Search results

Building on institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for analyzing how consumer attitudes toward nudity in ads change as a result of modernization. Modernization is driven by the currents of pluralism and rationalism. The authors highlight the inherent contradiction of these two pillars and how this contradiction results in an inverted-U pattern in the relationship between level of modernization and consumer attitudes toward sex appeals. Consumers’ sexual permissiveness and their perceived insufficiency of regulatory control over sexual content in the mass media are the individual-level mediators of the two pillars.

The data were collected from three Chinese cities at different levels of modernization. A total of 811 college students from the three cities participated in the study.

The relationship between level of modernization and attitude favorability followed an inverted-U pattern. Female participants in the most modernized city possessed significantly less favorable attitudes to the ads than their male counterparts. Female and male participants were similar in their attitudes in the less modern cities. Sexual permissiveness mediated the relationship between modernization and male participants’ attitudes, but not with female participants’ attitudes. Perceived sufficiency of regulatory control over sexual content mediated the relationship between modernization and their attitudes among both male and female participants.

The paper makes an empirical contribution by testing the hypotheses regarding consumers responses to sex-appeal advertising with data collected from three Chinese cities at different levels of modernization. Additionally, it offers an institutional perspective on social attitude changes. Social attitude change is of great interest to researchers, but a systematic theoretical analysis is currently lacking.

The study sought to investigate factors that influenced Hong Kong bank customers’ adoption of four major banking channels, i.e. branch banking, ATM, telephone banking, and internet banking. Specifically, it aimed to focus on the influences of demographic variables and psychological beliefs about the positive attributes possessed by the channels.

Based on extant literature on bank marketing and interviews with ten bank managers in Hong Kong, a questionnaire was designed. Then, in a large‐scale survey by means of mall‐intercept and telephone interviews, we successfully obtained data from 314 bank customers.

Overall, ATM was the most frequently adopted channel, followed by internet banking and branch banking, and telephone banking was the least frequently adopted channel. Psychological beliefs about the extent to which a channel possessed certain positive attributes were more predictive of adoptions of ATM and internet banking than adoptions of branch banking and telephone banking. Demographic backgrounds were strongly associated with adoption of all banking channels except ATM. A major research implication is that the theory of reasoned action is less applicable when a behavior is habitual, such as the adoptions of branch banking and telephone banking.

The managerial implications are that telephone banking can be gradually phased out, whereas internet banking is becoming the dominant channel in the future. For branch banking, different marketing strategies should be adopted for those who are financially and cognitively less resourceful, and those who are wealthier but higher time cost.

The value of the study for bank managers is that it provides an updated account of the banking behaviors of Hong Kong bank customers.