Showing papers in "Journal of International Consumer Marketing in 2006"

Antecedents of Egyptian Consumers' Green Purchase Intentions

Abstract: This study investigates the influence of various attitudinal and psychographic factors on the green purchase behavior of Egyptian consumers. Using a large sample of 1093 consumers, a survey was developed and administered across Egypt. The findings from the hierarchical multiple regression model confirm the influence of the consumers ecological knowledge, concern, attitudes, altruism, and perceived effectiveness, among other factors, on their intention to purchase green products. Results show that skepticism towards environmental claims is negatively related to consumers intention to buy green products. The study also discusses how the present findings may help policy makers and marketers alike to fine-tune their environmental and marketing programs.

Role of Socio-Demographics in Segmenting and Profiling Green Consumers

Abstract: Though green consumerism is on the rise, not all the consumers are equally green. To be able to more effectively market green products and ideas, marketers need to segment their market and use differentiated marketing approach for each target segment. Socio-demographic characteristics have been widely used in the past researches as a basis of market segmentation and profiling of green consumers. The present study explores the usefulness of select socio-demographic characteristics in capturing variations present in the environmental consciousness of the consumers in India. Both the univariate and multivariate analyses point to the presence of statistically significant linkages between the socio-demo-graphic characteristics and different environmental consciousness constructs, thus implying potential usefulness of these characteristics in profiling different segments of green consumers and evolving accordingly the green marketing strategies and environmental campaigns as capable of more effectively...

Organic Consumers' Profile and Their Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Selected Organic Food Products in Greece

Abstract: The adoption of different food quality assurance schemes by the EU, such as the organic label, has been a response to the growing demand for certified quality food products among the European consu...

Family Communication Patterns

Abstract: Previous research has studied the influence of concept and socio oriented family communication on American adolescent purchase influence (Foxman, Tansuhaj, and Ekstrom 1989). This study extends this research by explicitly examining the perceived influence of four types of family communication patterns on family decision making among children between the ages of eight and twelve years for three types of products (durable, non-durable, and children's products), examining these relationship in Israel, and beginning to explore communication differences between mothers and fathers. Perceived product importance had an impact on child's perceived influence among family communication patterns. Furthermore, gender differences among family communication patterns were also found and these observed differences fit traditional gender roles quite well.

Determinants and outcomes of relationship quality : a conceptual model and empirical investigation

Abstract: This study examines service quality and customer satisfaction as determinants of relationship quality, and the impact of relationship quality on key relational outcomes (customer loyalty and customer commitment). Based on the literature, we develop hypotheses linking relationship quality, service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and customer commitment. Three alternative models were compared and tested using empirical data collected in a consumer sample in a retail chain departmental store setting in Australia. The findings suggest that the inclusion of the relationship quality construct in the service quality-satisfaction model can further enhance the predictive value of service quality and customer satisfaction.

Product Category and Origin Effects on Consumer Responses to Counterfeits

Abstract: This study compares the effect of product category differences and country of origin on Mexican and American attitudes toward a counterfeit product. Bourne's (1957) typology is used to approach the product category effect on attitudes toward counterfeits using the private vs. public consumption of luxury vs. necessity product categories. Three “made in” labels (China, Brazil and the U.S.) are used to examine the COO match-up effect on consumer attitudes toward counterfeit products. The results indicate the following: First, consumer responses toward counterfeits are more favorable for products used in public than those consumed in private. Second, although China is the world's largest source of counterfeits, American counterfeits are more likely to be purchased than Chinese counterfeits. Third, we found Americans to be more concerned with country of origin than Mexicans in this context. Finally, education was found to be an important factor influencing consumer attitudes toward counterfeits, with...

Images of the Contemporary Woman in Advertising in China: A Content Analysis

Abstract: With changing social expectations, rising living standards, and increasing Western influences in China, young Chinese women residing in urban areas have developed an awareness of their new identities as contemporary women distinct from the traditional or revolutionary ideals of the past. The current study examines the images of women depicted in a representative sample of magazine advertising in China. Of the 427 magazine ads examined, over 80% featured one or more images of contemporary Chinese woman: nurturer (8%), strong woman (12%), flower vase (28%), and urban sophisticate (44%). Further, the findings showed specific correlations between the featured images and (1) product categories, (2) magazine type, and (3) presenter ethnicity. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Revisiting Normative Influences on Impulsive Buying Behavior and an Extension to Compulsive Buying Behavior

Abstract: Social norms and networks are important to understand consumer behavior. Here, we reexamine normative influences on impulsive buying (Rook and Fisher 1995) within a different cultural context, South Korea. Results of Study 1, with a general consumer sample from South Korea, confirms prior findings in the United States that the relationship between buying impulsiveness and impulsive purchase decisions is moderated by subjective norms. Study 2 extends the concept of subjective norms to compulsive buying tendencies in South Korea. Our results show that a positive relationship between compulsive buying tendencies and compulsive buying decisions exists, but does not appear to be moderated by subjective norms.

Consumer Responses to Sexual Appeals in Cross-Cultural Advertisements

Abstract: This study investigates the effects of cultural values on crosscultural consumer responses to sex appeals in advertising. Special emphasis is placed on examining how consumers uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) influences their responses to sexual appeals in advertising. The study employs a 2.2 factorial between subject, post test only experimental design to study these relationships. Results from MANOVA analysis demonstrate that there are main effects of sexual appeals and consumers UAI on their attitudes toward the ad(Aad). The interaction effect between UAI and sexual appeals is also statistically significant. The usefulness of consumer cultural values in predicting cross national consumer responses to advertising is discussed. Implications and extensions into other crosscultural settings are suggested for future research.

Exploring the Materialism and Conformity Motivations of Chinese Pirated Product Buyers

Abstract: While Hong Kong and Mainland China are fused politically, they are in every other sense quite separate. Product piracy in China is a serious problem for multinationals wishing to do business there. This study attempts to gain a greater understanding of the profile of buyers of pirated products in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Issues examined include buyers purchasing behavior, materialistic attitudes and conformity motivation. Two major categories of pirated products were explored: pirated VCDs and pirated clothing and accessories. Personal interviews with more than 700 Hong Kong and Shanghai consumers who knowingly buy pirated products revealed that in both cities pirated products are most often purchased for the buyers and/or their families, and are identified mainly by their price and buying location. Shanghai tended to have a higher number of heavy buyers of pirated products than Hong Kong. Indeed, location was significant in predicting heavy and light pirated product buyers. While materialism did ...

Altruism and Consumer Purchase Behavior

Abstract: An important issue in the purchase of a product in the global marketplace is the impact of that purchase on other individuals within that country. The purchase of a major and technologically complex product can have an effect on employment as well as other economic factors that impact the well-being of that country. This paper reports research that examines the relationship between altruism and consumer purchase behavior involving domestic and foreign products. Three dimensions of altruism are measured: consumer ethnocentrism, cognitive moral development, and prosocial behavior. Consumer purchase behavior is examined in the context of past automobile purchases based on method of acquisition, region-of-origin, and purchase price. The results indicate that consumer ethnocentrism varies based on region-of-origin and that prosocial behavior varies based on method of acquisition and region-of-origin. Implications for policy makers and for the managers of global products are also presented.

Product-Placement Planning: How Is the Industry Placing Brands in Relation to Moviegoer Consumption?

Abstract: In the sphere of product placement, institutionalization of the industry has been paralleled by accumulation of research in recent years. However, there is a remarkable lack of attention to the planning of placements in the literature, especially when compared to traditional advertising. This study examines the success rate of 470 products placed in 35 movies to reach the corresponding consumers. As the resulting trends show, these product placements took advantage of the positive association existing between viewers and consumers, and the movie-product pairings were relatively successful in an intuitive way. Secondly, targeting was more accurate in placements highly connected to the plot, and in American productions more than in European ones despite the study being carried out in Spain. Nevertheless, ability to select movies was clearly insufficient, because decisions on movie choice were not systematically made according to the anticipated impact on consumers.

Customers' Perception of Value in Financial Services Relationships

Abstract: The present paper summarizes the results of an investigation whose aim was to examine the type of value consumers achieve as a result of their loyalty to a provider of financial services. The study proposes a relation between the different forms of consumer loyalty (cognitive, affective, inertial or conative loyalty) and the value a client obtains (functional, affective or saving value). We have tested the proposed hypotheses for the relationships between consumers and the financial firm they frequent. The empirical study suggests that functional and saving value is mainly related to cognitive loyalty, whereas other types of loyalty generate affective value and, only indirectly, functional and saving value.

Exploring the Intentional Gap Between Signing an Organ Donor Card and Actual Behavior

Abstract: The majority of people express willingness to be organ donors, yet many do not obtain organ donor cards. The card is important because organ donation is typically obtained only after family members' consent is attained, and families are more likely to offer their consent when the deceased signed the card. Thus, it is important to identify who is more likely to actually sign the card among those who expressed an intention to obtain. This study aimed to examine actual behavior compared to intentions. In addition, given the pivotal role of religiosity on donation intentions and behavior, comparisons were also performed with Italy, using secondary data. Results show that those who expressed a strong level of commitment to organ donation in general were more likely to actually obtain the card than those who expressed a more moderate commitment. Many who had agreed to sign the card changed their mind for reasons that can be characterized as situational or “cold feet” because of some religious beliefs. ...

On Toyota's Misstep in Advertising Its Land Cruiser SUV in Beijing

Abstract: Multinational corporations' attempt to combine advertising creativity with local cultures is examined in the case of Toyota's 2004 Land Cruiser SUV advertising campaign in Beijing. Within a sociolinguistic framework, the paper identifies characteristics of a multinational corporation's advertising mistakes that distorted Chinese consumers' sociolinguistic system. We encourage multinational corporations to recognize the important role of socio-linguistic systems indigenous to targeted consumers in international markets. The challenge to global marketing researchers is to engage in bicultural and bilingual ethnographic studies outside the Western cultural dominance so that greater understanding of international marketing behaviors can be sustained.

Modelling the Process of Family Influence on the Young Adult Consumer Behaviour

Abstract: Family influences on consumer behaviour have been analysed from two different approaches: from the individual's susceptibility to different types of influence, and from the consequences produced in consumer behaviour. The aim of this paper is to establish a model in which susceptibility to family influence and influence on patterns of consumption in relation to a product are integrated within the process of influence. Therefore, an empirical study aimed at young consumers has been conducted. Findings show that young adults' susceptibility to informational influence from their parents results in family awareness and in family influence on patterns of consumption. Finally, this influence leads young adults to purchase the same brands as their parents.

Do Cultural Differences Affect International Buyer-Seller Relationships?

Abstract: Relationship marketing has been widely studied in a national context, however, little research has explored exchange relationships among international channel members. International relationships involve unique risks due to potential problems arising from transactions held between buyers and sellers of different cultural backgrounds. These cultural differences can negatively affect the development of relational outcomes such as trust and commitment, but the literature is not clear on this proposition. Two hypotheses are tested with Chilean importer firms. The results show that cultural differences do not affect the level of trust and commitment of exchange relationships between foreign suppliers and Chilean distributors. Theoretical and managerial implications are derived, and suggestions for future research are proposed.

E-Commerce Adoption Among Chinese Consumers

Abstract: The widespread adoption of the Internet in China has made more researchers and business practitioners wonder about the factors involved in e-commerce development at the final consumer level in China. We explore and analyze the factors that are related to the Internet adoption as a medium for purchasing goods and services among Chinese consumers. Noting that these factors are likely to be different from countries like the United States, we proceed by surveying existing literature on consumer behavior from both the Chinese and United States market studies. We then examined the potential causal factors of shopping behavior in an exploratory framework. A set of data drawn from a broad spectrum of users was analyzed and the results were examined for implications in the Chinese context.

An Exploratory Investigation into the Food-Shopping Attitudes and Behavior of Chinese Shoppers

Abstract: The global food retailers, having landed in mainland China for over a decade, will need to compete with the local wet market in the fresh food retail arena in order to expand their overall market share to stay viable in the long run. Such a move will mean that the global modern food retailers have to compete with a traditional counterpart which, for decades, has been considered the only ideal venue to purchase fresh produce and meat by the Chinese customers. Whether the global food retailers can overcome their limitations in the perishable category visavis, the wet market depends on many factors. An in depth understanding of their market segments is undoubtedly a prelude to improving the effectiveness of their marketing strategies and enhancing their probability of success. This paper reports on an exploratory research that achieves a certain degree of success in demonstrating the feasibility of employing the variable foodshopping attitudes and behavior in examining the issue of foodshopping dest...

The Role of Corporate Image in the NCSI Model

Abstract: In building and testing NCSI models, there are some disagreements on whether or how customer expectations and corporate image constructs should be incorporated into the model. The objective of this paper is to analyze empirically, using an extensive data set, whether we should include customer expectations and corporate image in the NCSI model, and where to locate corporate image if it is to be included in the model. By conducting this analysis, the optimal revised KCSI model can be obtained. Additionally, by applying this revised model to the different types of industries and the different levels of knowledge, we tried to verify the applicability of this model. For the empirical test, we proposed two rival models based on Han's (1989) halo model and summary construct model. The results, based on data from six industries (3 manufacturing and 3 service industries) in Korea, showed that the goodness-of-fit indices of the proposed two models including corporate image are superior to that of the KCSI...