Marketing

Extant consumer research literature focuses on the subtleties, multiplicity of meanings, and values consumers attach to acquisition of personal possessions. Researchers have devoted less attention to consumers' disposition behaviors, including factors that influence disposition decisions. This paper explores voluntary disposition using data gathered through participant observations and in-depth interviews with a range of consumers, including those involved in clothing exchange (CE) events. The findings provide support for the a priori themes of values and consumption patterns, extending the life of self and goods, and consumers' selfconcept. Additionally, the findings yield emergent themes of role transitions, role models and family patterns, and shared community. Utilizing our findings, and extant literature, we propose a conceptual Framework of Voluntary Disposition that can be utilized to analyze further meanings of consumer disposition patterns in different contexts.

A common ideology of consumption is that more things translate to a higher quality of life. This paper challenges this ideology. We explore the consumption resistance (anticonsumption) of ''cheap and low-quality'' goods experienced by consumers living in former East Germany. We interviewed men and women who lived in East Germany about their consumption experiences before, during, and after Reunification. We present three emergent themes: ''consumer resistance -emergence of anti-consumption,'' ''continued frugality -resistance to contemporary throwawayism?,'' and ''Western Brand Resistance.'' Our research reveals a deep aversion among East Germans to the modern, bureaucratic and obligatory practice of throwawayism and hyperconsumption. We find feelings of resentment and betrayal and discover a much deeper issue with consumption: the fact that consumption is often a disillusioning experience and that material possessions and abundance are actually driving East Germans apart -making them feel less socially connected. As East Germans are swept up in the global economic juggernaut of capitalism, they find that their collective identity and sense of community is also swallowed up. Upon this realization, dialogism appears, and we uncover this as resistance to Western practices of hyperconsumption, frugality-as-an-ethic and an aversion to low quality throwaway-type products. Based on our findings, we make suggestions for marketing practice and for future research.

The objective of this study was to examine the perceptions of consumers regarding their awareness of supply chain management flows and the benefits that these flows convey to them. A further objective was to test the conjecture that consumers could be grouped into supply chain benefit segments. An electronic survey (Qualtrics) was administered to consumers in the USA to test the propositions. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three important benefits sought by consumers (variety and assortment, quality/price and reasonable price segments). An analysis of variance suggested that the three consumer supply chain benefit clusters explained differences in consumer awareness of supply chain flows. Consumers in the variety and assortment segment had a higher awareness of financial flows, material flows and information flows as a result of their shopping behaviour. The conjecture that the variety and assortment segment had higher awareness of supply chain flows due to their higher online shopping frequency was supported. Keywords: consumer awareness of supply chain flow; material flow in supply chain; information flow in supply chain; financial flow in supply chain; consumer perception of value-added supply chain. and Stoddard, J.E. (2018) 'Consumer awareness of supply chain flows in relation to consumer perceptions of value-added by supply chain management',

This paper explores the relationship between millennials’ online behavior and their opinions of online reviews via the use of focus groups and correspondence analysis. The proposition was that millennials’ online behavior (including search behavior) is likely to have an effect on how they view online reviews. The correspondence analysis results suggest that millennials who spend more time online peruse a greater number of products. Further, relationships were found between millennials’ time online and factors influencing review trustworthiness as well as millennials’ time online and factors affecting review memorability. It is noteworthy to suggest that focus group analysis can be enhanced through the use of correspondence analysis.

Past research concerning decision framing has found that buyer's choices tend to be risk averse for decisions framed as a gain and risk seeking for choices framed as a loss. Attribution theory suggests that women may be less likely to take risk than men when faced with similar decision-making problems. The present study sought to determine whether there would be differences between men and women with respect to their supplier choices based on how the purchasing decision was framed. Two experiments were conducted: one using a price-based purchasing scenario and the other using a price-based and a quality-based purchasing scenario. For the pricebased scenario women tended to make more risky supplier choices than men when the purchasing decision was framed as a loss, and less risky supplier choices than men when the purchasing decision was framed as a gain. No differences between the sexes were found for the quality-based scenario.

This article reports the results from two experiments that tested decision-framing effects on choices made by simulated organizational buying groups. The first experiment showed that the choice of suppliers by buying groups varied depending on the nature of the decision frame. Moreover, group influence seemed to intensify the effect of the loss decision frame. The second experiment tested whether mixed-frame groups used a lexicographic strategy to make multidimensional supplier choice decisions. Buying groups faced with a choice between two suppliers that differed with respect to price and quality chose the supplier that was best on the most important attribute-quality. Also, the decision frame associated with the important attribute affected the buying groups' choices.

Tourism is an important industry in the United States and for more regional economies, motivating research exploring characteristics of tourist consumers and their travel behavior. This paper deals with the issue of sampling frame generalizability for tourism research. Visitors to state and local welcome centers were compared in terms of their area awareness, respondent and travel party demographics, and expenditures. Significant differences were found between the groups, questioning the generalizability of data collected at state welcome centers.

Service-dominant (S-D) logic stresses the development of core competencies through shared participation of both the consumer and the producer in value creation. This article examines value co-creation in personal training, an extended consumer-intensive service. Based on in-depth interviews with personal trainers and clients, we explicate value co-creation in a fitness context from a dyadic perspective. We find that mutual understanding reached through negotiation between the client and provider regarding fitness and fitness goals enhances value creation and contributes to ultimate goal attainment.

Consumers increasingly engage expert service providers in their goal pursuits. While the literature focuses primarily on goal attainment, this presents just one stage of extended goal striving. Using Bagozzi and Dholakia's (1999) goal-striving framework as the foundation, this qualitative research examines the client-trainer interactions in the goal-striving process. We find that goal-striving with the aid of expert service providers entails intersubjectivity. The consumer wrestles with multiple understandings of fitness to determine and pursue a goal. This considers the individual's perceptions and desires, cultural and societal discourses, and trainer's views. Effective goal pursuit requires shared understanding between client and trainer. It entails a moment of release when consumers accept their inability to translate goals into actions alone. This occurs at multiple stages of the process. By examining the influence of service providers on goal-strivers, this research extends our understanding of goal-striving as an accepted agreement between the Self and Other.

Major cultural death celebrations such as Mexico’s Day of the Dead, Halloween, and All Saint’s Day in many Christian countries, all involve the remembrance of the ancestral dead in various aspects. Holiday celebrations can differ in purpose. Some focus on recommitment – aiding in socialization of society’s members, social integration, and reaffirming commitment to values. Others serve as tension management holidays, enabling celebrants to “let off steam” or “let loose.” Tension management holidays only indirectly enforce shared beliefs by offering the occasional release from conformity and behavioral norms of society (Etzioni and Bloom 2004; Durkheim 1965). Studying holidays as cultural products offers a unique perspective of society’s cultural values and enhances our understanding of consumer interpretation of foreign consumption rituals.

When performing survey research it is normal to collect descriptive information such as income, gender, highest education attainment, and others. This information is used to categorize the collected research responses into groups. This nominal or ordinal data may also be used to find patterns in the collected data and suggest relationships. As an exploratory research method, it can suggest future research possibilities to confirm these relationships. This paper introduces the use of Correspondence Analysis (CA) as a research technique to suggest possible relationships using nominal or ordinal data, using collected research from a survey performed to measure tourist preferences in the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area of North Carolina. CA reveals possible associations between trip planning time, time spent, and other collected nominal data. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this research technique and possible future uses for the marketing researcher. Introduction Survey re...

The last two decades has seen a fundamental shift in society with the growth in technology and the growth of social media. This shift has been embraced in the classroom as a tool to enhance the learning experience of the student. Students have experienced a fundamental shift in interaction with themselves and the world they inhabit with the exponential growth in technology and social media both inside and outside the classroom. The result is the multitasking student, who must constantly switch between growing numbers of interactions. Attention spans have a finite limit, and eventually students experience an over-consumption of technology, characterized by increasing levels of anxiety and stress. To better serve our students, marketing educators must reconsider the technology experience in the classroom. Further, marketing educators should educate students on the detrimental effects of technology over-consumption and solutions to relieve themselves from their over-stressed plugged-in...

This article showcases efforts of incorporating Sustainability Issues in an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) class during three semesters during the academic years of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. The course was redesigned using Fink’s (2013) course recommendations of designing significant learning goals. In addition to the way the course was delivered (both face-toface and online), the instructor worked with a Higher Ed publisher to customize a textbook to include sustainability issues related to the course content (i.e., reflecting IMC topics). The course re-design included sustainability assignments such as Virtual Field Trips (visiting corporate websites and other organizations to study their CSR statements and sustainability efforts). Sustainability related articles were pre-requisites for all assignments. In addition, the students had to watch several movies, including “So Right So Smart,” “Story of Stuff,” and other voluntary (not controlled for) movies dealing with socia...

The study of atmospherics recognizes shoppers engage in consumption for more than its utilitarian function. The concept of the recreational shopper recognizes the valueproducing process of the consumption experience. This research furthers the understanding of consumption by delving into the value-enhancing process of escaping during the experience, as well as measuring the mediating effects of fascination and authenticity. In this study, a test of an individual’s self-regulating behavior and the moderating effects on the consumption experience help determine if predetermination affects an escape experience. Pictured scenes of restaurants were pretested for their ability to produce fascination and represent and authentic experience. Selecting two scenes rated on the high and low end of the scale of authenticity and fascination, Photoshop is used to change the atmospherics that signal a high and low fascinating experience. From these two pictures, four pictures are created representi...

Entrepreneurial marketing seeks to create, communicate and deliver value to customers and manage customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization. This paper explores whether increased entrepreneurial marketing practices at North Carolina wineries can lead to enhanced winery performance. A web survey was delivered to N.C. wineries by email. The results suggest that winery customer intensity and innovation was positively related to winery satisfaction of winery performance. Also, innovation and value creation were found to be positively related to percentage sales change at wineries.

The transition to motherhood involves the experience of each individual mother and child, as well as the burden of cultural expectations. Social desirability demands may impede self reports of difficulties during the transition to motherhood when using traditional explicit measures. One core component of maternal role attainment is a mother's confidence in her own intuitive knowledge of her child. This brief report presents two studies that examine a "low technology" implicit measure of maternal intuition confidence that is based within a more general decision confidence paradigm. Study 1 examined the association of both implicit and explicit maternal intuition confidence with depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and maternal identity satisfaction in a United States sample of mothers. The implicit measure contributed to variance in each of the outcome measures, above and beyond an explicit measure. Study 2 explored the association of implicit maternal intuition confidence with life satisfaction and maternal identity satisfaction in Brazil, China, India, the United States and the United Kingdom. Across all samples, implicit maternal intuition confidence was significantly associated with satisfaction with life. However, it was significantly associated with maternal identity satisfaction only in the two individualistic countries (the United States and the United Kingdom), but not in the three collectivist countries.

This paper examines whether marketing educators' efforts in integrating sustainability-related issues in an undergraduate Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) course affect students' perceived sustainability literacy. Using the Taxonomy of Significant Learning, a traditional IMC course was redesigned to include sustainability-focused concepts and assignments related to and integrated with the traditional course concepts. Analyzing student pre-and posttests of self-reported data from two questionnaires, one at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the semester, impact on students' perceived awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues was demonstrated.

The study of atmospherics recognizes shoppers engage in consumption for more than its utilitarian function. The concept of the recreational shopper recognizes the valueproducing process of the consumption experience. This research furthers the understanding o f consumption by delving into the value-enhancing process of escaping during the experience, as well as measuring the mediating effects of fascination and authenticity. In this study, a test of an individual's self-regulating behavior and the moderating effects on the consumption experience help determine if predetermination affects an escape experience. Pictured scenes of restaurants were pretested for their ability to produce fascination and represent and authentic experience. Selecting two scenes rated on the high and low end of the scale o f authenticity and fascination, Photoshop is used to change the atmospherics that signal a high and low fascinating experience. From these two pictures, four pictures are created representing the four possible manipulations of authenticity and fascination. The final analysis indicated that the level of escape in a built environment is positively related to positive affect. When consumers are able to engage in a dining experience that takes them away from their normal lives, they exhibit excitement, happiness, and relaxation. Escape also is a partial mediating factor in fascination, defined as involuntary attention that is effortless. Research in fascination is in natural settings; however, this study confirms its relationship in a built environment. Fascination reduces fatigue and leads to a restoration of cognitive effectiveness. This study finds that escape partially explains the fascination experience. When provided an escape setting, the consumer is more likely to relax and more open to enjoy the restorative qualities of a fascinating experience. Interestingly, in this study authenticity is not found to have a significant effect in the escape experience. Indexicality is an important quality in authentic experiences, and once the consumer accepts items and places as authentic, they will become more personally involved with items and places. This research, however, found indexicality is not necessarily required, and is not important in an escape experience. This means escape can be found in environments that are truly unique and untied to the indexicality of the authentic. Self-regulating behavior is found not be a significant contributor the escape experience. Action-oriented individuals are rated high in the active disposition of their actions and avoid difficulties in the completion of a task. This research finds that actionoriented individuals are no differently affected in the escape experience than are stateoriented individuals, who are more willing to "go with the flow," have difficulty in completing tasks, and are generally more likely to fail due to an inability to filter out obstructions. This supports the supposition that the escape from the mundane is a sought after quality desired by both action-oriented and state-oriented individuals. This study supports the desirable characteristics of an escape experience and its relationship to fascination. Escape is related to positive feelings, which lead to the desire to stay, engage in social behavior, and ultimately add to the value of the consumption experience.

When performing survey research it is normal to collect descriptive information such as income, gender, highest education attainment, and others. This information is used to categorize the collected research responses into groups. This nominal or ordinal data may also be used to find patterns in the collected data and suggest relationships. As an exploratory research method, it can suggest future research possibilities to confirm these relationships. This paper introduces the use of Correspondence Analysis (CA) as a research technique to suggest possible relationships using nominal or ordinal data, using collected research from a survey performed to measure tourist preferences in the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area of North Carolina. CA reveals possible associations between trip planning time, time spent, and other collected nominal data. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this research technique and possible future uses for the marketing researcher.