Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att ta reda på vilka faktorer och risker som påverkar köpbeslutet för en konsument gällande en ny innovativ produkt. Uppsatsen kan på så sätt bidra med kunskap och förståelse för företag som vill utveckla den här typen av produkter. Studiens inriktning och syfte togs fram i samarbete med textilföretaget FOV Fabrics. Med utgångspunkt ur syftet och problemet genomfördes en enkätundersökning som kompletterades med semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fyra av enkätrespondenterna. Resultatet av enkätundersökningen analyserades och jämfördes med resultatet av intervjuerna. Enkät- och intervjurespondenterna delades in i två grupper, adoptörer och icke-adoptörer, baserat på om de valt att adoptera produkten i fråga eller ej. Grupperna analyserades och jämfördes för att få en förståelse för varför konsumenter adopterar nya produkter och varför vissa inte gör det. Studien visade att adoptering av nya produkter inte kan göras konkret för produkter överlag, då processen skiljer sig bland produktkategorier. Den här studien visar endast hur köpbeslutsprocessen för specifikt en skjorta i funktionsmaterial kan gå till, vilket även kan gälla för andra plagg med samma material men inte för andra produktkategorier. Studien visade på att adoptörer, bestående av innovators och early adopters, är främst mottagliga för nya innovationer. De består av tekniska, funktionsorienterade individer. Förutom funktionerna skjortan erbjuder (vattenavvisande, smutsavvisande, strykfri, antibakteriell) värderar de passform, komfort och design i ett plagg. Det är innovatörerna som bör adoptera produkten för att produkten ska kunna accepteras av majoriteten av konsumenterna. För att en adoption ska kunna ske av mer skeptiska konsumenter är det viktigt med tillförlitlighet och ett varumärke konsumenten kan lita på, om inte informationen och kunskapen om produkten är tillräcklig. / The purpose of this paper is to find the different factors and risks that affect the buying decision for a consumer when being faced with an innovative product. The study can contribute with knowledge and an understanding for companies that are looking to develop this type of products. The focus and purpose was developed in cooperation with the textile company FOV Fabrics. With the purpose and the problematics as a basis, a survey was completed alongside semi-structured interviews with four of the respondents from the survey. The result from the survey was analyzed and compared with the results from the interviews. All of the respondents were divided into two groups, adopters and non-adopters, based on if they wanted to adopt the product in question or not. The two groups were analyzed and compared to reach an understanding to why consumers choose to adopt new products and why some of them do not. The study showed that adoption of new products is not something that can be defined for all products, as the process differentiates between product categories. This study only shows what the buying decision process looks like for a shirt made of functional material, which can be translated to another garment with the same material, but not through other product categories. The study also showed that the adopters are consisting of innovators and early adopters, which are most receptive to new innovations. They are technical, function- oriented individuals. Besides the functions in the shirt (water repellant, stain resistant, non-iron, anti-bacterial) they value fit, comfort and design in garments. The innovators should adopt the product so it can be accepted by the majority of the consumers later on. To achieve an adoption by the skeptical consumers, reliability is an important factor and a brand that the consumer can trust, if the knowledge and information about the product is not sufficient enough. Please note that the paper is written in Swedish.

Denna studie undersöker användarrecensioners påverkan på konsumenters beslutsprocess vid köp av produkter eller tjänster och faktorer som påverkar förtroendet för dessa recensioner. Studien visar att användarrecensioner har en betydande inverkan på konsumenters köpbeslut, med subjektiva normer och upplevd beteendekontroll som viktiga faktorer i beslutsprocessen. Det finns signifikanta skillnader i preferenser och beteende mellan olika åldersgrupper. Studien bidrar till ökad förståelse för konsumenters beteende och preferenser vid online-shopping och ger vägledning för framtida forskning inom detta område. Företag och e-handelsplattformar kan använda studiens insikter för att förbättra sina produkter, tjänster och marknadsföringsstrategier, genom att ta hänsyn till användarrecensioners betydelse och de faktorer som påverkar konsumenters förtroende för dessa recensioner. / This study examines the impact of user reviews on consumers decision-making process when purchasing products or services and factors that influence trust in these reviews. The study shows that user reviews have a significant influence on consumers purchasing decisions, with subjective norms and perceived behavioral control as important factors in the decision-making process. There are significant differences in preferences and behavior among different age groups. The study contributes to a better understanding of consumer behavior and preferences in online shopping and provides guidance for future research in this area. Companies and e-commerce platforms can use the insights from the study to improve their products, services, and marketing strategies by considering the importance of user reviews and the factors that influence consumers trust in these reviews.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:48:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 98392.pdf.jpg: 11293 bytes, checksum: 8a79246985a15176f2dd421d6775239b (MD5) 98392.pdf: 541072 bytes, checksum: 0abb34ffbabe305d0e3aef7068b0fb3c (MD5) 98392.pdf.txt: 221637 bytes, checksum: 0c7c9f71701b0881cedc3b5a57a242ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-09-27T00:00:00Z / Confronted with alarming social discourse favouring the perception of food risk, modern consumers find themselves in a situation of psychological discomfort caused by consumption of foodstuffs coming from the agricultural and foodstuff industry. To eliminate this discomfort the consumer may change their purchasing and consumption habits or introduce some measures for the reduction of risk. Since Bauer first introduced the marketing world to the concept, perceived risk has had a long and varied research tradition, yet many authors have failed to recognize in their research how pervasive the construct is in all the stages of the buying process. Hundreds of studies have measured risk perception in wide variety of contexts but, in the vast majority of cases, the stage of decision process in which the consumer found himself/herself in at the time of measurement was not considered. Then, this research brings an innovation in this sense once it considers the whole decision make process in its analysis. Another important contribution of this work is to break with the traditional view of risk reduction models where the risk reduction is mainly linked to the search of information and done on the level of handled risk to consider that risk reduction may happen also with the help of practices and cognitive developments and can be done in two levels: inherent risk and handled risk. Hence, the aim of this work is to understand the way consumers perceive risk in the whole decision making process and to present a typology of risk reduction strategies taking into account the diversity of buying and consumption practices. / Confrontado com o alarmante discurso social que favorece a percepção do risco do alimento à saúde, os consumidores modernos encontram-se em uma situação de desconforto psicológico causada pelo consumo de alimentos que vêm da indústria agrícola e de gêneros alimentícios. Para eliminar este desconforto, o consumidor pode mudar seus hábitos de compra e de consumo ou introduzir algumas medidas para reduzir este risco. Desde que o mundo do marketing foi introduzido a este conceito por Bauer, a teoria de risco percebido teve uma longa e variada tradição na pesquisa, contudo muitos autores não reconheceram em suas pesquisas a dispersão dessa construção em todos os estágios do processo de compra. As centenas de estudos mediram a percepção do risco em uma larga variedade de contextos mas, na grande maioria dos casos, o estágio do processo de decisão de compra, em que o consumidor se encontra inserido em grande medida, não foi considerado. Assim, esta pesquisa traz uma inovação neste sentido, uma vez que considera em sua análise o processo decisório da compra de forma integral. Uma outra contribuição importante deste trabalho está na quebra da visão tradicional dos modelos de redução do risco, onde a redução do risco é ligada principalmente à busca da informação e feita ao nível do risco manipulado, de forma a considerar que a redução do risco pode acontecer também com a ajuda das práticas e de desenvolvimentos cognitivos, podendo ser feita em dois níveis: risco inerente e risco manipulado. Por fim, o objetivo deste trabalho é compreender a maneira pela qual os consumidores percebem o risco, considerando todo o processo decisório, e apresentar uma tipologia das estratégias de redução do risco, identificando a diversidade de práticas de compra e de consumo que fazem parte da escolha do cliente. Palavras-chaves: consumo, processo de decisão de compra do consumidor, risco percebido, redução do risco, carne bovina.

В работе проведён комплексный анализ информационного сопровождения процесса принятия решения о покупке образовательных онлайн-продуктов дополнительного профессионального образования (ДПО) в интернет-среде. Рассмотрены существующие модели принятия решения о покупке и их развитие, определена сущность информационного сопровождения и факторы цифровой среды, влияющие на процесс покупки. Методом экономико-статистического анализа определены характеристики онлайн-рынка образовательных продуктов и тенденции его развития. С помощью информативно-целевого анализа изучен опыт информационного сопровождения лидеров рынка, а так же определены потребительские предпочтения в организации информационного сопровождения методом глубинных интервью. Результатом работы является усовершенствованная модель принятия решения о покупке образовательного продукта уровня ДПО с учётом особенностей информационного сопровождения в современной интернет-среде, проверенная методом A/B-тестирования. Результаты исследования могут широко применяться при построении маркетинговых и коммуникационных стратегий создателями образовательных продуктов и рекламными агентствами. / The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the informational support of the decision-making process on the purchase in EdTech market. The author considered existing models of customer decision-making process, the definition of informational support and digital era factors that influence a decision-making process. The economic and statistical analysis was held to measure the EdTech market. The author applied an informative and targeted analysis to define how market leaders organize informational support. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted to determine consumer preferences. The result of the work is an improved model of decision-making on the purchase of an educational product on the EdTech market. The model was tested with the A/B-testing method. The results of the study can be widely used in the development of marketing and communication strategies both by EdTech product owners, and advertising agencies.

Although South African consumers are reflecting increased green purchasing intentions, the factors that will lead to their intended behaviour to select green hotels have yet to be researched. Accordingly, the research proposes to explore the predictive ability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and then further modify and develop extended model structures surrounding the TPB, to identify and confirm an independent theoretical model that will effectively and comprehensively be able to predict South African consumers’ intended behaviour towards selecting green hotels. To answer the aim and objectives set, the research positioned itself within a non-experimental quantitative paradigm. An online questionnaire was distributed to South African consumers that stayed at a hotel at least once within a 12-month period. A total of 402 completed and error-free responses were used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to assess, derive and understand the demographic profile of the respondents and determine the respondent’s characteristics as South Africans who intend to stay at or visit hotels. Structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed that Azjen (1991)’s original TPB is a strong predictor of behavioural intention, indicating its applicability to the domain of South African consumers’ behavioural intention towards selecting green hotels. In addition, it was found that South African consumers’ intended behaviour towards selecting green hotels can statistically be best explained by expanding on the original TPB model to include emotive and non-cognitive predictor variables, namely anticipated regret (AR) and perceived moral obligation (PMO), as direct constructs to behavioural intention as well as by including environmental knowledge (EK) as a direct predictor variable to attitude (ATT). Furthermore, it found that the relationship between behavioural intention and perceived behavioural control (PBC) was the strongest and most significant, followed by subjective norm (SN), ATT, PMO and AR. Lastly, the findings revealed that PBC, ATT, SN, PMO and AR can all act as positive and highly significant intermediaries between EK and behavioural intention. The study contributed towards theory by identifying and assessing the psychographic factors that will best explain the consumer decision-making processes leading to behavioural intention in context to green hotel selection. The study further extends its contribution by adding value to environmental sustainable literature in context to an emerging economy, namely South Africa. Although South African consumers are reflecting increased green purchasing intentions, the psychological factors that will lead to the intended behaviour towards selecting green hotels have not received much attention in research. It was, therefore, important and theoretically valuable to not only investigate the predictive ability of the original TPB, but to also modify, develop and extend model variations surrounding the TPB to thoroughly explore the predictive ability for South African consumers’ intention to select green hotels. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M. Sc.