one that has received little attention in the literature. This study examines the ways in which comparative industry environment, technology and product characteristics, and entry timing affect the firm's location choice of new product development activities between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries and the implications of location choice for performance. Our findings indicate that: (1) firms are more likely to locate their new product development activities at foreign subsidiaries in mainland China than at headquarters in Taiwan when the industry environment at foreign subsidiaries is more favorable, when technologies and products are more mature, and when the entry to mainland China's market is earlier than that of its competitors; (2) in general, firms locating their new product development activities at headquarters in Taiwan perform better than firms locating their new product development activities at foreign subsidiaries in mainland China after controlling for endogeneity bias; (3) firms locating their new product development activities at headquarters (at foreign subsidiaries) perform better than if they had located their new product development activities at foreign subsidiaries (at headquarters). Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.