Abstract Purpose - The purpose of this research aims to explore the consumers’ behaviors in multicultural context, for low product involvement. Design/Methodology/Approach - Researchers of this study had chosen a qualitative research which is in accordance with the purpose. Eight interviews were led with respondents from seven different nationalities having lived in multicultural environment. The goal was to analyze which behaviors come up when consumers are guided by six particular external and internal factors in their consumption (namely culture, reference groups, situational factors, personal needs and motives, attitudes and consumer orientation towards multiculturalism). Findings - Firstly, findings showed that consumers are guided in their behavior by the six mentioned factors in multicultural context for low product involvement. Secondly, six consumers’ behaviors, guided by external and internal factors, have been found during this research. Research limitations/Implications - As this research is qualitative, not all the aspects of the topic were explored. Another exploratory research could be led to detect other behaviors or other factors guiding consumers’ behaviors in multicultural context. There is also a need for a quantitative research in order to confirmed findings. Thus thanks to this study, marketers have now a broader view on consumers’ behaviors in multicultural context, especially for low product involvement. Originality/Value - This study is one of the first research conducted about consumers’ behaviors in multicultural context. Researchers deepened the existing literature by exploring and bringing possible consumers’ behavior’ in multicultural context for low product involvement. Existing literature was not as specific as this one concerning factors guiding consumers’ behaviors in multicultural context, as well as concerning low product involvement.

The goal of this essay was to study if the way gaming review sites presented their review evaluation has any influences the level of product involvement in the users it attracts. The assumption we did during the essay was that there was a connection between user’s level of product involvement and the quality of the community. To test this assumption we started out by performing observations on the comment sections in three gaming news sites which varied in their method for evaluating games. The result of these observations showed a significantly higher community quality in one of the websites. To see if this had any connection to the level of product involvement in the users and their preferences regarding evaluation method in reviews we distributed a questionnaire in gaming forums. The overall result of this essay showed that the review site which didn’t show a number in its scoring had the higher community quality but no connections could be found between this and level of involvement users had regarding gaming.

Abstract Problem statement – what factors determine brand loyalty in Smartphone? Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine causal antecedent factors leading to brandloyalty in the Swedish Smartphone market Theory – theoretical review and critical analysis of academic journals related to dependantand independent variables and conceptual model is formulated. Methodology - Quantitative approach is used to quantify the relationship between dependantand independent variables based on the proposed theoretical model that delineates therelationships between dependant variable brand loyalty and the independent variablescustomer satisfaction, perceived quality, brand experience, brand image, brand switching costand product involvement. Data – In total 200 responses were collected through a structured interview from UppsalaUniversity, Uppsala central train and bus station and two big shopping centers in Uppsala (S: tper galleria and Forum galleria). Apple and Sony Ericsson brand users are interviewed in thedata gathering process, 100 respondents for each brand Findings – the analysis suggest brand image, product involvement and customer satisfactiondetermined brand loyalty in Apple brand, whereas customer satisfaction was the onlydeterminate factor in Sony Ericsson brand

The Internet alters the traditional business environment. Due to the convenience of the Internet, consumers are able to acquire both tangible goods and intangible services. With the advent of the internet and its related technologies, the emerging online shopping a distinctively new business transaction format becomes the trendiest activity in these days. The spirit of online group buying is to exercise the buy¡¦s bargaining power by amassing number of people interested in the same goods and their money in order to achieve the goal of having desirable prices. Besides the financial motive, what are the other incentives driving consumers to join online group buying is another interesting subject discussed in the paper. When shopping online, consumers can obtain product information only by pictures and depictions posted by sellers. Therefore, the credibility of the group-buying initiator is very important because of the fictitious shopping environment. The goal of the research is to comprehend the correlation between consumers¡¦ online group-buying motivations and customer satisfaction. According to the above, the research model is consisted of the following factors: (1) motivation of online group-buying participation; (2) customer relationship; (3) product involvement; (4) customer satisfaction. The research sample group is targeted at the southern residences with online group-buying experiences. There are total 849 questionnaires performed face-to-face and on the Internet retrieved during the sample period from February 25, 2012 to March 25, 2012. All of this data will be used to explain the correlation between online group-buying motivations and customer satisfaction. After calculating and analyzing all data, there is a positive relationship between online group-buying motivations and the customer satisfaction. Besides, trust categorized in the customer relationship acts as an intermediary in the relationship between online group-buying motivations and the customer satisfaction. Moreover, the product involvement also interferes in the relationship between online group-buying motivations and the customer satisfaction. In order to stand out and be successful in the overcrowded and competitive e-commerce market, there are several suggestions about online group-buying activities based on the results of above. Online group-buying initiators can use promotions to attraction consumers¡¦ attentions. Furthermore, a user-friendly website can also increase the level of the consumer satisfaction due to its simplicity and accessibility. Based on all information collected, the product quality and the seller¡¦s credibility are the most crucial elements affecting consumers¡¦ purchase inclinations.

COO is a construct that refers to the country which a consumer associates a certain product or brand as being its source, regardless of where the product is actually produced. Scholars like Magnusson et al. (2011) argue that COO is a salient cue in consumers’ product evaluation and purchase intention. In contrast, Usunier (2006; 2011) and Samiee (2010) criticize the COO effect, by explaining that due to multinational production, integrated worldwide supply chains and global branding there are other cues that have become more salient in consumers’ decision- making process. The purpose of this thesis is to extend the understanding about the relationship of COO in consumers buying process. The research questions followed: To what extent does country of origin influence consumers’ product evaluations and purchase intention? To what extent does the level of involvement affect the relationship between country of origin and consumers’ product evaluation? To what extent does the level of involvement affect the relationship between country of origin and consumers’ purchase intentions. Applying a deductive approach, a quantitative research has been chosen for this thesis involving survey as the source for data collection in order to test this research four main concepts: COO, product evaluation, purchase intention and product involvement. The findings indicated that COO has a significant direct effect in consumers’ product evaluations and purchase intention. The results also indicated on that when consumers’ perceive products to be low involvement, the COO effect is greater in consumers’ decision-making process.

Title A comparative study of Swedish generation Y decision-making style between high involvement and low involvement products. Research questions  How does product involvement influence consumer decision-making styles in Generation Y of Swedish nationals for the two selected products?  To what level does the model proposed by Sproles and Kendall in 1986 now apply to the modern-day Generation Y in Sweden as they decide on both of the selected products? Purpose The purpose of this research undertaking was to discover and investigate the Swedish generation Y decision-making style and examine if there is a relation between product involvement and consumer decision-making style, and also to compare the extent to which the modern-day Generation Y in Sweden correspondence between age, location and product orientation not predicted by Sproles and Kendall in 1986. Method This comparison was conducted based on contemporary primary research versus what was proposed as ideal for last three generations of consumer interest groups. A quantitative research approach was used to select the primary data and answer our research questions. Conclusion Consumer buying behavior is influenced by the policy and the mental status of the buyers. According to the respondents, consumer selection can be said to be depend on the current needs and understanding of products. The study reveals that marketing needs to incorporate the realities of prevailing demographics. Consumers tend to have a decision making process that has an emotional attachment to brand, effectiveness and the perceived outcomes.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of online reviews on consumer purchase intention considering the moderating role of product involvement and consumer expertise. Methodology: To reach our goal in this paper, we conduct a descriptive study in a deductive way. This is quantitative research in which the relationship between online reviews and consumer buying behavior will be tested. The research strategy of the study is an online survey. The sample size is 200 respondents considering confidence level 95% and confidence interval 7. Data editor IBM SPSS is used to performing the data analysis. Findings: High-low product involvement and high-low consumer expertise have an impact on the factor of online review (quality, quantity, and credibility) significantly and it affects the purchase intention of the consumer. The study created a conceptual model, which is adapted from the ELM model that considers expertise, involvement, perceived quality, quantity credibility of online consumer review and intent to purchase. This study found that the effect of review type (quality) on the intention of purchase was stronger for both experts and novice and both high-low involvement products. Depending on the level of involvement, the quantity of review on purchase intention increases but the quantity of review on the intention to purchase did not differ under both low involvement & high expertise. Again, individuals rely on source credibility when product involvement is low. But the credibility of the review did not differ on the purchase of intention under low involvement and low expertise situation. Research implications: This study applies the ELM model to measure the cognitive factor (review factor) and motivation factor (involvement and expertise) together. This study shows consumers with different levels of involvement and expertise prefer different levels of online review factors. The marketer could classify online review information into different category lines like the attribute-based review, benefit-based review, etc. and based on the analysis, the marketer can make a different plan for a different level of consumer (expert and involved consumer). Keywords: Quality, quantity, and credibility of review, Product involvement, consumer expertise, elaboration likelihood model (ELM Model).

The purpose of this study is to determine how effective celebrity endorsements are in regards to the type of gift purchase one decides to make (i.e., buying for someone who has a high significant meaning to the buyer, such as a best friend, versus buying for someone who has a low significant meaning to the buyer, such as a casual friend). The study seeks to extend upon the anthropology research exploring gift-giving and marketing research exploring celebrity endorsements by applying the tenants of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). This study uses an experimental procedure in order to determine the effect of using celebrity endorsements on buyers' attitudes and purchase intentions for gift-giving purchases in low and high involving categories. Results indicate that celebrity endorsements have no influence on attitudes and purchase intention in different product involvement and gift giver-receiver conditions.

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Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Curtis Matthews / Integrated marketing communications strategies are being utilized more and more by practitioners who wish to reach their audiences in different ways at different times. However, the omnipresence that results from these multi-channel campaigns presents a new challenge for marketers, as their message and channel sequences may or may not be experienced in the order intended. Past literature has shown that both message order and channel sequence do matter. However, existing literature has not examined intended message sequences where the first channel “teases” the more comprehensive information available in the second channel. Therefore, the aim of this study was to bridge some of the gaps in past research by exploring message content order effects and channel sequence effects across intentional sequences for both high- and low-involvement product categories through the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. A 2 (message content order: tease-to-answer versus answer-to-tease) by 2 (medium sequence: print-to-online versus online-to-print) by 2 (product involvement: high- versus low-involvement) mixed factorial experimental design was conducted to explore how message content order, channel sequence, and product involvement level affected evaluations of brand and message, as well as perceived behavioral intent. The findings indicated that message content order had significant influence over brand and message evaluation, with the tease-to-answer order producing the highest evaluations of brand and message. The findings also indicated that the online-to-print sequence was only effective for increasing behavioral intent under high-involvement conditions. Implications for marketing practitioners and future research are discussed.