An exploratory study of the upper middle-class consumer attitudes towards counterfeiting in China

Although counterfeiting has been discussed in the literature, research focusing on the newly-emerged upper-middle class from emerging economies remains scarce. The aim of this exploratory study is to uncover the new upper-middle class consumers’ attitudes towards counterfeiting in China. Qualitative research method was adopted to provide richer and deep information on the research questions. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews with members of the Chinese upper-middle class in Beijing, this study reveals that upper-middle class consumers present a distinctive view in counterfeiting in that they believe counterfeiting not only causes grave welfare related consequences and loss of trust in the legal system, but also seriously interferes with the order of the market.     

Price and marginal cost effects of on-time performance: Evidence from the US airline industry

We examine the impact of flight delay on market power in the U.S. airline industry. Consistent with the literature, our estimation results confirm that flight delays are associated with negative consumer welfare effects. Most importantly, we find that poor on-time performance negatively impacts product markup—proxy for market power. Furthermore, we are able to decompose these markup effects into price and marginal cost effects and evidence suggests that the source of these negative markup effects is primarily driven by negative price responses.     

Consumer spirituality

ABSTRACT

Consumers increasingly turn to the marketplace in search of spiritual well-being. In this introduction to the special issue, we unpack the concept of consumer spirituality. We define consumer spirituality as the interrelated practices and processes engaged in when consuming market offerings (products, services, places) that yield 'spiritual utility'. The market offerings are purposely designed to quench consumers’ thirst for meaningful encounters with one’s inner self or a higher external power. We identify three vehicles – materiality, embodiment, and technology – that consumers engage with to access consumer spirituality. By unpacking the concept of consumer spirituality along three themes - (1) shaping markets for consumer spirituality, (2) the means for accessing consumer spirituality, and (3) making sense of and researching consumer spirituality - we provide a future research agenda to advance scholarly explorations of consumer spirituality and to facilitate a systematic development of this nascent body of literature in marketing and consumer research.     

Effects of price reframing tactics on consumer perceptions

This article compares the effects of three pricing tactics—temporal reframing of prices (TRP), measure-based unit pricing (UP), and usage-based UP—on various consumer perceptions. Although these tactics are similar as they all reframe retail prices to a smaller amount, dissimilarity also exists as the respective units used for calculating these reframed prices differ. A laboratory experiment was performed to draw comparisons among the three types in a context of print advertisement. The results suggest that usage-based UP provided the most beneficial information for consumers; however, the differences between usage-based UP and TRP were not substantial.     

Consumers׳ perception of the complexity of selected household purchase decisions

This study provides evidence of consumers׳ perception of the complexity of a variety of product/service decisions in terms of a complexity continuum and indicates how such categorisation is influenced by specific demographic characteristics, specifically gender, age and education level that are predominant in terms of consumer socialisation. A survey which was conducted in a major city and involved 461 respondents. The multiple section structured questionnaire were completed by willing spouses/partners of participating households. Complexity values were calculated in terms of a specific anchoring product, namely major household appliances. It became evident that the most expensive purchases that households ever make, namely purchasing a home and a car, which were perceived to be the most complex by all while grocery purchase was on the least complex divide of the continuum. Also on the more complex divide of the continuum were service related decisions such as insurance. Particularly noteworthy is the confirmation of significant differences in perceived complexity within product categories that are perceived to be the most- and the least complex by all. This confirms the vulnerability of certain segments of the consumer society and the need for concerted effort to communicate with them in appropriate media and on a level that would enhance informed consumer decision-making. Underlying reasons probably relate to consumers׳ risk perception and affordability issues that could be explored in future research. Interestingly the findings of the gender comparison shifted the focus to different product categories than those elicited in the age-, income and level of education comparisons. Findings therefore confirm the relevance of demographic characteristics in media communication and consumer facilitation as well as in research. Retailers and marketers should therefore be cognisant of the characteristics of their target markets and be very selective and cautious when identifying communication media.     

Who's on the tourists' menu? Exploring the social significance of restaurant experiences for tourists

Taking a Consumer Culture Perspective, this paper explores the co-production of meaning among participants in tourists' restaurant experiences. Responding to criticisms that interpreting consumer behaviour should focus both on the individual and also on the collective context of consumption (Askegaard and Linnet, 2011), our research explores the social significance of these experiences and how they feed into the tourist's identity project. 34 ethnographic interviews are led with a view to exploring how tourists co-produce meaning within their group and also with staff and other patrons in the context of restaurant experience and these are followed up with a further 57 semi-structured interviews. Restaurant experiences are shown to be both rich and complex in social meanings. Thematic analysis leads to the identification and discussion regarding four contexts where social meanings are co-produced, namely sharing experiences, family togetherness and transmission, cultural guidance and customer-to-customer interaction.     

A critical re-examination of the Carlson–Parkin method

The euro area has been experiencing a long period of inflation well below the targeted 2%. This has once again brought the problem of quantifying inflation expectations into the scientific focus. Within the framework of the Carlson–Parkin (CP) method, previous research has mostly focused on altering the probability distributions. Analysing as much as 2688 versions of the CP method, we prove that the distribution choice provides only minor improvements in the forecasting accuracy. On the other hand, the method assumptions (unbiased expectations and the number of survey response categories) play the pivotal role. We make an attempt to provide an assumptions-free quantification method by recognizing the fact that agents perceive ‘moderate’ inflation through the inflation targeting policy.     

An heretical consumer research perspective on music,culture and heritage

ABSTRACT

This special issue presents both empirical and conceptual papers on music, culture, and heritage as a discursive site of human action and social interaction. The theme of this special issue of music, culture, and heritage are aspects symbolically embedded throughout the market, as well as within cultural and ritualistic practice. The work featured in this special issue captures the essence of the 2015 Heretical Consumer Research Revival conference held 28–30 September in New Orleans, LA (partially funded by Association of Consumer Research). This diverse gathering of critical thinkers and consumer researchers considered various avenues to enrich future directions for consumer culture research. In line with that conference, this special issue is oriented towards generating innovative, radical, and even heretical schools of thought in consumer culture research surrounding markets, music, culture, and heritage in a nonconventional, nonconformist manner.     

Does more attractive choice always decrease choice deferral? The moderating effect of ideal point

This research shows that having a more attractive product in a choice set will not always reduce choice deferral. It depends on the type of consumers and type of product attributes. The current research examines the interaction effect of attractiveness difference and ideal point on choice deferral with three studies that were examined using products and services in related hospitality industries. Ideal point exists when consumers have specific preference on combination of product attributes. The results revealed that consumers without an ideal point will tend to defer choice in a small than large attractiveness difference choice set, while the tendency to defer choice for consumers with an ideal point will not be affected by the attractiveness difference in a choice set (study 1). A different moderating effect exists when a type of product attributes is changed (study 2) and we rule out the moderating effect of ideal point (study 3).