Economic corollaries of personalized recommendations

The impact of recommendation systems (RSs) on the diversity of consumption is not transparent or well understood. Available studies, whether experimental or theoretical, show inconsistent and even opposite results, which manifests as debate in the literature. In this paper, we investigate the impact of two main recommender systems, neural collaborative filtering and deep content filtering, on sales diversity via a randomized field experiment. Our results confirm the capability of recommender engines in increasing or decreasing aggregate sales diversity. Nonetheless, they amplify homogenization and reduce individual-level consumption diversity. In conclusion, our research reconciles seemingly contradict previous findings and illustrates that the design of the RS is the decisive factor in homogenizing or diversifying product sales.     

Understanding the role of situational factors on online grocery shopping among older adults

This paper seeks to identify the situational factors that drive the adoption of online grocery shopping among older adults. A two-step research process is employed. First, exploratory qualitative research is carried out to identify situational factors that older adults take into account when deciding whether to buy groceries online. This is followed by a conjoint experiment to determine which situational factors are considered most important when making such a decision. The sample consisted of 9 participants in the in-depth individual interviews and 206 respondents in the conjoint experiment. The findings indicate that health, mobility issues, and distance to a store are the most important situational factors driving older adults to buy groceries online. Moreover, the findings confirm that the adoption of online grocery shopping among older adults is a result of a complex trade-off of situational variables. The findings contribute to managerial practice by providing online grocery retailers with insight that can be applied when designing promotional programs targeted at older adults.     

A meta-analysis of consumer ethnocentrism across 57 countries

The concept of consumer ethnocentrism was introduced more than 30 years ago, and since then it has received keen interest among academic researchers. However, empirical evidence in published studies has been inconclusive and many macro-drivers of consumer ethnocentrism received cursory attention. This study meta-analyses 240 studies from 57 countries and tries to understand the key drivers of consumer ethnocentrism. The results indicate that consumer ethnocentrism is a universal phenomenon and is driven by culture and the interaction of economic and ethnic diversity variables. Challenging popular beliefs, the findings suggest that neither globalization nor economic threats are unconditional drivers of consumer ethnocentrism. Their effects are conditional on cultural values and economic situation. Results provide evidence that multi-ethnic societies tend to be more consumer ethnocentric when the culture of a country is not strong in egalitarianism. Finally, the paper presents evidence that consumer ethnocentrism affects the imports of consumer goods in a country.     

论消费者忠诚与理性的均衡

本文从企业、消费者和社会等不同角度研究了消费者忠诚与消费者理性问题.企业培育消费者忠诚的前提是必须加强营销道德建设,为消费者创造并传递有价值的产品或服务,而不仅仅是营销手段的应用.与此同时,企业也应为消费者理性的培养切实负起责任,以实现消费者忠诚与理性的均衡统筹,从而为企业的长远发展奠定坚实基础.     

项目型产品营销的售前服务全景分析

售前服务属于服务营销的范畴,但在实施过程日益呈现出项目管理的特性。售前服务包含技术性服务和经济性服务两项内容,其精髓是通过实施“消费者教育”来促进产品销售,并在实践中呈现出售前活动项目化、售前工作职业化、售前经验知识化等新特征。在项目管理与服务营销的融合下,售前服务管理围绕消费者、企业的双重价值来实现,形成了以售前团队管理、售前质量管理、售前交付物管理和售前流程管理为核心的概念体系。     

Trying to complain: the impact of self‐referencing on complaining intentions

This paper introduces the Theory of Trying to complaining behaviour, and argues that complaining intentions can be explained by the model. Moreover, we model propensity to self‐reference (SR) as a moderating variable, and suggest that the effects of the causes to complaining intentions depend on the SR‐level held by consumers. A sample of undergraduate business students participated in the study, where the goal was to get a better understanding of complaining intentions. Our study provides new and additional insights in the drivers of complaining by also taking dispositional personality differences into consideration. The results demonstrate that boundary conditions for main‐effect models like the theory of trying can be fruitfully addressed through the notion of individual differences. The research documented that customers' propensity to complain systematically differed as a function of their level of self‐referencing. This is both good and bad news to managers. The good news is that a proportion of the customers rely less on their previous experiences in the complaining domain when they form intentions to complain. The bad news is that some others do. The obstacle is that managers cannot tell by the look if they are talking to an individual with high or low propensity to self‐reference. As the customer base contains both types case could be taken in designing marketing communication campaigns that target the groups differently.     

Idiosyncratic use of credit facilities by consumers in an emerging economy

A worldwide increase in household debt since the turn of the century has created considerable concern about the indebtedness of households, especially those in emerging economies that have been hit particularly hard by the global economic slump. In this study, the credit consumption of consumers in Swaziland (N = 264) was investigated by means of a survey that aimed to identify and describe factors that encouraged consumers' use of credit, the influence of credit on their buying behaviour when choosing major household appliances or furniture as well as consumers' knowledge of the conditions of credit facilities that were available for their use in retail. Findings revealed that consumers unequivocally appreciate the convenience that is associated with credit, specifically to cope with unexpected purchases, to benefit from special offers and opportunity to afford expensive goods. These advantages apparently negate the negative consequences such as high interest rates and strain on household budgets. Mean scores that were obtained in the knowledge test that only reflected upon credit agreements that respondents have actually entered into in the past, confirmed their ignorance pertaining to their contractual obligations and their consequent vulnerability. Consumers' age and gender seem to have noteworthy consequences for efforts to enhance informed consumer decision‐making. Younger females were significantly better informed that their older counterpart while the reverse was true for males, although differences were not significant. The significant inverse relationship between income and the LS‐means for the credit knowledge test differ from findings in developed countries and provide valuable opportunity for further investigation.     

城镇家庭消费金融效应的地区差异研究

本文使用各省市自治区城镇家庭借贷支出的分类面板数据,结合我国经济发展处于转轨期的特性,考察消费升级、社会保障不完善及地区发展不平衡等因素对消费的影响。研究发现各变量在对消费的影响性质和程度上均存在地区差异,社会保障、消费升级和储蓄在全国范围内均显著正相关,房贷支出和教育在中西部地区的促进作用显著,而保险在东部地区作用突出,家庭投资则均不显著。政府要扩大消费内需并改变消费金融发展的不平衡,就应把握消费升级和社会保障制度的推进时机和力度,增加中西部地区社会保障投入和教育投入,持续提高居民收入,适度放宽中西部地区的家庭房贷限制。     

消费者情绪对通货膨胀影响的理论分析

本文基于消费者行为理论和行为经济学理论,构建了一个两期的经济模型,并通过数值模拟的方法,分别研究了消费者在不同情况下的消费者情绪与物价变动和消费的关系。结果表明:消费者情绪会影响物价和消费的波动;消费者情绪会对货币政策的效果产生影响;在制定利率政策时要考虑到居民的消费习惯;在经济周期的不同阶段,消费者情绪对物价的影响不同;在消费者异质的情况下,国家的收入分配政策会影响国家调控物价的效果。     

Patent indicators for monitoring convergence - examples from NFF and ICT

The blurring of boundaries between hitherto distinct scientific disciplines, technologies or markets is a common and powerful phenomenon. Concentrating on monitoring convergence through patent indicators, we discuss convergence with examples from the area of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (NFF)/Cosmeceuticals as well as information technologies, consumer electronics, and telecommunications (ICT). We analyze 7455 scientific and patent references on phytosterols with the aid of SciFinder Scholar and 3836 documents employing STN AnaVist. Furthermore, we test an IPC co-classification based approach on 859,469 ICT-related and 341,846 NFF-related patents. Our results show clear indications for convergence and a proof of principle for our monitoring concept. Academics may better evaluate environmental parameters, like cases of convergence, influencing companies' actions. Implications for practitioners are based on a more reliable assessment prior to the forming of strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions. This could help avoid costly adventures such as the mergers and acquisitions seen in ICT.