Purpose Social media has become an inescapable part of our lives. However, recent research suggests that excessive use of social media may lead to fatigue and users’ disengagement. This study aims to ...examine which brand-related factors contribute to social media fatigue (SMF) and its subsequent role on driving lurking behaviors, particularly among young consumers. Design/methodology/approach Based on survey data from 282 young users of social media, a holistic model of brand-related drivers and outcomes of SMF was tested, emphasizing the contribution of brands’ social media presence to users’ disengagement. Findings Research shows that branded content overload and irrelevance, as well as branded ads intrusiveness significantly impact SMF, which in turn plays a mediating role between brand-related drivers and lurking behaviors. The authors further conclude that the impact of SMF on lurking is stronger for users who follow a larger set of brands. Originality/value The study contributes to social media research by addressing its “dark side” and empirically validating the role of brands’ social media presence in developing young users’ fatigue and disengagement. The study further adds to the scant literature on SMF, which was mostly developed outside the branding field. Research also provides valuable insights to brands on how to improve their social media performance.
Young people in India might be expected to contribute substantially to the demand for organic food. Yet little empirical research has been undertaken on the factors that drive organic food purchase ...of young Indians, and how organic food purchase intentions translate into purchase behavior. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and informed by consumer behavior literature, this paper presents a model with five antecedents of organic food purchase intention and its relationship with purchase behavior. Survey data were obtained from 401 students at higher education institutions in North India. Through structural equation modeling attitude toward organic food purchases and subjective norms were found to significantly influence organic food purchase intention. Organic food purchase intention was found to strongly predict organic food purchase behavior. The research findings may assist Indian and international organic food producers and marketers in fine-tuning their strategies toward the particular demographic of young Indian buyers.
This study aims to identify the key antecedents that influence young Indian consumers' environmental attitudes, which indirectly affect their green purchasing behavior. A model is proposed to test ...the impact of factors affecting environmental attitude and green purchasing behavior. A convenience sampling method was employed to obtain 730 usable responses from young students. The study explores the hypotheses that altruism, interpersonal influence, and environmental knowledge of young consumers affect their environmental attitude. A path analysis shows that environmental attitudes of young consumers affect their green purchasing behavior, demonstrating the attitude-behavior model. The article concludes by presenting theoretical and practical implications for future research in environmental psychology.
This paper explores the characteristics of mobile social media marketing adoption in the context of digital natives via an extended Mobile Technology Acceptance Model. Specifically, mobile usefulness ...and mobile ease of use were studied together with (1) networks relationship properties: homophily and tie-strength to understand their impacts on innovation diffusion; and (2) social influence properties: social norms and perceived critical mass on innovation adoption intention. Data gathered from 263 university students were analysed using Partial Least Squares based Structural Equation Modelling. Other than the linkage between homophily and behavioural intention, findings revealed that all the paths hypothesised were statistically significant and supported. On top of extending the Mobile Technology Acceptance Model with social media metrics (i.e. network properties, social norms, and perceived critical mass), this study offers valuable insights on the applicability of mobile social media marketing efforts to digital natives.
There are growing concerns about the commercialisation of childhood and the consequences of marketing to children, including marketing's negative effects and increasingly sophisticated and ...potentially deceptive online tactics that permeate the contemporary media environment. Children and young people are prolific users of video-sharing platforms (VSP) such as TikTok and YouTube, yet little is known about children's advertising literacy within these contexts. Therefore, this paper answers recent calls for a deeper understanding of children's advertising literacy in light of their increasingly digital lifestyles. A combination of qualitative, participatory creative methods were used with children aged 9-11 from the UK. Findings show that despite their negative perceptions of online advertising, children place a level of trust in video-sharing platforms, based on a misconception that the commercialisation of content is always disclosed. This is concerning because children may prefer and pay more attention to content that they believe to be genuine.
While perceived consumer effectiveness has consistently been linked to socially conscious attitudes, such as sustainable consumption decisions, the concept appears to have been confounded with other ...related constructs in the empirical studies measuring its effects on consumer buying intentions and consumer behaviour. A sustainable food consumer evaluation is based on product values and credibility to health, origin, environment, and ethical concerns. The research aimed to examine if sustainability-related perceived consumer effectiveness has an impact on purchase intention and willingness to pay for sustainable food products, in order to provide information on the pricing of sustainable foods. The study was carried out using a quantitative approach on a sample of 1204 young consumers using a self-administered online questionnaire. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for sustainable food attributes. Based on this willingness to pay a premium price for food products, a WTP Index was developed. The findings revealed that perceived effectiveness has a strong connection with the buying intention of food products with sustainable attributes.
Mobile applications (apps) are now the most essential part of daily life. In this context, this study seeks to a) develop and validate a new hybrid model, (as a theoretical lens for future research) ...combining the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with the Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) model to analyze the behavioral intentions of young consumers to use mobile apps. b) analyze the factors determining the usage of mobile applications in an emerging country context. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were applied to test different constructs. The results show that relative advantage (RA), perceived enjoyment (PENJ) and compatibility (COMP) were antecedents of perceived usefulness (PU); trialability (TRI) and complexity (CPL) were antecedents of perceived ease of use (PEOU); and PEOU→PU were significant determinants of intention (IN) to use Mobile 'Apps'. Implications and limitations of the research were discussed.
PurposePrior work expresses concern about young people's rising debt and lack of financial preparedness. This study focuses on how financial socialization and psychological characteristics affect the ...personal financial management behavior (PFMB) of young professionals in India. The authors examine both the direct effect of these factors and the indirect effects through financial literacy and aforementioned psychological characteristics as mediators.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a conceptual framework based on the extant literature and empirically test its hypotheses employing partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).FindingsAttitude towards money, financial self-efficacy, financial risk tolerance, financial socialization through parental direct teaching and peers, and media are all positively associated with young professionals' PFMB, whereas external locus of control and procrastination are negatively associated with their PFMB. Almost all psychological characteristics partially mediate the association between financial socialization and PFMB. Finally, financial literacy plays a partially mediating role in the association between procrastination and PFMB as well as between financial socialization and PFMB.Practical implicationsThis study helps regulators and policymakers understand PFMB among young professionals. Interventions should build on the positive role of financial socialization, cultivating a good attitude towards money and financial self-efficacy, and reducing reliance on an external locus of control and procrastination. This study also helps policymakers and financial educators develop societally beneficial personal finance programs.Originality/valueThis research investigates social, psychological and cognitive characteristics in a comprehensive framework to further the authors’ understanding of the topic of PFMB.
Compared to gasoline vehicles, electric vehicles have an advantage that financial benefits from reduced energy consumption offset much or all of the initial price premium. However, currently there ...exists consumer misconception of this advantage. One strategy to address this misconception is to provide life cycle cost information to consumers. This study investigates how providing information about 5-year fuel cost and total cost of ownership affects the stated preferences of ‘below 40’ young consumers for a gasoline, plug-in hybrid, or battery electric vehicle in the context of China. A rank-ordered logit model is developed to model consumers' stated preferences, based on data collected through a stated preference experiment. This study evidenced the significant positive effect of providing 5-year fuel cost and total cost of ownership information on the stated preference for electric vehicle. Socioeconomic attributes such as gender and education level are also found to have effects on consumers' electric vehicle purchasing intent. The results enhance the understanding of consumers' complex electric vehicle purchase decisions and have policy implications for electric vehicle promotion.
•Effect of life-cycle cost on ‘below 40’ electric vehicle buyers' intent is explored.•A stated preference experiment is conducted in the context of China.•A rank-ordered logit model is used to quantify the impact of influential factors.•Five-year fuel costs and total cost of ownership have a significant positive impact.
Halal brands are gaining popularity among Muslim consumers across the world. This study aims to explore the effect of brand awareness, religious belief, and brand trust on young Muslim consumers’ ...willingness to purchase halal-branded products. The electronic questionnaires were distributed to participants through Google Forms via a popular social media platform. The survey sample consisted of university students from Bangladesh who identified as Muslims. The paper utilized a purposive sampling technique to select participants for the study, resulting in a total of 517 respondents being included in the sample. Finally, 479 responses were found usable for this study, with a response rate of 92.70%. Among 479, 300 participants were male, while 179 students were female university students. The latest edition of the software SPSS has been employed to examine hypotheses and correlations, with a confidence level of 95%. The results showed a significant impact of brand awareness, religious belief, and brand trust on purchase willingness. Moreover, it indicates that consumers’ brand awareness about halal products (β = 0.392) has a greater effect on their purchase willingness. These findings have the potential to provide valuable insights for halal brands, as they can have a substantial impact on the purchasing choices of young Muslim consumers, particularly regarding their religious and halal concerns.
