Comment certaines pratiques illégales peuvent-elles se pérenniser ? La littérature en comportement du consommateur s’est jusqu’ici principalement intéressée aux processus d’intégration des pratiques de consommation marginales, illégitimes ou illicites. La question de la pérennisation de ces pratiques, de leur maintien dans le temps voir de leur permanence reste en revanche peu étudiée. Ce travail de recherche mobilise une approche néo-institutionnelle en vue de comprendre comment une pratique illégale de consommation peut se pérenniser via un travail institutionnel mené par des consommateurs ordinaires; il vise, de façon plus spécifique, à comprendre le rôle que tient la matérialité dans ce travail de maintien d’une pratique. Au terme d’une analyse compréhensive de la pratique du téléchargement illégal en France de 2008 à 2013 mobilisant des entretiens semi-directifs et des données secondaires, nous montrons comment des artefacts habilitants modèlent la pratique de téléchargement illégal et façonnent la consommation de contenus piratés. Plus précisément, nos résultats montrent que les artefacts technologiques permettent de déconnecter sanction et pratique illégale, rendant par là possible l’institutionnalisation de la pratique. Cette recherche permet, par effet miroir, de comprendre le rôle de la matérialité dans la déstabilisation d’un ordre institutionnel existant et identifie un certain nombre de pistes d’évolution quant à la construction de l’offre légale de contenus culturels dématérialisés. / How are some illegal practices sustained? Prior studies have depicted how marginal, illegitimate or illicit practices could be integrated to the market. However, their sustainability is understudied in consumer research.Drawing on Neo Institutional Theory, our main purpose in this research is to understand how ordinary consumers and materiality through institutional work sustain an illegal practice. By examining the case of illegal downloading in France from 2008 to 2013, and a qualitative method, based on interviews and secondary data, we show how artefacts are enabling the illegal practice and shape the consumption of pirated content.Results expose how an illegal practice is institutionalized through materiality. Our main contribution is to bring an understanding on how materiality may destabilize an institutional order. We offer also some managerial implications regarding the legal offer of digitalized contents.

But de la recherche : déterminer la dépendance des caractéristiques des marques (perceptibilité visuelle, représentation graphique, le caractère distinctif, non-généricité etc.), sur les types généraux spécifiques de capacités intellectuelles et sur les caractéristiques conatives des consommateurs de la population générale, par application de nombreux tests. La recherche a été réalisée sur un échantillon de 206 sujets-consommateurs. Ils ont évalué la qualité des marques de commerce (déposées et refusées) pour différents types de produits et services (TM-1 test). Les sujets ont été testés avec 3 tests cognitifs et 6 tests conatifs. Méthodes quantitatives appliquées : paramètres élémentaires de la statistique descriptive ; corrélation ; analyse factorielle ; analyse de régression multivariée, analyse canonique des corrélations. Les résultats ont indiqué que les variables cognitives et conatives ont des relations statistiquement significatives avec les résultats de TM test (qualité des marques). / Aim of the research: to determine the dependence of trademarks’ characteristics (visual perceptibility, graphical representation, distinctiveness, non-genericeness etc.), on general and specific types of cognitive abilities and conative characteristics of consumers from the general population, by application of numerous tests. The research was realized on a sample of 206 subjects. They have evaluated the quality of registered and refused trademarks for products and services (TM-1 test). The subjects were also tested by 3 cognitive and 6 conative tests. Applied quantitative methods : basic descriptive statistical parameters (Mean, Standard Deviation, Coefficient of Variability); Correlation (Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient); Factor Analysis; Multivariate Regression Analysis in manifest and latent space; and Canonical Correlation Analysis in latent space. The results have indicated that the cognitive and conative variables have statistically significant relation with the results of the TM test (trademark quality).

The current green marketing industry is growing due to increasing consumer demand in combination with current environmental issues. Even so a common definition of the term green does not exist which creates both company and consumer confusion. Generally the expression is perceived by consumers to only describe environmentally friendly products but it is also further applied to different activities such as production, distribution and retailing. Due to the consumer lack of knowledge companies are having continuous difficulties satisfying the consumer’s changing needs and simultaneously protecting the environment. Companies are hoping to create awareness regarding environmental issues with the use of green marketing; however some companies are claiming to be green as a concealed marketing ploy, known as greenwashing.This study’s purpose aims to reveal and analyze whether there are gaps of knowledge in the topic green products and predominantly green cosmetics between Swedish green consumers and green companies. Lush Cosmetics has been chosen as a case company for this dissertations explorative kind and the empirical findings have been collected by a semi-structured interview with a product & people developer at the company. Answers from green consumers have been retrieved through focus group meetings with suitable respondents.Analysis of the empirical information was subsequently completed through the study’s theoretical framework to find what types of dissents exist between the two parts and why these have been generated. Results of the analysis showed that confusion as well as different opinions is present between the two parts. The knowledge gaps are prominent between the company and the consumers in the subjects of understanding marketing terms, price, ingredients and efficiency. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

In advertising, the target has traditionally been aimed towards the product’s advantages.Today the trend is that the advertisers want to create a restless and unsatisfied consumer. Theconsumer on her part is not trying to achieve a goal with her consumption, but experiences theconsumption itself as a goal. Because of this the consumer demands a fast and variedselection.In order to sell their products the companies must create a non-existent need amongst theconsumers. Therefore it is very common in advertising today to use emotions instead ofinformation to attract the customers. Fashion ads are often created to form an emotion withthe consumer. It is also very important to make ads that the target group can identify with.The advertisers often try to achieve this by using models with positive qualities that theconsumer can look up to. Because of this we see a tendency that today’s fashion ads are verysimilar and can be hard to separate from each other.In our paper we want to go deeper into marketing communication as a subject by examininghow the receiver is affected by the message in magazine ads. To reach our aim we haveinvestigated, described and analyzed the fashion ads of today to see if they are built by similarcomponents and whether they attract the target group. Our chosen target group is womenbetween 20 and 30 years old. We have decided to have a hermeneutic way of interpretationand an inductive reasoning. To enlighten our problem areas we have chosen to conduct aqualitative study consisting of personal interviews where the objects were asked to make astatement about three fashion ads. We also conducted a quantitative analysis of the ad contentin three fashion magazines. In our theoretical frame of reference we have used marketingliterature. The paper therefore consists of both primary and secondary data.The conclusion of our studies is that our target group mostly perceives fashion ads aspositive, but they do not to a great extent identify themselves with them. They want ads to benatural and that the model is presented in a trustworthy environment regarding the productsthat are in the picture. It is hard for the consumers to separate the ads from each other andconnect them to a specific brand. The women in our target group require that the ads consistof more information, mostly regarding price and store location. Our analysis of content showsthat fashion ads today is similar in imagery and existing elements. The most prominentfeatures are female models and homepage addresses. / <p>Program: Textilekonomutbildningen</p><p>Uppsatsnivå: C</p>

The key underlying question of this dissertation is how individuals develop informed views about the open international economy and make informed decisions as consumers, workers and voters. Globalization has generated competing interest groups that are highly informed about its effects. Each of these groups can exploit its informational advantage and strategically provide information to less informed individuals in order to shape their policy preferences and economic and political behavior. Focusing on this informational discrepancy among domestic actors, this dissertation investigates the mechanisms and the effects of information dissemination from three different angles. The first chapter examines the role of product-related information provided by the news media, biased in favor of domestic firms, in shaping consumer behavior. In the second chapter, I examine the role of trade-related information provided by interest groups in altering the trade preferences of workers. In the third chapter, I examine the role of trade-related information provided by political elites in shaping their constituents' attitudes toward trade. These essays contribute to the extant international political economy literature by introducing an actor that has been largely neglected, illuminating new causal mechanisms with information at the center, and clarifying the causal effect of certain economic groups in trade policy preference formation.

This research seeks to address the issue of media consumption and the formation of diaspora identity within second and third generation British-born residents of Pakistani origin. In recent years there has been much debate centred on this group within the context of domestic and wider international geopolitics of winning hearts and minds, the ‘war on terror’ and the rise of the internet and social media as unrestricted spaces of self-expression. This has had a profound impact on the sense of belonging that transcends national boundaries and becomes a more transnational experience creating new communities of interest. The role of the media and other forms of communication may be a key or important determinant in how these groups, represented by the Pukhtoon and Punjabi in this study, not only see themselves but view representation of their identify and sense of self to a wider public arena. The perceived relationship between Islam and the ‘war on terror’ as formed by the media has had a profound impact on perceptions and mindsets of many of the diaspora. New technology has created a new smartphone generation able to reassess and reaffirm their emerging hybridity set within a new discourse of equal rights and respect for cultural and religious values within a transnational context.

O consumo das tecnologias da nova mídia – entre elas, a internet e suas aplicações, o telefone celular e os jogos online – possui um papel especialmente relevante para os jovens. Pode-se dizer que a geração adolescente atual não “adotou” a nova mídia, mas sim que ela sempre foi parte de suas vidas. Estas tecnologias oferecem amplas possibilidades de comunicação e expressão e são mais interativas e imersivas que a mídia “tradicional” – como a televisão, o rádio e o jornal, por exemplo. Além disso, os jovens têm se valido destas novas tecnologias em seus processos de aprendizagem e socialização. Eles se preocupam bastante em cultivar suas relações sociais e em construir sua identidade e, assim, a possibilidade de as novas tecnologias aprimorarem a sua socialização pode ser sua a grande atratividade. Frente a isso, este trabalho se propôs a investigar que papéis a nova mídia desempenha na socialização dos adolescentes. Esta investigação é realizada considerando o amplo domínio tecnológico da nova mídia, e não apenas uma tecnologia específica, a fim de explorar as relações gerais que existem entre elas e as motivações dos adolescentes. Estes, por sua vez, são considerados por seu papel ativo na apropriação da mídia, e não como figuras passivas sujeitas à ação determinista de influências externas. O consumo das tecnologias da nova mídia – entre elas, a internet e suas aplicações, o telefone celular e os jogos online – possui um papel especialmente relevante para os jovens. Pode-se dizer que a geração adolescente atual não “adotou” a nova mídia, mas sim que ela sempre foi parte de suas vidas. Estas tecnologias oferecem amplas possibilidades de comunicação e expressão e são mais interativas e imersivas que a mídia “tradicional” – como a televisão, o rádio e o jornal, por exemplo. Além disso, os jovens têm se valido destas novas tecnologias em seus processos de aprendizagem e socialização. Eles se preocupam bastante em cultivar suas relações sociais e em construir sua identidade e, assim, a possibilidade de as novas tecnologias aprimorarem a sua socialização pode ser sua a grande atratividade. Frente a isso, este trabalho se propôs a investigar que papéis a nova mídia desempenha na socialização dos adolescentes. Esta investigação é realizada considerando o amplo domínio tecnológico da nova mídia, e não apenas uma tecnologia específica, a fim de explorar as relações gerais que existem entre elas e as motivações dos adolescentes. Estes, por sua vez, são considerados por seu papel ativo na apropriação da mídia, e não como figuras passivas sujeitas à ação determinista de influências externas. Por outro lado, ela pode provocar um distanciamento em certos contextos e preocupações quanto à privacidade, além de uma possível dependência da mídia para a socialização. Estes resultados buscam contribuir com o conhecimento na área ao enfatizar o contexto social dos adolescentes e ao promover um entendimento mais holístico sobre o tema. / The consumption of new media technologies – including internet and its applications, mobile phones and online games – has an important role for young people. It is possible to say that the current teen generation has not “adopted” the new media, they were always part of their lives. The main features of these technologies are their wide possibilities of communication and expression, which are more interactive and immersive than “traditional” media’s – such as television, newspapers or radio. Moreover, young people have taken advantage of these new technologies in their learning and socialization processes. Teenagers are very concerned about their social relationships and the development of their self-identity, thus the possibilities offered by new media to achieve these purposes may be their greatest attractiveness. In face of these considerations, the aim of this study is to investigate the roles of new media in the socialization of adolescents. This research is undertaken over the wide technological dominium of new media, not only over a specific isolated technology in order to explore the generic relationships between them and teenagers’ motivations. Young people are considered for their active role in media appropriation, not just as passive individuals under deterministic external influences. This study proposed an exploratory qualitative research under interpretative approach. In first place, it was conducted a review of the literature about adolescents’ consumption behavior and the uses of new media. In second place, it was undertaken a combination of focus groups and depth interviews with 45 adolescents of both genders, between 13-17 years old. As results, the research has indicated connectedness, entertainment, self-expression and image construction as the main motivations involved in new media appropriation. Peers appear to be the most important sources of consumption influences, so as the family, in certain situations. The research has also identified a number of factors guiding teenagers’ selection of specific new media technologies, such as the desired or required immediacy, the use of the medium by interest groups, the communication costs, the presence of aggregated features and the intimacy level of the relationship. Finally, this study also evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of teenagers’ communication through new media and the meanings of this communication in their socialization. More specifically, the new technologies are essential to relationships’ maintenance and intensification and useful for networking expansion and interaction with the opposite gender. In the other hand, communication through new media may induce detachment between young people and concerns about privacy in certain cases, besides the possibility of media dependency for their socialization. The results of this study aim to contribute with the knowledge in the field by the emphasis in the social context of young people and the advancement in a more holistic understanding about this subject.

Intellectual Capital (IC) is the intellectual capability of an organization; it drives the usage of other productive resources and adds value to the business structure. Although the expanding literature on IC has enhanced our understanding, the effects of IC with relation to consumers have not been explored in the marketing literature. Thus, this study fills this void by approaching the notion of IC from a customer perspective. Customer value also has attracted extensive attention in recent years. However, the lack of agreement among scholars with respect to the conceptualization of customer value has resulted in inconsistent empirical measures. Furthermore, despite extensive research focus on IC and customer value separately, there is a void in the literature as far as investigating the relationship between the two is concerned. Thus, this study also empirically investigates the predictive relationships among the various dimensions of IC and perceived customer value. This dissertation delineates three dimensions of IC (i.e., Human Capital, Structural Capital, and Relational Capital) available to a retail store in creating value for customers. This study tests the psychometric properties of scale items for measuring these three resources in an apparel retailing context. It also tests the effects of IC on customer value using both a student sample and a consumer sample. This study makes several important contributions to the literature and has the potential to improve marketing practices. First, this study revisits the conceptualization of IC in relation to consumer’s perception and to value creation in an apparel retailing context. Second, this study investigates the multidimensional nature of IC and the relative influence of different dimensions on customer value. Lastly, marketing practitioners and retail managers can learn, based on these results, that the types of resources and their utilization affect the perception by consumers of the value of retail stores.

M.. Tech. (Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / Store choice has become an area of concern for a retailer, with no clear verdict as to what drives customers in the selection of a store. Shopping at the right store with the right social reputation may be essential for many customers. Therefore, the dynamic store choice decision can be conceptualised as a problem of deciding where and when to shop. The primary objective of this study was to determine the influence of perceived social risk and buying behaviour on apparel retail store choice among Generation Y female students within the Sedibeng district. This study focused on perceived social risk, as the literature shows that publically consumed products are the ones with a high level of social risk and the consumer’s need for social acceptance with regards to brand and store choices. This study also looked at the buying behaviour of apparel by Generation Y female students within the Sedibeng district because in today’s increasingly complex retail environment, an understanding of consumers’ buying behaviour and their knowledge of products and services is critical for high quality business decisions. In addition, an understanding of consumers’ buying behaviour will assist retailers to segment their client base and target specific customer groups with strategies designed to meet their retail needs. A quantitative research approach was used for this study and a non-probability convenience sampling procedure was adopted in this study. A structured questionnaire was utilised to survey 400 students from the two universities in the Sedibeng district. The target population for this study was restricted to Generation Y female students within the two universities, namely Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and North West University (NWU). Pre-testing and a pilot study preceded the main survey and reliabilities were measured using the Cronbach alpha coefficients. Out of 400 questionnaires sent to the participants, a total of 370 responses were received and this resulted in a return rate of 92.5 percent for the main study. The statistical analysis of the collected data included descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to test the posited hypothesis. The analysis results of the factor analysis showed that based on the Kaiser-Guttman rule, for each of the constructs (perceived social risk, buying behaviour and retail store choice) only two factors that have intrinsic value greater than one were extracted. For the perceived social risk construct, two factors, which were labelled anxiousness and significant others were extracted and for the buying behaviour construct two factors, which were labelled acceptance and reaction were extracted. Lastly, for the retail store choice construct, two factors, which were labelled word of mouth as well as convenience and physical characteristics of the store were extracted through the exploratory factor analysis technique. According to the results of the structural equation modelling analysis, the tested relationships produced satisfactory results consistent with how they were hypothesised. Specifically, it appeared that there is a direct relationship between perceived social risk and buying behaviour. Buying behaviour also has a positive effect on retail store choice and finally, perceived social risk has a good impact, but there is no significant influence on retail store choice as indicated by the findings. Insights gained from this study will assist marketers of apparel products to increase the patronage levels in their stores by expediting the factors identified in this study. Moreover, these findings may enable apparel retail store managers to comprehensively understand how perceived social risk influences a consumer’s retail store choice and to predict as well as develop a current view of the buying behaviour of female Generation Y consumers, thereby facilitating the evelopment and implementation of more effective marketing strategies in their stores. Implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are alluded to.

The aim of the thesis is to find an appropriate analytic tool by which the infants good market can be first described and then surveyed. The research is focused on the questions -- what are the places with the major consumers frequency, whether the discounts are popular with the consumers or not, how frequently is the internet used in the connection with searching for and buying infants goods, what has the strongest influence on consumers decision-making processes. The results of the research confirm that there is almost no influence on consumers decision-making process caused by demografical characteristics but by consumers individual preferences.