环境改善需求、环境责任认知和公众环境行为

基于CGSS （2013）数据,本文实证分析了环境改善需求和环境责任认知对公众环境行为的影响。本研究发现居民对环境的改善需求与个人环境行为呈正相关。另外,两类环境责任自我弱化认知降低了居民的环境行为参与率：一类是居民倾向于把环境责任归咎给政府、企业和社会团体等社会组织,另一类是居民倾向于认为个人对于环境改善只存在微小的正外部性。最后,本研究还发现环境改善需求对个人环境行为的效力受到居民环境责任认知的影响。本研究认为政府和媒体应强化个人环境行为作用的宣导以提升公众环境行为参与率。     

Overcoming the Trend Toward Healthier Foods: The Impact of Advertising and Intangibles on Investor Returns in the Packaged Food Industry

The study analyzes the impact of advertising, goodwill, and other intangibles on investor returns in the consumer packaged food and beverage industry during 2008–2012, a timeframe during which smaller brands wrestled $18 billion in sales away from large manufacturers of processed foods. The findings demonstrate that those firms that were able to allocate a greater percentage of their revenue to their ongoing advertising efforts were able to enhance investor holding period returns (HPR). In addition, those firms with a higher ratio of intangible assets other than goodwill to total assets were also able to enhance HPR. However, there was not a significant positive relationship between the ratio of acquired goodwill to total assets and HPR. Hence, packaged food and beverage manufacturers are advised to seek competitive advantages through their own brand-building efforts rather than seeking to enhance investor returns through a strategy based on company mergers and acquisitions.     

Communicating Sensory Attributes and Innovation Through Food Product Labeling

This article explores the influence of food product packaging on consumers’ sensory expectations and perceived newness of the product. Two experiments examine to what extent consumers use product typicality, graphical representations, and package typicality in evaluating new food products. Study 1 finds that (1) a typical flavor induces more positive expectations of pleasantness, taste, color, and smell, and (2) the presence of graphic representation on product labels increases perceived pleasantness but does not affect sensory expectations. Study 2 indicates that the product seems newer in the absence of a package (label-only condition), but when the product packaging is presented, an atypical package conveys more newness than a typical package. These results provide practical guidelines for the design and introduction of innovative food products.     

The Effects of Food Color on Perceived Flavor: A Factorial Investigation in India

We extend research testing the effects of food color on flavor to a new cultural setting—India. We test color’s effect at three levels: flavor identification, perception, and preference. One hundred twenty-two graduate students at an Indian business school enrolling students from all parts of India were assigned the task of tasting and evaluating an orange-flavored carbonated water. Color at two levels (purple and orange) and label information at two levels (told orange flavor, told grape) were manipulated in a full factorial, between-subjects design. Results confirm that food color affects the consumer’s ability to correctly identify flavor as well as to form distinct flavor profiles and preferences. Food color dominates other flavor information including labeling and taste, though the strength of the effect is less pronounced in this setting. Strategic alternatives for the effective deployment of food color for promotional purposes are recommended.     

What is going on when nothing is going on? Exploring the role of the consumer in shaping waiting situations

Research on waiting in services focuses mainly on the role of companies in waiting situations. Much of the existing research envisages the consumer as a passive victim of the delays caused by companies. This article redresses the imbalance in research on waiting by exploring the role of consumers in waiting situations. A qualitative methodology is used, involving data collection through in‐depth interviews and personal diaries, to facilitate an in‐depth analysis of consumers’ waiting experiences. Additionally, a holistic approach is employed with a view to examining the ‘whole’ waiting experience rather than individual or isolated aspects of waiting. The main finding of the study is that consumers play an active and deliberate role in waiting situations. This is the first study to empirically identify the behaviours and initiatives undertaken by consumers when forced to wait for services. The results suggest that consumers play an active role in organising and reducing the real or perceived waiting time. They actively seek information on the length and causes of the wait. And, on occasions, the consumer may also be the cause of the wait or may even increase the delay by their actions. In contrast to most of the existing research on the topic of waiting, this study adopt a qualitative, in‐depth approach, with a multicultural sample, and a focus on the consumer whose role in waiting has previously been overlooked.     

Consumer awareness and willingness to pay for safety of street foods in developing countries: a review

Street food vending is still popular in developing countries despite the giant stride recorded in the areas of food processing and global food supply in the last century. Its contribution to the socio‐economic development of the countries is evidenced by the volume of trade involved and provision of employment for significant portion of rural and urban populace. However, there has been persistent global concern on the risks of street food to the health of consumers because of the attitudes of practitioners throughout the chain. This review summarizes the findings of studies on awareness and perceptions of street food consumers to the hazards involved in street food, and their willingness to pay (WTP) premium for safety intervention. The major limitation to WTP is the extra cost that could result from the implementation of reports of WTP studies which could disenfranchise those consumers that may not be able to afford the premium. This review, therefore, recommends the formulation and enforcement of appropriate public policies that would cover the entire chain of street food vending for the safety of everybody along the chain and the protection of the health of the consumers.     

Consumer identity and marketing implications: Indian urban youth

Youth consumption has been an area of research interest as well as societal concern. Globalization and proliferation of media have been cited as the main reasons for rise in consumption, especially among youth. This paper has examined how the Indian Urban youth represent their Consumer Identities through their narratives. In 1991, India opened up to Globalization and its effect on the youth consumption is now wide spread. Studies in other parts of the world have shown youth to be ‘Raving Hedonists’ and ‘Squanderer’ as well as Rational and Economical Consumers. An empirical approach was taken to establish the typology of Indian Youth Consumers. Empirical data for this research was collected by conducting in‐depth interviews in 2013, covering various states of India, with students in the age group of eighteen to twenty three years, who are financially dependent on their parents. Forty in‐depth interviews, representing thirteen distinct linguistic identities were conducted and analysed. Studies done in other parts of the world such as UK, Finland, Norway and Belgium have established typologies of youth consumers such as Hedonist, Squanderer, Rational and Economical Consumer Identities. While these Consumer Identities exist among Indian Urban Youth, the researchers have identified additional Consumer Identity Typologies of Reluctant, Dependent and Aspirant Consumers. The youth in India is somewhat similar to youth elsewhere and yet has its own distinction as consumers. The fact that India has a very high youth population makes this study significant.     

Consuming apart,together: the role of multiple identities in sustainable behaviour

Although consumers’ awareness of the environmental and ethical consequences of their behaviour has grown, research on the role of multiple consumer identities in sustainability behaviours is scarce. The aim of the current study was to explain sustainable behaviour from a social identity perspective. We conducted a longitudinal cross‐national within‐subjects design consumer study in six countries (T1, N=3083; T2, N=1440). The results indicate that environmental sustainability can comprise several distinct yet overlapping sustainable behaviours. Multiple social identities seem to play different roles in these different behaviours. Therefore, efforts to enhance different sustainability behaviours are challenging yet promising. Once consumers incorporate a sustainable behaviour, it becomes part of their own identity and could lead to spill over effects on other closely related sustainable behaviours.     

Consumer satisfaction in retail stores: theory and implications

The substitution of small retail stores by the large stores has been a topic of debate among academics, practitioners, retailers and general public, especially in the context of foreign firms entering emerging markets such as China and India. The purpose of this research is to find out the determinants of consumer satisfaction in small and large retail stores in an emerging market, with a sample from India. Data were collected using a 39‐item structured questionnaire developed by the authors. The sample consists of 225 consumers who shop at retail outlets (Convenience sample of 125 consumers from small and 100 consumers from large stores respectively). Exploratory factor analysis grouped the 39 variables into 14 factors. Further, regression analysis revealed that six of the factors (Social desirability, staff friendliness, shopping economy, shopping ambience, family shopping and deal proneness) were major predictors of consumer satisfaction as they were found to be significant at 5% level. The significance of factors such as social desirability and staff friendliness imply that many consumers prefer those typical features of small stores, which in turn results in the likely coexistence of small retail formats in spite of the entry and proliferation of large retail stores from different countries. We posit three theoretical propositions to stimulate further research in this area.     

Antecedents of materialism in China—an intergenerational analysis

Materialism has been at the centre of the consumer behaviour literature for decades. Despite a huge number of studies that have shed light on its antecedents and consequences, it is still not clear how a materialistic orientation evolves and becomes prevalent in line with socioeconomic transitions in a country. The current research aims to analyze possible reasons why different generations of consumers in China have become more or less materialistic. Data were collected from 613 consumers in two cities, representing three focal generational cohorts, labelled, in chronological order, the Cultural Revolution Generation, the Economic Reform Generation and the Social Change Generation. Traditional Chinese cultural values are shown to still play a significant role in the formation of materialism in China, serving to curtail the prevalence of materialism. At the same time, secular values serve as a driving force for a materialistic orientation.