Elena Fraj-Andrés, Carolina Herrando, Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
Because food waste is a serious problem today, society is currently aiming for more responsible consumption to minimize it, as defined in the 12th goal of the United Nations…
Abstract
Purpose
Because food waste is a serious problem today, society is currently aiming for more responsible consumption to minimize it, as defined in the 12th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to examine whether an informative initiative can help to raise university students’ awareness of food waste consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
The initiative consisted of explaining the problem of food waste to students of two marketing subject modules within economics and business administration degrees and asking them to participate in an activity in which they analyzed their own behavior. To assess its impact, two questionnaires about the students’ food waste behaviors were administered, before and after the initiative, adopting an experimental design.
Findings
The results show that the information and awareness activities were successful, because, after the initiative, the students were more aware about the food waste problem and its consequences and were more critical of their behavior regarding the management of leftovers at home.
Research limitations/implications
Despite some circumstances under which the study was conducted (the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown), the practical and social implications are relevant.
Practical implications
This study offers some interesting practical implications for educational institutions that want to inform and train students in more responsible consumption behavior. It shows that an initiative in which students are involved, like collecting data about food waste, in their homes with a diary, and informative sessions can be useful to increase students’ awareness of food waste to behave in a more sustainable way.
Social implications
These findings may be of interest to academics for designing initiatives that try to train and educate young people in making more responsible personal and professional decisions.
Originality/value
This study analyzes the impact of an awareness-raising initiative about food waste in higher education, which is a relatively neglected topic in the literature.
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Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
This paper analyzes the direct and indirect effects of the autonomy of smart home speakers on consumer experience, weighing its benefits and costs in the following areas…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes the direct and indirect effects of the autonomy of smart home speakers on consumer experience, weighing its benefits and costs in the following areas: usefulness, interactivity, coolness, service failure severity and intrusiveness. Experience value is examined as an antecedent of repurchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling is applied to data collected from 607 users of smart home speakers. Mediating effects are examined between autonomy and experience value.
Findings
Autonomy has no direct effect on experience value, since the positive effect is fully mediated by interactivity, intrusiveness, perceived usefulness and coolness. Failure severity has no mediating effect and has no influence on experience value. Usefulness, coolness and interactivity show positive mediating effects between autonomy and experience value, while intrusiveness has a negative mediating effect. The better the consumer's experience response, the greater the repurchase intention.
Practical implications
Companies should highlight the benefits (interactivity, usefulness and coolness) and attempt to reduce the costs (intrusiveness) associated with smart device autonomy. Firms can use these aspects to increase the rate of smart-device adoption.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the interactive research literature by empirically examining the mediating effect of interactivity and coolness. Additionally, this research offers evidence of the full mediation effect of usefulness, interactivity, coolness and intrusiveness. Finally, this research shows that failure severity is not always important and that it can be context specific.
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Laura Lucia-Palacios, Raúl Pérez-López and Yolanda Polo-Redondo
This paper aims to demonstrate that stress is a relevant feeling to take into account in mall experience and customer satisfaction management. Furthermore, it is proposed that its…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate that stress is a relevant feeling to take into account in mall experience and customer satisfaction management. Furthermore, it is proposed that its effects on mall experience and satisfaction differ depending on shopping motivation and frequency.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is based on seemingly unrelated regressions models and data were obtained through a survey of 1,088 mall clients. Mall experience is addressed through customer cognitive and affective responses. Both terms together with stress and customer satisfaction with the mall are constructs measured by seven-point Likert scales. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate these measures.
Findings
The results show that stress reduces customers’ affective response and satisfaction. The effect of low levels of stress on customer affective response is less negative for frequent shoppers, and the influence of high levels on satisfaction is less negative for them. Furthermore, stress has a U-shaped effect on customers’ cognitive response, an effect that is reduced for frequent shoppers.
Practical implications
Mall managers should try to reduce stress in the management of their customers’ experience. Moreover, they should increase the shopping frequency of their clients by implementing marketing strategies, such as frequency programs and serial concerts, and assist shoppers in reorganizing their shopping goals by implementing organizing tools and new recommendations and suggestions.
Originality/value
Given that previous work on shopping stress is scarce, this paper expands the extant literature by analyzing its effects on mall experience and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it shows that these effects may vary depending on shopping frequency and motivation.
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Laura Lucia-Palacios, Raúl Pérez-López and Yolanda Polo-Redondo
The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the disconfirmation of expectations of crowding and mall accessibility, on stress and two marketing outcomes, satisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the disconfirmation of expectations of crowding and mall accessibility, on stress and two marketing outcomes, satisfaction and promoter scoring.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained through two face-to-face surveys from mall shoppers that answered them at two different moments of their shopping experience, before entering the mall and before leaving it. Results are obtained from 230 customers that answered the two questionnaires.
Findings
The findings suggest that stress indirectly influences customer promoter scoring through satisfaction, while disconfirmation of expectations influences it directly and indirectly.
Practical implications
These results also suggest that stress and disconfirmation of expectations about crowding and accessibility are important in determining promoter scoring. To reduce stress and increase satisfaction and promoter scoring, managers should focus on exceeding customers' expectations about mall accessibility and on ensuring that customers experience a lower level of crowding than they expected.
Originality/value
The article examines Net Promoter Scoring, an outcome that has attracted managers' attention but little is known about its antecedents. The paper provides evidence of the effect of disconfirmation of expectations and negative emotions on promoter scoring.
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Natalia Lavado-Nalvaiz, Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
This paper analyses whether the humanisation of smart home speakers can improve users' attitudes towards covert information collection. Additionally, it examines the direct and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses whether the humanisation of smart home speakers can improve users' attitudes towards covert information collection. Additionally, it examines the direct and indirect impact of trust, social presence and user's perceived surveillance on attitude towards covert information collection.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 679 American users of smart home speakers are surveyed, and their responses are analysed using structural equation modelling. Mediating effects are also examined.
Findings
Humanisation increases social presence, improves users' attitude towards covert information collection and has a U-shaped effect on trust. A negative effect of humanisation on perceived surveillance is demonstrated. Social presence reduces perceived surveillance levels and improves users' attitude towards covert information collection.
Originality/value
We examine attitude towards covert information collection as a new outcome variable. This study contributes to the growing body of research on humanisation by providing new evidence of how humanisation helps improve users' attitude towards covert information collection and generates trust in the service provider. This research indicates the important role of social presence.
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Elena Fraj-Andrés, Carolina Herrando, Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
This study aims to find the most relevant variables for understanding the gap between intention and behaviour in relation to food waste reduction among young consumers, providing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to find the most relevant variables for understanding the gap between intention and behaviour in relation to food waste reduction among young consumers, providing a theoretical framework that reveals what theories can explain this gap.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative analysis based on two focus groups with participants aged 18–35 was developed to examine young consumers' intention–behaviour gap.
Findings
The results suggest that a combination of variables from different theories (the theory of planned behaviour, social practice theory and value-belief-norm theory) can better explain the gap, and that other variables such as emotions, price consciousness and situational factors should also be taken into consideration. The authors also find that although some situational variables tend to reduce the gap, some specific situations do the opposite.
Originality/value
The results offer a conceptual model that combines variables from diverse theoretical streams with the aim of understanding food waste among young consumers holistically, and identify new variables that had not been considered by previous research.
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Laura Lucia-Palacios, Raúl Pérez-López and Yolanda Polo-Redondo
– The purpose of this paper is to identify specific cognitive and affective responses in mall experience, as well as their antecedents, moderators and behavioural outcomes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify specific cognitive and affective responses in mall experience, as well as their antecedents, moderators and behavioural outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on content analysis technique. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews conducted from February 2013 to January 2014.
Findings
The study reports the identification of efficiency and confusion as cognitive responses, as well as frustration, stress, peacefulness and excitement as affective responses experienced during the shopping trip. These responses lead to behavioural outcomes that are time spent, buying intentions and repatronage intentions. Furthermore, the paper identifies the main antecedents of these responses and the moderators of their relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide insights into the study of psychological responses in retailing and avenues for further research.
Practical implications
This research offers practical implications for managers, related to the manipulation of mall characteristics in order to encourage positive cognitive and affective responses and avoid negative ones.
Originality/value
Based on content analysis technique, the present paper proposes a theoretical framework to conceptualize mall experience, detecting specific cognitive and affective responses and their specific behavioural outcomes as well as moderators.
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The Revolution is 50, Raúl has succeeded Fidel, and many dissidents who participated in the 2002 Varela Project initiative are in jail. What hope for “cambio” (change) in Cuba…
Abstract
The Revolution is 50, Raúl has succeeded Fidel, and many dissidents who participated in the 2002 Varela Project initiative are in jail. What hope for “cambio” (change) in Cuba? Legal dissent – constitutional proposals, a legislative agenda, and grassroots civil rights organizing – may be the key. The Movimiento Cristiano Liberación (MCL), led by the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Oswaldo Payá, presents the strongest challenge to the power of Cuba's 50-year-old Revolutionary government. This dissident group is at the heart of the development of the 2002 Varela Project and forms the core of the leaders arrested in the 2003 Cuban Spring crackdown. This paper traces the history of MCL's “legal dissent” strategy, from the evolution of the Varela Project to their development of an entire legislative agenda, crafted with nation-wide grassroots participation over the last six years since the crackdown. Using data from international NGO surveys conducted within Cuba, we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the MCL's proposal vis-à-vis the political and economic concerns and interests of the broader population. Cuba's government seeks to consolidate its rule through its institutions, specifically, through the Cuban Communist Party. It remains to be seen whether the MCL's legal dissent strategy can successfully mobilize a broad segment of the Cuban population, and channel the political aspirations of reformers whose interests are not served under one-party rule.
Michal Stein and John Vertovec
This ethnographic study explores how local and global forces influence a unique set of self-employed people in Havana’s tourism industry – dance instructors – and how these…
Abstract
This ethnographic study explores how local and global forces influence a unique set of self-employed people in Havana’s tourism industry – dance instructors – and how these circumstances drive the strategies and rationalities they use to navigate socioeconomic transformations. Cuba’s recent history of economic crises, the decline in welfare assistance, and an array of market-driven economic reforms have driven many Cubans to search for incomes in Havana’s lucrative tourism industry. Global circulations of people, wealth, and ideas shape the opportunities Cubans find in this type of work. Furthermore, strict state policies and regulations, in conjunction with underlying systems of oppression, hinder and constrain Cubans who work in tourism-based ventures. Building on theories of neoliberalism and tourism, we discuss how Cuban dance instructors develop professional skills, standardize their activities, and address global consumer desires/demands while simultaneously drawing from collectivized social norms cultivated under Cuban socialism. These hybridized formal/informal business tactics reveal how self-employed Cubans are positioned between socialist configurations and the capital-driven tourism industry. These innovative socioeconomic logics are also critical in understanding how people living in centrally planned economies, some of which are socially marginalized because of patterns of inequality, gain access to and participate with contemporary modalities of the global economy.