This dissertation facilitates an understanding of the entire domain of product/consumption-based behaviors. It takes a holistic approach to the conceptualization, description, and measurement of consumer behaviors. Although the discipline has adopted the label "consumer behavior," previous research has considered behaviors narrowly, usually focusing on the purchase and rarely considering more than a very limited subset of consumption-based behaviors (e.g., complaining behaviors, word-of-mouth, information search). This research conceptualized behaviors inclusively, including all behaviors that consumers undertake in relation to the product. Comprehensive inventories of consumption-based behaviors were generated through a review of the literature and through interviews with consumers. Those inventories of consumption-based behaviors were then examined for structure via the use of a card sort methodology intended to gauge consumer perceptions of similarity/dissimilarity. This methodology did not yield the dimensional structure which had been hypothesized, but it did identify categorical structure across the behaviors--consumers appeared to recognize differences in types of behaviors. Two levels of behavior typologies were identified. The first was a parsimonious set of three distinct types of consumption-based behaviors: information/ transactional/social behaviors; maintenance/repairs/working on the product behaviors; and usage behaviors. These three types of behaviors generalized across the three product categories considered (cars, stereos, and clothes). A second, more specific, level of typology was developed for each product category. These more detailed frameworks included groups of behaviors particular to each product category. Finally, in a large consumer survey, indices of the behavior typologies for the car product category were developed and the measured behaviors were related to consumption-based affect and consumer product involvement. Thus, this research has: contributed to a comprehensive conceptualization of consumption-based behaviors; explicated a description and understanding of that behavior's domain; and, developed and validated measures of those behaviors.

<p> Various determinants have been found to explain the donor status and giving levels of college alumni. Limited research exists on what motivates college alumni to give repeated donations to a higher education institution. The purpose of this study was to determine if commitment and trust significantly related to higher education institutions receiving repeated annual gifts from college alumni. The extent of the relationship that commitment and trust had with college alumni donating repeated annual gifts was investigated using the commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing (commitment-trust theory) as the theoretical framework. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, race, marital status, number of dependents in a household, annual income, highest degree earned, family legacy, and number of years since graduating) were also included and examined to assess how strongly commitment and trust predicted college alumni giving repeated annual gifts. A quantitative, correlational, nonexperimental research design was used in the study to collect and analyze data from online survey responses. The study's sample consisted of 478 college alumni that were purposively drawn from a population of 43,381 college alumni at two 4-year higher education institutions located in the southeastern region of the United States. This sample was comprised of college alumni who graduated from one of the two higher education institutions during or before 2007. Most of the study's alumni were older Caucasian females who were married or in a domestic partnership and without any dependents living in the participants' households. The majority of the alumni also reported having an annual income of more than $100,000, earning a bachelor's degree as the highest level of education and not having any family ties at either institution involved in the study. Multiple regression analyses were performed and revealed commitment and trust to be statistically significant predictors of repeated giving by the sample. A second multiple regression model showed that the demographic variables were insignificant predictors of repeated giving. Including the demographic variables contributed to very small declines in the strength of commitment and trust as predictors of repeated giving. The commitment-trust theory was found to align with the results of the study.</p><p>

<p> Donor behavior in the non-profit organizational environment is a complex matrix of social influences that include social expectations from social media sites, direct cohort and peer influence, and perceptions of organizational performance, transparency and fundraising expenditures. A widespread general problem in non-profit organizations (NPOs) is that organizational members (cohorts) can exert an influence on the donor behavior of others, and organizational fundraising objectives can be adversely impacted. The purpose of this research was to identify those predictor characteristics that negatively influence donor behavior and would assist in minimizing costs associated with fundraising. I employed a quantitative study using a correlational design of multivariate analyses to identify a set of predictor characteristics originating from the influence of organizational cohorts on donor behavior. This study used a modified original survey to collect data from 244 non-randomized participants from the State of Colorado who donated to non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the last year. </p><p> A series of backward regressions produced five statistically significant models that showed positive correlations among the fifteen dependent variables that were included in the survey. In addition, the statistical evidence (p >.001) provided additional support for the three alternate hypotheses in all three research questions. In this study, I attempt to provide correlations that serve as predictor characteristics of cohort influence in the non-profit organizational environment. This data also provides additional information on donation behavior patterns for the three-key areas of interest: Donation Amounts, donation frequency, and volunteer hours. Additional research across other demographic and geographic areas is recommended.</p><p>

Identifying effective strategies for encouraging individuals to disclose their personal information on the Internet is important for marketers. In today's information-based economy, access to consumer data is imperative for organizations in conducting marketing activities. However, the extant privacy literature has found conflicting results regarding the effectiveness of safety cues (e.g., privacy policies) and rewards (e.g., discounts) for encouraging consumers to provide their personal information to Web sites (Andrade et al. 2002). There is also scant research on the implications of compensating consumers for their information, and its subsequent impact on privacy control expectations. This dissertation consists of two essays that examine how consumers respond to marketers' strategies for encouraging self-disclosure on the Internet, and how these strategies affect expectations for privacy control. Essay 1 employs regulatory focus theory for investigating the impact of consumers' goals (privacy protection vs. acquisition of benefits) on how they respond to marketers' online influence strategies and brand reputation. The use of safety cues, rewards, and brand reputation have been identified in the privacy literature as important factors that influence consumers' trust, privacy concern, and willingness to provide personal information (Milne and Culnan 2004). Essay 2 draws on theories of social exchange and social contracts for examining how the value and type of compensation received influences the degree to which consumers believe they own the information provided to marketers and their expectations for control over how their information is used. Although consumers frequently trade their personal information for benefits online, it has been suggested in the privacy literature that the point at which consumers own and control information about themselves and when that information becomes the property of marketers is unclear (Sheehan and Hoy 2000). This dissertation employs a mixed methods approach that includes a series of scenario-based experiments using survey panel data, and in-depth interviews. The results of essay 1 provide evidence of the importance of consumer goals in decisions to disclose personal information to marketers. Findings from essay 2 reveal that privacy exchanges may affect the degree to which consumers believe ownership and control over their information is shared with marketers.