Browsing by Subject "Consumer behavior"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Consumer response to cause-related business strategies: sponsorship, transaction-based, event, and experiential
    (2013-08) Lee, Ji Young
    The purposes of this study were first, to investigate the impact of four different types of cause-related business strategies (CRBS) on consumer responses to an apparel brand. The four strategies investigated were classified based on Pine and Gilmore's (1998) four realms of experience. They were labeled sponsored-linked marketing, transaction-based cause-related marketing, cause-related event marketing, and cause-related experiential marketing. The consumer responses investigated were drawn from Curra´s-Pe´rez, Bigne´-Alcaniz, and Alvarado-Herrera's (2009) conceptual model of consumer identification with a socially responsible company that identified brand image, distinctiveness, brand attractiveness, customer-brand identification, attitude toward the brand, and customer loyalty as important antecedents to brand loyalty. The second purpose was to examine the relative effectiveness of CRBS as opposed to a commonly employed strategy (i.e., celebrity marketing) to establish whether the effects of CRBS on consumers were significantly different. Data was collected from consumer panels (n = 344) and undergraduates (n = 415). This process resulted in responses from 759 individuals that were used for primary data analysis. For each type of CRBS, there were significant positive relationships between corporate social responsibility image, brand distinctiveness, credibility, and attractiveness, customer-brand (C-B) identification, attitude toward the brand, and customer loyalty. The relationships of the variables were significantly different between each type of CRBS. Specifically, the effect of CSR image on brand distinctiveness, the effect of brand distinctiveness on brand attractiveness, the impact of brand attractiveness on C-B identification and the impact of C-B identification on attitude toward the brand were strongest in the cause-related event marketing condition followed by transaction-based cause-related marketing, cause-related experiential marketing, and sponsorship-linked marketing conditions. Third, the relationships of the dependent variables were significantly different between all types of CRBS and celebrity marketing suggesting participant's response to CRBS and celebrity marketing was different. Specifically, the effect of corporate social responsibility image on brand distinctiveness, credibility, attractiveness, C-B identification, attitude toward the brand, and customer loyalty was stronger for each type of CRBS condition than for the celebrity marketing condition. Theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for future research based on the findings were provided.
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    Consumer response to Online visual merchandising cues: a case study of Forever 21
    (2014-06) Wu, Jiajing
    The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of online visual merchandising cues on consumers' approach and avoidance behavior and identify the relative importance of various visual merchandising cues to consumers. The study took a case study approach and used Stimulus-Organism-Response framework. Multiple regression and Sobel test were used for hypotheses and mediation effect testing. Findings showed the importance of interactivity of product presentation and layout of website even with the presence of other online visual merchandising cues. The mediation effects are significant for pleasure on the link between interactivity of product presentation and approach-avoidance behavior and for perceived ease of use on the link between layout of the website and approach-avoidance behavior, which supported the adoption of ease of use and usefulness from Technology Acceptance Model into the S-O-R framework and gave implications for retailers of how to improve interactivity of product presentation and layout of website.
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    Downtown, strip centers, and big-box stores: Mode choice by shopping destination type in Davis, California
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2015) Popovich, Natalie Danielle; Handy, Susan
    Growing concerns about climate change and traffic congestion are motivating policymakers to find ways to encourage sustainable travel options. In the United States, where 88 percent of shopping trips are made by car, research identifying the factors that influence shopping mode choice can provide insight into ways to divert some of these trips to more sustainable alternatives. This paper aims to better explain the relationship between the built environment and shopping mode choice by examining how mode choice differs for the same individual across three different types of shopping destinations—downtown, strip center, and big box—in Davis, California. We conducted two cross-sectional online surveys in 2009 and 2010 with a total of 2043 respondents that asked questions about recent shopping. To understand the factors influencing mode choice at these three shopping destination types, we estimate binary logit models for choosing to use an active travel mode (bike or walk) to shop. Our results suggest that while distinct factors influence mode choice at the different destination types, simple infrastructure changes to the destination are not enough to encourage mode shift. Distance to shopping destinations and enjoying bicycling are the primary determinants of choosing active travel modes, while socio-demographic characteristics play a smaller role.
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    Improving the Marketability of Horticultural Products: Communicating to the Consumer
    (2014-02) Rihn, Alicia
    Consumers are very heterogeneous and it is challenging to determine specific product attributes that impact their purchasing choices. To investigate consumer behavior regarding horticultural products, I conducted two experiments: 1) Consumers preferences for longevity information and guarantees on cut flower arrangements, and 2) Does visual attention to product attributes on minimally processed horticultural products impact consumers' preferences? For the cut flower arrangement study an internet choice experiment was conducted in 2011. Significant variation was found in consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for differing longevity lengths and guarantees. Specifically, participants were more likely to select and pay premiums for cut flower arrangements with longer vase life longevity and a guarantee. Using Ward's linkage cluster analysis, three distinct consumer clusters were developed: guarantee seekers, value conscious consumers, and spenders. Forty-nine percent of participants were guarantee seekers, 31% were value conscious consumers, and 20% were spenders. Guarantee seekers preferred guarantees on the cut flower arrangements. Value conscious consumers were interested in both guarantees and longevity indicators. Spenders were the least interested in longevity indicators and guarantees. We conclude floral retailers could use longevity indicators and guarantees to attract consumers, improve consumer confidence, and generate profits. Floral retailers could also develop target marketing strategies to attract different consumer clusters. In the minimally processed horticultural products study, an experimental auction and eye-tracking analysis were combined to examine consumer preferences and WTP. Differences were found between production methods, origin, and nutrient content claim content. Consumers' preferences and WTP were product specific. Additionally, there was a correlation between visual attention and consumers' WTP. More fixations on attributes participants' valued resulted in greater WTP. Conversely, more fixations on attributes participants' did not value resulted in a discounted WTP. We conclude producers and industry associations could benefit from exploring the potential of producing products with the attributes commanding greater premiums. Additionally, retailers could benefit from using in-store promotions to improve the visibility of the premium generating attributes.
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    Online or Offline? Understanding Consumers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Collaborative Fashion Consumption Channels. A Black Female Perspective.
    (2020-08) Bobwealth Omontese, Carmi
    Excessive consumption is evident in the fashion industry with fast fashion contributing to a rapid cycle of consumer acquisition and disposal of apparel products. Collaborative fashion consumption opposes conventional views of consumption, which is dominantly inclined toward purchasing new products. The aim of this study was to understand the lived experiences of collaborative fashion consumers and explore consumers’ personal experiences with second-hand shopping using online and offline channels. In addition, the study examined consumers’ perceptions of the attributes of online and offline second-hand shopping channels that either encourage or deter their decision to engage in collaborative fashion consumption. Questions developed to address the research objectives were as follows: 1) What are second-hand consumers’ experiences with shopping clothing items using online and offline channels? 2) What are second-hand consumers’ perceptions of the attributes of online and offline second-hand channels? 3) What incentives drive second-hand consumers to patronize one channel over the other? The study adopted a qualitative approach using phenomenology to collect data from black female participants who engage in collaborative fashion consumption using online and offline second-hand shopping channels. Themes that were generated from the interviews were discussed. This work contributes to the existing literature on consumer behavior and collaborative fashion consumption. Limitations and suggestions for future studies were discussed.
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    Understanding the impact of core product quality on customer satisfaction, team identification, and service quality
    (2011-08) Warren, Clinton J.
    Customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors in ensuring the long-term financial success of any organization. Previous marketing research suggests that customer satisfaction is influenced by the quality of an organization’s core offerings. Customer satisfaction is developed by ensuring product quality in goods based industries, and it is facilitated by delivering quality services in service based industries. Spectator sport is a unique sector of business that includes both product and service delivery. The game experience is at the core of spectator sport consumption. The core sport product is a unique aspect of the marketing mix that is not controlled by sport managers. However, core product quality is critically important to customer satisfaction. Additionally, team sport consumers develop unique psychological and emotional attachments to the organizations they support. This attachment, team identification, is an important construct that influences the team sport consumer in a variety of ways. Team identification has been shown to influence perceptions of service quality and overall customer satisfaction. This study is one of the first to attempt to develop, and test, a theoretical model that explains customer satisfaction in team sport by including core product quality, team identification, and service quality perceptions. This study utilized a non-experimental survey design to test the proposed team customer satisfaction model (TCSM) in two contexts. Data were collected at a NCAA Division I-FCS football game and men’s basketball game. Participants completed a questionnaire comprised of measurement scales assessing customer satisfaction, core product quality perceptions, team identification, and service quality perceptions. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in an attempt to examine the fit for the TCSM to each sample. The model was evaluated for overall fit and path coefficients were examined to determine the degree to which independent variables were predictive of the dependent variables in the model. The results indicated that the TCSM did not fit the data collected in either sample. However, analysis of the structural paths within the model indicated that core product quality holds a weak causal influence over customer satisfaction, team identification, and service quality. Additionally, it was found that team identification was only a causal predictor of customer satisfaction and service quality evaluations in one model test. The results of this study suggest the model should be re-specified and further tested with the available data.