Consumption of farm-raised catfish in the United States has increased over the last few decades. However, consumers usually prefer it as a deepried product, especially in the southern United States. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the acceptability of lowat baked catfish using a Central Location Test. Subjects (n=137) tasted, compared, and evaluated samples of lowat baked catfish and deepried catfish. Results indicated that the fried product was favored (p <0.05) over the baked product. The majority of subjects (93.4%) identified the baked product as the healthier choice. Most subjects (85.7%) indicated that catfish was an overall healthy food choice. Reasons for consuming catfish included taste (75.6%), convenience (15.1%), health reasons (7.6%), and cost (1.7%). The majority of subjects (63.8%) indicated that they normally consumed catfish as a deepried product, but 91.9% indicated that they would be willing to consume catfish prepared in a lowat manner.

The relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction, and loyalty have been widely discussed in the service marketing literature, but there is still an ongoing debate about these relationships because they have not been well studied in spectator sport industry (Theodorakis & Alexandris, 2008). Schmitt (2011) claimed that consumer experiential could be a new perspective for evaluating the nature of these relationships. However, experience marketing has some special and unique attributes requiring specific definitions in specific research contexts. Thus, the current research attempts to (1) identify what kinds of experiences are found in Taiwanese professional baseball games; (2) test models of relationships between consumer experience, service quality, satisfaction and loyalty taking into account the unique aspects of the specific context of Taiwanese professional baseball games; and (3) test the role of consumer experience on the relationships between perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty. In order to achieve the research aims, the current research adopted a mixed method approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Four focus groups, representing the qualitative stage, were conducted to acquire a better understanding of consumer experience types and characteristics in Taiwanese professional baseball games. The main findings of the focus groups are that (1) ordinary experiences include the game itself while additional events and activities characterise extraordinary experiences. However, (2) when games involve a special performance and record or modifies a ranking position, they can be seen as extraordinary experiences as well. Moreover, ordinary experience and extraordinary experiences also depend on clubs, game days, and stadiums. A questionnaire survey, representing the quantitative stage, was used to investigate the relationships between consume experience, service quality, consumer satisfaction and loyalty. The sampling strategy was designed based on the specific research context features (i.e., different clubs, dates and stadia), and 1,229 questionnaires were collected. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to test the measurement model and compare theoretical models according to specific research context features. The main findings were that: (1) the degree of association between consumer experience and service quality is significant, (2) both direct and indirect relationships of consumer experience on consumer satisfaction and loyalty are significant, (3) only an indirect influence, via consumer satisfaction, of service quality on consumer loyalty is significant, (4) the differences of relationships are significant between clubs, but not significant between dates and stadia. The current research concluded that (1) consumer experience is an important dimension to take into consideration to better understand the formation of consumer loyalty, (2) there is a two-way relationship between service quality and consumer experience, (3) Intangible experience elements are captured by consumer experience while tangible experience elements are captured by service quality, (4) Extraordinary experiences in sport spectating events are highly dependent on situational factors, (5) specific research contexts features are important to take into consideration when conducting consumer experience research.

This is a multidisciplinary information systems thesis with a strong sociological focus. Theoretically it uses the technical concerns of human-computer interaction as the background to consider the separate theories of consumer decision-making and the diffusion of innovations. Emphasis is placed on understanding how consumers make sense of the Internet and come to define the role and use of the Internet in their lives. A practical framework for hermeneutic investigation was created to access the unreflective thoughts and actions driving online consumer decision-making. Implicit within hermeneutics is the prospect of transcendental interpretations and the ability to investigate in situ new avenues of research that emerge as a result of anomalous comments or findings. Hence, this thesis presents two different, but inter-related, research inquiries and their associated findings. Initial interest was centred on consumer behaviour and interface design. Specifically, can a dedicated 'consumer interface' be designed using principles based on consumer perceptions of online convenience. The resulting data analysis created a framework of advice that interface designers can use to improve their understanding of the nature and limitations of convenient interfaces and associated consumer decision-support technologies. A second research theme emerged from the data analysis which broadened the focus into a consideration of online consumer behaviour as a distinct issue. Specifically, a new from of interactive behaviour prevalent in electronic retail markets was identified and, following a second literature review, labeled "surrogacy". Related in form to the personal shoppers found in traditional marketplaces, surrogacy differs from electronic intermediaries with regard to (i) the motivations of use and (ii) the symbolic and functional benefits of usage. The emergence of this phenomenon suggests that interactions between individuals (as consumers) and Web-based systems are maturing, albeit in a non-predictable manner. Together, the methodological refinements presented here with the accompanying research findings provide a reference point for further work in the following three areas: interface design for electronic marketplaces; Web-based consumer decision support technologies; and the development of interpretive approaches suitable for socio-technical investigations.

of the Thesis: "Consumer loans - elements, selected clauses in consumer loan contracts, the protection of a consumer" The aim of this thesis is to describe in which ways laws regulating consumer credit effect praxis and contract provisions and how the praxis uses the limits given by the law. Author focuses on customer protection, law provisions, which should protect him and equalize his weaker position and state institutions, which control following this law provisions and administrative procedure in case of infringement of this law provisions. The thesis consists of four chapters. In the first chapter the author concentrates on economic factors of consumer credits and basic definitions of consumer credits. Second chapter is on the subject of law regulation. It is about general law regulation in civil code and new civil code and about specific law regulation in the statute of consumer credit. The law regulation in the statute of consumer credit is divided into 13 part- development of specific statutes on the subject of consumer credit, chronological succession, force, amendment, and discretion about consumer's ability to repay the loan, withdraw, notice, credit for buying goods, prepaying, agents, control and administrative offence, change of trade statute. Law provisions are commented and bound to...

Chan, Ka Yan Elisa. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-106). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.ii / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.vi / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.viii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.xi / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xii / LIST OF APPENDICE --- p.xii / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Overview of Research Objectives --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Outline of the Current Study --- p.2 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Defining “Experience´ح in Consumption --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Experience-rich Consumption --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Consumer Value --- p.8 / Chapter 2.4 --- Models and Scales of Consumer Value --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Typology of Consumer Value by Holbrook (1999) --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- The Theory of Consumption Value --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Consumer Perceived Value --- p.16 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Experiential Value Scale (EVS) --- p.17 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary of Literature Review --- p.19 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- OBJECTIVES OF THE CURRENT STUDY --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1 --- First Objective of this Research --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2 --- Second Objective of this Research --- p.22 / Chapter 3.3 --- Third Objective of this Research --- p.23 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- CONCEPTUALIZATION OF EXPERIENTIAL VALUE --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1 --- Exploring the Components of Experience --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Psychology Literature: Everyday Life Experience --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2 --- Dimensionality of Experiential Value --- p.27 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Emotional Value --- p.28 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Intellectual Value --- p.30 / Chapter 4.3 --- Dimensional Relation Between Emotional and Intellectual Value --- p.33 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- DEVELOPING THE EXPERIENTIAL VALUE SCALE --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1 --- Study 1: Item Generation and Selection --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Literature Review --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Focus Group --- p.37 / Chapter 5.2 --- Study 2: Item Reduction and Dimensionality of the Scale --- p.38 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Scale Purification with Exploratory Factor Analysis --- p.39 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Initial Confirmatory Factor Analysis --- p.42 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Scale Reliability and Validity --- p.42 / Chapter 5.3 --- Study 3: Convergent and Discriminant Validity Analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Method --- p.43 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Results --- p.44 / Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- CONCEPTUAL MODEL TESTING --- p.50 / Chapter 6.1 --- Study 4: The Antecedents and Consequents of Experiential Value --- p.51 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Subjective Well-Being --- p.52 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Method --- p.53 / Chapter 6.1.2.1 --- Dependent Measures --- p.54 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.54 / Chapter 6.1.3.1 --- Discriminant Validity of Constructs --- p.54 / Chapter 6.1.3.2 --- Overall Model Results --- p.55 / Chapter 6.1.3.3 --- Equivalence Across Religious Group --- p.56 / Chapter 6.2 --- Study 5: Using Experiential Value to Predict Consumer Behavior and the Moderating Effect of Experience Context --- p.57 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- "Experiential Values, Consumer Trust, and Loyalty" --- p.57 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- The Moderating Effect of Shopping Context --- p.59 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Method --- p.61 / Chapter 6.2.3.1 --- Dependent Measures --- p.61 / Chapter 6.2.4 --- Results and Discussion --- p.62 / Chapter 6.2.4.1 --- Discriminant Validity of Constructs --- p.62 / Chapter 6.2.4.2 --- Overall Model Results --- p.63 / Chapter 6.2.4.3 --- Moderation Model Results --- p.63 / Chapter CHAPTER SEVEN --- GENERAL DISCUSSION AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION --- p.65 / Chapter 7.1 --- Theoretical Contribution --- p.66 / Chapter 7.2 --- Managerial Implication --- p.68 / Chapter 7.3 --- Limitations and Future Research --- p.71 / REFERENCES --- p.99

"Farmers Market", is selling seasonal local fresh food. These foods grow up without any pesticides, fertilizer, and unhealthy natural GM-free ingredients. Farmers work hard to plant seasonal vegetables and fruits. Consumers can buy the "production and consumption planted locally" pesticide-free and healthy seasonal fruits and vegetables. This study is according to the consumer knowledge, attitude and behavior of farmers' markets of organic products¡¦ relation and differences and to discuss whether the relationship between population statistical variance and consumer knowledge, attitude and behavior have differences or not. In this study, we use farmers' markets of Kaohsiung area for the researching object. The researching method is convenience sampling survey of questionnaire, and total valid samples are 372. Through descriptive statistics, single factor analysis of variance, multiple linear regression analysis and other statistical methods for data processing and analysis. And results of distribution of demographic variables are as follow: that the, (1) women are the mainly consumption group; (2) education level is university most; (3) consumers¡¦ age between 21-40 years old pay more attention to organic agricultural products and also tend to buy organic products; (4)the occupation of most respondents are in service industry; (5) family income per month from 20001 to 40000 is the most; (6) most of respondents are unmarried; (7) most of respondents¡¦ religion are Buddhism and Taoism; (8) to meat or fish-based diet The proportion of most. In this study, test hypotheses H1 consumer knowledge on consumer attitude has a significant effect. When the consumer knowledge is higher, the consumer attitude is also higher, but also vice versa. Test hypotheses H2 consumer attitudes on consumer behavior have a significant effect. When attitude and behavior are more particular and specific, the two inter-related degrees will be more remarkable. Test hypotheses H3 consumer knowledge and consumer behavior have a significant effect. When the consumer knowledge and consumer behavior have casual relationship, knowledge will cause the behavior. It means knowledge forming will affect the behavior.

The financial tsunami struck the entire world in 2008, leading to global economic downturn and unprecedented loss in the global financial markets. In an already weakened economic environment, investors continued to lose confidence, unemployment soared to an all time high and consumer spending continued to shrink. Thus economic growth continued to spiral downward. After careful consideration of all economic indicators and approaches taken by other countries, the Taiwan government launched the Consumption Voucher Policy in a short period of time. The government launched a variety of economic stimulus packages to revive the economy and restore economic growth as quickly as possible. To make distribution of consumption vouchers in the amount of NTD 3,600 dollars to each person, for which was to be spent within a short period of time, and it was estimated to add 0.66 percent on the economic growth of 2009. The issuance of the consumption voucher which helped to stop the economic free fall by encouraging consumer spending, also demonstrated government efficiency and exhibited cooperation among government authorities and people. The scope of this study is focusing on the causes and effectiveness of the program, and summarizing the data collected to record the first issuance of consumption vouchers.

M.Comm. / The goal of marketing is to supply customers with products and services that satisfies their needs at a profit to the organisation. Several products and services achieve this goal, but instances where the customers' needs are not satisfied do exist, which leads to customer dissatisfaction. Total customer satisfaction is a noble but unrealistic goal. Customer dissatisfaction is a reality and a result of the purchasing process. Defensive marketing, which aims to retain existing customers, is an inseparable part of the effort of delivering unparalleled customer satisfaction. The retention of an existing customer is as important as obtaining new customers for the organisation, and will ensure the long term survival of the organisation. Customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated about the purchasing of products and services. The increase of the level of dissatisfaction experienced by customers when purchasing goods and services is mainly due to the increase in sophistication. Dissatisfaction is a primary cause of customer complaints and an integral part of the marketing cycle. Effective resolutions of customer complaints hold advantages for both the customer and the organisation and is vital to the long term survival of any organisation. The broad goals of the study are: To determine the level of customer satisfaction with their purchases of products and services. To determine customers' complaint behaviour. To determine organisations' responses to customer complaints. The methodology of the study takes the form of two separate empirical research designs, the first design examines customer's attitude towards complaining, and the second researches organisations' response to customer complaints, which is superseded by the theoretical overview of the topic. The empirical research is both exploratory and descriptive in nature. Data was obtained by means of questionnaires that were posted to customer respondent's resident in Gauteng and delivered to organisations in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The major findings of the study include: Customer dissatisfaction is the norm rather than the exception with the purchase of products and services. Regardless of the dissatisfaction experienced by customers, customers do not complain. Customers are not satisfied with the organisations' attempts in resolving their complaints. Organisations are aware of customer goals when complaining. Customers and organisations differ regarding the most effective manner in which to voice a complaint. Differences exist regarding satisfaction levels between product categories. The findings of the study compare with similar studies undertaken in other markets around the world.

Yes / A systematic review of the literature of guilt in consumer behavior revealed a lack of diversity in respect of various factors that affect the elicitation of guilt-induced behavior. These factors are the cause of guilt (self, society, others/action, inaction); the form in which guilt manifests (anticipatory, reactive, existential); and moderators (culture, demographics, narratives). Implicitly, the review illustrated that researchers exhibit a tendency towards assessing reactive guilt caused by the self in individualistic cultures. Such findings cannot be generalized to encompass other forms of guilt that had alternate causes, nor be applied in collectivist cultures. Such considerations are imperative, due to guilt’s inherent complexity. Therefore, this review provides a guide for future research based on these factors, and introduces e-guilt, as sufficient evidence suggests that online settings present incomparable circumstances where one’s behavior is visible and irretrievable.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / Store layout is an important factor affecting consumer behaviour and a critical determinant towards the creation of store image. Well designed layouts are extremely important because they strongly influence in-store traffic patterns, shopping atmosphere, shopping behaviour, and operational efficiency (Vrechopoulos et al., 2004: 13). When an inconsistency occurs, some consumers will abandon that establishment in search of another one which offers fast, convenient and better services (Andersen, 1997: 118). Taking a more strategic approach to store layout can reap big rewards by boosting sales, increasing customer loyalty and ultimately increasing turnover (Clark, 2003: 42). The overall aim of the study was to ascertain if independent convenience stores in Kwa Mashu are aware of the impact of store layout on purchasing patterns of consumers. In order to accomplish the objectives of the study, a quantitative study was conducted at the convenience stores at Kwa Mashu by means of self-administered questionnaires. A sample of 400 respondents was asked questions pertaining to the study. The respondents were selected through non-probability sampling within which convenience sampling was applied. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the literature and the findings of the study. The results of this study show that consumers experience problems with store layout. It was found that appearance of the store, merchandise display, store atmosphere, instore service and accessibility are the major causes of this discomfort. Therefore, it is recommended that convenience retail owners in Kwa Mashu attend to those areas and see to it that necessary strategies are implemented to help customers where there is a need.