Despite their ethical intentions, ethically minded consumers rarely purchase ethical products (Auger and Devinney: 2007, Journal of Business Ethics
 76, 361–383). This intentions–behaviour gap is important to researchers and industry, yet poorly understood (Belk et al.: 2005, Consumption, Markets and Culture
 8(3), 275–289). In order to push the understanding of ethical consumption forward, we draw on what is known about the intention–behaviour gap from the social psychology and consumer behaviour literatures and apply these insights to ethical consumerism. We bring together three separate insights – implementation intentions (Gollwitzer: 1999, American Psychologist
 54(7), 493–503), actual behavioural control (ABC) (Ajzen and Madden: 1986, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
 22, 453–474; Sheeran et al.: 2003, Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 393–410) and situational context (SC) (Belk: 1975, Journal of Consumer Research
 2, 157–164) – to construct an integrated, holistic conceptual model of the intention–behaviour gap of ethically minded consumers. This holistic conceptual model addresses significant limitations within the ethical consumerism literature, and moves the understanding of ethical consumer behaviour forward. Further, the operationalisation of this model offers insight and strategic direction for marketing managers attempting to bridge the intention–behaviour gap of the ethically minded consumer.

Why Ethical Consumers Don’t Walk Their Talk: Towards a Framework for Understanding the Gap Between the Ethical Purchase Intentions and Actual Buying Behaviour of Ethically Minded Consumers

Guanxi refers to the durable social connections and networks a firm uses to exchange favors for organizational purposes. This study examines how and when guanxi operates as a governance mechanism that influences firm marketing competence and performance in the transitional economy of China. Drawing on social capital theory, the authors propose an integrative framework that unbundles the benefits and risks of guanxi and delineates the organizational processes to internalize guanxi as a corporate core competence. The authors surveyed senior executives in 282 firms in China's consumer products industries. The findings confirm guanxi's direct effects on market performance and its indirect effects mediated through channel capability and responsive capability. The authors also confirm that technological turbulence and competition intensity can be effective structure-loosening forces, thus reducing the governance effects of guanxi. The findings suggest that firms can improve market access and growth thr...

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When Does Guanxi Matter? Issues of Capitalization and Its Dark Sides:

The Art and Science of Negotiation.

Today’s body of marketing thought is expanding geometrically, pushing frontiers in numerous domains—quantitatively, behaviorally, strategically—with much enhanced technology and on an increasingly globalized basis. As this pushes forward on many fronts, however, it is also worthwhile to ask what is in danger of being left behind. What is the benefit, if any, of discerning the roots of this field? On the basis of an extended look across the last century of marketing thought, this article paints a wide-ranging portrait of (1) the general course that has been taken by the body of marketing thought over its “4 Eras” and (2) how the treatment of societal dimensions of marketing has fared during each period. On the basis of these findings, the authors pose several key issues for further consideration by interested thinkers concerned with the progress of marketing scholarship.

Scholarly Research in Marketing: Exploring the “4 Eras” of Thought Development:

A building project is completed as a result of a combination of many events and interactions, planned or unplanned, over the life of a facility, with changing participants and processes in a constantly changing environment. This paper defines a set of conditions or factors that, when thoroughly and completely satisfied on a project, ensures the successful completion of the facility. Success on a project means that certain expectations for a given participant were met, whether owner, planner, engineer, contractor, or operator. These expectations may be different for each participant. The factors that predicate success were initially derived from the Integrated Building Process Model developed at Penn State by Sanvido in 1990. These factors were then tested on sixteen projects and the results showed excellent correlation between project success and achievement of the factors. Finally, the four factors most critical to success are presented.

Critical Success Factors for Construction Projects

Purpose – Increasing numbers of consumers are expressing concerns about reports of questionable corporate practices and are responding through boycotts and buycotts. This paper compares competing theories of consumer empowerment and details findings that examine the applicability of the theory to “ethical consumer” narratives. The nature and impact of consumer empowerment in consumer decision making is then discussed.Design/methodology/approach – The study takes an exploratory approach by conducting semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of ten consumers. These were recruited from an “ethical product” fair in Scotland.Findings – Results indicate that the participating consumers embraced a voting metaphor, either explicitly or implicitly, to view consumption as an ethical/political domain. Setting their choices within perceived collective consumer behaviour, they characterised their consumption as empowering. This results in an ethical consumer project that can be seen as operating wit...

Consumption as Voting: An Exploration of Consumer Empowerment

The authors examine the histories of four business-to-business relationships in the United States: advertising agencies and clients, textile agents and mills, the Pullman Car Company and railroads,...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/1252159

Forces Impinging on Long-Term Business-to-Business Relationships in the United States: An Historical Perspective:

The Consumer as Economic Voter

Critical success factors for directors in the eighties

Describes the problems that major brand suppliers face in the context of the growing attractiveness of private brands to the retailer and the consumer. Discusses the factors contributing to this growth. Describes the roles that private brands perform for the retailer. Offers model for the retailer′s decision whether or not to adopt a private brand. Offers supplier options. Delineates management implications.

Roger Dickinson

Papers

Consumption as Voting: An Exploration of Consumer Empowerment

Forces Impinging on Long-Term Business-to-Business Relationships in the United States: An Historical Perspective:

The Consumer as Economic Voter

Critical success factors for directors in the eighties

Private Brands: Major Brand Perspective