Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-188). Also available on the Internet.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 23, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-122).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-188). Also available on the Internet.

published_or_final_version / Social Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

This research focuses on dining experience as an example of experience marketing. In this study, the qualitative research method has been used to derive particular concepts involved in the dining experience from the bodies of reviews. Similarly, quantitative content analysis method has been used to provide rich and valuable information about the concepts explored from the qualitative data. Inferential statistics has been used in the study to test hypotheses about the relationships between elements in the dining experience context. The results indicate that food quality is the most important predictor of the dining satisfaction while service quality may not be an effective factor to create satisfaction. Moreover, social needs in dining experience are more evident in dinners than in lunches. The results of the study reveal the effectiveness and applicability of the online review analysis in bringing new insights from dining experience to contribute to the field of experience economy. / viii, 127 leaves ; 29 cm

International trade activity is becoming an increasingly more important part of the world economy, and it is recognized that there is a greater necessity to gauge consumers' attitude toward both domestic and foreign products (Netermeyer, Durvasula, and Lichtenstein, 1991). Research in this area has focused on what is termed the country of origin effect, that is, investigating how consumers perceive products sourced from a particular country (Roth and Romeo, 1992). Substantial portions of country of origin studies so far have focused on the consumer behavior of people in developed countries. However, because multinational companies around the world have expanded their operations in various developing countries, it is now relevant to examine this phenomenon in the developing world. This dissertation examines the importance that South African consumers place on country of origin information and how they perceive the quality of products made in various countries, namely the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, China, India, and South Africa. Further more, this study examines the ethnocentric tendencies of South African consumers and the influence of demographical factors on consumer perception as well as the evaluation of domestic versus foreign products in South Africa. One hundred and seventy-six questionnaires were distributed to employees of the University of Natal both Durban and Westville campuses and of this total, one hundred and thirty-three questionnaires were returned. This represents a response rate of seventy-six percent. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Statistics analysis of the results showed that South African consumers do indeed attach importance to country of origin information and that their evaluation of products is influenced by their perception and image of different countries. In line with previous research, the results indicated that consumers perceived products from developed countries as being of higher quality than products from developing countries. But they also exhibited a positive attitude towards South African products. This contradicts previous research findings whereby consumers in developing country perceive local products negatively. The result also revealed that price, country of origin, and brand are important to South African consumers before they consider purchasing decisions. Furthermore, the result indicated that South African consumers tended to be ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism scores, however, couldn't be generalized for all segments of the population. Differences were found based on sex, education and age. Young, educated, female consumers demonstrated less ethnocentric tendencies than other segments implying that this segment represents the best target groups for overseas manufacturers and marketers. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Advances in technology have changed the way business is conducted. In particular, the advent of internet/online banking in the financial sector, has revolutionised the banking industry. Despite the introduction of online banking in the 90's, the number of consumers converting to the offering has progressed slowly. There are numerous reasons for this, one of them being lack of infrastructure, high Internet costs and more importantly the mindset of the customer. Banks are competing on the basis of technology and service offering to win a sizeable share of the online market. However very little is known about the factors influencing consumer behaviour in the South African online banking market. This study aims to investigate the psychological and cultural factors influencing consumer behaviour in the online banking sector. It will also investigate the process of decision making that result in consumer behaviour outcomes in the online banking sector. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The aim of this thesis is to develop a greater understanding of consumers' brand repertoires. This research is part of the brand choice literature, which involves the analysis of all parts of the brand choice process. While there is clearly a need for research on the size of consumers' repertoites, little research has been conducted on this topic to date. This thesis provides much needed descriptive knowledge in relation to repertoire size, as well as providing information about the potential influence of a selection of consumer characteristics on this measure. / Repertoire size is defined as the number of brands a consumer purchases over a specified period of time. It is not only seen as a measure of loyalty (the smaller the repertoire, the higher the loyalty), but also a measure of competitiveness in a market (the bigger the repertoire, the greater the competition). Although these areas are of considerable interest to marketing managers and researchers alike, this measure has rarely been emphasised in previous research (Colombo and Jiang 2002). / Thesis (BA(Hons)IndustrialandAppliedMaths)--University of South Australia, 2008.

Public utility services have been plagued with problems of low tariff and low willingness-to-pay by consumers. In many countries, tariff setting has been a political decision with governments reluctant to antagonise the electorate. Low pricing leads to inadequate revenue streams and further deterioration in service levels which in turn aggravates the revenue collection problem. Even with the already low tariffs, many consumers are not willing to pay the charges. / Maintaining tariffs at a low level sets a low reference price in the minds of consumers further dampening their willingness-to-pay. Low tariffs also create a perception that public service provision is not a serious problem which can be solved rather easily and relatively cheaply. This perception has a negative effect on consumers when tariffs are raised resulting in them resisting upward tariff revisions. This research project seeks to model consumer willingness-to-pay behavioural intentions by identifying the factors that affect their perception of price and service. The objective of this model is to enable service providers to recognise these factors and plan their strategies to focus on positively influencing them. By such strategic planning and action, service providers and governments could attempt to change the perception of consumers and increase their willingness-to pay a fair price for public goods. / Setting prices for public goods using contingent valuation and willingness-to-pay surveys have little practical use as they inevitably result in low prices due to strategic manipulation and bias by respondents. There has been very little research focussed on modelling such behavioural intentions for public goods. Due to this, a literature review on the psychological aspects of the pricing and willingness-to-purchase of private goods is thus conducted to develop the conceptual model for public goods. / The literature review indicated that the key factors affecting consumers' price perception were reference price, information and justification of pricing practices, and information on service provision and service performance. It is proposed that these key factors could also be applicable in price and service perception formation and in moderating reactions to current and future price increases of public goods. / Several existing conceptual models for private and public goods were reviewed in developing the research model. Although none of them could be used fully, they formed the basis for formulating a new conceptual model and item development for the survey instrument. This conceptual model was built by defining the relationships of the key factors underpinning price and service perception and willingness-to-pay for public goods. / A field survey using a personally administered questionnaire on sewerage services was conducted. The data collected was used to validate the conceptual model using structural equation modelling (SEM). / The results indicate that reference price plays an important role in consumers' price perception of the public good. The consumer's reference price can be shifted by providing adequate justification of the price and disseminating information on service provision and performance. Greater emphasis is thus needed by service providers on communication strategies to justify prices and present service performance information in a manner readily understood by consumers. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.