M.Comm. / This dissertation reports on the findings of a study conducted in order to understand the factors that impact on retail bank customers‘ attitudes towards and usage of internet and cell phone banking services in Gauteng, South Africa. A conceptual model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) plus other variables including trust, subjective norm and demographic variables was used to help understand factors that impact on adoption of electronic banking. Data was collected from customers of the four biggest banks in South Africa namely ABSA, Standard Bank, First National Bank and Nedbank. A total of 394 usable responses were obtained. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. A number of statistical tools were used in the analysis including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis correlation analysis, regression analysis and independent sample ttesting. The findings of the study reveal that customers‘ attitude towards internet and cell phone banking contributes significantly to customer‘s intention to start using or continue using internet and cell phone banking services. The findings also show that while differences in attitude may exist between customers across different demographic groups, demographic factors, alone, are weak predictors of attitude. The study found that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust; significantly contribute to customers‘ attitude towards internet and cell phone banking. Of these variables, trust emerged as the most important predictor of attitude towards internet and cell phone banking while the subjective norm was found to be the weakest predicator of attitude. The findings have wider implications on efforts aimed at attracting more customers to start using or continue using internet or cell phone banking services. The implications have also been discussed and suggestions for future research made.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Consumer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

The purposes of the study were to: 1) identify the underlying dimensions of consumer shopping motivations and attitudes toward online auction behaviors; 2) examine the relationships between shopping motivations and online auction behaviors; and 3) examine the relationships between shopping attitudes and online auction behaviors. Students (N = 341) enrolled at the University of North Texas completed self-administered questionnaires measuring shopping motivations, attitudes, online auction behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Using multiple regression analyses to test the hypothesized relationships, shopping motivations and shopping attitudes were significantly related to online auction behaviors. Understanding the relationships is beneficial for companies that seek to retain customers and increase their sales through online auction.

Millennials are the largest generation in history and are frequently the targets of major marketing campaigns. However, no current research exists that focuses on Millennials' brand related communication habits. Focus groups with 50 college students were used to study the brand related communication habits of Millennials. Focus group data indicate that face-to-face communication is preferred by Millennials when communicating about brands and products; however, participants noted an increased use of digital communication (text messages, instant messages, social networks) when communicating a negative brand experience. Price, family tradition, and product type were found to have the biggest influence over what types of messages were communicated and with whom they were communicated.

The practice of celebrity endorsement has been widely adopted in advertising industries around the world. In the Chinese advertising world, celebrity endorsement has been a commonly used strategy since 2010. Celebrities from the entertainment and sports industries have been frequently employed to promote messages about advertised brands or products. This is a traditional way of celebrity endorsement. Recently, however, the development of new media has led to the emergence of self-made micro-celebrities, termed 'online influencers' in this dissertation. Facing the popularity of online influencers in the digital world, marketing communication practitioners have started using them to advertise brands and products, and to engage target audiences in advertisements. A new way of celebrity endorsement has developed. As a result, advertisers need to make decisions on whether to adopt traditional celebrity endorsement or online influencer endorsement. In this regard, it is necessary to figure out which celebrity endorsement method, traditional celebrity or online influencer endorsement, is more persuasive. Our study aims to explore how celebrity-audience relational motives (information, entertainment, and involvement motives) interact with celebrity endorser's typology (traditional celebrities or online influencers) to determine the persuasiveness of celebrity endorsement appeals in advertising. The study's conceptual framework hypothesized that celebrity-audience relational motives play a determining role in the audiences' attitudes toward celebrities, whereas celebrity typology adjusts the impact of celebrity-audience relational motives on the audience's attitude toward celebrities. Also, it was theorized that audiences' attitudes toward celebrities would influence the persuasiveness of advertisements containing celebrity endorsements. In this causal relationship, the celebrity-product fit moderates its impact. A mixed methodology was applied in this dissertation. The first method used was qualitative personal interviews, conducted with 15 Chinese respondents between August 2018 and February 2019. This exploratory study's purpose was to get audience's insights on their perceptions of traditional celebrity and online influencer endorsement, and to develop a conceptual framework based on the empirical data. Results in the first exploratory study revealed that compared with online influencers, a much closer relationship was found between interviewees and traditional celebrities. Also, the overall affective evaluation of traditional celebrities and their endorsement appeal was found to be more positive than that of online influencers. The second study confirms that celebrity-audience relational motives significantly determine the audience's attitude toward celebrity endorsers. The stronger the relational motives are, the more positive audience's attitude could be. Besides, celebrity typology effectively moderates the impact of entertainment motive on attitude toward celebrity endorsers. Moreover, if audiences evaluated celebrity endorsers positively, the persuasiveness of advertising with celebrity endorsement would be significantly improved on both affective and behavioral levels. Furthermore, the celebrity-product fit further enhances the advertising persuasiveness. Based on the findings, theoretical and marketing communication implications are suggested to enlighten communication practitioners on how to select celebrity endorsers and what factors to consider to guarantee the persuasiveness of advertising through celebrity endorsement appeals.

Celebrity endorsements have become an increasingly common phenomenon in marketing. Simultaneously the world has been digitalized and social media is now a matter of course rather than an exception. The most active people on digital platforms have been shown to be young people. The aim of this study was to investigate how young consumers' attitudes and trust are affected by celebrity endorsement as a result of the increased use of social media. The study was performed with a qualitative method based on a focus group interview and several individual semi-structured interviews. The results showed critical attitudes towards the strategy where celebrities through social media are seen as ordinary people. The interest in celebrities turned out to be saturated. At the same time, some form of connection was shown to celebrities in order to create trust. The analysis showed an ambiguity in some aspects, however, celebrity endorsers were found to have a major impact on brand recognition which benefit companies marketing and simplify consumers' purchase decisions.

Reducing energy use is a critical near-term strategy to mitigate climate change. Energy savings behaviors provide multiple benefits to the consumer and to society in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions: financial savings from lower energy bills, improved home comfort, fossil fuel resource conservation, energy independence, and improved local and indoor air quality, among others. Yet many policies to encourage reductions in energy use continue to focus on motivating behavior change with financial benefits, and little behavioral research has explored how these multiple benefits influence energy use decisions. Given the continued need for decreased energy use, more research is needed on how to leverage both financial and nonfinancial motivations to encourage energy saving behaviors. This dissertation consists of three separate papers, each addressing different elements of how individuals integrate financial and nonfinancial benefits to make energy use decisions. It presents the results of eight online and field studies conducted with over 395,000 U.S. residents. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on the decision architecture of the presentation of multiple benefits. Chapter 1 develops an inconspicuous change in savings metric to gently nudge individuals to consider energy use in addition to financial savings. It shows that presenting energy savings as a percentage of end-use energy increases behavioral adoption compared to a standard presentation of dollars saved. Chapter 2 explicitly presents environmental benefits in different ways, examining whether message effectiveness differs according to participants’ political ideologies. It shows that presenting environmental benefits in addition to financial benefits can increase interest in a large energy efficiency investment. Furthermore, while environmental benefits framed as climate change are motivating only for liberals, environmental benefits framed as stewardship and energy independence are motivating for both liberals and conservatives. Chapter 3 develops a measurement scale for a potential mechanism explaining why environmental and financial benefit frames lead to different decision outcomes: decision modes, or the qualitatively different ways that people make decisions. It defines six decision modes: calculation, affect, social norms, identity, habitual, and moral. These papers contribute to the behavioral science literature, expanding our understanding of the ways that decision makers incorporate the financial and environmental benefits of energy saving behaviors when making energy savings choices. These papers also provide actionable insights for policy makers to decrease energy consumption by improving the presentation of energy saving decisions.

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This research investigated the importance female consumers place on fit, style, price, color, fabric, and construction when purchasing a dress and sleepwear for themselves. Age, education, employment status, and income also were studied to assess their relationship to attribute importance. The data indicated that fit was the major consideration for both a dress and sleepwear. Dress style and price were of secondary concern; color, construction, and fabric were least important. For sleepwear, price, fabric, and style were of secondary importance; color and construction were of least concern. The sample of 133 respondents was divided into two groups: secretaries and custodians. When dress and sleepwear attribute importance scores were compared significant differences were found. Secretaries considered style more important for a dress; fabric was of greater concern in sleepwear selection. Fabric was more important when custodians purchased sleepwear. A comparison of garment attribute importance between the two groups indicated dress fit and style and sleepwear fabric were of greater concern to secretaries than to custodians. The price of the garments was of higher priority to the custodians. Age was significantly related to the secretaries' sleepwear color ratings and to the custodians' ratings on dress color. For secretaries, educational attainment was related to dress construction, employment status to dress style, and income to dress fit. No significant correlations were found between education, employment, or income of custodians and the importance of garment attributes in purchase decision. / M.S.

This dissertation examines the power of similar brand preferences to bring individuals together to have a conversation about social issues. Results across eleven studies reveal that people are more willing to discuss social issues with a stranger who shares (vs. does not share) their brand preferences. This is because they think those with similar brand preferences—but not those with other types of similarities—also hold similar personal values, and thus opinions on social issues, as them. This perception of shared opinions makes people more willing to engage in conversations with this stranger, because it overcomes the barrier of potential disagreement. The effect of brand preference similarity on willingness to discuss overcomes the effect of demographic dissimilarity and topic controversiality. This effect also persists when individuals learn that their conversation partner disagrees with them on a social issue, as long as the inference of generally shared values can hold. It attenuates when the inference on shared values is negated. After people engage in a real conversation, their opinions on the social issue converge with those of their conversation partner, especially if they believe their conversation partner shares their brand preferences. How does strangers connecting through shared brand preferences affect the brand? First, consumers have higher purchase intentions for their favorite brand after discussing a social issue with someone who shares (vs. does not share) their brand preferences. In addition, online brand communities, where people with shared brand preferences gather, demonstrate a more receptive and positive conversational tone than other communities. These propositions and findings are new to the literature on branding and interpersonal communication. Practically, the findings suggest both a powerful intervention that can tackle the issue of polarization, and a strategy for brands to engage in social issues in an inclusive way.