Consumer avoidance of specially priced items during social coupon redemption

Social coupons (SCs) (e.g., Groupon) differ from traditional or regular coupons (RCs) in that they require consumers to make a prepayment to receive substantive discounts. As the general rule of SCs prohibits double-promotion, SC consumers tend to engage in certain avoidance behaviors when experiencing another promotion (i.e., specially priced for selected items). The results across two scenario-based experiments reveal that SC consumers (vs. RC consumers) have a greater tendency to avoid specially priced items when redeeming a coupon for hedonic consumptions, but not for utilitarian consumptions. Such avoidance is due to one’s motivation to minimize the perception of deal waste.     

Alternative farming and collective goals: Towards a powerful relationships for future food policies

Based on the significant amount of literature on the concept of spatial, ecological, and social embeddedness in the Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) research, this study describes the main dynamics related to the involvement of non-conventional farmers in their collective ideas and actions.With a comparison between two European regions: Sardinia and the Community of Madrid, the paper identifies different styles of behaviour among organic producers, whether or not supervised by a control body, and highlights the differences and similarities regarding their ideas about how alternative agriculture has an impact on the environment as well as society. Eco-economies and ecopreneurship are also considered. The aim is to see if, and to what extent, these ideas have a collective character, going beyond the limits of the single farm to reach a regional scale and, thus, if there is a basis for the development of future food-related planning policies. Through the information provided by semi-structured interviews, farmers have been divided into categories according to their degree of embeddedness, described through the main themes that emerged during the interviews. Every farmer has been included in only one category according to his or her main preference, which does not imply the ab-sence of a positive attitude towards other categories.The study aims to contribute to the understanding of how AFN values and methods can boost the improvement of biodiversity and landscape conservation through collective actions which have the power to boost and develop rural initiative at a regional scale.     

Consumers’ willingness-to-pay for food safety labels in an emerging market: The case of fresh produce in Thailand

Food safety systems in emerging markets are currently facing a transformation period, becoming more stringent because of an increasing demand for safer food. Consequently, policy makers need to find strategies to increase food safety while giving the industry time to improve their performance. In Thailand, policy makers have adopted the strategy of upgrading food safety standards gradually. Government and private food safety brands and labels were introduced onto the market but little is known whether Thai consumers have preferences for them or not. This study is aimed at evaluating Thai consumers’ preferences for food safety labels and brands on fresh produce, using a surveyed based on discrete-choice experiments. A sample of 350 Thai consumers was surveyed in Bangkok and Nonthaburi in 2013. Quota sampling according to the shopping outlets and convenience sampling methods were adopted. Two hundred respondents were recruited at fresh-food markets and 150 respondents were recruited at supermarkets. We found that consumers are willing-to-pay more for both government led food safety label and private brands, but that there is high heterogeneity in their preferences. The high degree of social desirability for food safety labels confirms that food safety labelling policy should be supported. However, the provision of information and credibility are vital in order to mitigate the risk of consumer deception by self-claimed labels.     

Understanding the antecedents of consumers' attitudes towards doggy bags in restaurants: Concern about food waste,culture, norms and emotions

Based on a qualitative study with 20 respondents in France and 20 respondents from the Czech Republic, this study aims to better understand how consumers’ concern about food waste, culture, social norms and emotions contribute to consumers’ attitudes and behaviors related to doggy bags. Results highlight a double paradox between conflicting norms and emotions: personal norms encourage not to waste while salient social norms encourage leaving leftovers; asking for a doggy bag generates immediate shame while leaving leftovers produces anticipated regret and guilt. Finally, the study sheds light on obstacles to overcome for the adoption of this social innovation.     

Does offering an organic food menu help restaurants excel in competition? An examination of diners’ decision-making

This study aims to examine whether the presence of an organic food menu can positively influence diners’ decision-making. A 3 (restaurant segment: quick service vs. casual dining vs. fine dining) by 2 (price discrepancy between competing restaurants: small vs. large) scenario-based experiment was conducted with 405 U.S. consumers. MANCOVA results indicate that using organic ingredients offers a greater advantage for the quick-service segment regarding perceived food quality, attitudes towards the restaurant, and willingness to select, compared to casual and fine dining segments. The magnitude of a premium price of organic ingredients negatively influences such advantage in the process of consumers’ decision-making. When a large (vs. small) premium price is charged for using organic ingredients, customers’ preferences for the restaurant (over its rival) significantly drops to such an extent that customers are more willing to choose the competitor (i.e., rival restaurant with a conventional menu). Discussions and implications are further elaborated.     

Service quality of airports' food and beverage retailers. A fuzzy approach

Nowadays the profitability of airports is largely based on non-aeronautical or commercial activities, and particularly on retail and food and beverage services. Further, researchers concur that shopping, eating and drinking in airports have to be considered an important part of tourists' experience and activities that can significantly enhance or damage the tourist destination image. Despite this, there is still little research that analyses how service quality (SQ) is perceived by passengers consuming food and beverages (F&B) in airport areas. This study aims to deepen the scientific debate on this topic. Specifically, this study applies fuzzy numbers with a sample of 551 passengers flying from Olbia-Costa Smeralda Airport (Sardinia Region, Italy) with the aim of determining how they perceive the SQ delivered by F&B retailers and whether age plays a determinant role in segmentation. Findings reveal which F&B features outperform others; furthermore, they show that age is a moderating factor in consumer satisfaction, with older passengers being less satisfied than their counterparts. This study adds knowledge to the literature devoted to SQ, applying a fuzzy number approach to the under-investigated research area related to F&B consumption in airport areas. Further, it provides information useful to airport managers on the features of F&B services that are most important in shaping consumer satisfaction, based also on their age. Limitations of the study are also discussed and suggestions for future research are given.     

The determinants of household recycling: social influence,public policies and environmental preferences

Our article aims at understanding the determinants of households’ selective waste-sorting behaviours, based on data from an original survey of 694 individuals in the French Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur region. The applied literature focuses mainly on countries with high recycling rates. We focus on a region with the lowest recycling rate in France, a country that recycles less than the European country average. We first apply polychoric principal components analysis to reduce the number of explanatory variables to a set of six factors. In a second step, we use a probit model to estimate the probability of waste sorting as a function of these factors. This model tests several hypotheses emerging from the recent literature on behavioural economics applied to households’ selective sorting. This literature pays particular attention to the social influence on recycling behaviour, which has been studied mostly by sociologists and psychologists. The results of our empirical analysis confirm some of the findings in the literature. However, they also highlight some unique features, such as social influences having a negative impact on recycling. This finding contrasts with most of the literature, which finds a positive relationship of social influence on pro-environmental behaviour.     

Does peer monitoring influence choices between cash and food? Findings from a field experiment

To explore whether choices for transfers are influenced by peer monitoring, we examine private versus public choices among monetarily equivalent values of cash and food in northern Kenya. Many northern Kenyan communities face high-levels of chronic food insecurity and are tightly-knit, often sharing food aid transfers. Yet, humanitarian cash transfers are relatively new to the area. Whether cash will be subject to the same sharing norms is not well understood. Utilizing a randomized block experiment, we find that assigning a respondent to choose in front of peers decreases the likelihood of choosing a cash transfer relative to at least some food. We argue that peer monitoring decreases the value of cash relative to food in two inter-related ways. Choosing food in public, first, provides an opportunity for respondents to publicly demonstrate a commitment to local food aid sharing norms. Second, choosing cash in public may be riskier since cash does not yet have established sharing norms. A critical implication is that transfer choices and retargeting of resources within the community can be influenced by use of public or private discussions when eliciting community views, especially in communities where sharing is a salient social norm.     

废旧机电产品再循环模式研究

能否有效处理日益增加的废旧机电产品对我国经济的可持续发展有着重要的影响。文章从产品的角度提出基于循环经济的“3个循环”的概念，并在分析现有废旧机电产品循环模式的基础上提出第二循环模式，同时给出了相应的产品剩余寿命评价模型。