Recent research on corporate social responsibility has focused on the corporate level, whereas limited research has been conducted at the individual level most commonly referred to as socially responsible consumption. Recycling is a kind of socially responsible consumer behaviour because it benefits the society as a whole in the long term but involves a personal cost and does not benefit the individual consumer directly. Previous studies on recycling have used theories such as the theory of interpersonal behaviour, means-end chain theory, theory of planned behaviour or norm activation model. However, these theories have only explained part of recycling behaviour and are inadequate because they have not explained it from a social dilemma perspective. A social dilemma is a situation in which there is conflict between an individual's self-interest and the collective interest of the group. Will consumers pursue their own interests or will they act for the good of the entire society? This study takes an innovative approach to explain recycling behaviour through the lens of social dilemma theory. It uses a mixed methods approach that combines both qualitative and quantitative elements in the research design. A phenomenological approach is used to gain a deeper understanding of the recycling experiences of individuals, and survey data is used for quantitative analyses. In the qualitative study, 142 significant statements and eight themes were identified from 20 in-depth interviews. In the quantitative study, data were collected from 332 respondents. Based on the data analysis, the central relationships in the model are supported. There is a positive relationship between the expectation that others will participate in recycling and the likelihood of personal participation in recycling, and there is also a positive relationship between the likelihood of personal participation and recycling behaviour. Of the four moderators considered, only social value orientation is significant. In the latter part of this thesis, the theoretical and methodological contributions and practical implications of the study are discussed.

The primary aim of this thesis is to apply chaos theory to consumer behaviour research. Chaos theory is essentially a theory of time series. The specific focus is product choice consumption behaviour. The conceptual basis for the work is taken from a theory thus far developed entirely outwith the topic focus of consumer research and marketing. The concepts and methods developed by chaos theorists in the natural sciences and some social and behavioural sciences are synthesised with concepts and methods from consumer research. The objective is to both shed light on the consumption process and explore the potential of chaos theory in this field. Ultimately the work attempts to address the question of whether consumer behaviour can be 'chaotic' as described by chaos theory.In order to facilitate these objectives a diary study was conducted using sixty respondents. They were required to record their consumption of branded products for a period of three months. Five product categories were used with informants recording consumption of only one product type (twelve informants in each group). The product groups were as follows: soft drinks; savoury snacks; beer; chocolate snacks and packaged yoghurts and desserts. The data was coded and analysed by methods selected prior to data capture: weighted time series, spectral analysis and phase space analysis. One of the principal findings of the research was that distinctive forms of behaviour were identifiable within the data set as a whole from which a five-fold typology is proposed. However the complexity and individuality of the forms was marked despite this apparent typology. The spectral analysis shows little evidence of regular or periodic patterned behaviour; the series are essentially aperiodic. The phase space analysis reinforces and enhances the analysis of the weighted time series and suggests the series tend more towards chaos than ordered behaviour. The series obey certain 'rules' (i.e. they are 'randomised' but not random) consistent with the existence of determnistic chaos. Moreover they appear globally stable and locally unstable. These findings have a number of implications for various areas of consumer research (e.g. varety seeking, loyalty and other aspects of consumption) and successfully extend the application of chaos theory to another area of human behaviour research.

The purpose of this research is to develop and empirically test a conceptual framework for examining the effects of advertising exposure on consumer memory so as to better understand the information processing of advertisements. Patterns and levels of performance on various tests of memory for different advertisement components are interpreted within the framework of a memory model adapted from the well-known SAM model in psychology. Predictions are made regarding the effects on recall, recognition, and indirect test performance of an ad's execution strength and relevance to the main message elements, and elaboration (semantic versus nondirected). The general diagnostic procedures are illustrated in a study of humor in advertising. Subjects viewed print ads with variations in the humorous execution's strength and relevance to the brand claims either without explicit instructions to elaborate or with a task requiring semantic elaboration of the links between the humor and the brand claims. Subsequently they completed a (direct) recognition or recall task, or an indirect test of memory for various ad components. The results, though not entirely systematic, show that memory for the brand name and brand claim components vary as a function of stimulus characteristics and the processing operations at encoding. Second, the findings show that the ad components may facilitate or interfere with each other. High levels of attention to one ad component may lead to lower memory performance on other components. Third, this research shows how a theory-based set of comparisons of memory test performance may be used to identify the locus of effects, viz., at encoding or at retrieval. Memory failures due to lack of encoding attention to the ad are distinguished from the inability to retrieve the encoded information later. Finally, the study demonstrates the use of indirect tasks in testing advertising effects that implicate implicit retrieval processes from memory. The patterns of parallel versus dissociated performance on traditional direct versus indirect tests offer insights into various types of advertising effects on memory. The academic and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

This study aims at understanding the decision to buy "Made in Mozambique" products, which is important for developing marketing strategy and promoting national products. To explore the factors influencing consumers' buying decisions, means-end theory and its associated methodology provide a useful framework for understanding why people buy "Made in Mozambique" rice by characterising the relationships between the attributes, consequences associated with those attributes, and the values those consequences help reinforce. Methodology: a total of 20 consumers were interviewed. It is important to mention that only rice was used in this study. The laddering interviewing technique was then used to link these chains of meanings. Analyses and interpretation of the resulting data provide an effective complement for studying consumer purchasing motives and suggest recommendations for managerial practice and future research efforts. Summary of the study findings include: (i) Attributes: Quality, cost, national; (ii) Consequences: healthy, well-being, affordable, trust, contribution, and fulfillment; and (iii) Values: Feeling happy, longevity and self-esteem.The theoretical component of this research covers the definition and discussion of Means-end theory and consumer decision-making. / Industrial Psychology / M.A. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

Prior research has shown that both lead users and opinion leaders may propel the diffusion of innovation. This raises the question of whether lead users and opinion leaders are positioned similarly in social networks, which we address using a sample of 23 school classes consisting of 537 children. Research among children is very scarce in this particular domain. Our statistical analyses based on hierarchical linear modeling reveal two general results: first, lead users among children appear to possess a variety of links between clusters; second, opinion leaders are locally positioned within clusters of children and have many direct links. (authors' abstract)

This study aims at understanding the decision to buy "Made in Mozambique" products, which is important for developing marketing strategy and promoting national products. To explore the factors influencing consumers' buying decisions, means-end theory and its associated methodology provide a useful framework for understanding why people buy "Made in Mozambique" rice by characterising the relationships between the attributes, consequences associated with those attributes, and the values those consequences help reinforce. Methodology: a total of 20 consumers were interviewed. It is important to mention that only rice was used in this study. The laddering interviewing technique was then used to link these chains of meanings. Analyses and interpretation of the resulting data provide an effective complement for studying consumer purchasing motives and suggest recommendations for managerial practice and future research efforts. Summary of the study findings include: (i) Attributes: Quality, cost, national; (ii) Consequences: healthy, well-being, affordable, trust, contribution, and fulfillment; and (iii) Values: Feeling happy, longevity and self-esteem.The theoretical component of this research covers the definition and discussion of Means-end theory and consumer decision-making. / Industrial Psychology / M.A. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:43:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:55:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:58:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-25T17:23:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-07 / This thesis aims to evaluate whether humorous television commercials (TVCs) work for non-prescription drugs, known as “over-the-counter” (OTC). The construct humor in advertising is controversial since it involves complex and broad typology, and depends on the audience characteristics. Several studies within different product categories indicated that some consumer goods are better suited for humorous TVCs, while others, such as OTC drugs, may not take advantage from it. Paradoxically, drug announcers spend billions of dollars worldwide in humorous OTC ads. An experiment with real consumers was designed as between-and-within-subjects, to test three hypotheses. Sixty women were exposed to pairs of humorous and non-humorous TVCs, for each of the three drug categories (analgesics, vitamins, and laxatives). We used fictional brand names and real ads, and measured four dependant variables: attitude toward the advertising (AAD), attitude toward the brand (ABR), purchase intention (PI), and brand choice (BC), after subjects being exposed to manipulations of two independent variables: humorous vs. non-humorous TV commercials, for the drug categories. Conditional logit model confirmed that humor does not help to persuade respondents, whose choices, attitudes, and purchase intention were less favorable with humorous TVCs, in comparison to non-humorous executions. Future research is presented regarding marketing for pharmaceutical products.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Profiling the customers of the e-commerce company Kalahari.net. The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Profiling the customers of the e-commerce company Kalahari.net. The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)