Gerard Paul Prendergast and Alex S.L. Tsang
Consumers are becoming increasingly socially conscious when making their purchasing decisions, which in turn is providing an incentive for firms to integrate social responsibility…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers are becoming increasingly socially conscious when making their purchasing decisions, which in turn is providing an incentive for firms to integrate social responsibility considerations into their product offerings. Explaining the various categories of socially responsible consumption (SRC) is therefore important. The purpose of this paper is to explain the various categories of socially responsible consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this paper surveyed a sample of 1,202 Hong Kong consumers.
Findings
The findings indicate that attitude towards the behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are all significant predictors of three categories of SRC (i.e. intention to purchase from firms based on their CSR performance, intention to practice recycling and intention to try to avoid or minimize their use of products based on their environmental impact). Intention to engage in SRC was then shown to be a significant predictor of SRC behavior.
Research limitations/implications
This paper relied on only the single-factor test as a measure of socially desirable responding. Furthermore, while the quota sampling was designed for broad representativeness, it is difficult to verify if the well-controlled quota controls entirely removed the possibility of a biased selection of respondents within each cell.
Practical implications
Recommendations are made for public policy-makers and marketers to devise ways to shape consumer behavior to facilitate more responsible consumption.
Originality/value
Previous research relating to SRC has not explained the various categories of SRC and often failed to test the relationship between intention and behavior, representing a considerable gap in the literature. This paper applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain intention and behavior with regards to the various categories of SRC.
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Gerard Paul Prendergast, Sze Sze Li and Connie Li
The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the homophily theory and the related concept of source similarity which predict that a male salesperson is more effective in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the homophily theory and the related concept of source similarity which predict that a male salesperson is more effective in serving male customers, and a female is more effective with females. For products designed to enhance female attractiveness, however, Darwinian theories of reproduction suggest that a male may be more effective than a female in dealing with female customers. This study of Hong Kong consumers examined the possibility and, in doing so, challenged the assumed utility of homophily in selling cosmetics.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies were conducted. The first was an experiment where female subjects were asked to report their responses to female and male salespersons selling cosmetics. The second study was a phenomenological study exploring the responses of female customers who had encountered male salespeople in cosmetics shops.
Findings
The experiment found that a male salesperson tended to induce significantly stronger purchase intention than a female, and that salesperson credibility (specifically, trustworthiness and attractiveness) plays a significant role in mediating the impact of salesperson gender on purchase intention. The follow-up phenomenological study of female customers who had encountered male salespeople in cosmetics shops supported the experimental findings and offered additional support for their evolutionary basis.
Research limitations/implications
Darwinian theories of reproduction and source credibility together offer a more complete explanation for the effectiveness of salespeople in the gender-sensitive cosmetics market. However, the experiment involved creating fictitious salespeople matched for trust, expertise and attractiveness. The artificiality of the treatments was necessary to construct a controlled scenario to uphold internal validity, but it may limit the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
To encourage a positive consumer response, retailers need to consider salesperson gender and training. In some specific contexts (such as the selling of products designed to enhance female attractiveness), male salespeople ought to be used ahead of female salespeople, and those male salespeople need to have high credibility to be effective. However, as such, salesmen may not be seen as more expert than saleswomen; expertise needs to be an area of focus in terms of salesperson training.
Originality/value
The results of previous research testing homophily theory suggest that a salesperson of the same gender as the customer ought to induce stronger purchase intentions. This study has shown that for the selling of appearance-related products, gender heterophily may be more effective than homophily. Darwinian interpretations of intrasexual rivalry and courtship might help explain why males sell cosmetics more effectively.
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Gerard Prendergast and Claire Wong
With a focus on the purchasing behaviour of parents buying luxury brands of infant apparel, this paper considers the concepts of buying roles, conspicuous consumption/social…
Abstract
With a focus on the purchasing behaviour of parents buying luxury brands of infant apparel, this paper considers the concepts of buying roles, conspicuous consumption/social consumption motivation, and materialism. A survey of 134 mothers who had purchased luxury brands of clothing for their infants found that parents are motivated by the good quality and design associated with the luxury brands. The relationship between the amount of money spent by parents on luxury brands of infant apparel and social consumption motivation was not significant. However, interviewees who spent more on luxury clothing brands for their infants were determined to be more materialistic. It is thus recommended that marketers should emphasise the good quality and design of their luxury brands of infant apparel. In addition, marketers should promote the materialistic values of purchasing luxury brands of infant apparel, showing that buying luxury brands of infant apparel may be a route to happiness, rather than being a route for impressing others.
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Library management is struggling to improve productivity without reducing the quality of service to its users. With downsizing continuing to be a trend, the implementation of…
Abstract
Library management is struggling to improve productivity without reducing the quality of service to its users. With downsizing continuing to be a trend, the implementation of self‐checkout circulation systems may be an important technological investment for libraries to consider. In most large academic institutions, such circulation functions as checking out and renewing library materials have traditionally been performed by staff members. The climate may, however, be right to rethink the mode of service delivery systems and shift from providing full‐service to self‐service models, whereby the patron takes responsibility for checking out his or her own library materials.
Gerard Prendergast, Po‐yan Liu and Derek T.Y. Poon
The aim of the research reported in this paper was to identify for which types of products and services consumers find the advertising to lack credibility and in which media this…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the research reported in this paper was to identify for which types of products and services consumers find the advertising to lack credibility and in which media this effect is most serious. The association between self‐esteem and skepticism towards advertising was also explored.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a structured questionnaire, 200 Hong Kong shoppers were surveyed in mall intercept interviews.
Findings
The results showed that ads for weight‐loss products were considered the least credible. The broadcast media (radio, broadcast television and cable television) were considered the most credible advertising media, while direct mail and the internet were considered the least credible. Self‐esteem was found to be positively related with skepticism towards advertising.
Research limitations/implications
The study had two key limitations. First, the list of products and services was not exhaustive. Second, the study did not consider how frequently the interviewees were exposed to each medium.
Practical implications
By recognizing the credibility of their advertisements and the media in which they are placed, and the influence of self‐esteem on advertising skepticism, the findings are of use to advertisers in formulating their strategies. The findings also provide information of value for policy makers trying to combat non‐credible and deceptive advertising.
Originality/value
The primary contribution from this work comes in the form of methodological considerations. This is the first study to consider the relationships between self‐esteem and skepticism after controlling for socially desirable responding. Also, this study takes a broader perspective by looking at credibility of advertising across a range of products and media, and with a broader audience, than has been considered in previous research.
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The process of commercialization of art is often referred to as “monetization,” denoting the use of art as an investment class. I discuss the reverse mechanism, defined as…
Abstract
The process of commercialization of art is often referred to as “monetization,” denoting the use of art as an investment class. I discuss the reverse mechanism, defined as “Monet-ization,” where investment is overlaid with artistic value, and unproven art is imbued with aesthetic qualities. This mechanism is derived from a historical overview of key periods in the history of art, such as the flourishing of new genres in early 17th century Dutch art and the rise of Modern art in the early 20th century. An analysis of original data on the leading art collectors in the world in the period 1990–2015 highlights the tendency for collectors with an “investor” profile and eclectic taste to buy contemporary art. Combining artworks from diverse periods and styles, eclectic personal collections contribute to the conversion of economic into aesthetic value by way of spill-overs across genres and to the attribution by association of “old” value to “new” art. The “Monet-ization” process helps elucidate how paradigm shifts occur in the art world and how innovation survives under conditions of insufficient demand.
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A CORRESPONDENT complains that he has undertaken a course for his final examination, after spending six years from Dunkirk to the Elbe far removed from library opportunities—only…
Abstract
A CORRESPONDENT complains that he has undertaken a course for his final examination, after spending six years from Dunkirk to the Elbe far removed from library opportunities—only to find that librarians and libraries are building up their staffs now. The Times Literary Supplement, he says, carries column after column of advertisements of desirable posts for which he, as he thinks, is a desirable and legitimate aspirant, but he is barred by his academic obligations. This appears to be a genuine grievance and we place it first in these notes in the hope that authorities, and especially librarians, may be induced to consider it. It may be answered that there is a present urgent need to tune up libraries of every kind to meet the great public need and that many of them have already waited some years. It is perhaps a pity that they did not wait a little longer so that the men who deserve most of the country could have been brought into the competition.
Charmant Sengabira Ndereyimana, Antonio K.W. Lau, Dana-Nicoleta Lascu and Ajay K. Manrai
Heeding the call for insights into the Sub-Saharan African international marketing context, this study aims to empirically examine consumers' desires and motivations for buying…
Abstract
Purpose
Heeding the call for insights into the Sub-Saharan African international marketing context, this study aims to empirically examine consumers' desires and motivations for buying counterfeit luxury goods. It examines influences on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions related to counterfeit luxury goods in Rwanda, one of Sub-Saharan Africa's fastest-growing economies and growing luxury markets, developing and testing a model examining the effect of social context on personal attributes, providing evidence on economic and social-status factors as drivers for counterfeiting.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected using an online survey administered in Rwanda to consumers who had previously purchased luxury goods and counterfeits. A total of 312 valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
This study found that normative and informational influences had a positive effect on Rwandan consumers' attitude toward purchasing counterfeit luxury products, with attitude influencing purchase intentions directly and indirectly, through mediating variable desire for status or through value consciousness and desire for status.
Originality/value
The study contributes to academic research − one of the first empirical studies to examine consumers' desires and motivations for buying counterfeit luxury goods in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing insights that benefit scholars and practitioners seeking to better understand a market where more than half of the world's fastest economies are located.
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Yu-An Huang, Chad Lin and Ian Phau
– This paper aims to examine the importance and concept of idol attachment, model its antecedents and moderators and assess its influence on human brand loyalty.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the importance and concept of idol attachment, model its antecedents and moderators and assess its influence on human brand loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper includes two studies. In Study 1, survey questionnaires were distributed by mall intercept to quasi-random samples across Australia and Taiwan for completion and return. The return yielded 1,135 and 736 usable questionnaires, respectively, from which the data were analysed using LISREL structural equation modelling software. In Study 2, an experiment was used to examine whether idol attractiveness is likely to positively moderate the relationship between vanity traits and attachment.
Findings
The results suggest that achievement vanity, variety seeking and peer norms have a positive impact on the phenomenon of idol attachment, which in turn positively affects human brand loyalty. Contradicting previous studies, the physical appearance of vanity was not found to be associated with idol attachment. However, the results of the experiment show that idol attractiveness has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between vanity traits and human brand attachment.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that idol attachment is more complex than previously understood. The constructs chosen in this research represent an initial step but other variables such as liking, involvement, affective commitment and brand love are not taken into account. Future research models should therefore include such variables.
Practical implications
The findings contain many practical lessons for planners of marketing strategy for the music industry in an international context.
Originality/value
Two existing theories of psychology are integrated with the concept of idol attachment to explain human brand loyalty in an international context.