Eye tracking studies have analyzed the relationship between visual attention to point of purchase marketing elements (price, signage, etc.) and purchase intention. Our study is the first to ...investigate the relationship between the gaze sequence in which consumers view a display (including gaze aversion away from products) and the influence of consumer (top down) characteristics on product choice. We conducted an in-lab 3 (display size: large, moderate, small) X 2 (price: sale, non-sale) within-subject experiment with 92 persons. After viewing the displays, subjects completed an online survey to provide demographic data, self-reported and actual product knowledge, and past purchase information. We employed a random forest machine learning approach via R software to analyze all possible three-unit subsequences of gaze fixations. Models comparing multiclass F1-macro score and F1-micro score of product choice were analyzed. Gaze sequence models that included gaze aversion more accurately predicted product choice in a lab setting for more complex displays. Inclusion of consumer characteristics generally improved model predictive F1-macro and F1-micro scores for less complex displays with fewer plant sizes Consumer attributes that helped improve model prediction performance were product expertise, ethnicity, and previous plant purchases.
•According to WHO, 50% of medicines purchased from illegal sites are counterfeit.•The COVID-19 pandemic highlights issues that can arise when purchasing medicines online.•Participants rated online ...pharmacies as the safest to purchase medicines.•Past purchase from different online platforms variably predicted purchase of medicine types.
Research suggests that social media consumer activism can be motivated through multiple microlevel action frames (MAFs – or simply, microframes). In this study, we examine an online consumer activism ...campaign against the supermarket chain
Carrefour
in Brazil and develop a typology of microframes that emerged during this episode of consumer activism. We leverage Twitter data to illustrate the distinction between cause-oriented (centered on animal rights issues) and brand-oriented MAFs (emphasizing consumer disappointment in Carrefour) and examine their influence on the emergence of other online consumer activism microframes. Our findings reveal the complex interplay between cause support (cause-oriented MAF) and perceptions of a brand transgression (brand-oriented MAF) to galvanize collective action. We theorize the roles of distinct MAFs in spurring and sustaining consumers’ online mobilization. Practical recommendations for brand managers are discussed.
The increasing prevalence of online purchase of medications, specifically via social media platforms, poses significant health risks due to high chances of such medications being substandard and ...falsified (SF). The current study uses a 2 (persuasive appeal: fear vs. humor) x 3 (message repetition) mixed factorial experiment to investigate the effectiveness of persuasive appeals (on intentions to purchase medications online via social media referrals, mediated by psychological reactance (threat to freedom and anger), attitudes toward the public service announcements (PSAs), and viral behavioral intentions. ANOVA results showed the superiority of humor appeals compared to fear appeals in (1) reducing psychological reactance, (2) igniting favorable responses to the PSA, and (3) marginally reducing the intentions to purchase medications vial social media despite lower online engagement intentions (viral behavioral intentions). Pre-existing risk perceptions moderated these differences. A moderated serial mediation model, conducted using PROCESS models, was examined to assess the mechanism by which persuasive appeals and risk perceptions interact in influencing purchase intentions. Findings are discussed theoretically in regard to extending the psychological reactance model within the digital environment and practically in terms of public health, brand protection, and law enforcement recommendations.
Corporations sometimes do things not always in the best interest of consumers, society, and the environment. In response, consumers have increasingly come together to hold corporations accountable ...for their unethical practices (brand transgressions) through a multitude of activist-like behaviors. When companies transgress, consumers may turn to their shopping bags and social media accounts, among other forms of online and offline action, to stand against unethical corporate practices, commonly called consumer activism.The study of personal goals as a motivational driver has gained growing attention among consumer activism scholars. However, knowledge advancement is hindered by the need for a reliable and valid scale that can measure consumer activists’ personally motivated goals. Extant measures have some critical limitations. First, they were developed in the context of boycotting only, which limits their application to other activist-like behaviors. Second, they conflated different motivational constructs, creating problems of content and construct validity. Third, extant measures were proposed without systematically investigating construct breadth and dimensionality. This is a crucial step in scale development because it increases researchers’ confidence that relevant personal goals have been adequately identified and translated into a measurement protocol.This dissertation addresses these limitations by proposing a measurement scale of consumer activism personal goals that observes best practices in scale development in the social sciences. This process starts with an in-depth, interdisciplinary literature review on consumer activism that culminates with conceptualizing consumer activism as a goal-oriented behavior directed against a company concerning an issue of personal relevance. In addition, a typological model of consumer activism is proposed – the 6 Ps of Consumer Activism.Subsequently, the scale is developed through a multi-study design. Study 1 aims to 1) investigate the theoretical breadth of the construct and its dimensions and 2) generate an initial pool of measurement items. This is accomplished through in-depth interviews with consumer activists, a panel discussion with experts, and cognitive interviews with consumer activists. Study 2 focuses on assessing the latent structure of the measurement scale via EFA. Finally, Study 3 provides additional statistical support concerning the final measurement protocol via CFA and measurement validity assessment. As a result, a 20-item measurement scale is proposed to indicate five personally motivated goals of consumer activists – the Consumer Activism Motivation Scale (CAMS). The CAMS can help researchers and practitioners in predicting various behavioral and perceptual outcomes in the context of consumer activism.
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