This volume brings together the most innovative historical work on the conjoined themes of gender and consumption. In thirteen pioneering essays, some of the most important voices in the field ...consider how Western societies think about and use goods, how goods shape female, as well as male, identities, how labor in the family came to be divided between a male breadwinner and a female consumer, and how fashion and cosmetics shape women's notions of themselves and the society in which they live. Together these essays represent the state of the art in research and writing about the development of modern consumption practices, gender roles, and the sexual division of labor in both the United States and Europe.
Covering a period of two centuries, the essays range from Marie Antoinette's Paris to the burgeoning cosmetics culture of mid-century America. They deal with topics such as blue-collar workers' survival strategies in the interwar years, the anxieties of working-class consumers, and the efforts of the state to define women's—especially wives' and mothers'—consumer identity. Generously illustrated, this volume also includes extensive introductions and a comprehensive annotated bibliography. Drawing on social, economic, and art history as well as cultural studies, it provides a rich context for the current discourse around consumption, particularly in relation to feminist discussions of gender.
Abstract Investigations of the contribution of food costs to socioeconomic inequalities in diet quality may have been limited by the use of estimated (vs. actual) food expenditures, not accounting ...for where individuals shop, and possible reverse mediation between food expenditures and healthiness of food choices. This study aimed to explore the extent to which food expenditure mediates socioeconomic inequalities in the healthiness of household food choices. Observational panel data on take-home food and beverage purchases, including expenditure, throughout 2010 were obtained for 24,879 UK households stratified by occupational social class. Purchases of (1) fruit and vegetables and (2) less-healthy foods/beverages indicated healthiness of choices. Supermarket choice was determined by whether households ever visited market-defined high-price and/or low-price supermarkets. Results showed that higher occupational social class was significantly associated with greater food expenditure, which was in turn associated with healthier purchasing. In mediation analyses, 63% of the socioeconomic differences in choices of less-healthy foods/beverages were mediated by expenditure, and 36% for fruit and vegetables, but these figures were reduced to 53% and 31% respectively when controlling for supermarket choice. However, reverse mediation analyses were also significant, suggesting that 10% of socioeconomic inequalities in expenditure were mediated by healthiness of choices. Findings suggest that lower food expenditure is likely to be a key contributor to less-healthy food choices among lower socioeconomic groups. However, the potential influence of cost may have been overestimated previously if studies did not account for supermarket choice or explore possible reverse mediation between expenditure and healthiness of choices.
A fast fashion system combines quick response production capabilities with enhanced product design capabilities to both design "hot" products that capture the latest consumer trends and exploit ...minimal production lead times to match supply with uncertain demand. We develop a model of such a system and compare its performance to three alternative systems: quick-response-only systems, enhanced-design-only systems, and traditional systems (which lack both enhanced design and quick response capabilities). In particular, we focus on the impact of each of the four systems on "strategic" or forward-looking consumer purchasing behavior, i.e., the intentional delay in purchasing an item at the full price to obtain it during an end-of-season clearance. We find that enhanced design helps to mitigate strategic behavior by offering consumers a product they value more, making them less willing to risk waiting for a clearance sale and possibly experiencing a stockout. Quick response mitigates strategic behavior through a different mechanism: by better matching supply to demand, it reduces the chance of a clearance sale. Most importantly, we find that although it is possible for quick response and enhanced design to be either complements or substitutes, the complementarity effect tends to dominate. Hence, when both quick response and enhanced design are combined in a fast fashion system, the firm typically enjoys a greater incremental increase in profit than the sum of the increases resulting from employing either system in isolation. Furthermore, complementarity is strongest when customers are very strategic. We conclude that fast fashion systems can be of significant value, particularly when consumers exhibit strategic behavior.
This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.
Given the increasingly grave environmental crisis, governments and organizations frequently initiate sustainability interventions to encourage sustainable behavior in individual consumers. However, ...prevalent behavioral approaches to sustainability interventions often have the unintended consequence of generating consumer resistance, undermining their effectiveness. With a practice–theoretical perspective, the authors investigate what generates consumer resistance and how it can be reduced, using consumer responses to a nationwide ban on plastic bags in Chile in 2019. The findings show that consumer resistance to sustainability interventions emerges not primarily because consumers are unwilling to change their individual behavior—as the existing literature commonly assumes—but because the individual behaviors being targeted are embedded in dynamic social practices. When sustainability interventions aim to change individual behaviors rather than social practices, they place excessive responsibility on consumers, unsettle their practice-related emotionality, and destabilize the multiple practices that interconnect to shape consumers’ lives, ultimately leading to resistance. The authors propose a theory of consumer resistance in social practice change that explains consumer resistance to sustainability interventions and ways of reducing it. They also offer recommendations for policy makers and social marketers in designing and managing sustainability initiatives that trigger less consumer resistance and thereby foster sustainable consumer behavior.
Researchers use place satisfaction as a dependent variable extensively since place has implications for a range of performance measures. This study reverses the relationships suggesting place ...satisfaction as a useful antecedent to place attachment. Place satisfaction, measured as visitors' summative evaluation of their experience is likely to be more positively associated with place dependence, identity, affect, and social bonding. The findings of this study support this contention and establish that one of the principal mechanisms linking place satisfaction to place attachment is pro-environmental behavioral intention (PEB). The study further finds that gender moderates the relationship between PEB and place attachment. The conditional indirect effect of place satisfaction on place attachment is significant only for male visitors. The article closes with implications of the study for academics and practitioners.
The author of Media Today offers "a trenchant, timely, and troubling account of retailers' data-mining, in-store tracking, and predictive analytics" ( The Philadelphia Inquirer ). By one expert's ...prediction, within twenty years half of Americans will have body implants that tell retailers how they feel about specific products as they browse their local stores. The notion may be outlandish, but it reflects executives' drive to understand shoppers in the aisles with the same obsessive detail that they track us online. In fact, a hidden surveillance revolution is already taking place inside brick-and-mortar stores, where Americans still do most of their buying. Drawing on his interviews with retail executives, analysis of trade publications, and experiences at insider industry meetings, advertising and digital studies expert Joseph Turow pulls back the curtain on these trends, showing how a new hyper-competitive generation of merchants—including Macy's, Target, and Walmart—is already using data mining, in-store tracking, and predictive analytics to change the way we buy, undermine our privacy, and define our reputations.Eye-opening and timely, Turow's book is essential reading to understand the future of shopping. "Turow shows shopping today to be an exercise in unwitting self-revelation—and not only online."— The Wall Street Journal "Thoroughly researched and clearly presented with detailed evidence and fascinating peeks inside the retail industry. Much of this information is startling and even chilling, particularly when Turow shows how retail data- tracking can enable discrimination and societal stratification."— Publishers Weekly "Revealing... Valuable reading for shoppers and retailers alike."— Kirkus Reviews
The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of Hofstede's culture dimensions (long-term/short term orientation, power distance index, masculinity/feminity index, uncertainty avoidance, and ...individualism/collectivism) on consumer behavior intentions (word of mouth, complaining behavior, purchase intention, price sensitivity) on two countries namely Turkey and Somalia. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire sent electronically via Google Forms to the respondents’ emails. Convenience sampling was used in the study. the sample size used here included 305 respondents–153 respondents from Somalia and the other 152 respondents from Turkey. SPSS 22 and LISREL 8.7 Packages Program was used for Statistical Analysis. As a result of the study, it was determined that Hofstede culture dimensions did not have an effect on consumer behaviour intention for the Somalia sample, while power distance and uncertainty avoidance had a positive effect on word of mouth communication and long term orientation had a positive effect on price sensitivity and complaining behavior intention for the Turkish sample.
Günümüzde, ürün çesitliligi ve gelisen teknoloji sayesinde tüketiciler, birbirlerinden farkli olma istegine giderek daha çok sahip olmaktadir. Bu durum, tüketicilerde benzersiz olma ihtiyacini ...tetiklemektedir. Bu çalismanin amaci, tüketicinin benzersiz olma ihtiyaci, birlikte deger olusturmada katilim davranisi ve ilgilenim kavramlari arasindaki iliskinin ortaya çikartilmasidir. Gelistirilen arastirma model ve hipotezlerin degerlendirebilmesi için nicel arastirma yöntemi benimsenmistir. Birlikte deger olusturmada katilim davranisi gerçeklestiren 450 kisiden anket araciligiyla veri toplanmistir. Arastirmada kullanilan ölçeklerin geçerliliginin ve güvenilirliginin degerlendirilebilmesi için açiklayici faktör analizi ve dogrulayici faktör analizi uygulanmistir. Arastirma hipotezlerinin test edilmesi için yapisal esitlik analizi kullanilmistir. Arastirma sonucunda tüketici benzersiz olma ihtiyacinin, ürün ilgilenimini, ürün ilgileniminin de birlikte deger olusturmada katilim davranisini olumlu yönde etkiledigi sonucuna ulasilmistir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Tüketici Benzersiz Olma Ihtiyaci, Ürün Ilgilenimi, Birlikte Deger Olusturmada Katilim Davranisi. Jel Siniflandirma Kodlari: M31 Recently, consumers increasingly desire to be unique from each other with the product diversity and developing technology. This situation triggers the consumers' need for uniqueness behaviour. The aim of this study is to reveal the relationships between consumers' need for uniqueness, participation behaviour in value co-creation and involvement. Quantitative research method has been adopted to evaluate the research model and hypothesises. The data were collected via questionnaire from 450 people who performed value co-creation behaviour. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scales used in the study. The structural equation analysis was used to test the research hypotheses. The results showed that the consumers' need for uniqueness positively affects product involvement and product involvement positively affects value co- creation participation behaviour. Keywords: Consumers' Need for Uniqueness, Product Involvement, Participation Behaviour in Value Co-Creation. Jel Classification Codes: M31 1. Introduction Consumers' need for uniqueness is defined as the ability to pursue differences from others by acquiring, using and disposing of consumer products in order to improve one's self-image and social image (Tian et al., 2001). The need for uniqueness creates a motivation that reflects an image of the person as a result of purchasing the products and makes the buyer feel different from others (Lynn and Snyder, 2002). Consumers who need differentiation are attracted to products and are willing to put more effort into purchasing items that are considered rare or unique from widely seen brands (Lynn and Snyder, 2002). Therefore, the need for uniqueness has a significant impact on the success of marketing strategies offered to consumers by firms and tailored to them. The concept of product involvement has been gaining popularity in the marketing field in recent years. Product involvement indicates the extent to which a person associates herself/himself with a product The concept of value co-creation has been widely adopted in the management and marketing literature (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Payne et al., 2008; Maglio and Spohrer, 2008; Edvardsson, et al., 2011). Value co-creation has attracted the attention of researchers within the scope of marketing and especially service marketing. Yi and Gong (2013) conceptualized value co-creation as customer citizenship and customer participation in their study. Customer participation behaviour consists of information seeking, information sharing, responsible behaviour and personal interaction. In this study, the participation dimension in Yi and Gong (2013)'s value co-creation model is discussed. The aim of this study is to reveal the relationships between consumers' need for uniqueness, customer participation behaviour in value co-creation and product involvement. 2. Method In order to test the research hypotheses, the descriptive and quantitative research method was used. Data was collected by survey. The questionnaire form consists of 3 parts. In the first part, 16 questions about customer participation behaviour (Yi and Gong, 2013), and 6 questions for consumers' need for uniqueness (Franke and Schreier, 2008) and product involvement (Helmig et al., 2007). In the third part of the questionnaire, questions determining the demographic characteristics of the participants (gender, age, education, marital status, occupation, status) were included. The website 3. Results and Discussion The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation model analysis. As a result of the analysis, the values of goodness of fit were Chi-square: 747.14; SD: 202; Chi-square/SD: 3.69; RMSEA: 0.078; Normed Fit Index (NFI): 0.96; Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI): 0.96; Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.97; Incremental Fit Index (IFI): 0.97; Relative Fit Index (RFI): 0.95; Goodness of Fit Index (GFI): 0.87; Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI): 0.84 and Standardized RMR: 0.077 were acceptable. The results showed that consumers' need for uniqueness has a positive and significant effect on product involvement. The standardized coefficient values between these two variables were found to be (beta:0.74; t:14.03), and our H1 hypothesis was accepted. The standardized coefficient value in the relationship between product involvement and information seeking, which is a dimension of customer participation behaviour, was calculated as beta:0.56; t:9.96. According to these results, product involvement has a positive and significant effect on information seeking. In this context, our H2 hypothesis was accepted. The result indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between product involvement and knowledge sharing, so H3 hypothesis was accepted. The standardized coefficient value between product involvement and information sharing was found (beta:0.15; t:3.08). Product involvement has a significant positive effect on responsible behaviour and our H4 hypothesis was accepted. The standardized coefficient value between these two variables was found to be (beta:0.36; t:7.23). Product involvement has a significant positive effect on personal interaction and our H5 hypothesis was accepted. The standardized coefficient value between product involvement and personal interaction was calculated as beta:0.48; t:9.33. 4. Conclusion This study revealed that consumers' need for uniqueness has a significant effect on product involvement. Also product involvement has positive effects on each sub-dimension (responsible behaviour, information seeking, information sharing and personal interaction) of customer participation behaviour which is dimension of customer value co-creation behaviour. Consumers with a high need for uniqueness want to be different from other customers. Therefore, consumers seek products that meet their needs and then product involvement occurs. Consumers with high product involvement are more likely to search for the necessary information, share the necessary information with employees, and take full responsibility for the processes related to the product like an employee. Therefore, consumers are willing to participate in value co-creation.
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